As posted earlier, my first road trip with my Passport is in progress.
I packed the Passport with the same "stuff" we usually take to the Pacific Coast but we are used to the 2016 Pilot so we were unsure how much difference the 6" would be. Well, everything packed well and had room leftover. We have two sets of golf clubs so I wasn't sure if I wanted to put the 2nd row two wide seat down or not. For what ever reason, the Passport seemed wider than the pilot so I could keep the 2nd row seat up and put the clubs parallel to the the 2nd row seats without having to remove the drivers which I had to do with the with the Pilot. The rear "hatch" worked out great for shoes and other small things which made up for some of the 6" the Pilot has. The bottom line, the Passport handled our "stuff" just fine.
The drive had a mix of good and bad weather. We started out with sun and little traffic. Once on the highway, I set the adaptive cruse to five over the limit (75) and drove along with and without traffic. I found the adaptive cruse to be a real asset; if I came up to a slower car, it slowed me down and kept an appropriate distance. I'd stay behind someone if they did 70 but if below, I'd move to the left lane where the cruse would give me the five MPH to pass. I really liked not having to mess with the cruse control and let it do the work. I found the drivers seat to be a bit firmer than that of the Pilot but still comfortable. The rode of the Passport is stiffer but I did not notice and significant differences on the highway. When compared to my Pilot, the cabin is very quiet, noticeably so.
This was my first real real experience with lane keep assist (LKA). In the beginning of my trip, I took Washington RT 14 which is a old-school two lane highway that runs parallel to the Columbia River where I-84 also runs parallel but on the south side of the river. I like this route because its scenic and I enjoy driving an old-school road with twists, turns and hills; it provides a diversion from the boring interstate; It would be the perfect road to take a Porsche 911 running at 90+ MPH! This road is a challenge for the LKA because its an old road and some sections have little lane paint left on the surface and the road seldom runs straight for more than a 1/2 mile. The speed limit is generally 65 MPH (except for tight turns) so the driver normally has to keep fully focused to anticipate the curves in the road. I found the LKA to match my instincts to begin and end curves which surprised me. I expected that I would lead the LKS system but once I realized it was emulating my normal driving reflexes, I relaxed my angst against automation and went with the flow which I found to be helpful and not intrusive.
I crossed the river and started to drive on I-84. As I approached civilization (Portland, Or.), the traffic increased significantly and got real heavy when I got on onto the I-205 bypass and I-5 itself. In heavy traffic at 60-70 MPH, the cruse was switched off but I kept the LKS on. I found that for driving in traffic like this, I needed to turn off ECO mode as I learned to do with my Pilot. This provides instant throttle response and snappy down-shifting, essential for smooth lane changing when things get tight. The LKS did not impede me in any way but I always use my turn signal so it did not punish me for poor driving.
At the same time as the traffic increased, the rain began to fall; then the rain got heavy for a short period of time. I dropped down to 65 MPH and allowed traffic to pass me. At one point, I was in a low area and hit standing water. I could feel the vehicle hydroplane for several seconds but it kept a straight path and did nothing unusual.
The last leg of the trip is a twisty, windy two lane drive on U.S. Rt. 30 and a short stretch of Rt. 101 along the Washington coast with traffic. I kept the LKS and adaptive cruse control active and found that they did not impede me in any way and were helpful.
So there I was in Long Beach, Washington and the first thing I want to do is drive on the miles and miles of sandy beach on the Pacific Ocean. I do have my experience of the Pilot to compare the Passport with while driving in anything from hard-packed wet sand to dry drifts of sand 12" to 16" or more deep. I have to admit that I ran in "normal" mode the whole time because I found with the Pilot that I didn't need the "sand" mode for just putzing around. Only once did the Passport have to work hard; one of the beach access roads had deep ruts from big four wheeler's who drove on and off the beach. The passport came close to bottoming out and slowed down almost to a stop before it figured out which wheels needed help and motored on smoothly.
The not so good news was the gas mileage. the Passport gave me exactly 24 MPG compared to the Pilot that constantly gives me 27 MPG on the same route. Sometimes I get better mileage eastbound as the winds are at our back, I'll know Tuesday when I do the return trip.
One more interesting thing is that I did get maybe a dozen single false flashes on the console indicating "BRAKE". None of the flashes resulted in any independent action of steering or braking, only a warning. I assume the sensing system was unsure and flashed "brake" for reasons only it understands.
In summary, The Passport:
1) has almost as much useful storage room as the Pilot
2) the LKA seems to generally work the same as I do, anticipating the correct time to begin steering on a curve and not overshooting when a correction occurs. I know most drivers don't like it but I think it is very useful and can see if I were to be distracted, It most likely would keep me on the road if I messed up.
3) The adaptive speed control (is a real help when you are not in heavy traffic.
4) The ride and comfort are outstanding.
5) The ride even on course road surfaces is very quiet.
6) When driving on sand, I can tell no difference between the Pilot and the Passport; both perform superbly!
7) Gas mileage is down about 3 MPG from the Pilot (as advertised).
The bottom line is I like all of the automated safety features and find them to be helpful (particularly if you don't fight them) and make a long trip more relaxing.
