I had a plan. It wasn’t a good plan. I’m not sure it would have worked and, had it not, I’m not sure I’d have been able to talk about it. My concern was that our $800 taxi was not going to make it up the Rockies. I felt this way because many people at our Denver meetup looked at the taxi, peered toward the giant mountains to the West, and then skeptically returned their eyes back to the taxi.
My concerns were not exactly unreasonable. The taxi was destined to lose what little power it had as it climbed above 11,000 feet, to say nothing of the pesky fourth cylinder that didn’t want to cylinder. To make matters worse, Jason would be pushing the cab, and I’d have his son in the backseat of our camera car watching. What if the cab just … needed a little push?
In theory, I’d convinced David and Jason that we needed a safety car so we could film the car as we went along. You can’t easily film a car and get rollers (a moving shot where both the subject vehicle and camera are moving) without one. Look at this photo, and tell me it wasn’t worth it:
That was the primary reason, but there were other thoughts. The vehicle I ended up with was a 2026 Honda Passport TrailSport Elite. Did you know that the Honda Passport can tow 5,000 pounds, and that the NV200 taxi with a U-Haul tow dolly is approximately 5,000 pounds? That is definitely not a fact that I learned when I requested the Honda. Nope. What a strange coincidence.
It also has two breakaway recovery hooks up front:
In theory, I might have driven to Tractor Supply Company and purchased a small trailer tire that I could ratchet strap to the front of the Honda in order to, you know, maybe gently push the van over if it needed an extra little oomph. The DOHC 3.5-liter V6 in the Passport now offers 285 horsepower and 265 lb-ft of torque. That extra five horsepower may not seem like a lot, but it would probably double the NV200’s power when the cars are combined.
That never happened, though. There is no tire, there are no ratchet straps; you can prove absolutely nothing.
Why This Exists
Honda is methodical. Honda is careful. Honda doesn’t enter a new category until it thinks it has a vehicle that’ll compete. That’s not always how it turns out (see every vehicle named Insight), but the company tries. Given that the market wants nearly every flavor of crossover (new CrossCab when?), Honda has decided to offer a small two-row (HR-V), a bigger two-row (CR-V), a bigger three-row (Pilot), and a two-row version of the bigger three-row (Passport).
Previously, the Pilot and Passport weren’t particularly distinct from one another, but Honda has seen fit to toughen up the Pilot to differentiate it from its bigger brother. It has a new face, which I like. It gets a cool, blacked-out rear greenhouse. I’m super into it.
Why It Makes A Great Camera Car
View this post on Instagram
The crew was just two people (me + Griffin), so a third row was unnecessary. Rather than just make the rear cargo area bigger (ahem Mazda CX-70), Honda gave owners a lot of storage. Here’s a neat graphic that shows it:
There’s your typical, super-large cargo area between the rear seat and the hatch. The walls feature a large cargo shelf to hold water, coolant, extra snacks, a trailer tire, whatever (I did not say trailer tire). That’s the pretty version. Here’s the less pretty version after like 3,000 miles:
It all held up quite well. Up front, there was even more functionality and tons of little storage cubbies. big enough for all sorts of camera stuff like ratchet straps, which are used for… filming.
Honda has also significantly upgraded its infotainment system so that you can access the main screen and switch between CarPlay and other screens without having to tap through multiple levels of screens. The only thing that could have made this a better camera car is a power vertical rear window like in the Toyota 4Runner.
What It’s Like To Follow A Taxi Cab For Thousands Of Endless Miles
Am I still in Kansas? It feels like I’m still in Kansas. Does Kansas ever end?
I loved driving across the country and, due to Jason’s desire to constantly punish himself, I was able to do most of the trip in the Honda as opposed to the taxi. Perhaps my perspective was colored by the time behind the wheel of the taxi, but the Passport is much better.
It had a longer range than the taxi (or Otto’s bladder), it tracked smooth and straight, had plenty of power to pass, and wasn’t constantly getting rocked by cross-winds. Sometimes I’d see the taxi jerk almost an entire lane to the right when a gust of wind would blow across the plains.
