The all-new 2019 Honda Passport Crossover SUV is now available at Rock Honda!

Continue reading for our coverage before the Passport was available for us to drive or check out our test drive and review.

The Passport was once, long ago, part of the Honda line-up and rugged, off-road capable, elements of its return remain part of the mid-size crossover SUVs DNA.

***Transcription***

Recorded in Los Angeles, CA

2019 Honda Passport Crossover SUV

Clinton Quan: It'll be a true mid-sized crossover. It'll be a two-row crossover. Think of it as a smaller version of the Pilot. Pretty much the same interior design. But instead of three rows, two rows. And they're going to give it a more rugged look. For those who are interested in going off-roading

Tom Smith: Welcome to iDriveSoCal the podcast all about mobility from the automotive capital of the United States, Southern California. Tom Smith here with the good Professor, Mr. Clinton Quan say Hello Clinton.

Clinton Quan: Good Morning Tom.

Tom Smith: Good morning. This morning. Actually, you know, it's a podcast it's always like, you never know when somebody's gonna listen. The time and place and everything where we're recording is kind of like the relevance whatever.

But yes indeed it's morning. This podcast is about, the Honda. They're calling it 2019 or is going to be the 2020?

Clinton Quan: It's going to be a 2019.

Tom Smith: It will be a '19. Okay. The Honda Passport, and this is of course on behalf of our good friends out in the Los Angeles suburb of Fontana, California. Rock Honda for all of your Honda needs to go see David Latif, the general manager out there. And tell him that iDriveSoCal's, Tom and Clinton sent you.

But, the 2019 Passport is a crossover SUV that was in Honda's lineup a number of years back. It's been, out of the lineup though for quite a while.

"For those who are interested in going off-roading."

Clinton Quan: It's been a long time. I think it's probably been a good maybe 15 years, somewhere around a decade and a half.

Tom Smith: And if I remember right when the Passport was around back then, I think that was just the first generation, right? The first and only generation?

Honda Passport Reboot

Clinton Quan: I believe you are correct. And it was basically a rebadged version of the Isuzu Rodeo.

Tom Smith: Rodeo. Yup.

Clinton Quan: Yes.

Tom Smith: Okay. That's the history of the Honda Passport, a crossover SUV. And back then, the ... and by the way, this is a preview of the vehicle. We haven't driven it yet.

"It'll be a true mid-sized crossover.... a two-row crossover."

But we just saw it at press days of the LA Auto Show, which is the press days or are called Automobility LA. And the LA Auto Show is going on now. And at the LA Auto Show, they had the 2019 Passport on display.

Now we didn't drive it, but going back to the first iteration of the Passport, that again has being off the manufacturer's blocks on the market. What not for, as the Professor said, about 15 years, we're not exactly sure.

But when it was being produced, interestingly it was a pretty legit off-road vehicle. Since then the past decade, SUVs have been questionable. Well, they've been dubbed crossover slash SUVs there off-road ability has been kind of questionable.

The SUV kind of utility version has become... Hey, it's a car or a truck for the road. It's a crossover between a truck and a car for the road. But can it go off road? Cannot go off road?

Clinton Quan: Well, most people they liked the look of an SUV. But they don't really need the off-road capability of an SUV.