Our 2007 Pilot Cleans Up Rather Well!

"JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder!" (jqj213)
05/05/2015 at 14:06 • Filed to: story, story time, honda, honda pilot, pilot, cleaning, detailing, time to sell

This is our Pilot. It has been the family car since we bought in 2006. It’s seen two moves; loaded with four dogs, four people, and luggage. It’s seen countless Christmas trees both inside and on it (don’t ask). Furniture. Killing deer. It’s done it all. And today was it’s time to shine. It got its first real detailed clean today. Mainly because we are looking to sell and downsize. Also, because of what happened above.

I had to drive the Pilot to school today because mom wanted to take the Civic to a conference two hours away and save on gas. I agreed. I actually liked driving the Pilot. I like the seating position and the power. I parked in my normal spot; a nice oversized corner spot right next to a speed bump. It keeps people and other cars away. There was just one thing I couldn’t account for: Exploding sprinkler heads.

Yup. A sprinkler head decided enough was enough and burst its top; spewing mud all over my car for about an and a half according to the guy trying to fix it. My passenger side was brown; covered in a thick layer of grass and mud. The picture above is what happened after hitting it with a hose for about 5 minutes.

The guy called his manager and agreed to reimburse me the cost of a car wash; I was happy because they didn’t have to do that; especially since it was only dirt. But, $20 richer, I went to an automatic car wash to get this stuff off.

Now, many of you might be asking why I don’t wash it myself. There are a few good reasons. First, I didn’t want my parents to see and get all pissed at me. If I brought it home, Dad would never let me borrow a car again. Also, it was hot; like 93 degrees hot. Lastly, we have well water; which is great at leaving so many lovely water spots all over your car. So, $20 got me a nice touchless wash and my carpets vacuumed out.

I was very happy to see this car cleaned properly for the first time.

Even the little blemish (from some jerk hitting us in a parking lot and running off wasn’t too terrible.

I spent the rest of the afternoon totally cleaning the interior. Nearly 5 years of filth and dust and dog was caked everywhere you could imagine.

We really are low on the mileage; which should help us come selling time.

I forgot just how massive this thing is inside. Seating for 8 is actually possible. I have a lot of memories from the third row; it helped keep me and my sister from fighting during the rides from Florida to New Jersey.

And my oh my is this thing practical.

I still need to actually shine this up a little bit; but beneath the cover lies one of Honda’s best engines.

You can barely tell the driver’s side annihilated a deer during our time in New Jersey. We really need to fix that headlight.

If we do end up selling, I will miss it. Sure, it may be another soccer mom mobile, but I have enjoyed most every minute inside of it.

If we do sell, the plan is to go Subaru. Either an Outback or Forester. The deals on them right now are rather hard to pass up (0% financing on the Forester and 1.49% on the Outback). The gas mileage would be much better, and the addition of AWD would be nice when we go up North.

Thanks for reading!

DISCUSSION (3)

thebigbossyboss > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder!
05/05/2015 at 14:11

Nice. I love cleaning cars haha.

I am going to start working on touching up my paint soon. Oye.

Rico > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder!
05/05/2015 at 14:12

Definitely easier to just take it to a car wash. However, the fact that either of your parents would get pissed at you for something not in your control like a sprinkler head breaking near where you parked is beyond dumb.

Nymphicus Hollandicus > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder!
05/06/2015 at 11:55

I can attest to the Pilot being so roomy inside. Mine is a 2005 EX-L and I’ve done so many trips over an hour long where there’s 8 people inside and they never complain. I really want to sell it for a manual Forrester but my parents love this car too much so it won’t happen until after I graduate since it gets horrible gas mileage.