Honda has revealed a new five-seat SUV at the ongoing LA motor show, called the Passport. The new model, which revives the nameplate in the US market, will slot above the CR-V in the Japanese carmaker’s range.
Based on a monocoque chassis, the new Passport gets a single engine-gearbox combination – a 3.5-litre V6 petrol engine making 284hp and 355Nm of peak torque that is mated to a 9-speed torque convertor automatic transmission. While drive is sent to the front wheels as standard, customers can also spec the SUV with Honda’s i-VTM4 all-wheel-drive system. The all-wheel-drive system can send up to 70 percent of the engine’s output to individual rear wheels and comes with four modes including sand, snow and mud. If specced with the standard front-wheel-drive layout, the Passport gets two drive modes – normal and snow.
The cabin of the Honda Passport is claimed to be class leading due to its larger size and five-seat layout. This also means that boot space is excellent with 1,167 litres available, which expands to 2,206 litres with the 60:40 split folding rear seats down.
In terms of features, the Passport SUV is quite well kitted. A 590-watt audio system comes with an 8.0-inch touchscreen (on the higher-spec models), which gets Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Lower trims get a 215-watt audio system with a 5.0-inch display. Honda has provided a number of driver assistance systems across all variants including emergency auto braking and forward collision warning, lane departure alerts and lane-keep assist, adaptive cruise, cross-traffic alert and a 360-degree camera.
Honda in India has recently launched the fifth-gen CR-V at Rs 28.15-32.75 lakh (ex-showroom, India). The carmaker has not revealed plans to bring the Passport SUV to India.
Viraaj Bhatnagar
Uday Singh
Suraj Viswanathan
