2027 Honda Passport TrailSport First Drive: Did Honda Go Too Far?

Over a year ago, I flew down to North Carolina to spend a couple of days learning how to off-road the 2026 Honda Passport TrailSport in nearly the same way Honda's own engineers were trained. Aside from all the fun to be had, this outing was to demonstrate that while the all-new Passport won't likely see the dirt that often, it could hold its own against all others like it in its class, like the Ford Bronco Sport Black Diamond/Sasquatch or Hyundai's XRT lineup.

Thus, when the opportunity to do it all again this year turned up in my inbox, I couldn't pass it up. But you might be asking why I did it again in the first place. After all, didn't I get all that I could out of both the Passport TrailSport and the off-road training to prove its capabilities the first time? And you would be right if Honda also felt the same way. Turns out the automaker couldn't leave things alone, especially with the most important piece of the off-roading puzzle: the suspension.

So, I once again flew down to North Carolina to spend a couple of days re-learning how to off-road at the same spot all of Honda's engineers hone their skills, but this time with the upgraded 2027 Honda Passport TrailSport. And the upgraded suspension wasn't the only thing on the menu for my return, either. A new app, a new drive partner, and even a new chance to learn new things were all in store for me as fall was held off a little longer in the Piedmont of Central North Carolina.

"Seventy percent of the suspension was redone for 2027," said Honda Senior Product Planner for Honda Passport, Jody Suzuki. "The most popular question is, 'Why so soon after the first release [in 2026]?' My answer is because we are always committed to TrailSport and making the product better and improving it. A lot of the feedback we got from customers, dealers, and media was that ground clearance was one of the issues."

Compared to the original suspension setup, the 2027 version (everything in red in the rendering above) offers 1.38 inches more ground clearance for a new clearance height of 9.65 inches; the 2026 model only has 8.27 inches to work with. This in turn helps with 2 to 3 degrees of improved approach, breakover and departure angles, coming out to 25, 23 and 25 degrees, respectively.

Cameron Aubernon/SlashGear

Up front, the new package includes an 18% less-stiff stabilizer bar, new lower control arms, a modified subframe for driveshaft clearance, and a new pair of front driveshafts for longer suspension travel (important for maintaining contact with the ground — and, so, maintain traction — on uneven terrain). Out back, the hollow stabilizer bar was replaced by a solid, reshaped unit that is 40% less stiff compared to the old unit. New dampers, improved rear rebound stroke, 26 mm-taller springs, new rear driveshafts, and longer brake lines hold the line while traversing the roughest trails.

One risk of off-road trims is prioritizing performance where few drivers will actually need it, and in the process sacrificing refinement on-road where the car will spend most of its time. "We're always looking for the best balance between on-road and off-road," agrees Honda senior engineer Pete Langseth. "We want real off-road performance, but we want it to be super-comfortable and handle extremely well, almost like a passenger car, on-road."

Aside from the updated suspension system, the 2027 Passport TrailSport (from $51,590 including $1,595 destination) — as well as the Passport TrailSport Elite (from $55,290) and base RTL (from $46,790) trims — receive new pieces to the standard kit. All trims can be had in a new color option called Smoke Blue Pearl, sported by all of the pre-production models used in this year's off-road adventure. A total of eight colors are available for 2027, two of which — Sunset Orange and Ash Green Metallic — are exclusive to the TrailSport and TrailSport Elite.

The TrailSport trims also gain an updated Blackout Package with a set of black 18-inch wheels and other blacked-out trimmings. More pronounced fender flares, a reworked lower front fascia, and the introduction of amber hood scoop lights — normally seen on trucks and other vehicles big enough to be required to wear them by law — complete the exterior upgrades.

Cameron Aubernon/SlashGear

On the tech side, the TrailWatch camera system — a surround-view camera system with tire path graphics — is now standard on all TrailSport models.

The real big news, though, was the introduction of the Honda Trail Experience (HTX) app, an Apple iOS-exclusive (as of this post) app made for all Honda TrailSport owners to help make their off-roading experience as straightforward — and sharable — as possible. The app can record video and audio, as well as take photos, all while offering data like elevation, pitch and roll, brake pressure, throttle position and more. I got a chance to test the app on a 2026 Passport TrailSport (the 2027 pre-production fleet didn't get the software update needed to use the app):

Of course, to truly get the most out of the fleet of pre-production Passport TrailSports, one must first learn how to handle the business of off-roading. You can go back to my 2026 Honda Passport TrailSport outing from last year to read a more detailed account about what all goes into teaching Honda's engineers how to off-road so that they, in turn, know more about what they can do to make their TrailSport products better. For this story, though, a brief summary will do.

