What it lacks in excitement, this compact-plus SUV makes up for in reliability and practicality Automotive columnist: Derek Boshouwers , Updated: 2023-04-20
• Auto123 reviews the 2023 Honda Passport Touring.
• This in-betweenie SUV sits awkwardly in the lineup between twin juggernauts, the CR-V and Pilot.
If you want excitement, surprises, bling and pizzazz, then the 2023 Honda Passport is… not where you should be looking. In 2019 Honda squeezed this newest of its SUV models into the lineup between two juggernauts, the CR-V compact SUV and the Pilot SUV. The job of this five-seat midsize model is not to excite, provoke or impress on the road or with its cutting-edge tech. No, its job is to provide reliable, user-friendly transportation for five and please Honda fans while it does so. If you know Hondas, you know what you’re getting here.
One over-simplified way to look at the Passport is as a truncated Pilot, with the truncated part being the third row of seats. Interior space is superior to the CR-V.
What’s new in 2023
Very little this year, as the model received a facelift in 2022. Note that the latest Pilot and CR-V editions feature even newer front ends, so that could be in the cards for the Passport soon as well.
The exterior
This is a solid-looking SUV with Honda giving few signs of feeling the need to streamline or coupe-ify its contours. The Passport is tailor-made for those who are just fine with blending in on the road. The upside of a conservative design is that there are no glaring missteps either. Let’s call the look tasteful and discreet; a little ‘beige’ maybe, but nothing worse.
Note that, as mentioned, the Pilot recently received an update that included tweaks to the front end to bring it closer to the look of the CR-V, itself just revised. We can expect the same for the Passport in the near-future.
Strong points
- Blends in on the road
Weak points
- Blends in on the road
The interior
As it is outside, so the Passport is inside. Which is to say that it’s designed to provide comfort and practicality, as well as familiarity and ease of use when it comes to the infotainment and other systems inside.
To wit, front-row occupants benefit from adjustable armrests, as well as a large storage space underneath to keep objects away from feet-space. The back row is also plenty spacious and comfortable, and its seats can be folded down fully flat to create a cavernous cargo area. Buttons and commands are helpfully laid out and easily usable, so nothing fancy, just pleasant.
None of it is exciting but all of it is practical. It’s an interior that’s also starting to show its age a bit, what with a few too many plastic surfaces and leather upholstery that feels a bit last-generation compared to more-modern competitors.
Strong points
- Comfortable seating
- Spacious for all occupants
- Simple, ergonomic layout
Weak points
- Plastic surfaces, cheap-ish leather
- An aging design and decor
The powertrain
The Passport runs on a 3.5L V6, the only engine configuration available in the offering. It’s good for 280 hp and 262 lb-ft working in conjunction with a 9-speed auto transmission.
On the road
That’s plenty of power, but the lack of a turbocharger makes for a noisy engine when you need to push it at all hard. On the other power delivery is fairly rapid and pretty linear, so the drive may be loud at times, but it’s lively and smooth.
Devoid of the Pilot’s longer back end, the Passport drive is correspondingly a little nimbler. The suspension has been set a little firmer than its larger sibling, but otherwise the dynamics are the same. This is no vehicle for taking curves and corners at speed – that’s not what it’s built for – but it’s a fairly good road-hugger. We did feel the road’s bumps and imperfections a little more than we’d like, perhaps a result of that suspension and the damping that could be better.
Drivers can choose from four modes – Normal, Snow, Sand and Mud. Each slightly adjusts settings for shifting, throttle response, torque vectoring and stability control, and they go at least some way to justifying Honda pushing this as a more rugged, adventure-ready SUV than the Pilot.
Note that Honda has given the Passport a fuel-saving system by which three of the cylinders will deactivate when highway cruising in certain conditions and the powertrain will decouple the rear driveshaft when appropriate. You can help things further along by pressing the ECON button. It will cause the vehicle to deliver less-aggressive acceleration, if you can live with that, adjust shift points from the transmission and tone down the intensity and speed of the climate control system.
Strong points
- Linear power and decent acceleration
- Comfortable for highway cruising
- Some increased off-road capabilities
- Effective AWD system
Weak points
- Loud engine when pushed
- Occupants will feel road bumps, etc.
- Not terribly exciting
Road test conditions
We drove this 2023 Passport Touring edition at the tail end of winter, in fairly mild conditions either just below or just above freezing, for a period of a week. Our driving was roughly 60 percent in city and 40 percent on suburban roads or on the highway.
A few of your questions regarding the 2023 Honda Passport:
What’s fuel consumption like for the Passport?
Official rating for the 2023 Passport is 12.5L/100 km city and 9.8L/100 km highway. We averaged, in wintertime and driving more in city than not, 13.1L/100 km.
What does the 2023 Passport cost?
In Canada, the Passport Sport starts at $47,090 plus $1,950 in fees. The Passport TrailSport comes next at $51,090 before fees, and the range-topping Passport Touring gets a starting price of $53,790, again before fees.
The final word
In virtually every respect, the five-seat 2023 Honda Passport is a vehicle focused more on comfort, reliability and practicality than pizzazz or driving excitement. And that’s fine since that’s what its typical buyer wants. This model is starting to show signs of age, however – in terms of performance but also its design both inside and out. There are other, exciting models out there, that are newer and deliver better driving experiences and aren’t any costlier. There’s also the question of whether Honda buyers will want to sacrifice that extra row the Pilot delivers in return for slightly more ruggedness.
EVALUATION
72%Performance7/10Design7/10Interior Space8/10Tech and Safety8/10Fuel economy7/10Value7/10
Keyword: 2023 Honda Passport Review: You Can’t Have Everything