The 2027 Honda Passport TrailSport has 9.65 inches of ground clearance. A base Jeep Wrangler has 9.7. That’s close enough to call it a tie, and close enough to make Toyota nervous.
Honda announced a heavily revised suspension for its mid-cycle Passport refresh, and the numbers tell the story. Ground clearance jumped 1.38 inches over the outgoing model. Approach and departure angles both gained two degrees, hitting 25 each, while breakover angle climbed three degrees to 23.
Twenty-eight suspension and related chassis components were redesigned or replaced entirely. That list includes springs, dampers, control arms, stabilizer bars, knuckles, front driveshafts, and the front subframe. This isn’t a spacer lift kit bolted on for a press release.
Honda reengineered the geometry to keep the vehicle’s balance intact at the new ride height, which is exactly the kind of detail that separates a factory-correct setup from a hack job. The tires remain General Grabber AT Sports in 275/60R18, roughly 31 inches in diameter. Same rubber, just more air underneath it.
Honda isn’t being subtle about who it’s chasing. The press release specifically names the Toyota 4Runner TRD Off-Road, Subaru Outback Wilderness, and Ford Bronco Sport Badlands Sasquatch as competitors that now sit lower than the Passport TrailSport. Calling out rivals by name in official communications is a flex Honda doesn’t usually indulge in, which tells you how confident the company is in what it has built here.
The body stays the same, but the facelift brings a new lower front fascia, more aggressive fender flares, and a pair of rectangular amber running lights tucked into the hood scoop area. Honda wisely avoided the three-dot clearance light gimmick that Ford popularized with the Raptor and half the aftermarket has since beaten to death.
Features that previously required the pricier TrailSport Elite trim, including the heated steering wheel and TrailWatch 360-degree camera system, now come standard on the base TrailSport. Four trim levels remain: TrailSport, Blackout, Elite, and Elite Blackout. The current 2026 TrailSport starts around $50,000 with destination, and the top spec pushes $60,000, so expect the 2027 to carry a bump of a few thousand dollars.
What makes this interesting is the competitive timing. Toyota redesigned the 4Runner for 2025, ditching the naturally aspirated V6 for a turbocharged four-cylinder hybrid. It got more expensive and, by many accounts, lost some of the rugged simplicity that made it a default choice for the outdoors crowd.
Honda stepped into that gap with the current-generation Passport and now appears to be pressing the advantage hard. The Passport still rides on a unibody platform, not a body-on-frame chassis like the 4Runner or Wrangler. That means it will never match a Rubicon on a rock crawl.
But for the vast majority of buyers who want to hit forest roads, handle snow, and look the part at a trailhead, the capability gap has narrowed to almost nothing. No word yet on changes to the non-TrailSport Passport models, but leaving those alone while pushing the TrailSport further upmarket would be a smart play. Keep the entry price accessible, let the lifted version generate the buzz.
Production continues at Honda’s Alabama plant alongside the Ridgeline and Odyssey. Pricing and exact on-sale dates are still pending, but dealers should have them soon.
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