Sacramento,
California -- It's more powerful than a Honda CR-V and more off-road
ready and personal than a Honda Pilot.
This is how Honda describes
its all-new-for-2019 Passport, a sizable sport-ute that the automaker touts as
ready for adventure right off the lot.
OK, I'll bite. My Passport AWD Elite certainly looked the
part, big and bold with a wide-shouldered stance. Yeah, I'd take this vehicle through the mud,
snow and backwoods in a heartbeat.
Then again, the interior perks and driving manners of the Passport were substantial to the point that it easily qualifies as a daily driver/commuter on weekdays and a weekend warrior for outdoor
enthusiasts when they're not being paid on the clock.
My loaded-up ride was
priced at $44,725, so right away I'm thinking this is a vehicle you want to
have a long relationship with ... say 10 years minimum. Given Honda's storied reliability, this seems
like a wise decade-long investment.
The tester was equipped
for long-term enjoyment.
Besides a full boat of
state-of-the-art safety equipment, my Passport had leather all around,
front/rear heated seats, sturdy roof rails, parking sensors front and
back, LED lights all about, a wireless phone charger, a solid navigation system
and much, much more.
If you crave summer
sunshine fun or runs up to the Sierra Nevada to the ski slopes in winter months, the Passport has
the tools to make either extreme enjoyable.
And plenty of interior room for all your stuff. Honda has marketed the Passport along these lines, and well, it's no
idle boast.
How does it drive? Smooth, steady and strong with a 3.5-liter
V-6 rated at nearly 300 horses. Towing
capacity is up to 5,000 pounds.
The fuel mileage for the tested Passport package was fair at 19 miles per gallon in the city and 24 mpg on the
highway.
I guess the highest
compliment I can pay to the Passport is that spending a week in it made me want
to hit the road for some extended time away from anything resembling a ringing phone
or email alert.
If that's your idea of
paradise, you should apply for a Passport test drive.
