Honda’s latest SUV delivers a little attitude
It’s 2019 and SUVs are getting more and more butch. It seems buyers want a CUV or SUV with more gravitas in the looks department and automakers are doing their best to satisfy those buyers.
The latest pumped-up offering from Honda is the 2019 Passport. In the briefest of terms, it is a shortened Pilot with two rows of seating versus the Pilot’s three. The wheelbase is the same as the Pilot, and while it loses some of its overall length, it gains something no Pilot ever had: attitude.
The Passport rides higher than the Pilot and the tires are wider, at 265 millimetres, versus the Pilot’s 245. The wider tires give it a more capable off-road look and necessitated the recalibration of the AWD system. Unlike the CR-V, which uses a “just in case” part-time AWD system, the Passport is constantly sending a minimum of five per cent of power to the rear wheels so it can respond more quickly to low-grip situations. And while driving in icy Mont Tremblant, Quebec, there were plenty of low grip situations.
When the Passport lost grip on icy sections, the AWD and traction control system worked quickly and smoothly to bring things back into line. Shod with the right set of winter tires, the Passport is capable companion for nasty weather.
There are no worries about being cold, because the front and rear seats are heated in the top-trim Touring test car. Frontseat
heating comes standard and rear-seat heating is found on all but the base Sport trim. Every Passport sold in Canada gets a heated steering wheel, too.
The Passport is available in three trims: the $41,990 Sport, the mid-level $45,590 EXL, and the range-topping $48,990 Touring. The Touring includes ventilated front seats, a wireless charging pad, rain-sensing wipers, a power liftgate, and other premium goodies.
All trims have the same powertrain. Up front is a 3.5-litre SOHC V6 with no turbo — a rare sight in 2019.
The engine makes a solid 280 horsepower way up at 6,000 rpm, and 262 pound-feet of torque at 4,700 rpm. The transmission is a nine-speed automatic unit, greatly improved from Honda’s past nine-speeds.
All Canadian Passports will arrive with AWD, and there is no FWD option. As a whole, the powertrain works very nicely. Despite having nine gears to choose from, it always seems to be in the right one and doesn’t “hunt” for gears during driving. You can also bully the transmission with steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters, but the Passport clearly doesn’t like such tomfoolery and you’re better off slotting the shifter into “S” if you want to get zesty in your AWD SUV.
The engine itself sounds great and has plenty of shove when prodded. Our tester averaged 10.2 L/100 km in our mixed driving segment, which is pretty close to the official 12.5 city, 9.8 highway numbers.
Despite its cropped tail, the Passport has a full 1,430 L of space with the rear seats up or a positively cavernous 2,854 L with those seats folded flat. That’s roughly 50 per cent more storage space than you’d find in a CR-V, and definitely enough space for a ski weekend at Mont Tremblant or elsewhere.
Sitting in the front seats, you would swear Honda engineers are getting paid per cubbyhole. I counted 14 cubbies and cupholders in the front-seat area alone. The centre console has a rolltop lid and plenty of space for purses or bags. Your hats, gloves, and sunglasses can all be stowed in a Passport.
Honda has good soft-touch materials in the cabin, the climate controls are smart and intuitive, and it has a real volume knob — a classic point of contention on older Hondas. If I have a gripe, it’s the abundance of pianoblack accents in the interior; I find them cheap looking, hard to clean, and unattractive. And a lighter interior colour would make the Passport interior a little brighter. It’s a tad cavelike in black.
If you like the macho looks of the Toyota 4Runner but want something a little less truck-like that can better handle a city commute, the Passport could be for you. It has a more surly look than the Pilot, plenty of storage space, and an AWD system that laughs at winter.
The Passport goes on sale in Canada on March 15.