[Sweetness2022]

Out of the options presented, the Pilot makes the most sense imho. I love my Passport! If I had to fit 6 people in it…I’d wish I purchased a Pilot. In my area they are within a few thousand of each other price wise.

I guess it depends how often you think you’ll actually be driving around 6 people compared to a few thousand more in price. Personally (as long as I wasn’t behind on bills) would pay a few thousand more and get the vehicle that makes the most sense.

 

[jasonpp]

Buy the Pilot and throw on a lift kit so that you have more ground clearance if you really are going to take it off road.

 

[14v6]

We did check out the CRVs and they are good. But their off road ability is inferior to what a passport/pilot would offer and thats one of the major reasons we are skipping the CRV. Outback is another car we really liked test driving and fits our requirements, but the used car market for Outbacks is unbelievable (here in PNW) that we could upgrade to a new car for $3-4K more.

How much off road capability do you need, like lockers or a low range? Do you watch those Driving Sports TV Youtube videos. They take some serious trails so you will see how all your candidates faire. As mentioned earlier 4 Runner would be a good choice if you are a serious off roader. 4 Runners are bullet proof but mpg's and on road would be inferior to the Hondas. I think the Passport has more ground clearance than the Pilot.

 

[ScottieGfunk]

How about the Outbacks ?

I've owned a few Outbacks and as far as off-road, they are similar to the Passport. They have a little bit better ground clearance but the CVT transmission makes it struggle in low gear situations. Really, you need to define what you want to do off-road. I've owned Jeeps and Subarus and now the Passport. There are really two types of "off-road" vehicles. Those that are unibody, AWD and lack a transfer case (light off-roading) and those that have a cab on frame, transfer case, 4WD setup (Jeeps, 4Runners, Pickups, etc.). The light off-roaders are fine on maintained forest service roads and can get you to hiking trailheads, camping etc. But if you really want to get out in the wilderness and explore rough, unmaintained roads you should look at a Wrangler or 4Runner. A lifted PP still will have traction issues and could leave you stranded. They just aren't designed for it. My last car before my PPTS was a 4-door Wrangler and they are absolutely different vehicles. Every step that makes a vehicle better off-road makes it worse on-road and vice versa. I had my Jeep for 4 years before the terrible steering, body roll through corners, terrible gas mileage and loud highway noise finally made me throw in the towel. 95% of my vehicle use was paved roads, I can handle the other 5% off-road use with my PPTS.

 

[lvdukerider]

"Every step that makes a vehicle better off-road makes it worse on-road and vice versa."
This right here. 👍
Better to get the correct tool for the job than try to make somthing that isn't into somthing that might be.

 

[fx_chip]

...I think the Passport has more ground clearance than the Pilot.

The Passport is 1 inch higher.

 

[Leadfoot]

I did not understand your earlier comments about not wanting to "take a depreciation hit" on your '16 Accord.
That ship sailed long ago, pal. Any "depreciation hit" occurs in the first couple years. After that, it's all market value.
The good thing concerns an Accord's market value. It stays strong for many years. One with 65k miles will sell fast!

The '19 Passport differs slightly from the latest model, while Honda totally revamped the Pilot since then.
That's my recollection, at least. Somebody might correct me on that here.
Like others advised, the Pilot sounds like a better choice. Very nice vehicle.
The PP may excel in rough off-road terrain more capably, but not important for the duty you intend.
Gosh, stay away from Outbacks and CR-Vs. Low tow rating, CVT, low HP, turbo?, low height...yuck. Good mpg's, tho!

 

[fiqoqi]

Hi,

We are shopping for our 2nd car and have narrowed our options to the Outback, Passport or Pilot. I posted another thread comparing the Passport and Pilot, but I wanted to compare the Outback vs Passport in this post after removing our 3rd row requirement to see if that makes sense for us.

We test drive both of them and liked both. The Outback was smooth and techy, while the Passport was quieter and solid/sporty ride. We liked the looks of the Outback better than the Passport, but we are looking for opinions on value and which would work the best for our situation.

The goals for us - get a 2nd car, a little bit of offloading to help us get to trailheads (gravel roads in PNW), cargo space if the family grows (if there was a 2nd kid). We are keeping the 3rd row requirement out of the equation at this point.

The prices - A 35k mile driven CPO Outback is about $1000 more expensive than a similarly equipped 50k mile Passport (or about $4k less for a 70k mile Passport). But the Passport has a lower gas mileage, and we anticipate for our driving (6-8k a year) we would spend about $2.5k more in the next 5 years to own the Passport.

Some extra thoughts - We feel we might need a CPO/some sort of warranty for the Outback due to a few CVT issues popping up here and there, just for peace of mind. The Passport on the other hand we feel might not need it. We like the fact that Outback has better clearance and a good AWD (praised everywhere), but Passport might have better drivetrain and decent AWD.

The dilemma - Which do you think is a better fit for us ?

Thank you!

