SUV Comparison: 2021 Honda Passport Touring vs 2022 Subaru Outback Wilderness

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Stephanie Wallcraft:  SUV fatigue is real. We see it everywhere, from buyers to enthusiasts and even the experts who grace these pages. When we’re all driving vehicles that are so similar in looks and capabilities, how does anyone stand out from the crowd?

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Here, we’ve got two antidotes to the same-same SUV craze. On one side we have the 2021 Honda Passport, with the Touring grade being the one under the microscope, priced at $52,971 with the $1,870 destination charge. This is the top trim of Honda’s mid-size, two-row SUV, which makes no attempt to disguise its intended audience of adventure-focused families with its upright stance and prominent roof rails.

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SUV Comparison: 2021 Honda Passport Touring vs 2022 Subaru Outback Wilderness Back to video

On the other side we have the 2022 Subaru Outback Wilderness, the new off-road oriented trim of a vehicle that already works as a pleasant SUV alternative thanks to its part-wagon, part-crossover aesthetic. The Wilderness is a new-for-2022 mid-grade offering in the Outback line-up, ringing in at $44,249 including a $1,875 destination charge.

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Because we’re looking at two significantly different grade levels here, feature content becomes an important differentiator, which we’ll discuss shortly. But the powertrains don’t have as much variation within their respective line-ups, and when we’re talking about vehicles with rugged intent, we need to start under the hood where it counts.

Every grade of Passport gets Honda’s traditional approach to powertrains in the form of a 3.5-litre iVTEC V6, which makes 280 horsepower and 262 pound-feet of torque peaking at 4,700 rpm. This is matched with a nine-speed automatic transmission and Honda’s i-VTM4 all-wheel drive system , which supplies full-time all-wheel drive with between 10 to 70 per cent of available torque going to the rear axle at all times. This system also uses torque vectoring to push more power to the outside wheel to assist with turning. This is the kind of classic, reliable capability adventurous drivers are looking for.

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On the other hand, the Outback’s powertrain is a different beast. The Wilderness represents Outback’s entry point into the upgraded 2.4-litre turbocharged engine with four horizontally opposed cylinders, which makes slightly less horsepower than the Honda at 260 hp but slightly more torque at 277 lb-ft between 2,000 to 4,800 rpm. The transmission is a CVT, differentiated from those in other Outbacks through a shorter ratio for improved response at lower speeds. Finally, the Outback is fitted with Subaru’s symmetrical all-wheel drive, which is a full-time 60-40 AWD system but lacks the single-axle torque vectoring of Honda’s setup.

It’s fair to expect that, on paper at least, the Passport’s specifications might inspire more confidence in the serious off-roading crowd, particularly its transmission as the lack of ability to select true gears in the Outback is a potential drawback. However, where I find the Subaru stands out is in its excellent balance between on-road and off-road performance: its powertrain is pleasantly responsive both on a potholed dirt path and on route to the grocery store or along the highway, while the Passport lacks a little get-up-and-go in the latter scenario. And the Outback looks a fair bit cooler doing all of the above, too.

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Renita Naraine:  Agree to disagree, as we generally do on exterior styling, Steph. As much as I can appreciate some added style on the outside, especially considering most vehicles (specifically the ones we’re usually testing) are bland and colourless, I like the looks of the Passport, much more. Sure, the Passport could have used a brighter colour to make it pop, but I’m just not a fan of the Outback’s stripes — despite Clayton telling me that stripes mean speed. To be fair, it isn’t just the colour. I prefer the big and classic SUV type of look that the Passport has, whereas the Outback, needless to say, looks more like a station wagon that’s trying to be an SUV. I’m not hating on the station wagon look, but it’s hard for me to compare these two vehicles on their individual, and very different exterior looks.

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The Passport is larger in almost all ways, however, the Outback is a bit longer in length, 4,839 mm and 4,860 mm respectively. However, the Passport has quite a bit of width (219 mm more than the Wilderness)) and height (135 mm more) on the Outback, and my three side-by-side car seats definitely appreciated all the width possible. That being said, despite the differences in height, headroom was pretty much the same, with only a 46-mm difference, the Passport being the one with more room. As for the similar lengths of the cars, that’s noticeable in the similar amounts of legroom for each. In fact, the back passengers in the Passport only have one extra millimetre of legroom than the ones in the Outback.

Once again, the Passport’s larger stance helps increase the passenger cabin and cargo space, by a lot. The Outback is simpler, not to mention a bit lower, and easier for my small passengers to get in and out of, but when it comes to packing large loads that include a big stroller taking up a ton of space, I can appreciate a big trunk. The Passport’s cargo space is 1,430L, while the Outback’s is a full 510L less. For everyday routines, that’s more than enough, but for road-tripping and long drives, I’d much prefer the Passport’s cargo space. Even with the seats folded (though that’s impossible for me, since we’ve always got three car seats inside), the Outback has 2,144L of space, while the Passport has 2,852L, that’s more than 700L of extra space in Honda’s SUV.

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As for the interior, Subaru wins that styling. Honda’s interior is unsurprisingly boring. Its dark seats with white stitching around the edges is, for a lack of better terms, meh. At least Subaru tried to give it a little flair, adding a few more badges on the inside, to match those on the outside. Speaking of matching, there’s some yellowy-gold accents all around the car; the coloured stitching on the seats, in addition to throughout the car, as well as the accented steering wheel and stick shift all tie together very nicely.

SW: Everything you’ve said is entirely true, Renita, and you make good points from the perspective of someone who’s buying a mid-size SUV purely to use it as a family vehicle. But when we add in a side helping of adventure, the Outback Wilderness earns some serious bonus points.

