Honda Passport Trailsport

[buster]

I think Honda did well on the 25 Passport. NA V6 and 10 speed auto. Nice powertrain. Good AWD system. It gets good write ups. It's not a true off-roader though due to limited ground clearance and gear rations. But for on road/bad weather it's a great choice.

I think this is a good alternative to the 4-Runner. Another surprise SUV that is really good is the Bronco Sport Badlands.

 

[Blagoje]

After having owned a 2021 Passport Elite and 2021 Subaru Outback for 4 years, I decided to downsize to one vehicle and I was seriously considering the 2026 Passport Elite as a replacement vehicle. The big knock on these is poor fuel economy compared to the previous generation. Also in my experience the Honda sensing safety system does not perform anywhere near as well as Subaru's eyesight safety system.

The Passport is still a terrific vehicle and even though I went with a 2025 Outback Wilderness as a replacement vehicle I do miss the extra room and storage space in the Passport

 

[The Critic]

Also in my experience the Honda sensing safety system does not perform anywhere near as well as Subaru's eyesight safety system.

I have a hard time believing that - I've spent a good bit of time in a 5th gen CRV and the adaptive cruise system was miles better than the Subaru camera-based eyesight system in my sister's 25 Forester.

 

[rstsco]

I thought about getting the '26 Passport, but went with the '25 Pilot Elite. TBH, the more I learn about the J35Y8 engine, the more I wish I hadn't. Not sure what I would have gone with though.

 

[GW.]

These do look nice.

 

[SC Maintenance]

I would like a softroader. My back would appreciate it on road. But things like the Badlands or Passport trailsport are crazy priced.

I though the same of the Rav4 TRD - just nutso pricing for not much incremental.

 

[andrew_j]

Personally after some ugly and boring looks Pilot and Passport(own 2015 Pilot), the looks are great!

The previous Passport was terrible in looks.

 

[buster]

Quite a bit of carbon for 36k but I guess this is the norm for a GDI.

 

[Blagoje]

I have a hard time believing that - I've spent a good bit of time in a 5th gen CRV and the adaptive cruise system was miles better than the Subaru camera-based eyesight system in my sister's 25 Forester.

You can believe whatever you want but my opinion based on my extensive experience driving both vehicles, as well as countless other Honda and Subaru models equipped with similar safety features, stands and is unwavering.

The pre-collision braking system on Honda in particular is substantially inferior to Subaru's system. How do I know? Because I hit a deer last year and my Honda did not react at all whatsoever and the bill to repair was over $8,000. Never had any issue with Subaru stopping or at least slowing down in a similar situation.

 

[rstsco]

Never had any issue with Subaru stopping or at least slowing down in a similar situation.

Has a deer ran out in front of a Subaru you were driving and the car took evasive action, preventing a collision with the deer?

 

[Blagoje]

Has a deer ran out in front of a Subaru you were driving and the car took evasive action, preventing a collision with the deer?

Yes

 

[GW.]

I can confidently say Subaru Eye Sight works as advertised. Sometimes annoying as heck but it’s seamless. I have not tried a Honda system.

 

[andrew_j]

You can believe whatever you want but my opinion based on my extensive experience driving both vehicles, as well as countless other Honda and Subaru models equipped with similar safety features, stands and is unwavering.

The pre-collision braking system on Honda in particular is substantially inferior to Subaru's system. How do I know? Because I hit a deer last year and my Honda did not react at all whatsoever and the bill to repair was over $8,000. Never had any issue with Subaru stopping or at least slowing down in a similar situation.

You honestly don’t know what the Subaru would have done in exact situation.

My coworker with 2024 demolished her Subaru Forester with a deer hit. It did not stop or react…

My coworker chimed in that his VW reacted to deer and he still clipped it but minimal damage. Does that make VW better? Not really more just where deer is and a ton of variables.

 

[silversport]

but Blagoje is talking about a 2025 Outback which has a different Eyesight system than the 2024 Forester...

Bill

 

[SC Maintenance]

No sensor tech is ideal in all situations. None. Darpa learned this 25 years ago.

