Test drove a Honda Passport Elite

mcrimm

Member
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Mazda 3 5 door SGT
I*ve now driven a Signature, a Ford Edge Titanium and now a Passport Elite. While the Passport is larger and will result in lower MPG, this is a nice SUV. Cost wise, the Honda is 10% more but has a naturally aspired V-6 with cylinder cutout. Storage is greater also.

I dislike the black painted wheels on the elite. They look tacky.

With my previous 5 Honda*s, the paint isn*t subject to chips near as much as my current Mazda 3. My 3 is a mess with chips all over - not just the hood.

I need to do more research.
 
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I*ve now driven a Signature, a Ford Edge Titanium and now a Passport Elite. While the Passport is larger and will result in lower MPG, this is a nice SUV. Cost wish, the Honda is 10% more but has a naturally aspired V-6 with cylinder cutout. Storage is greater also.

I dislike the black painted wheels on the elite but, with my previous 5 Honda*s, the paint isn*t subject to chips near as unchanged as my current Mazda 3.

I need to do more research.
This "all-new" Honda Passport Elite IMO definitely is the best-looking vehicle from Honda for a long while. If you like naturally-aspirated 280hp V6 for power and 9-speed transmission for efficiency, this should be the one for you. 5.8 seconds on 0-60 is fast and it'd out-run our CX-5 Signature easily, and the price is not much higher. But there's no free lunch for more power you also have to pay for the price on poorer gas mileage.

I personally don't like Honda V6 as it's the only V6 in the US is still using timing belt, which requires expensive periodical replacement. And cylinder deactivation is something I don't want to haver based on poor history record on reliability.
 
I personally don't like Honda V6 as it's the only V6 in the US is still using timing belt, which requires expensive periodical replacement. And cylinder deactivation is something I don't want to haver based on poor history record on reliability.

I completely agree. The Odyssey was my favorite van for 2017, but it sucks knowing Ive got a $1200+ maintenance bill down the road for a new timing belt, water pump, tensioner, etc at 100k miles.

If the VCMTuner II or the S-VCM devices are compatible with the Passport (Im guessing they would be), I wouldnt hesitate to invest in one. In fact, it would be a necessity for me when purchasing a Honda with VCM. My van is a stumbling bumbling mess with cylinder deactivation, no exaggeration. I installed the original VCMTuner and its like night and day. For the cost of the device and about a loss of 1 MPG, the vans responsiveness and feel are so much better. Not to mention I have the peace of mind that I shouldnt have fouled spark plugs, failed cat converter, misaligned piston rings, etc due to VCM.

Look up the Odyssey Misfire class action settlement. Honda claims the fouled spark plugs and such were due to faulty piston rings and they were updated to prevent this from happening again. However, people are still getting misfires due to fouled spark plugs on 2015 and newer Odysseys that have VCM paired with the V6. New piston ring design may have cut down on the number of faults, but it simply cant prevent $1000 active motor mounts from failing during ownership due to the vibrations caused by your V6 running on only 3 cylinders. You paid for a V6, drive nothing less than that ; )
 
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This "all-new" Honda Passport Elite IMO definitely is the best-looking vehicle from Honda for a long while. If you like naturally-aspirated 280hp V6 for power and 9-speed transmission for efficiency, this should be the one for you. 5.8 seconds on 0-60 is fast and it'd out-run our CX-5 Signature easily, and the price is not much higher. But there's no free lunch for more power you also have to pay for the price on poorer gas mileage.

I personally don't like Honda V6 as it's the only V6 in the US is still using timing belt, which requires expensive periodical replacement. And cylinder deactivation is something I don't want to haver based on poor history record on reliability.

Agreed. Never owned belt. Always chain. That said, Honda has a 105k mile service interval and they sre not known for failing prior. Its not a huge deal IN THIS Case.

That said, Motortrend got it at 0-60 in 6.2 and the cx5 in 6.4, with very similar trap speeds etc. Outrun it easily ks a bit exaggerated.
 