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Take the interior, for example. You mentioned that it’s the more interesting and colourful of the two, which is true. But the upholstery is more than pretty: it’s made from a soft-touch fabric that feels not unlike that of a wetsuit, and it’s water-resistant and easy to keep clean and dry. When you’ll be dragging muddy people and gear around, this is an important consideration.

And yes, the Outback has a smaller interior cargo storage space, but in the Wilderness model that gets offset by the ability to carry up to 100 kilograms (220 pounds) on its roof when in motion and up to 318 kilograms (700 pounds) when static. The catch is that you lose the handy built-in collapsible crossbars available on other versions of the Outback, but in return you get four sturdy tie-down points and flexibility that the Passport’s 75-kilogram (165-pound) capacity can’t match. Roof-mounted tent camping, anyone?

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Plus, even the standard Outback’s 22 centimetres of ground clearance outdoes the Passport’s 20.5 centimetres, but then the Outback Wilderness jacks that up by another centimetre for a total of 23 centimetres while adding in front and rear tow hooks and bumper and underbody skid plates for good measure.

Subaru’s upgraded dual-mode X-Mode is also included here, with separate settings for loose dirt and mud (or, more aptly for Canada, snow and deeper snow). A lot of what X-Mode does is similar to what the average terrain selection function would do on other SUVs, but it also incorporates a hill descent control feature for controlled off-road descents, which the Passport doesn’t have.

Other than the powertrain differences we’ve already covered, in this realm there are only two things the Passport does just as well or better than the Outback. It has an available maximum towing capacity of 2,268 kilograms or 5,000 pounds when it’s properly equipped; when it’s not, its peak matches the Outback’s at 1,588 kilograms or 3,500 pounds. And neither of these vehicles, in spite of all their capability, takes a particularly hard hit to on-road handling. Both manage typical city streets and highways just fine, which in the Outback’s case is particularly impressive.

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RN:  I’ve got to say both vehicles are pretty comfy, at least for me. Though the Outback looks quite a bit shorter, as previously mentioned, it isn’t lacking in headroom, and definitely not in legroom. Both cars come equipped with heated and ventilated front seating, plus heated second row seats. For those dark wintery nights, the Outback has interior lighting throughout, while the Passport has some cool ambient lighting in the cupholders (which all sounds pretty awesome for when I’m trying to find my hot coffee in the dark).

The Passport has one of those fancy electronic gear selectors (not a fan), while the Outback has opted for the traditional style gear shifter (love it). Maybe it’s a comfort thing, but I find lever shifters much more convenient and easy to use than any type of button to change gears. Speaking of convenience, the Outback doesn’t have the option to save your seat setting in its memory — the Passport does. It isn’t necessarily a deal breaker when purchasing a car, but it’s a nice feature to have, especially if you’re like me and my husband (much taller than me) who drive at completely different settings, constantly positioning your seat becomes annoying (#firstworldproblems).  

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As most cars should, both of these vehicles come with a bunch of similar standard safety features. The Passport, across all three trims, comes with brake assist, forward collision warning, lane departure warning, lane keeping assist. The two lower trims get Honda LaneWatch blind spot display, while the Touring trim receives a blind spot information system and rear cross traffic monitor system. The Wilderness trim comes with EyeSight driver assist technology including reverse automatic braking, lane centring assist, lane keep assist and sway warning, and pre-collision braking. In addition, it features blind spot detection, lane change assist, and rear cross traffic alert.  

One feature that the Passport did better than the Outback is the wireless phone charger. I found it difficult to fit my iPhone into the little slot in the Outback; granted, my iPhone has a huge Otter Box case on it, but I wouldn’t take off the case just to get a bit of juice.

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SW: The final element we need to touch on is infotainment. Both vehicles incorporate systems that are acceptable but not exceptional.

Honda’s system uses an 8-inch screen with hard controls for volume and most HVAC functions. Wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard (neither of these systems includes wireless phone app compatibility yet), and the home screen uses a tiled smartphone-like layout that’s intuitive in operation. On the one hand, it would be nice to have a tuning dial for quick radio station changes, but on the other hand, the digital toggle on the bottom left of the radio screen is positioned much closer to the driver than a dial would ever be, so that’s not a terrible trade. Honda also includes on-board navigation with the Touring grade, which some users prefer over relying on phone data. A subscription-based in-car Wi-Fi hotspot is also available.

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Subaru’s system is built into a portrait-oriented 11.3-inch touchscreen. It does have a tuning knob, but more of the HVAC functions are integrated digitally here than on the Honda setup, which some drivers may see as a drawback while others may appreciate it. The graphics here aren’t quite as crisp, and the layout isn’t quite as intuitive. The system meets a user’s basic needs, but it takes some time to get used to, and it has some ongoing points of frustration such as an unnecessarily intrusive graphic during volume adjustment.

In either case, these systems function fine, and little about either is likely to be a determining factor for someone debating between these two vehicles.

So, Renita, speaking of agreeing to disagree: in my book, the clear winner here is the 2022 Subaru Outback Wilderness. It offers a similar set of features to the Passport Touring for nearly $9,000 less while adding capability in all the right places. These factors appeal directly to this adventure-lover’s heart and get me daydreaming about road-tripping possibilities, which is exactly what you want from an SUV for active families on the go. But I gather from your assessments that you’re really not feeling it…

RN: You hit that one on the nose, Steph. Even though the tested Passport is quite a bit more expensive than the tested Outback, I like it for all the opposite reasons that you love the Outback. My family isn’t super adventurous, and with three kids, I’m definitely not daydreaming about road trips, at least not anytime soon. Instead, I prefer the added space in the Passport and its typical SUV look and feel. For this comparison, I’m going to have to choose the Honda Passport.