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Regular gas at $1.51 a litre?

That's the price we see here in Montreal after a day-long test drive of the 2009 Honda Pilot north of the city. And pricey fuel is all the talk in follow-up discussions about what Honda has done to improve its second-generation SUV (sport utility vehicle).

This is the new reality. The U.S. Energy Department has just released a report that says motorists can expect gasoline prices to stay around $4 a gallon (U.S.) through next year, or go higher. In Canada, that likely translates into gas at $1.30, $1.40, $1.50 a litre or more for the long haul.

This explains why the Honda people are thrilled to be launching the most fuel-efficient, eight-passenger sport utility vehicle in Canada, the '09 Pilot (13.1 litres/100 km in the city, 9.1 on the highway using regular fuel). They are almost giddy.

But giddy is a relative term. The Honda engineers on hand here to explain things are a quiet, conservative lot. Every one of them joined Honda straight out of engineering school and were surely selected as much for compatibility with the Honda way as for their abilities to problem solve. Honda now has 1,400 engineers working in its Ohio development centre and it is fair to say they all have been stamped "Honda."

"Honda," says Larry Geise, an assistant chief engineer, "is not a place for slackers."

The '09 Pilot, being a uniquely North American vehicle, was developed in the United States and is built in Lincoln, Ala., where its 250-horsepower, 3.5-litre engine is also made.

It is powerful enough and big enough for what it is intended to do, but chubby? Not by SUV standards.

The new Pilot is trimmer by a couple of hundred kilograms compared with its main competitors, and that's good for fuel economy. The second-generation Pilot also has an engine that can back down from six cylinders to four or even three, depending on demand. As SUVs with eight-passenger seating and 2,042 kg towing capacity go, it's a relative fuel sipper.

Still, this is a tough time to roll out a new SUV, no matter how fuel-efficient.

Canadian sales of large SUVs and pickups are down 14.6 per cent and 3.5 per cent, respectively, so far this year compared with 2007. Sales of big SUVs in the United States are worse — off by more than 26 per cent and plunging.

Honda has lately sold about 120,000 Pilots a year in North America, about 4,500 or so of those in Canada. But in today's market, matching those numbers will be a stretch.

No one anticipated $1.51 a litre gas three years ago, when Honda set about redesigning the Pilot (first introduced in 2002). Honda's researchers, instead, heard buyers say they wanted the reinvented Pilot to look more like a Hummer.

The result: the brutish-looking '09 Pilot is just so boxy, so in-your-face. The sheet metal is not the least bit feminine.

Geise says Honda was told, "Don't make it look like a minivan." Interesting, given that the Pilot is roughly based on the Odyssey minivan's mechanicals.

That's right: Under that hard-edged skin is a crossover built using car-type construction and lightweight metals such as high-strength steel and magnesium.

Thus, a Pilot LX ($39,820) weights a relatively modest 2,047 kg. The most expensive Touring edition, at $49,920 with every option known to Honda, tops out at 2,090 kg and the base front-drive Pilot at 1,963 kg ($36,820).

The competition? The Saturn Outlook weighs 2,234 kg. The Toyota Highlander V6 SR5, on the other hand, tips the scales at a svelte 1,895 kg and does, indeed, get better fuel economy (12.3 city/8.8 hwy). Other rivals include the Mazda CX-9, Buick Acadia, and Hyundai Veracruz and all are heavier.

This new Pilot has not just done the Jenny Craig thing, however, and the design changes are not limited to the exterior. The interior is a tremendous step forward for a truck which in its first life had a utilitarian cabin.

Now the cabin looks refined, though the utility remains. For example, a multisection storage compartment between the comfortable front seats is large and functional. The second- and third-row seats also split and fold 60-40, and the second row also moves fore and aft about 75 mm.

Those with young children and toddlers, take note: three child seats fit across on the second row, side by side. There are lower child-seat hooks at all three second-row spots, and one in the third row. Also, upper tether hooks are at all six rear seating slots.