>and the price is not much higher.

MSRP is 6000-7000$ higher with Passport...
To some, that is significant amount of money.
I think Passport and Signature are in diff classes for comparison here.
 
Passport is equal to the Edge more or less.
Mazda cx6 is the missing segment :)
may be someday....
 
>and the price is not much higher.

MSRP is 6000-7000$ higher with Passport...
To some, that is significant amount of money.
I think Passport and Signature are in diff classes for comparison here.

MSRP can be a relatively worthless number since a lot of companies inflate them as a marketing gimmick. How do sales prices compare? The Sig does not tend to get discounted much. Not sure about Honda.
 
Good point. MSRP on my Honda was about $5k higher than what the dealer sold it for.
 
Passport is equal to the Edge more or less.
Mazda cx6 is the missing segment :)
may be someday....
Let me tell you how disappointed when I learned that the new Mazda CUV was the even smaller cx30.

I liked the Passport on paper and went for a test drive, only dislike was the highway speed wind buffeting like noise.
 
This "all-new" Honda Passport Elite IMO definitely is the best-looking vehicle from Honda for a long while.

I think it's hideous. Well, from the back it's ok. Really the front end I don't like. At all.
 
the inside of the passport has way too much going on, there's buttons for everything and anything.
 
Looks more like an overweight minivan to me. Some of these newer crossovers are really tip-toeing the line between SUV and Minivan. Just about any Subaru besides the sedans appear this way to me.

Completely agree.
 
Agreed. Never owned belt. Always chain. That said, Honda has a 105k mile service interval and they sre not known for failing prior. Its not a huge deal IN THIS Case.

That said, Motortrend got it at 0-60 in 6.2 and the cx5 in 6.4, with very similar trap speeds etc. Outrun it easily ks a bit exaggerated.
If you think $1000+ replacing the timing belt for each 100K miles is not a huge deal, then why you dumped your 2015 CX-5 for a $800 one-time repair? ;)

And I trust test data more from Car and Driver than Motor Trend. 5.8 seconds on 0-60 is from C&D.
 
If you think $1000+ replacing the timing belt for each 100K miles is not a huge deal, then why you dumped your 2015 CX-5 for a $800 one-time repair? ;)

Because as we all know...that was just a pretense really. ;)
 
If you think $1000+ replacing the timing belt for each 100K miles is not a huge deal, then why you dumped your 2015 CX-5 for a $800 one-time repair? ;)

And I trust test data more from Car and Driver than Motor Trend. 5.8 seconds on 0-60 is from C&D.

Okay. So 5.8 vs. 6.2. It's still not earth shattering. It's like saying the Honda CRV would tear up the CX5 non-turbo. Of course, I kinda did say that, lol!

Anyway, the repair is a "pay to play" thing, and you know it's coming. It's like tires. You may as well ask me why not get rid of a vehicle every tire change? Makes no sense. A repair of a broken down part/system on the other hand has a very large element of "what else is about to die? Is this a lemon?"

You laugh, but my Jeep...every damn thing that broke, I shrugged it off as "fluke", but then the warranty ran out and stuff still broke left and right, and I couldn't anymore.

That said, yeah, it was kindof an excuse.
 
I think it's hideous. Well, from the back it's ok. Really the front end I don't like. At all.

I think it's really ugly, but I think most crossovers are really ugly. Honestly I think Mazda is the only one who has been able to pull it off and it took them a while. The CX-7 was ugly and the first gen CX-9 was ugly too.
 
I think it's really ugly, but I think most crossovers are really ugly. Honestly I think Mazda is the only one who has been able to pull it off and it took them a while. The CX-7 was ugly and the first gen CX-9 was ugly too.

Completely agree.

Everytime I see a CX-7 I think it is an ugly first attempt.

CX-5 on the other hand? Looks great! Exceptions being that the silver roof rails really ruin the look for me on most of the colors.
 
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