Honda isn’t known for overly rugged off-road vehicles, instead staking their claim squarely in reliable, fuel-efficient family haulers — and the occasional red-blooded sporty car. Like most other brands, Honda today is more of a crossover-and-SUV company, offering more variants of pavement warriors like the HR-V, CR-V, Pilot, and Passport than the bread-and-butter sedans, hatchbacks, and minivans on which they built their reputation. The new 2026 Honda Ridgeline Trailsport looks to change that; the Trailsport package isn’t exactly new, but Honda put in real effort here to create something that really can handle the occasional romp in dirt, mud, and deep snow.

Uncharted waters

Why venture into this uncharted-for-Honda segment today? Well, as crossovers and SUVs continue to gain popularity, we’ve seen a resurgence in truly capable off-roaders from Ford and Toyota, as well as refreshed offerings from stalwarts like Jeep and Land Rover.  Most of these off-road vehicles invariably spend almost their entire lives on pavement, but alas, we live in an image- and spec-driven world. Now Honda has re-entered the ring with the thoroughly reimagined Passport Trailsport.

It looks the part, ditching the hand-me-down Pilot look of its predecessor and taking clear inspiration from the Ford. It looks like a larger, more rugged Bronco Sport than it does a Honda, which is just fine by me. This tester is finished in a beautiful olive-like Ash Green Metallic, with just enough contrasting black and grey trim to make the Passport Trailsport look tough but not try-hard. The front end is is much more squared-off, with a very horizontal headlight and grille motif. Standout styling cues include the skid plate-like bumper trim and the large, stamped P-A-S-S-P-O-R-T lettering. The rear end ties in with similar design cues, while the chunky 18-inch wheels match the aesthetic and functionality of the General Grabber all-terrain tires.

The black wheel arches and chunky roof rails tie everything together and add to the practicality. This new Passport Trailsport is a complete departure from the previous generation; aside from borrowing some inspiration from Ford, Honda knocked the visuals out of the park. I’m a fan.

If it ain’t broke…

Honda has essentially copy-and-pasted its interior design language and basic ergonomics from model to model, so if you’ve been in a new Honda recently, you’ve pretty much already experienced new Passport Trailsport. There’s a 12.3-inch touchscreen jutting out of the dash, with another hand-me-down screen for the gauge cluster. However, I’ll grant the graphics are refreshingly new and feature off-road-focused telemetry options like pitch, roll, and elevation gauges. Satisfying physical controls continue to exist below the touchscreen for the HVAC system, and the familiar steering wheel and shift buttons are pulled from the Honda parts bin.

As for what’s unique, this Passport Trailsport tester features two-tone light brown-on-black leather seating, further contrasted with orange stitching on the seats, dashboard, and steering wheel. Along with the Trailsport logo stitched into the headrests, the interior looks and feels both rugged and premium.

Is the Passport a poser?

In Trailsport form, the Passport is far from being a poser. This newest iteration can conquer light trails with ease due to its all-terrain tires and torque-vectoring all-wheel-drive system. There’s even honest-to-goodness steel skid plates, heavy duty iron tow hooks, and the wheel is designed in such a way that it protects the valve stem from getting nicked by a sharp boulder.

Power is delivered via a new 3.5-litre normally aspirated V6 engine that, at 285 horsepower and 262 pound-feet of torque, makes just five more horsepower than before. But it does so with less emissions and thus less impact on the environment. The 10-speed automatic transmission is, once again, familiar to Honda but new to the Passport; it’s an upgrade over the previous nine-speed unit, offering up a shorter first gear for better acceleration. The powertrain works better here than it does in the Pilot, but fuel economy is disappointing. My my experience netted a combined average of 13.9 L/100 km, even with a couple of long highway jaunts.

The Passport’s all-wheel-drive system features a new differential out back, which can supposedly handle 40 per cent more torque and responds 30 per cent faster than before. Moreover, the system can send up to 70 per cent of the Passport’s power rearward, and the entirety of that left or right with thanks to its evolved torque-vectoring abilities. I didn’t test the Passport’s off-road mettle off the beaten path, but it behaved just fine with whatever I threw at it.

The Passport Trailsport drives bigger than it looks, even feeling a bit like an old-school SUV. There’s just enough body roll to make it feel like there’s weight and substance to it, no doubt thanks to the big tire sidewalls, among other things. It’s not as composed as something like a Mazda CX-70 or Toyota Highlander, but the Passport isn’t trying to be either of those. It’s more akin to a 4Runner or Bronco in the way it rides, which is great if you like that big-truck feeling. The on-road trade-off is a cushy ride at the expense of some slightly sharper handling characteristics, although it’s well-balanced overall.

The Passport has found its identity

The 2026 Honda Passport Trailsport has reinvented itself as a rugged crossover, separating itself beyond just size from its CR-V and Pilot siblings. This Trailsport Touring trim comes well-equipped with Honda’s full suite of safety and driver assists, a halfway decent 12-speaker Bose audio system, wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, and creature comforts like a heated windshield and remote engine start, for $63,918 as equipped. It’s not chump change, but the Passport Trailsport does come in cheaper than a far more capable, iconic, and fully loaded 4Runner — though there’s a bit of overlap with the lower end trims like the SR5 and TRD Off-Road. A close alternative might be the significantly cheaper Mazda CX-50 Meridian; it gives you the outdoorsy-type looks, but it’s smaller and doesn’t have the same off-road capability as the Trailsport. All that being said, if you want some bite to go with the bark, the 2026 Honda Passport Trailsport Touring is a now great option.