Cargo capacity behind the third row is impressive — twice as much as the Toyota Highlander. One nifty idea is the Pilot's plastic-lined compartment below the floor, intended for temporary storage of messier cargo.

If you're hauling large items, the third row easily folds down, making room for full-size sheets of four-by-eight plywood.

As you might expect, the '09 Pilot is longer overall and the wheelbase is longer, too — by 74 mm. As a result, there is about 25 mm more legroom in the second row and almost 50 mm more in the third row.

That's all something, but when it comes to the third row, still not enough to make it a full-time place for adults. Sure, you can sit eight here, but put only kids in that third row.

On the highway, everyone will notice wind and road noise if they are comparing the Pilot with, say, the ultra-quiet Buick Enclave, another rival. This new Pilot is much better than the old one, but there is still work to be done in this area.

Not much seems left to perfect on safety, though. All Pilots come with a full complement of safety equipment, from side-impact air curtains to anti-skid control. The front seats have active head restraints to protect against whiplash. They do so by moving forward in a rear impacts.

The new Pilot, for the record, has not yet been crash tested by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, but Honda's engineers expect a best-possible five-star rating all around.

Safe and functional as it is, the '09 Pilot's truly outstanding feature is how it drives.

The electric steering is tighter than before, more responsive and with some feel for an SUV. The ride quality is smooth and solid, the handling responsive for a tall, bulky truck-like SUV.

Even in parking lots the Pilot is not much of a handful for such a large crossover. It is early to say the dynamics of the Pilot are best-in-class — after all, the model is just now going on sale — but surely what Honda has done here will greatly interest the competition.

So will the engine. Honda has been a pioneer in cylinder deactivation systems that shut down chunks of the engine when power is not needed. The '09 Pilot's cylinder-shutoff system — called variable displacement management — has been updated to allow the engine to switch from six cylinders to four or three, depending on how much power you need.

The switches are imperceptible, too, thanks to extra engine-damping and noise-reduction technology. The latter uses counter-balancing sounds through the Pilot's sound system speakers to nullify any extra noises coming from the engine when it is switching cylinders.

By the way, a green "eco" indicator light in the instrument cluster is not there to signal changes in the number of cylinders being used. That would seem logical, but instead the light tells you that you've driving in the most fuel-efficient way possible at that moment. An electronic pat on the back, I guess.

What seems odd is the five-speed automatic transmission. Most auto makers today are moving to more gears to improve fuel economy and maximize performance.

Honda's engineers say they stayed with the five-speed because it's the best design to go with the cylinder-deactivation system. More gears would make everything too "busy" with extra shifts of the transmission and number of engine cylinders at work.

Okay, the Honda types have done a lot to increase fuel efficiency, but there is no getting away from the reality here: This is a big truck and most buyers will get all-wheel-drive, which increases fuel consumption.

Granted, the AWD model operates in front-wheel-drive unless you are accelerating, at which point some power is shifted to the rear tires. The AWD system really kicks in if any tire slipping happens. But the point is, all that mechanical drag uses energy — fuel.

Keep in mind, too, that the Pilot is not designed for off-roading. It lacks low-range gearing and doesn't have hill-descent control, which is standard on the four-wheel-drive Toyota Highlander.

In fairness, Honda has included something called hill start assist and it's a first for a Honda vehicle. The system automatically prevents the truck from rolling backward when you switch from the brake to the accelerator pedal while stopped on a hill. Handy for driving in San Francisco.

More than anything, then, the Pilot is a tall, safe, urban-oriented station wagon with good towing abilities and a handsome, functional cabin. It brings good fuel economy to the game in a relative sense but, honestly, this is a vehicle people will buy because they need it — to stow the baby stroller, lug the hockey paraphernalia and gardening supplies, and pull the boat.

In this age of $1.51 gas, few, if any, poseurs will apply.