It’s Independence Day weekend. According to AAA, 35.5 million people will drive 50 miles or more away this week. The road trip is a staple of the American lifestyle. Piling the family into a vehicle and heading toward a lake, a mountain or a beach is quite typical. For the parents who have to drive, it can be quite stressful. And for the passengers who will bicker and ask “are we there yet?”, how much space and how many luxuries they have are vital to a stress-free trip.

I was quite fortunate to be granted a test drive of a Honda Pilot for my family’s road trip from Ohio to the New York City area. Honda has done an excellent job of advertising the Pilot as an eight-passenger family hauler. So I loaded up the Pilot with DVDs, luggage, snacks and electronic devices to keep my daughter and her friend completely satisfied, and the wife and I headed out on the 700-mile road trip.

Thankfully, my tester was the touring edition with rear DVD entertainment system, which helped pass the time for two 10-year-olds. They were able to spread out, sleep and not annoy each other too much thanks to the bench-like second- and third-row seats.

The Pilot comes with a 3.5-liter V6 engine which generates 250 horsepower. The engine was more than adequate navigating the varying terrain of mountain inclines and declines, as well as the stop-and-go construction traffic. Even in the crazy (emphasis on crazy) bumper-to-bumper traffic of Manhattan, the Pilot performed like a champ.

Blind-spot indicators would’ve been a nice, and needed, addition. I found myself asking the passengers if things were clear over there.

Inside, the leather front seats were comfortable, cushioning the body for the 11-hour voyage. Second row seats were firmer, and less comfortable, according to my other travelling companions. The third-row seat can fit three people, but it would be best to keep the smallest passengers in that seat, as leg room is tight for the third row.

With the second- and third-row seats, the Pilot can indeed accommodate eight passengers, as Honda advertisers. However, with limited space behind the third-row, and limited cargo space when passengers are included, the Pilot would not accommodate eight passengers plus their luggage. Knowing its limitations, we kept our full-passenger trips to a minimum, but still had few complaints on a two-hour jaunt to the Jersey shoreline with eight passengers (four adults, one teenager, three tweens) in tow.

Knowing that the Pilot is a heavier vehicle (a weight of more than 4,400 pounds), I had budgeted to spend more than $250 in gasoline for our 1,400- mile round trip. Considering the Pilot also has a 5-speed transmission, I wasn’t sure if $250 was going to be enough.

But despite all of that, I averaged 25.5 MPG for the entire trip, including more than two hours of Manhattan gridlock (with A/C going) and all that Pennsylvania Turnpike construction. For the entire trip, we spent a little more than $200 in gasoline, finishing under budget.

Other than some of its cargo limitations, the only other knock I would have on the Pilot is the navigation system, which was nicknamed Slow Sally by my travelling companions. It was slow to render, and slow to indicate specific turns, even in downtown Manhattan. It got so bad, we ended up turning the NAV off and using a portable navigation device instead.

The Pilot has four trim lines to choose from, with the base LX starting at $28,000 to the highest trim, the Touring (my tester) with a price of $41,630.

Whether you’re going for a quick one-tank trip or heading out on the great American road trip, the Honda Pilot is a vehicle that lives up to its billing as a family-friendly hauler.

Jimmy Dinsmore is the Wheels editor at the Dayton Daily News and may be reached at (937) 225-2115. Follow him on Twitter @wheelseditor