10 Things To Know Before Buying The 2022 Honda Passport

The 2022 Honda Passport has been launched for a starting price of $37,870 and comes with no major changes from the outgoing 2021 model. Offered with the smooth and refined 3.5-liter naturally aspirated V6 motor, this mid-size family SUV is capable of doing highway speed all day long without breaking a sweat. The AWD is available with all the trims and the automatic transmission is adequately fast, all of which aids the drivability.Coming in with three trim configurations, the 2022 Honda Passport also managed to impress us with its spacious cabin, a long list of standard features and equipment, and impressive safety performance. The reliability and dependability are up there with the best of the lot, too, as could be seen from the JD Power report. Competing with the likes of the Kia Telluride, Hyundai Palisade, and Jeep Grand Cherokee, here are 10 things that you need to know before buying the 2022 Honda Passport.RELATED: Here's What The 1997 Honda Passport Is Worth Now

10 Punchy Powertrain

The 2022 Honda Passport comes with the same 3.5-liter naturally aspirated V6 motor producing 280 hp and 262 lb-ft of torque, and it's mated to a 9-speed torque converter automatic transmission. Both FWD and AWD drivetrains are offered. With a 0-60 mph time of 6.1 seconds and a quarter-mile time of 14.7 seconds, the Passport turned out to be a competent performer.

Put your foot down from any RPM and the car responds immediately. The automatic transmission is pretty fast, and the car offers the right gear all the time. There is a manual mode on offer as well. When driving on the highways, the performance feels more than adequate. The wide torque band means that the car never feels lethargic when on the highways, and even with five passengers and a lot of cargo, the Passport doesn't disappoint.

9 Comes Loaded With Safety Features

2022-honda-passport_100807509_h (1) — Via: Honda

Safety has always been high on the priority list of most of the cars from Honda's stable, and the 2022 Passport is no different. Similar to the Honda Pilot, which is a three-row SUV that comes at a similar price to the Passport, this SUV is going to be high up on the list for family buyers due to the long list of safety features that comes as standard.

The standard driver-assistance features include lane departure warning, lane-keeping assist, adaptive cruise control, and many more. Some of the other features can be had if you opt for the optional packages, all of which are reasonably priced. With solid build quality on offer, the car did well in both the NHTSA and IIHS crash tests.

8 Brakes Have Superb Bite

Coming with the same 12.6" ventilated front rotors and 13" solid discs at the rear, the 2022 Honda Passport offered superb braking performance for the segment. Stomp on the brake pedal from 70 mph and the car comes to a halt in just 165 feet, surpassing the rivals like the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Acura RDX.

We found the initial bite to be adequate and the braking progression was excellent, however, the feel and feedback could have been a bit better. All the braking features like brake assist, hill hold control, ABS with EBD, etc., come as standard across the three trim configurations.

7 Not Fun To Drive

The 2022 Honda Passport is far from an SUV that's fun to drive, as it is tuned for hauling your entire family in utmost comfort. Even with the independent front and rear suspension setup with coil springs and anti-roll bars, the 2022 Passport can never be considered as a replacement for your low-slung sports sedan.

Even though the suspension is tuned to be neutral, take the corners a bit too aggressively and the Passport changes direction with a bit of hesitation, the car does understeer, and that takes away the fun. Even the AWD version also exhibits a similar character. Nevertheless, the steering is precise and direct, even though the feel and feedback were quite low.

6 Ride Quality Is A Bit Choppy

The strut front suspension and the multi-link rear suspension of the 2022 Honda Passport don't make the ride quality pliant. Drive the car at a sane speed through the pothole-infested roads, and it does transmit the jolts to the cabin, especially when met with bigger potholes.

Even while driving at the highway speeds, the ride turned out to be not as pliant as the Acura RDX. There is a bit of vertical movement and the body roll is present too. The TrailSport trim managed a slightly superior ride quality due to the 18" wheels, compared to the 20" wheels offered with the EX-L trim.

5 Has A Spacious Cabin

2022-honda-passport_interior (1) — Via: Honda

Being a 5-seater mid-size family SUV, the 2022 Honda Passport offers impressive interior space. Open the doors and get into the front seats to understand how well packaged the cabin is, with excellent headroom and legroom on offer. The shoulder room turned out to be the best of the segment, too, making it the least claustrophobic of the lot.

The seats come wrapped in leather with orange stitching, and they are well-padded and adequately soft, aiding in both city and highway traveling comfort. The under-thigh and lower back support are impressive too. The same is also the case with the rear row. There is a wide armrest on offer, which helps the rear seat passengers to be comfortable during those long-distance drives. The cargo capacity of 50.5 cu ft is the best of the lot too.

4 Design Looks A Bit Bland

One of the areas which managed to receive major updates when compared to the outgoing 2021 model is the exterior design. The 2022 Honda Passport now sports an updated front fascia with a more striking blacked-out grille and a more squared proportion. The bumper has received subtle tweaks too. However, in comparison to the Hyundai Palisade and Kia Telluride, it still doesn't stand out when out on the road.

The side and rear profiles also received minor updates in the form of an updated rear bumper, black fender flares, and a few more. The TrailSport trim is the other new addition, which is offered for a base MSRP of $42,470, and comes with a rugged exterior design with the inclusion of 18" wheels, wider front and rear sections, etc. The Honda Performance Development Appearance Package is available too. Even with all these, it still retains the family car design, which many wouldn't be a fan of.

3 Unremarkable Interior

The cabin of the 2022 Honda Passport is an amalgamation of black plastics and gloss-black elements along with a mundane design language, all of which are not going to impress the buyers out there. The dashboard doesn't stand out like the rivals from Korea, and the car looks like it's about 10 years old. However, the cabin quality is quite good for the price.

The touchscreen infotainment system is integrated neatly onto the dashboard, and the contrastive elements like the red start/stop button and the silver accents do manage to uplift the cabin. The chunky steering wheel that comes wrapped in leather coupled with leather upholstery with contrasting stitching looks beautiful too.

2 No Changes For The Infotainment

The infotainment duties are handled by the 8" touchscreen infotainment system, which is the same as the ones offered with the outgoing 2021 model. The display is pretty nice with punchy colors, brightness, and excellent touch sensitivity. The interface also turned out to be excellent, with everything laid out neatly with no clutter.

The infotainment also comes with all the necessary connectivity features like Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, Bluetooth, AUX, USB, and many more. The entertainment features like SiriusXM radio support, navigation, voice recognition, 7-speaker audio system, steering mounted controls, etc., are standard too.

1 Decent Fuel Efficiency

Even though it comes with a reasonably large V6 motor with no forced induction, the 2022 Honda Passport managed to churn out pretty decent fuel efficiency figures. The FWD trims of the Passport can do 20 mpg in the city and 25 mpg on the highway. The 22 mpg of combined gas mileage means that the car could do 429 miles on a tank full as well.

When equipped with the AWD drivetrain, the Passport offers slightly lower gas mileage, with 19 mpg in the city and 24 mpg on the highway. The fuel efficiency numbers of this mid-size SUV fall right in the ballpark of the other rivals and hence the buyers would be pretty happy with the numbers.