HondaPilot

The eight-passenger SUV adds inches and content, but still watches its weight.

Back in mid to late May when the new 2009 Honda Pilot went on sale, an inauspicious thing happened: fuel prices in the U.S. accelerated their climb to record-high levels. Inauspicious, that is, for most vehicles larger than midsize sedans and small crossovers/SUVs.

At the August press launch of the new Fit subcompact car, Dan Bonawitz, American Honda's Vice President of Corporate Planning and Logistics, admitted that he was somewhat surprised that midsize crossovers and SUVs had taken as big of a sales hit as they did, with many would-be large-SUV consumers bypassing the segment for still smaller vehicles.