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I packed the Passport with the same "stuff" we usually take to the Pacific Coast but we are used to the 2016 Pilot so we were unsure how much difference the 6" would be. Well, everything packed well and had room leftover. We have two sets of golf clubs so I wasn't sure if I wanted to put the 2nd row two wide seat down or not. For what ever reason, the Passport seemed wider than the pilot so I could keep the 2nd row seat up and put the clubs parallel to the the 2nd row seats without having to remove the drivers which I had to do with the with the Pilot. The rear "hatch" worked out great for shoes and other small things which made up for some of the 6" the Pilot has. The bottom line, the Passport handled our "stuff" just fine.
The drive had a mix of good and bad weather. We started out with sun and little traffic. Once on the highway, I set the adaptive cruse to five over the limit (75) and drove along with and without traffic. I found the adaptive cruse to be a real asset; if I came up to a slower car, it slowed me down and kept an appropriate distance. I'd stay behind someone if they did 70 but if below, I'd move to the left lane where the cruse would give me the five MPH to pass. I really liked not having to mess with the cruse control and let it do the work. I found the drivers seat to be a bit firmer than that of the Pilot but still comfortable. The rode of the Passport is stiffer but I did not notice and significant differences on the highway. When compared to my Pilot, the cabin is very quiet, noticeably so.
This was my first real real experience with lane keep assist (LKA). In the beginning of my trip, I took Washington RT 14 which is a old-school two lane highway that runs parallel to the Columbia River where I-84 also runs parallel but on the south side of the river. I like this route because its scenic and I enjoy driving an old-school road with twists, turns and hills; it provides a diversion from the boring interstate; It would be the perfect road to take a Porsche 911 running at 90+ MPH! This road is a challenge for the LKA because its an old road and some sections have little lane paint left on the surface and the road seldom runs straight for more than a 1/2 mile. The speed limit is generally 65 MPH (except for tight turns) so the driver normally has to keep fully focused to anticipate the curves in the road. I found the LKA to match my instincts to begin and end curves which surprised me. I expected that I would lead the LKS system but once I realized it was emulating my normal driving reflexes, I relaxed my angst against automation and went with the flow which I found to be helpful and not intrusive.
I crossed the river and started to drive on I-84. As I approached civilization (Portland, Or.), the traffic increased significantly and got real heavy when I got on onto the I-205 bypass and I-5 itself. In heavy traffic at 60-70 MPH, the cruse was switched off but I kept the LKS on. I found that for driving in traffic like this, I needed to turn off ECO mode as I learned to do with my Pilot. This provides instant throttle response and snappy down-shifting, essential for smooth lane changing when things get tight. The LKS did not impede me in any way but I always use my turn signal so it did not punish me for poor driving.
At the same time as the traffic increased, the rain began to fall; then the rain got heavy for a short period of time. I dropped down to 65 MPH and allowed traffic to pass me. At one point, I was in a low area and hit standing water. I could feel the vehicle hydroplane for several seconds but it kept a straight path and did nothing unusual.
The last leg of the trip is a twisty, windy two lane drive on U.S. Rt. 30 and a short stretch of Rt. 101 along the Washington coast with traffic. I kept the LKS and adaptive cruse control active and found that they did not impede me in any way and were helpful.
So there I was in Long Beach, Washington and the first thing I want to do is drive on the miles and miles of sandy beach on the Pacific Ocean. I do have my experience of the Pilot to compare the Passport with while driving in anything from hard-packed wet sand to dry drifts of sand 12" to 16" or more deep. I have to admit that I ran in "normal" mode the whole time because I found with the Pilot that I didn't need the "sand" mode for just putzing around. Only once did the Passport have to work hard; one of the beach access roads had deep ruts from big four wheeler's who drove on and off the beach. The passport came close to bottoming out and slowed down almost to a stop before it figured out which wheels needed help and motored on smoothly.
The not so good news was the gas mileage. the Passport gave me exactly 24 MPG compared to the Pilot that constantly gives me 27 MPG on the same route. Sometimes I get better mileage eastbound as the winds are at our back, I'll know Tuesday when I do the return trip.
One more interesting thing is that I did get maybe a dozen single false flashes on the console indicating "BRAKE". None of the flashes resulted in any independent action of steering or braking, only a warning. I assume the sensing system was unsure and flashed "brake" for reasons only it understands.
In summary, The Passport:
1) has almost as much useful storage room as the Pilot
2) the LKA seems to generally work the same as I do, anticipating the correct time to begin steering on a curve and not overshooting when a correction occurs. I know most drivers don't like it but I think it is very useful and can see if I were to be distracted, It most likely would keep me on the road if I messed up.
3) The adaptive speed control (is a real help when you are not in heavy traffic.
4) The ride and comfort are outstanding.
5) The ride even on course road surfaces is very quiet.
6) When driving on sand, I can tell no difference between the Pilot and the Passport; both perform superbly!
7) Gas mileage is down about 3 MPG from the Pilot (as advertised).
The bottom line is I like all of the automated safety features and find them to be helpful (particularly if you don't fight them) and make a long trip more relaxing.