I’ve spent enough time with our 2026 Honda Passport TrailSport long-term tester now—close to 4,000 miles, to be precise—to sample most of its features. Most of them are fairly straightforward, such as media, climate, and comfort, while other remote features, like the Honda Link app, require a bit more time and effort to explore.
Most importantly, I’ve had a chance to use these dozens and dozens of times by now, helping me understand how useful or gimmicky they are, how reliable, and in some cases, whether they’re worth the money or not. Also, it’s been lovely to hear from many of you, asking me questions about the Passport, its pros and cons, and its quirks. In some cases, you’ve shared your own experiences with your own Passports.
I’m getting straight to the nitty-gritty here and breaking these down into three categories: Like, Dislike, and On the Fence. Each item will have a brief explanation of why it’s in that category, as well as any relevant details or rambling thoughts.
Dislike
- Fan Speed: When I mentioned this on a quick, off-the-cuff list of peculiar things I’d noticed about the Passport, I received multiple emails from current owners expressing the same frustration. Fan speed 1 is too strong for comfort, feeling more like levels 2 or 3 in most other cars. How about an update for the 2027 model, Honda?
- Adaptive Cruise: While I understand that most ADAS systems err on the side of caution, the Passport’s adaptive cruise control has a tendency to brake abruptly at any sign of traffic—even when that traffic is, uh, invisible. I’ve been cruising on the highway at 75 mph only for the system to brake and drop me down to 71 or 70 mph for no apparent reason. No cars in front, no careening to the side, nothing. This happens regardless of whether the Lane Keeping Assist System is activated. It’s also not an issue exclusive to the Passport, as I’ve experienced it in other Honda models as well.
- Lane-Keeping Assist: Much like adaptive cruise, lane-keeping assist underperforms, constantly making the Passport ping-pong between lane markings. And while I understand that it is an assist, rather than a level of self-driving, the steering assist is weak and often insufficient to steer the SUV through a long turn on the highway.
- Shut-Off Sequence: The issue is that when you shut off the engine, everything shuts off. If you’re listening to music, that shuts down immediately. If you’re on a phone call via the car’s Bluetooth or Apple CarPlay, that will also shut off. If you park on a busy city street, your blind spot monitors will not alert you if there’s a car or a cyclist coming, so you don’t open your door. Why? Because all power is cut off. Most cars allow for auxiliary power to remain on for 60 seconds after you push the Engine Start button, or allow you to customize this setting via the infotainment screen. Not the Passport. If I ranked the items on the Dislike list from most aggravating to least aggravating, this would be firmly in second place behind the fan speed.
- Garage Door Opener: I could write a thousand words about how annoying it is that my 2009 Honda Odyssey had physical buttons to operate up to three garage doors for free, yet a range-topping 2026 Passport doesn’t. Not only that, you have to pay $129 for 3 years of the MyQ service to use the garage door feature via the central touchscreen (no physical button), in addition to the $110 per year required for the HondaLink Remote membership.
Like
- Customizable Gauges: While being able to swap gauge styles, themes, and functions on a digital gauge cluster is nothing new, the level of customization that the Passport offers is mostly found in high-end, luxury vehicles. You’re able to customize the read-out in three parts: left, center, and right. You can swap your tachometer for a dozen other visuals, like media settings, or an old-school speedometer gauge for your trip computer, or a map view with GPS guidance, all while keeping two other customizable views in the center and right sides of the screen. If you’d rather just have an all-out map view, you can, or you can keep things plain so it looks like a traditional gauge cluster.
