Anyone Towing with New Honda 9 Speed?

[Egg White]

Is anyone towing with a newer Honda Pilot or Ridgeline with the 9 speed transmission. Would be interested in:
- Driving impressions
- What you tow and where
- Transmission temperatures, if monitored

Thanks,
Philip

[WaltP]

Originally Posted by Egg White

Is anyone towing with a newer Honda Pilot or Ridgeline with the 9 speed transmission. Would be interested in:
- Driving impressions
- What you tow and where
- Transmission temperatures, if monitored

Thanks,
Philip

Yep and whether the gas mileage has really improved too.

Walt

[RLJR]

2020 Honda Pilot Elete. I tow mostly in the mountains of WV. In addition to that I have one trip to Savana GA and one to Charleston SC. and one to FL.I tow a Casita 17' Spirit Deluxe. Excellent vehicle for this. Gas mileage around 16MPG. No tyranny problems so far. I do have a sway and weight distribution. I keep on top of maintenance, oil changes and differential oil changes. that is about it.

[TimHands]

I'd go for the Honda Pilot. My brother drives it to tow his RV. According to him, it drives as smooth as butter, the transmission temperatures are also good. He says that the type of tire you use would make a great difference. His Nitto Ridge Grappler tires does wonders, even if he tows his RV through the terrain, there isn't any concern with bumps on the road.

[Jon in AZ]

I know this is not the personal feedback you’re looking for, but I’d recommend spending some time on the “Piloteers” owner’s forum. There may be a separate one for the Ridgeline. It’s not as active as this forum, but it’s a good place to become aware of any problems. I remember reading about some early production complaints involving the 9-speed back in 2016, but I’m guessing they’ve probably addressed them by now. There is a towing section.

I have a 2011 Pilot with the old 5-speed @ 190K. I’ll have to replace it eventually, so I will look forward with you to the replies.

[Egg White]

Originally Posted by RLJR

2020 Honda Pilot Elete. I tow mostly in the mountains of WV. In addition to that I have one trip to Savana GA and one to Charleston SC. and one to FL.I tow a Casita 17' Spirit Deluxe. Excellent vehicle for this. Gas mileage around 16MPG. No tyranny problems so far. I do have a sway and weight distribution. I keep on top of maintenance, oil changes and differential oil changes. that is about it.

Ralph,
Thanks for your response. I have read a lot of posts on the Pilot and Ridgeline forums. The experiences seem pretty varied.

How does the transmission respond to towing the Casita in the mountains? Does it want to keep the engine turning high rpms (>4000)?

Do you tow in D or S and do you allow it to shift, or do you manually do it with the paddle shifters?

Can you tow with cruise on and, if so, how does it behave?

I’ve read that the 9 speed will not downshift multiple gears at a time like when trying to pass (e.g., 7th to 4th). Instead it only downshifts one gear at time, resulting in a delay in getting to the gear you need. Has that been your experience?

Do you monitor transmission temperatures and, if so, can you share the typical range and max? I’ve seen folks report high temps while towing and had to install a larger trans fluid cooler than the factory installed unit.

Have you performed a transmission fluid change yet? If so, at what mileage and how did it look?

What has been your fuel mileage when towing in the flatlands?

How many miles on your Pilot?

Sorry for the barrage of questions.

Thanks again,
Philip

[thunderworks]

Originally Posted by Egg White

Ralph,
Thanks for your response. I have read a lot of posts on the Pilot and Ridgeline forums. The experiences seem pretty varied.

How does the transmission respond to towing the Casita in the mountains? Does it want to keep the engine turning high rpms (>4000)?

Do you tow in D or S and do you allow it to shift, or do you manually do it with the paddle shifters?

Can you tow with cruise on and, if so, how does it behave?

I’ve read that the 9 speed will not downshift multiple gears at a time like when trying to pass (e.g., 7th to 4th). Instead it only downshifts one gear at time, resulting in a delay in getting to the gear you need. Has that been your experience?

Do you monitor transmission temperatures and, if so, can you share the typical range and max? I’ve seen folks report high temps while towing and had to install a larger trans fluid cooler than the factory installed unit.

Have you performed a transmission fluid change yet? If so, at what mileage and how did it look?

