Honda’s Passport is a roomy five-passenger SUV. Those looking for a more spacious SUV with two rows will find the Passport offers a great package. Cargo space is both generous and also practical. If you love a smooth V6 with a geared transmission, the Passport may be the perfect SUV for you.

When we first tested the current-generation Passport in 2022, we thought it was near perfect. Since then, we’ve come to expect a bit better infotainment system. The three-row Pilot has also received significant updates that the Passport has not yet benefited from. All that said, we still feel the Passport is a great vehicle. Its main strengths are its roomy passenger space and a cargo area with bonus storage under the load floor.

With over four decades of doling out trusted automotive advice and extensive vehicle knowledge, both behind the wheel and under the hood, Car Talk's founder and original Tappet Brother Ray Magliozzi shares his first-hand experience test driving the Honda Passport.

We love the five-passenger Passport, but it is hard to ignore the Pilot, which is similar in price and a better vehicle in many ways. The Pilot offers a more robust off-road package in its TrailSport package. Better underbody protection, better recovery hook options, a better spare, and hill descent control. The Pilot also has a newer powertrain and infotainment system than the Passport. With prices similar, it is hard to argue in favor of the Passport unless you just cannot tolerate a third row of seating.

Much of Honda’s marketing around the Passport is its TrailSport’s off-pavement capability. We respect that, and we drove the Passport off-pavement. However, the Passport is really a crossover SUV. If off-road capability is of primary interest, the five-passenger Toyota 4Runner is pretty hard to ignore. It has a completely different design that enables much more off-road exploring and is a true body-on-frame SUV.

The Passport is a chill vehicle. It’s not sporty. If you want a quick and exciting five-passenger SUV in this class, the Ford Edge ST is an easy choice. The Edge comes in four trims and offers turbocharged engines. If you are a Ford fan in general, start with the Edge and then drive a Passport before you make a decision.

For 2024, Honda offers the Passport in three trims. The base EX-L starts at around $44K and includes AWD. The TrailsSport is the off-pavement-focused trim, and it has a price of about $46K before appearance packages. The new Black Edition is the top trim, and it is priced at just under $50K without special paint (yes, you can get it in other colors aside from black) and without appearance packages. Budget another $3,500 if the inventory models have been lathered up with those. All of our budget prices include Honda’s $1,395 Destination & Handling Fee but do not include added dealer costs like Doc fees and dealer-added content.

The table below shows the most common trim levels and how much they will run you.

When vehicles start to reach the end of their design cycle, manufacturers cannot resist adding new special editions to make them seem somehow better. For the 2024 Honda Passport, Honda has added a new Black Edition. Despite its name, it is available in four colors. This trim comes with black painted 20-inch alloy wheels, blacked-out trim, and heated and ventilated front seats. Here in New England, we’d avoid those 20-inch rims with their low-profile tires in favor of either of the other trims.

Honda also reconfigured its center console so that two phones can nest side by side. This sounds like a small thing, but phones are a real consideration today, and having them rattle around in a cup holder is a drag. Smart move by Honda.

There are many aspects to how a vehicle drives. The Passport has its strengths and some weaknesses. Its strengths start with it being a Honda. All the controls make sense. Everything is where you expect it to be, and all the things you touch feel of high quality. The seats are sized for larger adults, and they feel very comfortable.

The engine of the Passport is the classic Honda V6. Smooth, nearly silent, never harsh, and always capable. However, it’s not a barrel of monkeys. It never entices you to play. The nine-speed geared transmission seems well-mated to the engine, and together, they always seem to do the right things. Honda makes outstanding all-wheel drive systems, and the Passport’s powertrain has multiple modes, including Snow, Mud, and Sand, in addition to Normal. There is a separate Eco button. What is missing here is a hill descent control feature and the ability to tell the AWD system to be ready to use all four wheels by pressing a button.

Handling is a bit numb. The Passport is not a “sharp-handling SUV,” but we are not pretending it should be either. Over bumps, the Passport is smooth and silent. We tested the TrailSport with its meaty tires, so we cannot say how the big 20-inch wheels with low-profile tires change that aspect of the handling.

Where the Passport is in its element is daily normal use around town and when you are cruising on the highway for long distances. If you want a vehicle for sporty adventures on lonely back roads, the Ford Edge ST is the better option. If you want to do serious off-roading or overlanding, the 4Runner is better in those environments. However, for most trips we would take, the Passport would be equally good or better than both based on our experience.

Aside from all the driving aspects of the Passport, using it in the real world is a breeze. It fits in your garage and in any normal parking spot. When folks get into the back seat, they have plenty of legroom to stretch out without the front passengers having to move up. Three folks can actually sit in the back due to the width of the Passport. The cargo area’s length is way longer than you would guess. It feels like it is about 1.5 times longer than a compact crossover offers.

There is a perfect loading floor, and under that is more cargo space for stuff you may want to store in the vehicle but not be sliding all around your cargo area. It really is perfect in this way. The spare is under the cargo floor, and you still have gobs of space for stuff. The point we are making is that the Passport is a very useful vehicle for real-world use.

Surprisingly, the Passport did not score “Good” on every IIHS crash test, so it has not earned the Top Safety Pick award. NHTSA granted the 2020 Passport a five-score overall rating. During our testing, the active safety systems offered us false positive warnings more often than most vehicles.

Consumer Reports gives the 2024 Passport its “Recommended” stamp of approval. The Passport scores a 48/100 on CR’s reliability index. In the 2024 J.D. Power Dependability Study, Honda has dropped to the bottom quarter of brands and is well below average.

As we mentioned above, the ability to get the Passport with 18-inch wheels and all-terrain tires is an opportunity we would not pass up. So, we would start with the TrailSport trim. We would try to avoid the appearance packages offered by Honda, but in-stock vehicles may have them anyway. The $780 Utility Package adds a trailer hitch and rooftop crossbars.

Honda’s warranty is among the shortest in the industry but does include two years of maintenance.

• Basic: 3 years / 36k miles
• Powertrain: 5 years / 60k miles
• If buying used look at our best extended warranties

The Passport has a relatively good reliability record, according to Consumer Reports. We checked out Car Complaints and found no owner-report problems. The Passport would make a good used car choice, and if a certified pre-owned Passport were available, we would look at that as a first option.

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