Everything We LOVE (and HATE!) About the Honda Pioneer!

UTV Driver

We spent the fall with the 2022 Honda Pioneer 1000-5 Trail Edition. There was plenty to love about the innovative rig, but plenty of letdowns along the way. Here are five things we loved, and five things we didn’t, over our time with the rig!  Check out the story here: https://www.utvdriver.com/reviews/watch-honda-pioneer-1000-5-review-video-2022/  Check out the full feature at: https://www.utvdriver.com/story/reviews/honda-pioneer-1000-5-long-term-review-2022/  For more stories, reviews, and first-looks check out https://www.utvdriver.com/   Want to see even more shenanigans from the UTV Driver team? Give us a like and follow:   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UTVdriver/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/utvdriverma... Twitter: https://twitter.com/utvdriver/

Transcript

00:00 Hey guys, Aaron Richardson here with UTVDriver.com.

00:02 I am standing next to our 2022 Honda Pioneer 1005 Trail Edition.

00:08 And I'm going to go over five things we liked and five things we didn't like so much

00:12 about this rig in the time we've had it.

00:14 Let's dive right in.

00:15 All right, the first thing we didn't like about the 2022 Honda Pioneer Trail Edition

00:27 are these window nets.

00:28 Now, they're great for keeping your head in the rig, but when you're getting in and out,

00:33 there's a buckle to undo and you sort of just have to crawl underneath them.

00:37 And then to re-secure them, there's a buckle and then the door.

00:42 And then they're just sort of flappy and in your way the whole time.

00:45 And if you want to get them out of your way or you want to reach out of the rig,

00:48 you're going to unbuckle this and then there's actually like a helmet strap buckle up here to undo it.

00:53 And then it's out of the way.

00:54 And even then, it's just kind of hopeless mess of nylon webbing everywhere.

01:01 So that's not ideal.

01:02 And as you can see, I'm having to hold this thing out of the way to talk to you.

01:05 Now, come around here and I'll show you one other thing we don't like so much.

01:10 This is number two on our list of things we don't like.

01:13 And as you can see, the seat is a bit of a church pew, but that's not the real problem.

01:17 The real problem is the engine is right here underneath this plastic cover,

01:22 which means that all the heat from driving around and or wheeling and working and whatever else,

01:28 just comes straight up through your feet and through your backside.

01:31 And during the wintertime, that can actually be kind of nice since there's no HVAC in here.

01:35 But in the summertime, especially out on a trail ride where you're sitting still for a long period of time,

01:40 it can get downright miserable in here.

01:43 You're going to go through a lot more water that way.

01:45 You're going to get a lot more tired that way.

01:46 And you're going to get a lot more frustrated that way.

01:48 And it just seems like on a rig that's otherwise pretty nice, that's a really low point.

01:52 So we'll move outside and I'll show you a couple other things.

01:55 All right, out back, there's another thing we don't like.

01:58 You get this great two and a half inch receiver for your trailer,

02:02 but as you can see, there's no provision for putting safety chains on it.

02:06 That goes beyond just an inconvenience.

02:08 It can be a real hazard.

02:10 If you forget to put your hitch pin in and your hitch comes out and your trailer goes away, it's just going.

02:15 There's absolutely nothing between the ball and the rest of the rig keeping everything in contact.

02:21 It's something every other manufacturer that we have encountered who puts a trailer hitch on their rig does.

02:26 And on a utility machine or a machine that's at least a half a utility machine, that should be there.

02:31 No ifs, ands, or buts.

02:33 Now, sure, you could grind something away and booger weld one on yourself,

02:37 but why would you want to do that when you just spent 20 grand on a new rig?

02:41 All right, next on the list, the rear seats, which, well, they're a compromise.

02:47 Now, as you can see, for an average-sized guy, it's cramped back here.

02:54 I'm eating my knees.

02:55 Now, I'm just over 5 feet 10 inches tall, and it really shouldn't be tough for me to get into anything.

03:01 That's the average size for an American male, and I'm cramped back here.

03:05 I wouldn't want to spend any more time than I had to in these back seats.

03:09 Now, one other thing is, because the 1005 has a combination rear bed and rear seat setup,

03:18 it means that anything you were carrying in the bed before your passengers got in has gotten into the footwells,

03:23 has gotten into the seats, and there's just dirt everywhere in here.

03:26 You've been using this thing to move logs, and there's evidence of that all throughout this rig.

03:32 I mean, sure, you don't expect to stay clean when you're out on a trail,

03:36 but this is just kind of ridiculous to have to sit in that.

03:38 Now, moving to the back, another problem is, when the seats are in,

03:46 there's absolutely no room behind the rear seats to carry things.

03:49 Now, I mean, you really can't even fit recovery straps back here, or not enough to feel safe.

