HONDA Passport 2020

Body, cabin and cargo space

The Honda Passport gives up 15 cm in length to the Honda Pilot. That, together with its protruding black grille and taller stance—it’s the tallest in its category—gives it a more macho look. Add crossbars to the roof rack and some home and commercial garages could now be no-go zones.

The cabin is certainly one of the roomiest, brightest, and airiest in the segment. The front seats are spacious enough for occupants of any size. And wide as they are, they still provide satisfactory support on extended road trips. The driving position is high but doesn’t feel perched; the built-in armrests are fabulous, and there’s foot room to spare.

And although the Honda Passport is shorter than the Honda Pilot, the second row of seats is actually roomier. In other words, no knees need be sacrificed for the sake of the folks in row three, as is the case in the bigger vehicle. Second-row passengers will however have to put up with a bench that offers little in the way of thigh support.

The Pilot does of course have more cargo space and can handle longer objects with the seatbacks folded. The Passport still deserves full credit: the cargo area is impressively long and wide for a vehicle this size. The sole snag is that the floor might be a tad on the high side, which limits how much you can pile in below headrest and window level. That floor also conceals a capacious compartment and a temporary spare tire.

The cabin is very user-friendly with numerous and roomy cubbies and compartments. The partly digital instrumentation is easy to use, and the main controls—air conditioning, driver assist, and windshield wipers—are easy to handle. You eventually get the hang of the pushbutton shifters on the console, although nothing beats a good old-fashioned lever when you’re in a hurry—say, in a crowded parking lot.

Sadly, the touchscreen remains hard to like, even with Honda now in a new generation of multimedia systems. The larger icons are easier to recognize than previously, but there’s still too much that takes too many steps, for drivers who really ought to be watching the road. Honda has at last brought back the volume knob, but there should really be a knob for tuning too, like the Accord sedan’s. A few physical buttons for the main functions wouldn’t hurt either.

Android Auto and Apple CarPlay users might do better sticking with that—particularly since the voice recognition in both apps is definitely a cut above Honda’s. The not-all-that-high-definition sound of the Touring version’s “premium” audio system is another nagging disappointment.

Other highlights

Cabin access: The step for getting into the vehicle is high, which is no fun for those who don’t make the height requirement. The wide running boards pointlessly extend the door sill. The wide-opening rear doors make it easier to install child car seats.

Finish: Precise assembly, with only decent materials: a little heavy on the hard plastic for a $50,000+ vehicle; seat leather is also too shiny. Black and more black in that contrast-starved interior, with no other colour options in the catalogue.

Safety features

• Antilock brakes with electronic brake-force distribution and brake assist
• Stability and traction control
• Hill start assist
• Front airbags
• Front side airbags
• Side curtain airbags
• Front seat belts with pretensioners
• Five adjustable head restraints
• Rearview camera
• Tire pressure monitor
• Forward collision alert with automatic emergency braking
• Lane departure alert with automatic steering assist
• Lane keep assist
• Adaptive cruise control
• Auto high beam
• Blind-spot monitoring with rear-cross traffic alert (standard with Touring; not available with Sport and EX-L)
• Passenger-side blind-spot monitoring (standard with Sport and EX-L, not available with Touring)

Visibility

Generally good, with big and tall windows and generous side-view mirrors. The wide B-pillars can cause lane-changing problems, and only the priciest version has a full-on blind-zone monitoring system. The others just get a passenger-side camera, a.k.a., one more area to keep track of—this one on the centre screen—if you want to see what’s going on.

Headlights: The standard LED low beams do a good job of lighting in most situations, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The Sport and EX-L’s halogen high beams are effective enough on the passenger side but, on the driver side not so much. The Touring version’s LED high beams were acceptable on both sides.