What has been your fuel mileage when towing in the flatlands?

How many miles on your Pilot?

Sorry for the barrage of questions.

Thanks again,
Philip

I have a 2018 Ridgeline RT-L (AWD, 5,000lb tow capacity, 9980 GCWR). I've towed a 17' Casita, Spirit Deluxe up and down the Rockies, Sierra's and the California Coastal Range. In the mountains, I slow way down . . . a combination of my own personal safety parameters, and I hate it when the engine revs really high. I've read posts from more experienced people that modern engines do fine at the higher rpm's, but I dislike the noise, and I'm truly more comfortable towing at the slower speeds - so the net result for me is that the Ridgeline tends to stay under 4,000 rpm's the bulk of the time, but I'm only going in the 40 - 50 mph range. Most people drive faster than I do.

On the flats, I drive in the low to mid-60's max, and I do use cruise, but am quick to disengage the cruise if I get into rolly terrain. I prefer to keep the truck in a rpm range and I let the speed of the truck fluctuate.

I use an anti-sway bar, but no weight distribution. I have not monitored transmission temps, but do watch engine temps (Honda gauge only, no aftermarket gauges). I also am pretty quick to lock out 5th gear in hilly terrain, but the transmission tends to downshift anyway so it really seems that locking out 5th gear is mostly beneficial when going DOWN a mountain where some engine braking is helpful. Going up, the tranny downshifts anyway.

I changed transmission fluid and radiator fluid at 30,000. Honda recommends the tranny fluid then, but not the radiator. With an abundance of caution, I opted to change that as well.

On our trip to California (we live in Kansas) last August, the mpg gauge indicated I got 19 mpg for the entire trip. I suspect it's optimistic to the tune of 10% or so . . . I can't believe it got that, but didn't bother to manually track gas consumption.

We sold our Casita in October after our last trip and are getting a 19 Escape in March of next year. I don't anticipate problems matching it to the Ridgeline, but I might add weight distribution. The Escape will be around 700 lbs heavier than the Casita.

[Stoonies]

We have towed our 2016 Escape 17B with both a 2017 and currently a 2019 Acura MDX with the Honda 9 speed. We tow mostly using cruise control both on the prairies and in the Canadian Rocky mountains. We tow at 100 to 110 km/hr on prairie highways. We have experienced no problems with the transmission or vehicle.

[RLJR]

Originally Posted by Egg White

Ralph,
Thanks for your response. I have read a lot of posts on the Pilot and Ridgeline forums. The experiences seem pretty varied.

How does the transmission respond to towing the Casita in the mountains? Does it want to keep the engine turning high rpms (>4000)?

Do you tow in D or S and do you allow it to shift, or do you manually do it with the paddle shifters?

Can you tow with cruise on and, if so, how does it behave?

I’ve read that the 9 speed will not downshift multiple gears at a time like when trying to pass (e.g., 7th to 4th). Instead it only downshifts one gear at time, resulting in a delay in getting to the gear you need. Has that been your experience?

Do you monitor transmission temperatures and, if so, can you share the typical range and max? I’ve seen folks report high temps while towing and had to install a larger trans fluid cooler than the factory installed unit.

Have you performed a transmission fluid change yet? If so, at what mileage and how did it look?

What has been your fuel mileage when towing in the flatlands?

How many miles on your Pilot?

Sorry for the barrage of questions.

Thanks again,


Philip

Almost 16000 mi on the Pilot-I tow mostly at about 63-65 mph-Mileage is about 16 to 17 0n the flats-No temp problems to date-Tranny does shift to maintain a higher RPM in the mountains, Hardly ever see rpms above 4000-Haven't changed the tranny yet, but did change the rear end at 15000 as recommended. easy to do. I use cruse on the flats and in drive-All in all it isn't F-250 diesel, however for our use it does as good as we expected and is pleasant to drive. I recommend it.

[Egg White]

Everyone,
Thank you for the feedback. Have decided to hold off on the Ridgeline and see how the Tacoma does in the mountains before making the jump to another tow vehicle (I really like the Tacoma).

This will give Honda time to come out with the refreshed Ridgeline and allow more towing data to come in on the 9 speed.

Philip