Honda says its new Passport TrailSport is the “most off-road capable Honda SUV ever.” It’s also more powerful, more robust, and, because adventuring often involves friends and their gear, roomier and more accommodating of cargo than Passports past.
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While pretty much every crossover with a hint of the sport-brute makes those same claims, in the case of Honda and its new 2026 TrailSport, it might actually be true. The first indicator that Honda is serious about all this berm-busting is a set of big, fat well-knobbied tires. General Grabber A/Ts, no less, and Honda says that while the big 275/60R18s are designed for mud, sand, and snow, they’re still quiet and comfortable on-road.
Honda has also jacked the Passport up, ground clearance now a somewhat substantial 210 millimetres (8.3 inches). Meanwhile, the shocks are firmer to handle big drops, while the stabilizer bars are optimized — we’re assuming that’s Honda-speak for “softened” — for superior suspension articulation. There’s also some hefty steel skid plates protecting the oil pan, transmission, and gas tank from damage off-road.
The Passport is also blessed with Honda’s latest second-generation i-VTM4 all-wheel-drive system. Besides its requisite torque-vectoring abilities, Honda says the rear diff can handle 40% more torque and is 30% more responsive. It also incorporates Trail Torque logic that, says Honda, optimizes off-road performance. What that means is the new TrailSport can drive the rear wheels harder and with less delay, important when you really are intent, as Honda seems to be, on bounding boulders beside Jeep Wranglers.
Hell, Honda even equipped the wheels with sunken valve stems to avoid damage while off-roading.
Rounding off the off-road gadgets is something called TrailWatch. Using a plethora of cameras — front, rear, side, and 36-degree — TrailWatch not only reveals what you can’t see in front or behind you, but also illustrates the expected path of your tires over the rough road beneath. TrailWatch is available in “Trail” mode, and even though it deactivates automatically at 24 kilometres an hour (15 mph) it turns on again automatically when your speed drops below 20 km/h (12 mph). In other words, it’s a set-it-and-forget-it system that is always at the ready for tricky, slow-speed manoeuvring.
Powering all this off-road goodness is Honda’s tried-and-true 3.5-litre V6, this time with 285 horsepower, five more than the previous Passport. The 262 pound-feet is the same peak torque as before, but Honda says the torque curve has been enhanced for off-roading. On-road, it retains Honda’s Variable Cylinder Management for superior fuel economy. Enhancing that fuel efficiency even more is the 10-speed automatic transmission that keeps revs low on the highway. For those looking to tow, the engine and transmission are rated for 2,267 kilograms or 5,000 pounds.
As for more pragmatic considerations, the Passport’s wheelbase has been stretched 70 millimetres, which means there are some 30 mils more legroom in the rear seats; and 164 litres (5.8 cubic feet) more cargo space when the second row of seats is folded (2,364 litres, or 83.5 cubes, in all). It’s also wider — the rear track by 38 mm and the front some 33 mm — so the interior is roomier.
It’s also far brighter and more luxurious. The digital instrument set is now 10.2 inches across, the infotainment touchscreen even larger at 12.3 inches. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are wireless, and there’s a 15-watt wireless phone charger and 4G-LTE Wi-Fi hot-spot availability. Two 60-watt USB-C charging points are built into the centre console, as well as two more for the rear-seat passengers. No one is running out of power or connectivity in the new TrailSport.
A new 12-speaker Bose sound system with a seriously huge subwoofer pumps out maximum tune-age, and the seats are clothed in synthetic leather, which Honda claims is especially easy to clean. You know, after you get it all muddy.
As for the exterior styling, I think I will let Honda describe what its designers were after and let you decide whether they accomplished their task. The company says “Born Wild” was the Passport’s “aspirational value.” That’s why the Passport is both “brawny and broad-shouldered,” and possessive of a “rugged attitude.” Indeed, it is this last that Honda is really after, the word “rugged” appearing no fewer than 18 times in the Passport’s press missive. We got the drift, Honda, but surely your marketing department has one thesaurus!
All that said, the new Passport TrailSport is, to these eyes, attractive. At the very least, it’s better-looking than its predecessor. Honda Canada has not set a price for the new Passport, which will be available in TrailSport and TrailSport Touring guises, but we do know it will be available in early 2025.
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