My wife's boss has a 2003 Honda Pilot EX with leather and 3rd row she's thinking about getting rid of. It is pretty high mileage at 198,000 but they are mostly highway miles. She commutes about 100 miles a day. No accidents and all work done at a dealer. I imagine it's reliable being a Honda but is there anything to be on the lookout for especially with the high mileage? Edmunds and kbb both list the value around $6500. Is that a decent price?
I don't need it to tow anything. I'm just looking to get rid of my car and get something with 4 doors. If this thing could serve as my daily I could get a miata or s2000 or something fun for autocross.
TR3only
New Reader
3/11/09 11:16 a.m.
Many Honda products of this vintage suffered tranny failures at some point in their lives, I'm not sure if the Pilot is one of them.
My sister has a Pilot, tho not sure what year, she got it to replace the last in a "string" of Explorers. We rarely talk so I have no idea how it's working out for her.
My rule of thumb is: do I really want to pay $XXXX for a car that has XXXXXXX miles on it? (insert your values into equation.) My Honda mechanic was selling a 2000 CRV with 165,000 miles on it for $8500. I considered it, because the 1st gen. CRV is nearly bulletproof, but passed because of the mileage vs price and as I discovered, there are some available around here with lower miles AND lower prices.
p.s............DON'T buy a vehicle from a relative or "friend", it never ends well.
early pilots and mdx's suffer from terrible trans problems that are very costly. At that mileage, the little stuff is going to start catching up and failing. bearings, suspension, bushings, brake calipers... small stuff that will nickle and dime for years to come. If it was 98k, sure you couldn't go wrong. but 200k, run, not walk.
FWIW those generally had pretty soft, wallowy suspensions. I'd think that any enthusiast would hate it unless you bought the pieces to stiffen it a bit.