03:55 You certainly couldn't fit any tools, and you certainly couldn't fit a cooler,

03:58 which means you're going to have to find either a buddy to drag your cooler,

04:01 or find some other solution to carrying a cooler in the rig.

04:05 In our mind, that's not acceptable.

04:06 You want to have water on a trail ride with you at the very minimum.

04:10 And again, even though this thing came with a winch stock,

04:12 you've got to have something to hook the winch to to get yourself out of trouble.

04:16 And yeah, there's no easy way to do that.

04:19 Now, this is the last thing we don't like about this rig, and it's related to Honda's dual-clutch transmission.

04:24 Now, in some ways, it's nice to have a geared transmission in a rig.

04:27 It means that you can actually do engine braking when you're going down a steep descent,

04:31 and that adds a lot of confidence to the drive out on the trail.

04:34 The problem with that is there's no slop, there's no slack in the drivetrain,

04:39 so it has the effect of making it a really twitchy throttle.

04:41 So it's very hard to creep in this rig.

04:44 Now, that's bad for rock crawling, and it's especially bad at low speeds when you're working.

04:49 A lot of times, you've got a load that you don't want to tip or move,

04:52 and it's very hard to be smooth when the dual-clutch transmission gives you power immediately.

04:57 Now again, some people would call that a benefit.

04:59 In our experience, it's been a hindrance.

05:01 And, you know, I never thought that I would say anything good about a continuously variable transmission,

05:08 but this Pioneer has changed my mind.

05:11 All right, that's the bad stuff out of the way.

05:13 Now, let's talk about some good things about this rig because there are plenty of them.

05:17 The first is that it is cheap, especially for a Honda.

05:21 You get a lot of quality with that, and this rig starts at $18,000.

05:25 Now, I don't know if you've priced UTVs recently, but that is eminently reasonable.

05:29 And this one, specced out as you see it here, comes in at just over $21,500.

05:34 That's a great deal, especially when you consider that it comes with a worn winch from the factory.

05:39 That's huge.

05:40 Winches, as you know, are expensive, and it's really easy to get a low-quality winch in the aftermarket.

05:45 Honda takes care of that for you right out of the gate.

05:48 We wish it came with a synthetic cable instead of the stock steel,

05:51 but we'll make concessions where concessions are due.

05:54 All right, another thing we love about this vehicle is kind of a two-pronged thing.

05:57 The first is that the gear stick and especially the transfer case lever are just that.

06:03 They're levers. There's no electric button here. There's no nothing.

06:06 It's a really positive shifting mechanism, and you know when you're in two-wheel drive,

06:11 you know when you're in four-wheel drive, and you know when you're over in turf mode.

06:15 And that relates to its capability out on the trail.

06:18 This thing is hilarious to huck around in the rocks.

06:21 One, the engine's pretty entertaining out on a two-track,

06:25 and two, when you get into the rocks, now, it's not the most capable rig on earth,

06:30 but that's kind of the beauty of it.

06:32 It's sort of the principle of it's more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow.

06:37 This is a slow car, and when you're out in the rocks,

06:39 and you pull something off that in another rig you would walk up,

06:42 you really feel like you've achieved something.

06:45 That's the great thing about this Honda.

06:46 It feels really willing, and although it's not the most capable, it's happy to have a good time,

06:51 and you really, really can't say anything nicer about a rig than that.

06:54 All right, thing number five that we love about the Honda Pioneer is the engine.

07:00 It is fantastic.

07:02 It's the same 1,000cc, or basically the same 1,000cc parallel twin as you get in the Africa Twin Adventure Bike,

07:09 and if you know anything about motorcycles, you know those are well lauded for being extremely reliable

07:14 and having a real peach of a powertrain.

07:16 That translates here.

07:18 It's torquey.

07:19 It has a lot of horsepower when you get on it, especially for a 1,000cc parallel twin,

07:24 and it's just really sprightly and feels fun, sort of like compare it to a Mazda Miata, say,

07:30 where, again, it's not a monster.

07:32 It doesn't have a huge amount of horsepower, but it's really, really exciting, and it makes great noises,

07:37 and again, it's a Honda engine, so you know that it's well thought out.

07:41 It's well designed.

07:42 There's reliability in mind, and a lot of peace of mind comes with that, you know.

07:48 It's a Honda, as they say, and again, that's a really wonderful thing.

07:52 So, thanks for watching, guys.

07:54 That's been five things we don't like and five things we do like about our 2022 Honda Pioneer 1005 Trail Edition.

08:01 Now, you can find our reviews and news at utvdriver.com, and you can hit us on all the social media sites.

08:07 We have Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube.

08:10 Don't forget to like and subscribe, and we'll catch you next time.

08:13 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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