The Honda Passport nameplate has been revived and attached to an all-new SUV to sit above the CR-V.
The Passport name was previously applied to a badge-engineered Holden Frontera / Isuzu MU, which was sold in the US and Canada, and built in Indiana. That vehicle was a ladder-frame chassis off-roader, and while the new model is a monocoque design for better passenger comfort, it still has adventure in mind.
The new model will only be built in left-hand drive, ruling it out for Australia and other RHD markets, but in markets like North America the all-new Passport will slot below the Ridgeline pick-up and Pilot large SUV.
The Passport is designed to be sold as a five-seater only, because the Pilot seven-seater fills the role of family off-roader. That’s despite the fact it is about the size of a Toyota Kluger, measuring 4839mm long, 1996mm wide and 1818mm.
But Honda is pitching the Passport as offering class-leading practicality, with a huge boot behind the second row - 1109 litres. That jumps to 2205L with the back row folded down. Plus there’s a further 71L of space under the boot floor.
The interior of the Passport shows up a few familiar elements from the existing models in Honda’s range, but with a fresher design to the dashboard and Honda's latest ‘Display Audio’ interface with an 8.0-inch touchscreen, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto integration, and sat nav on some trims.
Under the bonnet of the Passport is a 3.5-litre V6 petrol engine producing 206kW of power and 355Nm of torque, which utilises a nine-speed automatic transmission to propel all four wheels through a variable torque management system, which is capable of sending up to 70 per cent of grunt rearwards if that’s what’s called for, or 100 per cent to either side. There’s a front-wheel drive version, too, of course.
And Honda is also aiming to get adventurous buyers in on the act with up to 2268-kilogram towing capacity on the AWD versions.
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