10,000-Mile Update
Our long-term Honda Passport is proving to be an accomplished and frequent traveler in the few months that it’s been with us, sailing past the 10,000-mile mark on the back of a number of journeys around North America. More impressively, it has done so while generating only a few nits for us to pick.
Production designer Jeff Xu piloted the Passport on its longest trips. These included separate treks from our Ann Arbor, Michigan, home base to both Denver and New Orleans. After both, Xu praised the Passport’s cargo space, generous interior cubbies, and numerous USB ports for charging multiple devices at once. His chief gripe? “I did discover that all the cupholders were too small to fit larger bottles, like Gatorades or Nalgenes,” he wrote in the Honda’s logbook.
A trip to Toronto generated a more significant complaint regarding the Passport’s lane-departure-warning feature, which flashes an alert in the gauge cluster and jiggles the steering wheel before the SUV’s tire even crosses the center line. While that level of hypersensitivity certainly is the result of Honda’s proactive stance on safety, it quickly gets annoying when cruising the highway through construction zones with narrowed lanes and closely clumped orange barrels.
We’ve logged similar complaints with Honda’s collision-avoidance technology in some of its other models, including our long-term 2018 Honda Accord. But our Passport will also occasionally read the open road as a potential obstacle and activate the vehicle’s automated emergency braking system for no obvious reason—much to its driver’s surprise. And discomfort.
At just over 10,000 miles, the Passport visited the dealer for its first scheduled service, which included an oil change, tire rotation, and the changing of its rear-differential fluid for $134. (The dealer changed the engine oil without replacing the filter, as per Honda’s unusual service recommendations.) Our only other expenditure thus far has been the patching of a rock chip in the windshield ($50). While we’ll likely have to replace the windshield before the Honda’s time with us is up, $50 is far easier to stomach now than the $1000 or so that new glass will cost.
The rest of the comments in the Passport’s logbook mostly have been about the OE-size Yokohama IceGuard G075 winter tires we installed at around 11,000 miles. Several staffers noted that the road noise they generate in the cabin is far greater than what we noticed with the stock Continental CrossContact LX Sport all-seasons. This is often the case with winter tires and it’s generally not a significant issue, but the Yokohamas seem to be particularly loud. “They’re noisy at highway speeds and yet the traction on snow and ice is only so-so,” wrote director of vehicle testing Dave VanderWerp.
Unfortunately, the Passport’s fuel economy has not benefited as much as we’d hoped from all its highway running. Thanks to both the knobby winter tires and plenty of (heavy-footed) commuting between trips, the Passport’s average is down 2 mpg to 20, or 1 mpg less than its EPA combined estimate. However, with 25,000 miles left in its stint, our already well-traveled Honda definitely will hit the open road again.
Months in Fleet: 4 months Current Mileage: 15,306 miles
Average Fuel Economy: 20 mpg
Fuel Tank Size: 19.5 gal Observed Fuel Range: 390 miles
Service: $134 Normal Wear: $0 Repair: $0
Damage and Destruction: $50
Introduction
When Honda revived the Passport nameplate for the 2019 model year, our nostalgia for the Isuzu Rodeo–based body-on-frame that enjoyed sales success in the 1990s was palpable. While we were hoping for a Honda-badged competitor to the Toyota 4Runner and Jeep Wrangler, what we instead received is a shortened, two-row version of Honda’s larger Pilot three-row crossover. We previously had a 2016 Pilot in our long-term fleet, but we thought it best to sample the smaller, livelier Passport as well, particularly after it won a two-row mid-size SUV comparison test.
The new Passport is probably every bit as capable off-road as the original version, even though front-wheel drive is now the standard setup; four driven wheels are optional on all trims except the top-spec all-wheel-drive-only Elite and Black Edition. The new model’s maximum ground clearance of 8.1 inches is only 0.1 inches lower than the 2002 Passport, the final model year of the last generation. While it isn’t as boxy in profile as that old-school Honda, it’s been styled to look more adventurous than the Pilot, and its short front and rear overhangs give it more clearance for light trail duty.
We opted for a mid-range EX-L model with all-wheel drive in Black Forest Pearl—a dark metallic green that looks black except in direct sunlight—with darkened 20-inch aluminum wheels. Although the EX-L model is just one step up from the base Sport trim, it adds leather upholstery, an 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto integration, a sunroof, heated front seats with power adjustments for the driver, a power liftgate, SiriusXM satellite radio, rear-seat sunshades, heated exterior mirrors with integrated turn signals, keyless entry, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, and blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert. The final tally: $39,355.
The long-term Passport snaps off a decent 6.1-second run to 60 mph and makes it through the quarter-mile traps in 14.7 seconds at 95 mph. We’ve coaxed slightly quicker times from other Passports, including the one in the comparison test, which hit 60 mph in 5.8 seconds. Braking from 70 mph required a lengthy 189 feet, and the Passport circled the skidpad at a modest, stability-control-inhibited 0.80 g. Back-road, high-g shenanigans aren’t really the Passport’s thing.
We Compare Five Mid-Size, Two-Row SUVs
In-Depth Photos of the 2019 Honda Passport
Yet this Honda has earned praise from drivers for its stable and comfortable feeling on the road. “It turns out that a shortened Pilot makes for an excellent two-row, mid-size SUV. Solid dynamics among its peers, good body control, and natural steering heft,” director of vehicle testing Dave VanderWerp wrote in the Passport’s logbook. “This nine-speed has come a long way since it landed in the current-gen Pilot and is now a competent and mostly invisible automatic.”
The Honda also has proved handy as a utilitarian, with ample storage cubbies throughout its cabin and a large enough cargo area to haul photo equipment and camping supplies for staff editor Austin Irwin and his girlfriend to enjoy a long weekend in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with their dog. “The center-console bin is so large, I stowed a coat in there,” added VanderWerp. “Also handy is the milk-gallon-shaped bin in the cargo area.”
So far, gripes are limited to an ongoing frustration with Honda’s oversensitive forward-collision alert system that’s part of the Passport’s standard Honda Sensing suite of driver-assistance features. “The brake warning appeared in the cluster several times while cornering on a few country roads due to oncoming traffic,” wrote Irwin. Deputy Buyer’s Guide editor Kirk Seaman also reported that the Passport jammed on its brakes when it incorrectly sensed an impending collision on one of Ann Arbor’s suburban byways.
Fuel economy has been decent so far, at an average of 22 mpg, or 1 mpg higher than the all-wheel-drive Passport’s EPA combined rating. We’re interested to see if we can improve that average even further with a few long-haul road trips that are planned with the Honda this fall; an all-wheel-drive Passport Elite previously managed an impressive 27 mpg on our 75-mph highway fuel-economy test, besting its EPA highway estimate by 3 mpg. With those road trips scheduled, we’ll surely be checking back in on the Passport soon, as the miles quickly rack up.
Months in Fleet: 1 month Current Mileage: 3266 miles
Average Fuel Economy: 22 mpg
Fuel Tank Size: 19.5 gal Observed Fuel Range: 420 miles
Service: $0 Normal Wear: $0 Repair: $0
Damage and Destruction: $0
Source: Reviews - aranddriver.com