Honda lacks an advanced driver assistance system on par with Ford’s Blue Cruise or GM’s SuperCruise. What it has is a decent adaptive cruise control tied to a lane keep assist that’ll help you pass the time. Assuming the Nissan might break, we stayed behind most of the time, and the Honda kept it perfectly in front of us for almost the entire trip.
There is a yellow NV200 burned into my retina forever.
Whereas the Nissan lost power going up, the Honda never felt pokey or slow. I’ve put a lot of miles on Honda 3.5-liter V6s, and while I can’t say this one feels dramatically different, I can offer no complaints. Ok, one complaint. The only complaint you can levy at modern Honda trucks, which is that they would benefit from a hybrid. Given that I averaged around 24 MPG on regular fuel, it wasn’t too bad.
However, that complaint is cut somewhat by the fact that the company wants you to tow with it. Honda’s current hybrid system isn’t designed with towing in mind (for instance, my CR-V Hybrid maxes out at 1,000 pounds). I’m hoping that the next hybrid system for trucks allows for more capacity, but until then you’ll have to settle for the CR-V if you want a Honda.
Stray Thoughts
If you’ve got to eat on the hood of a Honda, I highly recommend a Passport TrailSport. Part of the fun of a road trip is trying non-endemic road food. We got to hit up a Bob Evans, an A&W, and eat about 16 different varieties of pickle-flavored snack.
Do not get the blueberry-flavored almonds.
We pumped music across the country and decided to do the entire traditional Outkast discography.
Here it is chronologically:
- Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik
- ATLiens
- Aquemini
- Stankonia
- Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
- Idlewild
Here was my ranking going in:
- Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik
- Stankonia
- Aquemini
- ATLiens
- Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
- Idlewild
Here was my ranking going out:
- Stankonia
- Aquemini
- Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
- Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik
- ATLiens
- Idlewild
That’ll probably change soon.
As tested, our vehicle came in at $54,355.
Finally, big thanks to Honda for not even thinking twice about handing over the Passport to drive cross-country, with the correct tow hitch. No questions asked!
Never driven a Honda.
Never heard of any of that music.
Leaving on a road-trip in the morning in a Chevrolet Cruze.
Just got some blueberry almonds for the trip.
“Am I still in Kansas? It feels like I’m still in Kansas. Does Kansas ever end?”
As someone who grew up in Denver but who’s parents were from KC, this is very familiar.
The reality is that Kansas actually bleeds across the state line about 150 miles into Colorado, terminating roughly at the CO 392/CO-79/Kiowa-Bennett Road/Calhan Road/Mitchell Road/Avondale Road corridor from Grover southwards to Briggsdale —> Keenseburg —> Byers —>Elbert —>Kiowa —>Calhan —>Avondale and then an abrupt termination because the state government wishes it could give the San Luis Valley to New Mexico and be done with it, and that the Colorado government does not care about ‘ANYTHING’ on its eastern flatland flank that cannot see the Front Range without squinting like you’re staring into the sun.
The part of Kansas I find charming and livable actually starts about US 281, so Phillipsburg/Hays/Pratt, and ends at I-49, which is ‘technically’ Missouri but it’s literally only 30 miles inside the state line.
Sincerely, a regrettably raised Morgan County-ite.
I am usually quite apathetic towards crossovers as a whole. However, for whatever reason, this one (and the Hybrid CX-50) has stuck in my mind. I’ve really only read positive things about it, or perhaps the marketing is getting to me. I have convinced myself that this thing would fit my lifestyle more than even a 4runner. That little shelf designed to hold two wiper-fluid jugs is perfection. Or the floor folding open to reveal a generator sized storage spot would almost certainly give Honda another generator sale were I to get a passport. It’s not fast, sporty, dynamic, or efficient, but it seems well designed and purposeful. Maybe I’m so enamored with it because it seems actual thought went into both product planning and execution. $55k is a lot of money though.
The ride on the CX-50 is not great, I’m sad to say. It’s too bouncy on the road, and too hard off road. If you want an over the road Mazda crossover, get the CX-5(I love mine). If you want an off roadish Mazda crossover, get the CX-90. My two cents, anyway.
I have heard that about the CX-50, I’m hoping that they’ll address that with a mid-cycle refresh. I’m rather partial to the CX-50 because of the Toyota derived hybrid system, but still having all the exterior and interior niceness of a Mazda. Including having the infotainment puck.