Cameron Aubernon/SlashGear

The first morning is spent in a classroom setting learning not only what the Passport TrailSport and Passport TrailSport Elite can do on the very beaten path, but learning the basics of off-roading in general. This would be followed by pairing off with another journalist, then hopping into one of the pre-production Passport TrailSports to take through an obstacle course designed as a preview to the trail driving to come over the two-day course. The first afternoon features a hill climb course to learn what to do if you can't make it up the first time, closing with another trail drive.

Cameron Aubernon/SlashGear

The final morning is spent learning about the various off-road recovery tools needed to ensure the adventure moves along as smoothly as possible, as well as how to properly use each one. This is followed by a basic recovery demonstration, where a Passport TrailSport is tasked with pulling a Pilot out of a ditch before the entire group spends the whole day out on the trail, all under the guiding philosophy of "As slow as possible, as fast as necessary."

Of course, even with careful planning and driving, accidents can sometimes happen...

A few years back, I volunteered as tribute to bring the Ford Bronco Everglades I was driving on an off-road trail on Drummond Island in Northern Michigan to a spot where the trail guides could use the big horse's winch to pull a tree out of the way of a deep bit of water, in order for our group and other users of the trail to keep going. While pulling into position, I snagged the right rear fender flare on the pointy end of that fallen tree, popping it off the body.

This is all to say I managed to pop something else on the trail this time around:

The right front tire of my 2027 Honda Passport TrailSport.

Cameron Aubernon/SlashGear

Passing through into a rough, rocky section of the trail during the morning run, the sidewall on the right front tire on my Passport TrailSport was punctured. The effect was sudden, as what I thought was the sound of angry rattlesnakes was the air violently escaping into the wild. The emergency stop gave everyone else a chance to see how to change a tire on the trail with the kit supplied by Honda.

Except there was a problem with said kit. The scissor jack on mine and everyone else's pre-production Passport TrailSport was designed to work with regular jack points, not the ones required with the available rock sliders. Thus, it took a bit more effort to get my rig off the ground long enough to make the swap with the full-size spare in the back ready to go for such disasters. All in all, everyone learned something from my folly before we moved on with the rest of the run.

It's one thing to learn about the updated suspension on the 2027 Passport. It's another to experience it first-hand, which began with the round-trip run between the hotel and the off-road course.

On the open road, the new suspension made the ride on the two-lane roads and busy interstates about as comfortable as any given non-rugged crossover. Things seemed quieter, too, even with the custom all-terrain tires General Tire made with Honda for the Passport TrailSport and TrailSport Elite. Of course, an hour each way isn't quite enough to assess its everyday life, so you'll have to wait a bit until a 2027 model comes our way for a proper on-road review.

Cameron Aubernon/SlashGear

On the other hand, the 2027 Passport TrailSport and TrailSport Elite are just as capable as ever on the trail, perhaps more so now with the improved ground clearance and angles of travel. Driving in Trail Mode — one of seven drive modes available across all trims of the 2027 Passport — also contributed to making the most of this rugged crossover's capabilities out in the great outdoors. Combined with the training I received, nothing could stop me from climbing out of trouble; not even a flat tire and an impromptu tire change.

And to really prove its mettle, our instructors stopped at another spot where yet another Honda Pilot had gotten really stuck in a ditch, which kicked off the advanced recovery demo. With a 2027 Passport TrailSport pulled into position, the instructors used the recovery tools and a nearby tree to help pull the Pilot out of the ditch within the small space this spot provided. Not many crossovers can claim this feat, to say the least.

Last year, I said the Honda Passport TrailSport earned a lot of my respect for handling itself on the same terrain many a Ford Bronco, Jeep Wrangler and GMC Canyon AT4 have crossed before. The suspension improvements for the 2027 version have only served to deepen said respect. There really is nothing quite like this machine putting itself out there in the overall midsize crossover market; again, only the Ford Bronco Sport Black Diamond/Sasquatch, the Kia Telluride X-Pro, and Hyundai's Tucson XRT and Santa Fe XRT models come close.

Honda

Can the 2027 Honda Passport TrailSport and Passport TrailSport Elite both turn up at Moab one morning to show up the purpose-built rock crawlers? Or, perhaps, head up to Drummond Island to fjord the deepest puddles? Probably not without really modifying the crossover in the first place. But I think it's safe to say that it can handle about 95% of everything else those truly off-road capable machines are expected to do on the trail.

All that's really needed is a couple of days of training — like what I went through two years in a row — to help you help your Passport TrailSport or Passport TrailSport Elite clear all those obstacles during a fun weekend of off-roading. You won't only surprise yourself, but you'll likely surprise all of those off-road bros, too. After all, why should Honda's UTVs have all the fun?