Faults:

Front disks needing to be turned at 45,000 due to surging under braking load.

The brake pads were serviceable, but no further metal left for additional turning (as per mechanic).

Brakes have always felt under powered. As noted above, the disks needed to be turned at 45k miles. I feel that the lighter disks used to achieve CAFE standards (fuel economy) are used for weight saving, but do not last as long as I would like. These are the fastest disks I have ever needed to be turned on any vehicle I have ever owned (I am 61 years old). I will replace the factory disks with heavier service models when needed.

Detected high road noise upon test drive. Had the dealer (this was purchased new from a Honda Dealer) accomplish undercoating with the hope that the noise would be addressed. About 40% improvement in noise was noted, but still present.

This vehicle came with 18 inch wheels. Tires in this category are more $$ than 17 inch wheels (which were available on this model). Pay attention to this.

General Comments:

Love the windows and the ability to see outside while operating this vehicle. Love the third row seating, but for small people only. Love the storage area (large). A very dog friendly car. Love the dual action automatic tail gate.

When shopping all other 2012 model SUVs, we felt as though we were sitting in a bad pair of Cuban slit sunglasses due to the large doors and small windows in order to achieve side impact safety. Honda went the extra mile and used side curtain air bags and side impact safety improvements that allowed the larger, better view windows to remain.

We added a bug defector shield to the hood, clear "digi" coating to the front end, along the sides and around the door frames ending over the rear wheels. This is a protective coating to protect the paint from rocks and other impacts. Highly recommended. We added running boards to protect the rocker panels (we live on a gravel road). Highly recommended. We upgraded all lighting to LED (interior and exterior) except for the headlights.

This is an all wheel drive model. The vehicle operates with front wheel drive until wheel slip is noted, then a differential is activated automatically until traction returns. Manual all wheel drive is available via a dash board button, but only works until 18 mph.

This vehicle could use downhill grade engine braking (like locking of first gear coming down long, steep grades) to avoid brake overheating. It rolls freely down steep grades.

This vehicle has excellent fuel economy on regular (E15) fuel. We average 26 MPG freeway if the road is flat and there's no headwind. If the trip includes mountain passes, the mileage drops to 23-24 MPG. We do not tow with this vehicle. This vehicle has "cylinder shutdown" that allows the engine to operate on three (3) cylinders on a flat grade at highway speeds. If a slight grade, head wind or other load is encountered, the vehicle switches back to 6 cylinder operation. You can barely detect the changeover.

Heater and air conditioner work fantastic. Heated seats are a dream. We have used the air conditioning climbing steep (7%) freeway grades in 115F weather. The engine did NOT overheat.