Man I love the puck! I thought I would hate it, but it’s 100x better than the touch sceens in everything I messed with.
The Toyota derived hybrid was very attractive to us, as well. If we get another CX-5, it will certainly be a hybrid. I’m told that Mazda learned a lot of lessons from their hybrid partnership from Toyota, so later generations of their whole line should have some great setups going forward.
I listen to Matt Farah’s podcast; he (along with most reviewers) strongly dislikes the puck. I think that is one of the poorest reviewer takes out there. Sure, only living with the vehicle for a limited time it might not be the most intuitive experience. But live with the vehicle for an extended period of time, and it is far easier, and safer than leaning forward for the touch screen all the time. I know several Mazda owners, and universally the puck is adored among my sample size. Yet it seems Mazda has capitulated to the reviewers and the puck is going away with the 2026 CX5. A true shame.
That’s good to hear about the hybrid system. I’ve not been super impressed by anyone’s hybrid system besides Toyota and Honda; so it’s good Mazda is learning from the best.
I have no real need for one but I like these more and more. Seems like the majority of early sales are the same TrailSport Elite trim but the lower trims are still well-equipped too. I haven’t yet tired of the current Honda interior design theme either. Even on the mid-range TrailSport with only one interior choice, the cloth/leatherette patterns and orange accents give character that don’t make it feel drab the way many a dark Honda interior can lately.
Right now it’s sort of sandwiched in the middle of the Pilot range. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some more trims pop up next year or down the line after making their point that it’s supposed to be tough and capable, perhaps to eat into some Grand Cherokee share. Honda loves to do a “Black Edition” at the top of the range on this/Pilot/Ridgeline.
I’ve read and seen nothing but good things about the current Passport. Savagegeese loved it!
😀
I thought the Honda looked pretty darn good, and the storage options were impressive (as you described).
But at the Ohio meetup, at least, no one gave it a second glance. 😮
The only screen I need on a road trip is the perfect vista of America out the windshield. The only music I need is the sound of a powerful engine pulling the load. No food except breakfast when I wake and dinner before I go to sleep. Like any steel cowboy you don’t stop for anything but fuel. But good have a free restroom urinal because I P freely.
I read that in Hank Hill’s voice
Too bad the last line doesn’t apply to him. He has a narrow uretee! Unlike Cotton, who can pass an entire battalion.
Did you have any issues with the Car Play? My 10th gen Accord doesn’t seem to play nice with Apple. The screen ghost touches and glitches constantly when trying to use it. Thus far the dealer can’t resolve it.
Go into the settings and disable the built in navigation. That fixed it in my Civic. Navi uses up a lot of resources even if you’re not using it.
I did that. Still having some issues. Oddly enough its the worst when its hot out, like Honda didn’t build enough cooling into these systems.
I don’t make Playlist for road trips. . .I just keep pressing the seek button until I find a song I like. Commercial or song that I don’t like comes on, I start again.
This can drive people nuts. . .but can lead to a pretty eclectic mix.
I used to make road trip CDs, but I’ll have to rip a bunch of stuff to a flash drive now.
This only works if you’re in the middle of Somewhere. We did a Texas trip where we’d go an hour between FM stations, and then you’re stuck with whatever you get. And at that point, you don’t get cell signal so can’t even stream. A little planning ahead is worth it!
The hundred or so miles of 95 through NC that only has bro country and “The Lord Jeezus Cuh-ryst” killed that idea for me. Thank the bay-bee Jeezus for Sirius XM.
Speaking of Aquemini, I listened to it for the first time earlier this summer, and honestly, I think it would’ve been one of the best rap albums of all time if it wasn’t for the ending to every single song.
The talking, seemingly at times with no reference to the song it follows, to end the tracks distracts from the music and ruins the flow of the album.
Maybe I’m just spoiled by Illmatic though.
I love skits, but definitely get exhausted with ones attached to songs as opposed to being separate tracks. Illmatic’s biggest benefit is how lean it is, but damn, I wish it was several hours long, it’s just too good…
I find the current Passport to be very appealing, as I have mentioned several times. It looks great, it’s ridiculously practical, and it offers more than enough capability for 99% of people without forcing you to make the compromises a body on frame SUV does. If folks want to be honest with themselves (big, very hypothetical IF here), this is the right amount of off roader for most people.
