2026 Honda Passport TrailSport Should Be A More Capable Off-Road Crossover

The 1994 Honda Passport was the first time the United States saw an SUV with a Honda “H” on the grille. A joint venture between Honda and Isuzu. The first the first two generations of the Honda Passport were traditional body-on-frame SUVs that offered either rear- or four-wheel drive. The Passport name was resurrected in 2019 for a Pilot-based crossover, but the TrailSport trim introduced in 2022 brought back some of the Passport’s ruggedness. Teased in a new video, the upcoming fourth-generation 2026 Passport TrailSport looks to take off-roading more seriously than any other Honda crossover before it.

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Though details about the upcoming Passport are slim, Honda announced that it will have a “more powerful” 3.5-liter V6 engine. The current-gen Passport already uses a 3.5-liter V6 making 280 horsepower and 262 pound-feet of torque, so more power will be welcome. Honda also announced the engine will be paired with a high-strength 10-speed automatic transmission, one additional gear more than the current car’s auto, and the Passport will have an updated torque-vectoring all-wheel-drive system.

All-New 2026 Honda Passport TrailSport Development Continues

The teaser video Honda released shows a camouflaged Passport TrailSport tackling some daunting-for-a-crossover off-road tasks like rock crawling, water fording and sand pit slinging, taking place across Moab, western Michigan, and the Appalachian mountains. Though the Passport will almost certainly remain front-wheel-drive based, its use of a traditional automatic transmission instead of a CVT will make it a better off-roader than some of its competitors.

While the Passport in the video is camouflaged, we can see that it has a boxier design than the current model, with shorter overhangs, large rectangular headlights, thick pillars, big fender flares, chunky all-terrain tires and tall roof rails. The 2026 Honda Passport TrailSport will be revealed later this fall, and dealer arrivals are slated to begin early next year.

Photo: Honda

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