- GPS Pop-Up: This is hands-down one of my favorite features of the Passport. I have my gauge cluster divided into three sections: music on the left, speedometer and ADAS in the middle, and trip computer on the right. I also usually have the dash-mounted infotainment touchscreen set to the Apple CarPlay home screen. When running the GPS, whether it be the native system’s Google Maps or whatever I use via CarPlay, I don’t have to worry about keeping the navigation open on the touchscreen, because the system will automatically show me my route on the right side of my gauge cluster. And what I like even more is that it won’t show it all the time. It only pops up as I’m approaching a turn or something along my route that requires my attention. For example: If I’m on a road trip and I have 30 miles of highway ahead of me, I don’t have to have a map pulled up on any of the screens, meaning I can enjoy my usual read-outs, music, or whatever displays I prefer. However, once I’m approaching my exit or a turn, the live map will pop up on the right side of the gauge cluster, letting me know that something is coming up. Once I make the turn, it goes away!
- Headlights: These reflector-style LED headlights are likely the best in the entire Honda lineup, and they’re comparable to Acura units in terms of performance. They’re bright, they offer great depth, and they do a great job overall. And while the procedure for activating the auto high-beam function is a bit quirky, you typically don’t mess with that very often.
- Power: Indeed, 285 horsepower and 262 lb-ft of torque don’t sound like all that much in today’s EV world, but believe it or not, it’s plenty. I’m always pleasantly surprised when I have to step on the accelerator for a quick pass, because I’m reminded that the Passport has what it takes to lurch forward with confidence. I’d dare say that it feels like a bit more than 300 ponies coming out of that V6.
- Pedal Calibration: Both the accelerator and brake pedals are just lovely. Soft yet responsive, and especially given Honda’s history of overly grabby brake pedals, the Passport suffers from no such thing. A really proper job here by the engineers tasked with making this a comfortable daily.
- Seats: Same as the above. Five stars.
- Storage Solutions: Families (and hoarders) rejoice! The Passport learned from the best in terms of cupholders and storage solutions, as these are areas the Honda Pilot has mastered for years. You’ll never be left wanting more places to store stuff, or places to hold your small to XXL water containers. And I especially love the hidden, under-floor storage in the trunk. Super practical.
- Google Infotainment: I have slowly but surely grown to love Honda’s new Google-based infotainment system. I love that once I log into my Google account, it knows everything about me. I press the Google Assistant button on the screen and tell it to take me somewhere, call someone, or provide me with any necessary information from the internet. All without taking my eyes off the road. Ah, the sweet convenience we trade for our privacy.
On the Fence
- HondaLink: At $110 per year, this subscription to an app that allows you to locate your car, remote start it, control the HVAC (during remote start), and perform other functions like flashing the lights or honking the horn, seems a bit steep, though it also includes specific safety features like emergency assistance response, etc. Indeed, some people will get more use out of this than others. So yeah, take it or leave it.
- Color Combination: When I saw the first-ever photos of the Passport TrailSport, I thought the Sunset Orange hue was killer. It suits the SUV’s rugged persona well, and while any orange exterior color is never discreet, it’s not so bright that it feels like it belongs on a supercar instead. However, combined with the brown leather interior of my tester, it feels a bit excessive, especially when considering the interior has numerous black panels as well. If I were buying one, I’d go for a full black interior, or ideally, Sonic Gray Pearl exterior with a Gray interior. Now that would look sleek.
- Bluetooth Microphone: So, I have not experienced any real issues with the microphone located on the driver’s side of the car, which is used for voice prompts or phone calls. I’ve done plenty of calls, and when asked, other people simply say that there’s a little noise and they can definitely tell that I’m in a car while using a hands-free system because I sound “far away.” However, I’ve had multiple readers contact me saying that call quality is poor and they struggle to hold a phone call with clear, legible audio for the people on the other end. Most of them claim that there is too much background noise and their voices can barely be heard. I’m dropping this in this category because while I have not experienced the issue, the fact that multiple people have called it out to me is peculiar.
I just turned 4,000 miles in the Passport (I was given it with around 300 miles), so you can look forward to a full review for the next installment of our long-term test in the coming weeks, as well as a features video on our social media channels. Stay tuned!
Email the author at jerry@thedrive.com