Honda already makes a five-seater SUV in China called the Avancier but Honda won’t import those Made in China Hondas to the United States, tweak them a bit, and pass them off as Passports.
The Honda Avanciar, Honda introduced it to China two years ago and it’s got a reworked Honda Civic Type R engine found in the UK Civic Type R before it was tweaked for the U.S. market. The Honda Avancier was specifically designed and setup for a discerning Chinese market so it wouldn’t make sense for Honda to bring that sporty five-seater to the United States. According to Honda in an official press release they dropped earlier yesterday (Nov. 15, 2018) they’re bringing back the Honda Passport so I’d like to make clear they’re not going to just spruce up the Honda Avancier for us.
According to some people on Temple of VTEC, your source and mine for all things Honda, some dealerships and those with connections have already seen this Honda Passport in the flesh and can confirm that this isn’t the Honda Avancier.
First of all, Honda specifically put in their teaser video and photos that this Honda Passport was “designed for adventure” not sportiness, not luxury, and certainly not something meant to be driven around in, as is the case for the Chinese market. This is going to be more rugged than the Honda Pilot is thanks to key structural and design changes.
Looking at spy photos and the teaser images Honda has dropped, this is a much more squared and angular offering compared to the Honda Avancier. Just check out the spy photos from Auto Blog and Car Scoops there’s a noticeable lift over the front and rear wheel arches despite using Honda Pilot wheels which suggests that at the very least, the suspension’s been reworked for a bit more travel and articulation.
Also, looking at the rear end, it’s much more shorter suggesting this Honda Passport will at least have a better departure angle than the Pilot.
Powertrains are anyone’s guess at this point but I really think, as I’ve previously blogged, Honda’s going to stuff their 2.0T underneath the hood to further differentiate itself from the Pilot. The 2.0T has overall more torque than the V6 if they swap in the Accord engine and tweak it a bit for more low -end torque.
No, you can’t rock crawl with the Honda Passport on the Rubicon nor can you take it up the Pinyon Mountain Trail but drive fast over some loose rock and an off-beaten path? Sure.
It’ll be built in America (Alabama to be exact) and will supposedly sell like hotcakes.
And no, it won’t be a slightly reworked Honda Avanciar. God, no.
Source: Honda
Sadly it will be the V6. Honda needs to ditch the timing belt and go to a timing chain. I won’t buy one.
You’re probably right, cheaper that way.