Crash test results

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
Overall score: 4 / 5
Frontal impact: 4 / 5
Side impact: 5 / 5
Rollover resistance: 4 / 5

Insurance Institute For Highway Safety (IIHS)
Moderate overlap frontal impact: 4 / 4
Small overlap frontal impact:
- driver side: 4 / 4
- passenger side: 4 / 4
Side impact: 4 / 4
Rear impact: 4 / 4
Roof strength: 4 / 4

IIHS Top Safety Pick

Mechanical overview

The Honda Passport's specs are practically a carbon copy of the Pilot’s. The platform, wheelbase, four-wheel independent suspension, and electric power steering are all identical, to the extent that the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety conducted impact tests on the Pilot and recycled the results for the Passport.

The similarities continue under the hood. Car buffs won’t be surprised to see the 3.5-litre V6 that has been the powerplant driving the biggest Hondas and Acuras for close to 20 years. Naturally, the automaker has been updating and refining it all along, kitting it out for instance with direct injection a few years back. Its 280 horses and 262 foot-pounds of torque are right on the mark for the segment, although it takes a lot of RPMs to get there.

The engine is paired exclusively with a nine-speed automatic gearbox. Here’s where the Passport diverges most from big brother, whose most affordable versions still come with a six-speed. The nine-speed has a manual mode that can really come in handy when you’re towing or need some engine braking on a slope.

The Passport and Pilot both come with standard all-wheel drive. The system engages the front wheels first and shifts some of the power to the back if they lose traction. It can also redistribute torque between the two rear wheels if conditions call for it.

There’s a console button for changing the AWD and traction-control settings to adjust to mud, sand, or snow—not that you can turn the Passport into an off-road vehicle. Jeep Grand Cherokee is the only one of the Honda’s direct competitors that can make that claim.

Other highlights

Fuel economy: The Passport’s combined city/highway rating clocks in at 11.3 L/100 km, according to Natural Resources Canada, exceeding the nine-speed version of the Pilot by 0.3 L/100 km. Which is odd, since the Passport is the lighter vehicle. But in any case, it remains comparable to the V6-equipped competition. We registered 10.9 L/100 km on a test that was two-thirds highway driving.

Towing: 2,268 kg (5,000 lb.) capacity with the dealer’s high-priced optional towing package, which includes a transmission oil cooler. Otherwise the most you can tow is 1,588 kg (3,500 lb.).

Driving impressions

Despite its venerable age, the Honda Passport’s engine remains a credit to Honda’s sterling automotive reputation. It performs with rare smoothness in ordinary driving, and responds with an increasingly inspiring roar as the RPMs mount up.

It may not match the oomph of some of today’s turbos at low engine speeds, but its response is also more linear than most of them. And it certainly shows up to play if you’re willing to push the tachometer needle a little skywards.

The nine-speed’s even spacing goes a long way to cover up the drop at low engine speeds. Honda and ZF, the German gearbox manufacturer, have at long last said goodbye to the annoyingly jerky lower gears that had plagued it in the years since its launch in the 2016 Pilot. But the hesitations remain, which slows the vehicle and can be abrupt.

And speaking of being yanked around, the suspension can sometimes seem a little generous about sharing the bumps and bounces the big 20-inch tires are subjected to in the city. It delivers solid-gold comfort on the highway however and keeps the body nice and stable.

It also contributes to steady handling in turns, though if you’re looking for Honda’s sporty side, you’re in the wrong place. The sense of heaviness is always there and the vehicle body will lean if you try to push it at all.

The steering too, despite its precision, is stingy about feel of the road. It nonetheless tracks nicely, with just the right degree of assistance. That makes the Passport great for long trips and makes up for some the agility its size costs it on congested city streets.

Braking: Good although without much bite at the first touch. The pedal is still a little mushy, making the brakes harder to modulate.

Soundproofing: Road and engine noise disappear at cruising speed. A powerful (but kind of sexy) engine roar during hard acceleration. Audible wind noise on the highway.

Driver assistance: Lane departure alert a little overzealous; steering wheel vibration can be a shock. The forward collision warning system is also hypersensitive, even at the lowest setting. Adaptive cruise control is slow to react when a lane opens up in front of the vehicle.