 

[fiqoqi]

I've owned a few Outbacks and as far as off-road, they are similar to the Passport. They have a little bit better ground clearance but the CVT transmission makes it struggle in low gear situations. Really, you need to define what you want to do off-road. I've owned Jeeps and Subarus and now the Passport. There are really two types of "off-road" vehicles. Those that are unibody, AWD and lack a transfer case (light off-roading) and those that have a cab on frame, transfer case, 4WD setup (Jeeps, 4Runners, Pickups, etc.). The light off-roaders are fine on maintained forest service roads and can get you to hiking trailheads, camping etc. But if you really want to get out in the wilderness and explore rough, unmaintained roads you should look at a Wrangler or 4Runner. A lifted PP still will have traction issues and could leave you stranded. They just aren't designed for it. My last car before my PPTS was a 4-door Wrangler and they are absolutely different vehicles. Every step that makes a vehicle better off-road makes it worse on-road and vice versa. I had my Jeep for 4 years before the terrible steering, body roll through corners, terrible gas mileage and loud highway noise finally made me throw in the towel. 95% of my vehicle use was paved roads, I can handle the other 5% off-road use with my PPTS.

Our off-road use is going to be driving on gravel roads to trailheads and camp spots in the PNW. And it's going to be 5-10% of the time, most of the time it's going to be daily driver. And that's the reason we aren't going Jeep/TRD and trying to stick with Passport/Outback/Pilot or something that gets decent mileage and works better as a daily driver.

 

[jasonpp]

The Outback will be a cheaper car to maintain than the Passport. It probably gets better gas mileage. The CVT is not ideal of serious off-roading but for light overlanding it should be nice. With that said the Passport is not exactly that much better off-roading either.

 

[fiqoqi]

Buy the Pilot and throw on a lift kit so that you have more ground clearance if you really are going to take it off road.

We did consider this. It drives the price up (lift kit, tires, etc). But the most concerning was that few forums mentioned that Honda Sensing might have to be recalibrated.

 

[jasonpp]

We did consider this. It drives the price up (lift kit, tires, etc). But the most concerning was that few forums mentioned that Honda Sensing might have to be recalibrated.

Honestly I don’t know what kind of off-roading you are going to do. Maybe you need something a bit more capable if 7.5 inch is not enough.

 

[fiqoqi]

Honestly I don’t know what kind of off-roading you are going to do. Maybe you need something a bit more capable if 7.5 inch is not enough.

Our off-road use is going to be driving on gravel roads to trailheads and camp spots in the PNW. And it's going to be 5-10% of the time, most of the time it's going to be daily driver. And that's the reason we aren't going Jeep/TRD and trying to stick with Passport/Outback/Pilot or something that gets decent mileage and works better as a daily driver. Basically a soft offroader (or) off road oriented daily driver sort of vehicle.

 

[fx_chip]

This is your third thread of the same question. That is called forum spamming.

 

[Stickman]

I believe you have answered your own question with original post. Buy the Pilot (you seem to prefer) and use both it and your Accord when necessary.

 

[Emaderton3]

I actually recently upgraded from an old CR-V to a new Passport partially due to my two kids getting bigger and needing more space, especially for road trips. Personally, I wad not ready to go to a full size SUV like the Pilot (it just feels too big to me). Funny that everyone mentioned getting a Pilot for the third row to drive around my kids' friends--that is exactly the argument my 10 year old used when trying to convince me to get something with a third row. While it would be nice, we really haven't run into situations yet where we wish we had the third row. And once my 10 year old got in the Passport when I first brought it home, she yelled, "Is this really ours?! It's awesome!" That being said, I also don't need off road capabilities. It sounds to me like a Pilot may be your best choice.

 

[DBL-R]

We have a 2020 Outback Touring XT and are looking to move to a Passport

 

[KeithR]

I recently traded in my 2019 Outback for a 2024 Passport. You aren't going to go wrong with either car. It's going to come down to what you like best and what works for you budget wise. Unfortunately, no one here can give you that answer.

 

[14v6]

What are the other vehicles do you see on these gravel roads? I actually traded in my Passport after we got a RAV4 hybrid, the MPG difference and the responsiveness of the hybrid trumped the extra space of the Passport but the PP only got 25 avg on its best week while the RAV is in the 40's.

All that aside IMO when they launched the PP with the outdoor, offroad sales pitch I think they were going after the Subie crowd. PP will have the expensive timing belt/water pump/tensioner/spak plugs/valve adjustment around the 7 year 100k+ mark. Prices for that service vary widely. Some stretch the interval but odds are you'd have to do it sometime during your ownership term. I don't know much about Subies but in the neighborhood, many owners are repeat buyers. Do you have a decent dealer network in your location for these brands? It's probably going to come down to deal you get.

 

[Chef Duane]

The Subaru Outback has a CVT. I'm not a fan of the CVT which is one BIG reason I bought a Passport. I'm old school. I like a trans-a-mission with steel gears and such.