Honda Passport vs. Subaru Outback: Which Midsize Two-Row SUV Is Best?

• The fully redesigned Subaru Outback takes on one of the newest members of our One-Year Road Test fleet.
• Its new styling is questionable, but the Subaru's new interior, updated tech, and improved driving experience should make this competitive.
• The Passport's cavernous interior gives it a space advantage in this test.

2nd place: Honda Passport

• Edmunds Rating: 7.5/10
• The good: So much space; cargo area flexibility
• The bad: Poor fuel economy; lazy steering

The Passport's biggest advantage over the Outback, and to be frank, all of its other competitors, is its gigantic cabin. It is around 5 inches wider than the Outback, which means that even though both of these SUVs have adult-sized back seats, you can actually fit three people across the back of the Honda much more easily. And if you have two kids in car seats tucked back there, a parent could even fit between them.

The Honda also has 44 cubic feet of cargo space behind its back seat (about 10 more cubes than the Subaru), and on top of that, the cargo area has some great features. There are numerous bins to put smaller items so they don't roll around and a handy underfloor storage bin that can be removed and washed out with a hose, making it a perfect spot to put dirty items you don't want soiling the carpet. And our TrailSport model also comes with a walk-away liftgate. If you have your hands full taking items out of the cargo area, you can hit a button, pick up your stuff, and then when you walk away, the back will close automatically and the vehicle will lock.

Where the Passport runs into trouble is efficiency. It only offers 21 mpg combined for RTL models and 20 mpg for the TrailSport, which trail the Outback's 27 mpg combined with the base engine and 24 mpg with its optional engine by a big margin. And strangely, we aren't fans of the Passport's steering feel. Many of Honda's other vehicles have nicely weighted steering with good feedback, but this SUV feels a bit lazy and vague through the wheel. Normally, this isn't a big deal for an SUV, but the Outback (spoiler alert) has made great strides in this area, so this shortcoming stood out more than usual.

1st place: Subaru Outback

• Edmunds Rating 7.6/10
• The good: Interior quality, improved technology, refined driving experience
• The bad: Missing some higher-end features, yucky styling

Take a look at all of the things that we listed under "The good," and you'll notice that they mirror exactly what frustrates us with Subaru's recent vehicles. Those sins have been rectified with the new Outback and that's what gives it the surprising win in this comparison.

Even though our test vehicle was a Limited XT, its interior quality stood out for a midgrade model. And just as important, it has a new screen that is significantly improved. Gone are the dated graphics, slow menus, and pixelated cameras that plagued Subarus from the Forester to the Crosstrek. In its place is a faster, sharper and better setup that also includes a standard 12.3-inch instrument cluster that can mirror the map view from wireless Android Auto or Apple CarPlay across the whole display.

The Outback has also made notable strides with its driving experience. At our track, it wasn't any quicker than the previous model (6.5 seconds from 0 to 60 mph). But it's still much quicker than the Passport (7.9 seconds for the TrailSport), and with the turbocharged engine under the hood, it offers plenty of power for merging and passing. What's improved the most is the ride quality and the steering. The suspension improvements haven't just made it more comfortable; they've also made it feel really athletic and surprisingly agile. It reminded me of driving a Mazda, which is a big compliment. 

The turbocharged engine option is the one we'd choose, as the Outback feels sluggish with its base four-cylinder engine. And on the top end, its Touring model is missing a few features (panoramic moonroof, rear climate controls) that competitors offer. But as far as demerits go, they are few.

With an as-tested price of $46,210, the Limited XT competes directly with the base RTL version of the Passport (starts at $46,245) and is about $8,000 less than the Passport TrailSport we used in this comparison. And that, combined with its fuel economy advantage, gives the Subaru even greater appeal. Simply put, this is the best Subaru product we've come across in years. Good enough that even though this result may be surprising, it is deserved.