What's New for the 2026 Honda Passport

The current Passport is a clean-sheet redesign rather than a refresh, and the difference is obvious the moment you walk up to one. The rounded, car-like shape of the previous generation is gone, replaced by squared-off fenders, a flat hood, and a more upright stance. It reads as a genuine SUV now, and the shape pays off in headroom and outward visibility.

Underneath, Honda leaned into capability. All-wheel drive is standard across the lineup instead of optional, ground clearance is up, and the TrailSport trims get real off-road hardware rather than appearance-package badging. The lineup also simplified into two families — RTL and TrailSport — which makes the shopping process a lot less confusing than it used to be.

If you're deciding between the Passport and a three-row, it's worth reading our look at the best Honda SUV models for families, which compares how the Passport, Pilot, and CR-V handle car seats, cargo, and road trips. Families who don't need a third row often find the Passport is the better daily driver.

2026 Honda Passport Trim Levels Explained

The 2026 Passport splits into two groups: RTL trims built for comfortable everyday driving, and TrailSport trims built to handle rough surfaces. Blackout appearance packages are available on both, and they change the exterior styling rather than the mechanical setup. Here's how each one is positioned.

Passport RTL

The RTL is the entry point, and it's far from stripped down. It comes with the same 285-horsepower V6 and standard all-wheel drive as the rest of the lineup, plus leather-trimmed seating, the 12.3-inch touchscreen, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and the full Honda Sensing suite. It rides on 18-inch wheels with all-season tires, which is the right call if most of your miles are on Route 460 and I-81.

A towing-equipped version is available if you plan to pull a trailer regularly, and the RTL Blackout adds darkened exterior trim for drivers who want a more aggressive look without changing how the vehicle drives.

Passport TrailSport

The TrailSport is where the redesign earns its reputation. It swaps in 18-inch wheels wrapped in genuine all-terrain tires, adds steel skid plates to protect the underbody, and retunes the suspension for uneven ground. LED fog lights and TrailSport-specific styling round it out. For anyone who regularly drives gravel roads in the Jefferson National Forest or needs confidence on an unplowed mountain road in January, this is the trim worth the walk-up.

The trade-off is fuel economy and a slightly noisier ride at highway speed, since all-terrain tires simply aren't as quiet or as efficient as all-seasons. Whether that matters depends entirely on how you actually use the vehicle.

Passport TrailSport Elite

TrailSport Elite sits at the top of the range and layers comfort onto the capability. It adds a Bose premium audio system, ventilated front seats, a multi-view camera system that's genuinely useful when you're threading a narrow trail or backing to a hitch, and upgraded interior materials. If you want the off-road hardware without giving up the features you'd expect in a loaded SUV, this is the one.

Passport Towing Capacity and Off-Road Capability

Towing is one of the first questions we get about the Passport, and the answer is straightforward: when properly equipped, the 2026 Passport is rated to tow up to 5,000 pounds. That covers a lot of what people around here actually pull — a bass boat, a pair of jet skis, a small travel trailer, or a utility trailer loaded with equipment.

What 5,000 Pounds Actually Covers

Five thousand pounds is a practical number for a midsize two-row SUV. It's enough for most single-axle campers and boats, but it's worth measuring your trailer's loaded weight rather than its dry weight, since gear, water, and fuel add up quickly. If your trailer runs heavier than that, the Pilot and Ridgeline are the better fit — we've covered both in detail on our Honda Pilot towing capacity and Honda Ridgeline towing capacity pages.

The i-VTM4 All-Wheel-Drive System

Honda's second-generation i-VTM4 system does more than shuffle power front to rear. It can send torque between the left and right rear wheels, which helps the Passport rotate through a corner and claw for traction when one wheel loses grip. On a wet on-ramp or a muddy launch ramp, that's the difference between confidence and wheelspin.

Ground Clearance and Trail Manners

With 8.3 inches of ground clearance, the Passport clears the kind of ruts and rocks you'd hit on a forest service road without drama. The TrailSport's skid plates cover the vulnerable bits underneath, and the all-terrain tires do the heavy lifting on loose surfaces. It isn't a rock crawler and Honda doesn't market it as one, but for the Blue Ridge, it's more than enough vehicle.

2026 Passport Fuel Economy and Running Costs

The Passport uses a naturally aspirated V6 rather than a turbocharged four-cylinder or a hybrid setup, which means strong, predictable power and fuel economy that lands mid-pack for the class. Here's what the EPA ratings look like across the lineup.

The gap between RTL and TrailSport comes down almost entirely to tires. All-terrain rubber has more rolling resistance and a more aggressive tread than an all-season tire, and you pay for that grip at the pump. One or two combined MPG may not sound like much, but over a few years of commuting from Blacksburg or Radford it adds up — worth thinking about honestly if you rarely leave pavement.

If fuel economy is near the top of your list, the Passport may not be the right Honda for you, and we'd rather tell you that up front. Our guide to the best Honda models for gas mileage walks through the more efficient options, and the CR-V Hybrid in particular delivers dramatically better numbers if you can live with a smaller vehicle and less towing capability.

Passport Interior Space, Cargo Room, and Technology

Skipping the third row is the whole point of the Passport, and the payoff shows up behind the second row. There's roughly 44 cubic feet of cargo space with the rear seats up — more than most three-row SUVs offer with all seats in use — and folding the second row opens that up to about 83.8 cubic feet.

Room for People and Gear

In practice, that means you can load a family of five plus a weekend's worth of luggage without playing Tetris, or fold the rear seats and haul lumber, bikes, or a dog crate. The boxier roofline also helps: tall items fit that would've been awkward in the previous generation. For families still weighing whether they need three rows, our piece on the best Honda model for a growing family is a useful reality check.

Screens, Connectivity, and Honda Sensing

The 12.3-inch touchscreen handles navigation and media, with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto so your phone connects without a cable. A 10.2-inch digital instrument cluster sits behind the wheel, and Google built-in is available on higher trims for native Google Maps and voice control. Honda kept physical knobs for climate and volume, which is a small thing that matters a lot on a winding road.

Honda Sensing is standard on every trim. That package includes collision mitigation braking, road departure mitigation, adaptive cruise control with low-speed follow, lane keeping assist, and blind spot information. None of it replaces paying attention, but on a long I-81 run it takes real strain out of the drive.

Service and Long-Term Ownership

Every new Passport is covered by Honda's 3-year/36,000-mile limited warranty and 5-year/60,000-mile powertrain warranty. When it's time for maintenance, our service center is staffed by Honda-trained technicians using genuine Honda parts, and you can schedule an appointment online whenever it's convenient.