The New Honda Passport Gets a Big Price Hike

Honda is making a big deal of its new Passport crossover. Positioned between the CR-V and Pilot, the Passport is pitched as a more stylish, rugged alternative to both. On Tuesday, Honda began Passport sales and confirmed a $46,200 MSRP for the base RTL model. That makes this Honda’s most expensive gas-powered SUV.

Here’s a complete breakdown of pricing by trim, all inclusive of a $1,450 destination charge.

The tow package for the RTL includes a Class III hitch and integrated rear recovery points. That’s standard on the TrailSport, which also gets notable off-roading upgrades including all-terrain tires, additional recovery points, steel skid plates, and a unique suspension tune. The Elite package for the TrailSport adds some nice luxuries like a heated steering wheel, cooled seats, keyless entry, and an off-road camera system, while the Blackout package brings black trim.

This new Passport is a good bit more expensive than the previous version, which started at $43,850, with the TrailSport coming in at $46,450. But, this is an all-new car, based on the same platform as the new Pilot and sporting a new drivetrain. Gone is Honda’s extremely long-running 3.5-liter single-cam V-6 and in its place is a new twin-cam variant with 285 horsepower and 262 pound-feet of torque (an improvement of 5 hp, with torque remaining the same). There’s also a 10-speed automatic and unlike the Pilot, standard all-wheel drive.

The new Passport also looks meaningfully different than the Pilot, whereas its predecessor was really just a shortened version of the three-row. It also has an upgraded all-wheel drive system, which should bolster its off-road prowess.

Our initial impressions from off-roading a Passport prototype were positive, and Honda’s been on a roll lately, so we expect good things from the Passport. It’s not the hardest core off-roader out there, but it’s probably as much off-roader as buyers need.