Suburu uses stereo camera's. Stereo camera works on contrast. So it might work really well with say a brown deer standing still against a bright sky, or a deer illuminated by headlight, but might work poorly on a white boxtruck against the same sky, or in the rain and snow or a moving deer. Its just physics

Honda (and most others now) use wave radar and a single camera. Radar works much better at measuring distances than a stereo camera especially if the target is ferrous - like another vehicle. If its not, it still works, but not as well. May or may not see a deer - likely not well. They combine this with a camera. A single camera can measure distance via successive frames - a specific shape will get larger if its getting nearer, but again your back to the physics of the contrast and if the object shape stays somewhat the same.

None of them work great in bad weather, but the Honda type system should be better. The Subaru stereo system might be better with a deer, or person - but not perfect, and likely not as good vs another vehicle and definitely worse in poor weather.

This is the reason none of them work great.

 

[Blagoje]

You honestly don’t know what the Subaru would have done in exact situation.

My coworker with 2024 demolished her Subaru Forester with a deer hit. It did not stop or react…

My coworker chimed in that his VW reacted to deer and he still clipped it but minimal damage. Does that make VW better? Not really more just where deer is and a ton of variables.

You are welcome to check out https://www.passportforums.com/ where I am an administrator. One of the top complaints of the Honda sensing safety system is false activations of the CMBS (pre-collision braking) in all sorts of different circumstances. Almost every time I drove my Honda Passport I would get false alerts and activations of CMBS for no apparent reason.

You can tell me this is anecdotal but this is commonly reported among owners of the 2019-2025 generation Honda Passport and that is what I'm referring to because I drove one personally for over 80,000 miles over the course of 4 years and had this happen to me on a regular basis as have countless others.

Yes you are correct, I do not possess a time machine in which I can time travel back to that instance where I hit the deer in my Honda Passport and instead be driving my 2025 Subaru Outback Wilderness which had not been produced yet to measure the responsiveness of the Subaru in that specific instance.

That being said, there were too many things about the Honda sensing safety system which did not inspire confidence in me in the same way that the Subaru eyesight safety system has since I began using it in 2016. Many people I know who have driven both have similar sentiments, YMMV

 

[rstsco]

A few days ago, Royalty Auto released this video on this subject and how easily it can get out of alignment

 

[PWMDMD]

Quite a bit of carbon for 36k but I guess this is the norm for a GDI.

This is one area that I really wish Honda would address with a dual port-DI fuel injection system. It's the one area I wish Subaru would address as well since they already adapted D4S to the BRZ. I know the valves can be walnut blasted but it seems like a no-brainer.

 

[PWMDMD]

You are welcome to check out https://www.passportforums.com/ where I am an administrator. One of the top complaints of the Honda sensing safety system is false activations of the CMBS (pre-collision braking) in all sorts of different circumstances. Almost every time I drove my Honda Passport I would get false alerts and activations of CMBS for no apparent reason.

You can tell me this is anecdotal but this is commonly reported among owners of the 2019-2025 generation Honda Passport and that is what I'm referring to because I drove one personally for over 80,000 miles over the course of 4 years and had this happen to me on a regular basis as have countless others.

Yes you are correct, I do not possess a time machine in which I can time travel back to that instance where I hit the deer in my Honda Passport and instead be driving my 2025 Subaru Outback Wilderness which had not been produced yet to measure the responsiveness of the Subaru in that specific instance.

That being said, there were too many things about the Honda sensing safety system which did not inspire confidence in me in the same way that the Subaru eyesight safety system has since I began using it in 2016. Many people I know who have driven both have similar sentiments, YMMV

I have more issues with Subaru Eyesight than I do Toyota/Lexus Safety Sense even though the Eyesight is on a 2025 and Safety Sense are on a 2019 and a 2020. The biggest issues being it cutting power at 4-way stops because there is a vehicle crossing my path perpendicularly even though there's a ton of space and no chance of collision, I have to turn it off completely in Boston in heavy traffic or it constantly beeps, cuts power, and slams on the brakes, and almost every time I simply pull into a parking spot with a car in front of me it slams on the brakes unless I come in at a crawl.

The Tundra/RX 350 never have any of these issues.

 

[joekingcorvette]

I like the looks of the Transport and the orange ones are really neat looking. Most vehicles will not stop if a deer runs quickly in front of them.