Honda finally built the off-road SUV it should've made years ago, boxy, capable, and $10-15k cheaper than a 4Runner while driving better on pavement. The 2026 redesign nails the look with aggressive styling and backs it up with real hardware: 8.3 inches of ground clearance, steel skid plates, and an AWD system that'll handle more trail than most owners will ever see. The naturally aspirated V6 is a proven workhorse in a segment going turbo-four. But you're paying for that capability at the pump, owners report 17-20 mpg in mixed driving, and that 19-gallon tank means gas stops every 300 miles. The 10-speed transmission is a lottery: some units shift smoothly, others buck and hunt constantly, and dealers say that's normal. If you can stomach feeding it premium and frequent fill-ups, and you value Honda's reputation over a hybrid powertrain, the Passport delivers genuine adventure capability without the 4Runner's penalty box interior or dated tech. If fuel economy matters or you want buttery-smooth power delivery, the CR-V Hybrid is sitting right there in the showroom.
This is a truck with a split personality that depends entirely on when it rolled off the line. The 1999-2010 models with the 4.0L inline-six built a cult following by refusing to die, owners routinely push them past 200k miles with nothing but oil changes and the occasional sensor swap. The 2011-2020 generation trades some of that bulletproof simplicity for refinement, and while the 3.6L Pentastar has a known oil cooler weakness (plan for a $1,600 repair eventually), plenty of these trucks still deliver reliable service once that's addressed. Then 2021 arrived and quality control fell apart: transmissions failing at 3k miles, electrical systems going dark, the kind of catastrophic breakdowns that make you question whether anyone test-drove these before shipping them. If you're buying used and find a well-kept pre-2021 model, you're getting proven capability. If you're considering anything current-gen, you're gambling on whether Stellantis sorted out the gremlins, and right now, the house is winning.