That being said…woof. That fuel economy. I get why Honda didn’t prioritize gas mileage with this model, but 18/23 in a non performance two row crossover in 2025 is just totally unacceptable. Apparently Honda is close to finishing up a hybrid system for its light trucks, and it can’t come soon enough.
I mean…a base 4Runner gets better fuel economy than this and has all the benefits (as well as disadvantages) of being a body on frame off roader. Im a little perplexed as to how Honda managed to pull that off…
I agree. I find these really appealing, but even recognizing that this is bigger than what I have now, I can’t take that big of a step back in MPG.
If I’m gonna put up with gas mileage this bad it’s going to be for a performance car, not a family crossover
They pulled it off because it was already ready to go, and with a solid track record. They’re always 5-7 years behind the competition because of this conservatism, but it only jumps out at people during periods of massive change (like right now where everyone is hybridizing). Reliability pays for a lot of fuel.
Also, those mostly-unnecessary Trailsport tires kill 1-2mpg. I love the Trailsport line overall, but the first thing I’d do is buy a second set for highway travel as my primary rubber.
I still think I’d pick the Pilot over the Passport in 99% of situations. The cost is almost identical, the mechanicals too, and the Pilot just has more versatility. If I absolutely needed a few inches shorter size, then sure. As it stands, they’re just too close together and need better differentiation (another case where hybridizing the Passport would create separation)
They’re 1000% hybridizing the Pilot before the Passport. They won’t have the resources to make infinite hybrids and they’re going to prioritize the Pilot and Odyssey because people want hybrid family haulers and their main competitor in Toyota has hybrid Highlanders and Siennas. Hell Hyundai/Kia now have a hybrid Carinival and are about to have a hybrid Palisade on top of having hybrid Sorrento/Santa Fe.
I seriously doubt they’ll offer a hybrid Passport because the crowd they’re trying to woo with it literally wants worse gas mileage and wears it like a badge of honor. That being said a higher spec non Trailsport Passport is a pretty glaring omission. All of the desirable features in a Passport (the amber DRLs, upgraded audio, upgraded leather, cool colors, etc.) are locked behind the Trailsport trim.
I get why Honda wants to upsell people and push the branding but a grand total of maybe 2 Passports will ever see anything worse than a gravel road or sand, so the efficiency killing all terrains really don’t make a lot of sense.
1: Yes, you’re still in Kansas. There’s a reason they put Ft. Leavenworth there.
2: I’d hope your overall experience isn’t far removed from most any new vehicle on sale today in the U.S., though with bodies getting taller the crosswind effect can definitely have an effect.
3: The Passport looks a lot better, and it’s encouraging that they realized that “Pilot with some of the middle bits removed” wasn’t the best design for it. However it still looks more like a Toyota product than a Honda (as does the redesigned Pilot). But Honda also doesn’t have much of a visual identity right now after letting the overly-creased and vented design language of the NSX and Civic Type-R pollute most of the brand. Better than the beak/eggtooth Acura had a short while ago, or Acura’s “squeezed Play-Doh logs of various sizes” language in use currently, but that’s not saying much.
4: How were the seats and other creature comforts? Better than the NV200 of course as you mentioned, but is it comfier or more intuitive than your CR-V? Anything you’d change? How were the headlights?
1. Maybe the reason Route 66 is such a popular road trip is that it only cuts through about 12 miles in the far southeast corner of Kansas? A little Kansas goes a long way.
3. Looking like the right Toyota might not be bad for a Honda. Picture the Passport’s design cues on a Fit-sized car and think of the old Scion xB.
That 12 mile section is the only part of Kansas I’ve been in but I still totally count visiting it.
It’s literally the shittiest part of Kansas, bar none. The poverty of the Ozarks permeates the entire SEK region, and there’s tons of old mines that are polluting the groundwater there. Statistically significant cancer rates in Pittsburg, Coffeyville, Parsons, Independence… the whole region is not super pleasant to be honest.
