It's common for modern manufacturers to leave poorly designed features untouched for far too long. Perhaps it's the market pressure of always having to release new and improved everything. It's also one big reason that I enjoyed a week with the Honda Passport; the company's attention to detail meant that every feature and control was smartly designed and that everything worked as intended. Even the Qi wireless charging pad, which usually fails with my iPhone 15 Pro, as I've written about many times previously.
A tiny bit of history: The Honda Passport was first introduced in 1993 as the first Honda-badged SUV in the American market. Based on the Isuzu Rodeo, they were built at the Subaru Isuzu Automotive plant in Lafayette, Indiana. In 2002 the first gen Passport was replaced by the Honda Pilot, and then re-introduced in 2019.
The vehicle that Honda dropped off for me to drive around Colorado for a week was the 2024 Honda Passport AWD Trailsport in Sonic Gray with a Black interior. The Trailsport trim mostly offers cosmetic improvements (well, along with better tires and a modified suspension), giving it an attractively rugged appearance:
The front grill and side scoops are particularly attractive with this design and while you can't see them very well, the Trailsport features some deep-tread tires that are ready for mud, dirt, snow, whatever you want to overcome with your Honda. At the same time, it's a sleek design, looking shorter and more compact than its 189-inch length. Props also to Honda for having the roof rails as a standard part of the vehicle.
Swinging into the driver's seat, there's a lot going on with the dashboard, but it didn't seem particularly overwhelming:
The center console is dominated by the weird push-button gearshift that allows you to manage the 9-speed automatic transmission. In practice, it was a smooth shifting transmission and I never felt like I was in the wrong gear either at very slow or faster speeds. The all-season rubber floor mats are part of the Trailsport package and are a must-have for any vehicle, but doubly so for an SUV or truck that you're going to off-road or utilize in poor weather.
The main gauge display is worth a closer look, it's a nice combination of efficient design and some subtle luxury touches:
The green color bar along the top was particularly striking at night, but I want to point out that the EPA numbers for this 2024 Honda Passport are 19/24 so 22.4mpg is right in the middle, an unusual experience! This isn't particularly great in terms of fuel efficiency but it is powered by a decent 280hp 3.5L VTEC V6 engine. This does allow the vehicle to have a respectable 5,000-pound towing capacity. Perfect for that boat, pair of his and hers jetskis, or work trailer.
I have to admit to being intrigued by the +/- gas pump icon too: it didn't have the background increase or decrease as the tank was slowly consumed, so what's the plus and minus of the icon (versus just a plain gas pump)? It's also worth noting that I was in ECO mode, a button that's just about impossible to find. Turns out that it's tucked near the driver's left knee, behind the steering wheel, a button that one would think should be front-and-center, not hidden. Then again, how much effect does it have given that I was driving almost exclusively in ECO mode and got 22.4mpg?
The green light above the main gauge is cool, but what I really appreciated was the subtle luxury touch of the light around the cup holders, making the center console quite striking at night:
This is the kind of feature I expect in a $75K BMW or Mercedes, so having it tucked into the Honda Passport was a fun surprise, as is the vivid green around the D/S button in the "shifter" button panel. Very good attention to detail. The orange lighting is part of, you guessed it, the Trailsport trim kit.
Speaking of attention to detail, as I mentioned earlier, one of the great engineering features of the Passport is that the Qi wireless charging pad actually worked, even when I was on rougher terrain:
All too often these chargers either never see the Qi-compatible phone (mine is an iPhone 15 Pro) or work for just a few seconds then slip ever so slightly out of place and fail to charge. This one worked great, but is a fairly low power first-generation Qi charger so didn't actually accomplish much; there's a new Qi2 standard that offers lots more power which will allow having your phone more charged when you arrive than when you get into the car itself. As has become standard, notice that this has the full array of power options in addition: USB-C, USB-A, and the old 12V cigarette lighter (I know, no car manufacturers call it that nowadays!)
Going back to the main dashboard layout, here are all the buttons on the steering wheel crossbar:
Decidedly asymmetric for a vehicle element that often has two clusters that are a mirror image of each other (in design, if not functionality). And, like every manufacturer, there are trumpets to denote where the horn is located. A great throwback to what I imagine were the original horseless carriages with a literal horn with a squeeze bulb when you needed to alert another driver of something!
In terms of charging, the rear passengers aren't out of luck; the back of the center console offers up these charging options:
That power plug with 150W is more than enough to charge up your laptop en route or to power a portable gaming system like a Switch to keep the little ones in the back seat quiet during a longer drive. Legroom? They've got it:
Notice the dual cup holders on the rear doors; there are an impressive eight cup holders between the front and back seats, plenty enough for a serious Starbucks run or for them to become small geegaws and doodads accumulators for the wee ones. It's not very clear, but do notice the orange accent stitching on the door and seats. And speaking of room, there's plenty of cargo room in this 2-row Passport:
As with every other modern vehicle, the 2024 Passport comes with a long list of safety features too, including anti-lock brakes, electronic brake distribution, vehicle stability assist, tire pressure monitor system, LED daytime running lights, and a LATCH system for ensuring that child seats are firmly and securely attached to the rear seats. Picking through the detailed Monroney, there's also intelligent traction management, hill start assist, auto-dimming rearview mirror, blind spot monitoring, parking sensors, adaptive cruise control (a must-have in my book), collision mitigation braking system, lane keeping assist system, and road departure mitigation. Suffice to say, a lot!
After driving this through urban, suburban, and mountain roads for a week, I came to really like the Passport. Its height makes it very comfortable to get into and climb out of, and the drive experience was quite acceptable overall with its V6 engine. It's not going to win you any pink slips from a stop with fairly mundane acceleration, but once you're up to speed, it's quiet and maneuverable, while you're enjoying the 7-speaker audio system and comfortable ride. If you're in the market for a small to midsize SUV, the Honda Passport, particularly with the Trailsport trim package and upgrades, is definitely one for the shortlist.
2024 Honda Passport AWD Trailsport with 3.5L V6 VTEC engine and 9-speed automatic transmission. BASE PRICE: $44,500. Options included: Premium paint (Sonic Gray). AS DRIVEN: $46,330.00.
Disclaimer: Honda loaned me the Trailsport for a week in return for this candid write-up. This article originally appeared on PlanetDave.com with the title 2024 Honda Passport Trailsport: Attention to Detail.