Kansas is best experienced east of US 281, south of US 36 and north of the US 54-400 corridor. Basically the Flint Hills and adjacent I-135/US 81 corridor are where its at. Much further west, it gets more and more dry and the population drops off precipitously and gets super weird. On the fringes of those corridors, it’s isolated and far from major population centers, and also super weird.
Same with Utah and Idaho. Nebraska would be better if all their roads weren’t permanently rotomilled into oblivion.
Can confirm that the seats were comfy, including the backseats, I was operating out of the back of pretty frequently. And for reference, I’m 6’2 with a decent build ~200lbs
I see at least one other car in your photos which i’d much rather drive cross country in while chasing a Nissan Taxi – but potentially three.
First is the red Miata.
Second is the Grabber Blue 1971-1973 Mustang – if it’s a convertible.
And is that a French Blue Miata parked next to the Mustang?
Because one can always stick a GoPro on a suction mount on the rear deck of any of these convertibles.
Excess luggage beyond a couple duffle bags, a thermal snacks/drinks bag, sunscreen and laptops can go in the taxi.
And nobody cares what you smell like in a convertible. (Only when you get out)
There – I’ve just saved us @$30,000!
Use the 30k to stay on the road for a year. Head north to Canada in late spring. Lobster awaits on Maine in September. Also if it’s the Mustang get your cassettes ready.
Stankonia is excellent for driving, so I’m not super shocked that it jumped up in your rankings based on a road trip.
I’ve come to like the new Passport design where Honda actually distinguished it from the Pilot (the last one looked like ass) and while I’m not 100% sold that such a thing needs to exist, I’ve given up on railing against the premise of large 2-row crossovers. I guess. It genuinely looks good, and I’m sure it’s decent to live with.
54k is wild though.
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below is an underrated album, but I get why it can’t be first- it doesn’t feature them together much.
I’m surprised that Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik fell so hard in your rankings. Was Stankonia that good?
I think I listened to idlewild once and forgot it existed.
Idlewild is underrated! Hollywood Divorce alone is worth the price of admission for me
Isn’t Mutron Angel also on that? You’ve just convinced me to give it another listen. I used to hate on musicals (until I had a daughter) so I think I banned it off top.
There is a question that always is ignored in crossover reviews, and I believe it should be answered. When the second (or second and third) row is folded, does the vehicle have a flat floor? It’s very useful if you want to take a nap, or camp in your vehicle, and it makes it much easier to load large cargo.
Seems like many/most crossovers favor a comfortable 2nd row over a flat floor. This includes my CX-5. Obviously it wasn’t a dealbreaker, but I really wish it had a flat floor.
I can’t speak to a ’25 Passport, but our ’18 Acura l(3-row) MDX had a perfectly flat floor with the 3rd row down and continued with the 2nd row down. So, the company knows how to do it if they want.
The MDX has a similar V6 and would get 27+ on mid-grade on long (Texas) drives at 75-80 mph.
It sounds like they’ve gotten a lot better at adaptive cruise control, because it wasn’t so great on the MDX. To the point where I seldom used it when there was any traffic to deal with. Ditto with the sensing windshield wipers. I prefer the non-sensing wipers with a variable interval setting.
I’ve had experience with rain-sensing wipers from 3 different brands, Honda’s most recently, and have yet to experience one that doesn’t just irritate me and result in more fiddling with the sensitivity so it stops zinging into high speed at the slightest uptick in moisture. On my last car (VW) I actually gave up and turned it off to use as regular variable intermittent, Honda I’m not sure I can.
I don’t know if they still do but Honda’s particular programming of speed-sensitive intermittent wipers was great, I’ll take that any day.
I’ve been commenting on any article here relating to the Pilot/Passport/Ridgeline because we’ve owned our 2025 for almost a year now and have no regrets at all. Everything about that car is well thought out, it’s super comfy, gets surprisingly good mileage (I average 27mpg in our interstate trips to Door County), towed two motorcycles like a champ, and I think looks great.
I really like them. A few months back I parked my 4Runner next to one, I commented to the owner that it looked good, and he was so excited he took the time to give me a tour of it, opened up the back and everything. I really like all the storage and the interior design, it seems far superior to the new gen6 4Runner (though I know these vehicles don’t really compete).
1. Wasabi almonds FTW.
2. You and I will have VERY different cross country playlists.