2026 Honda Passport vs. 2025 Toyota 4Runner Review

2025 Toyota 4Runner Limited ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Folks who don’t like SUVs have used this line for years: “Those trucks will only go mall-crawling, not rock-crawling.” Indeed, most modern SUVs are engineered with that priority – covering paved streets comfortably, safely, and economically. 

We said most, not all. You don’t have to take the redesigned 2025 Toyota 4Runner and 2026 Honda Passport off-road. But more than most mid-size SUVs, you can. 

The 4Runner is a body-on-frame SUV that shares its underpinnings with the Toyota Tacoma pickup. The Passport is a unibody crossover that’s a more rugged and slightly smaller take on the three-row Honda Pilot. For this review, we tested trim levels that meet in the middle – the 4Runner’s luxury-focused Limited model and the Passport’s maximally capable TrailSport Elite trim. We’ll discuss how these two mid-size SUVs compare on and off the road so you can see which one is the better fit for your lifestyle – and we’ll name our overall winner. 

Pricing and Features

The 2026 Honda Passport has a steep starting price of $44,750, several thousand dollars more than the 2025 Toyota 4Runner ($41,270). But unless you’d be buying a base 4Runner with no options, the Passport is the better deal. 

Every Passport has all-wheel drive. Four-wheel drive is a $2,000 upcharge on the 4Runner. Every Passport has heated front seats, a power-adjustable driver’s seat, and a power liftgate. To add all that to the 4Runner, you’re looking at $55,000 and up. By contrast, our top-trim Passport TrailSport Elite test vehicle cost $53,900 including the mandatory destination charge. Our tested 4Runner Limited 4WD came to $62,490 with destination. That extra $8,500 buys a few more features, but the Honda still costs much less even without those options. And upper 4Runner model can top $70,000. 

We appreciate that the redesigned 4Runner adds popular features that were missing from its predecessor, like a power-operated liftgate and ventilated front seats. But the Honda lets you get them for less money. 

Winner: Honda Passport

2026 Honda Passport TrailSport Elite ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Exterior Design

Like the last-generation Passport, the 2026 model is a shorter version of the three-row Honda Pilot. But it looks less like the Pilot than before, with unique sheetmetal shaped into a ruggedly handsome box. The Passport has straight, purposeful lines, and it looks tough without appearing overdone. For a distinctive touch, orange LEDs outline the rectangular headlights. The TrailSport models include all-terrain tires and orange tow hooks in the front bumper, but every Passport has sturdy roof racks and a chunky front bumper with a simulated skid plate. (TrailSports get real skid plates, too, tucked away under the body.) 

The 4Runner is also newly redesigned. It became curvier in its latest generation, merging the details of its wildly successful predecessor with the rounded edges of the late 1990s. It also returns to the old 4Runner cue of a rearmost side window that wraps up and over the edge of the roof. Like the Passport, you can get a choice of styling flavors, from on-road luxury with extra chrome to extra-tough off-road models with blacked-out trim. 

With its high and small headlamps, huge front bumper, and extra-defined fenders, the 4Runner stands out more than a Passport. To some tastes, all these styling details are trying too hard. To others, the Passport isn’t trying hard enough. We’ll let you be the judge. 

Winner: Tie 

2025 Toyota 4Runner Limited ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Interior Design

The new 4Runner shares its interior with the Tacoma pickup truck, and we generally like it. While you’ll quickly notice our test truck’s big 14-inch touch screen, this isn’t a Tesla-like interior. It’s no less proud of its big, easy-to-grab knobs for audio volume and climate temperature. There’s also a grab bar on the center console. This is a purposeful interior, and it’s not just for show. Also, the big screen’s large icons should put technophobes at ease (though technophiles would wish for more reconfigurable display options to take advantage of the big space). Base models come with an 8-inch touchscreen and a smaller volume knob. 

The Passport’s dashboard feels like a Honda Accord’s. The controls are beautifully simple, and buttons and knobs operate with Audi-grade precision. The 12.3-inch touchscreen is more configurable than the 4Runner’s, and it comes standard on all trim levels. Honda dressed up the Passport with some neat details like a topographic map and an altitude monitor, but it doesn’t quite look like a truck. On the other hand, it’s quite a nice car. Once again, your personal tastes will carry the day. 

Winner: Tie

2025 Toyota 4Runner Limited ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Passenger Accommodations

The 4Runner is a little bigger than the Passport on the outside, and Toyota makes use of that space to squeeze in a small third-row seat. This optional seven-seat capacity lets you carry a couple extra people in a pinch, and you can fold it away when you’re not using it. Our 4Runner Limited’s third row had more legroom than we expected (not because it’s roomy but because we expected even less), but the cushion is tiny and uncomfortable. Every Passport seats just five people – but each of those five will be more comfortable. 

The Passport is derived from the family-focused Honda Pilot, and although it’s not as long, the Passport retains much of its big brother’s space efficiency. The big, open cabin has generous space and the flexibility to position the seats for optimal comfort. The 4Runner’s front seats are comfortable, but even its second row has limited knee room. And anyone wishing for a three-row Passport can buy a Honda Pilot. The Pilot's third row is roomier than the 4Runner’s, too. 

Winner: Honda Passport

2026 Honda Passport TrailSport Elite ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Cargo and Utility

The Passport also wins for carrying cargo. By the numbers, it has 44 cubic feet of space behind its rear seat and 84 cubic feet with the rear seat folded, excellent for a two-row SUV. The cargo hold is boxy and well shaped, and the rear seats fold easily flat. 

By the numbers, the 4Runner does even better – 43 to 48 cubic feet behind the second row (depending on the model) and 83 to 90 cubic feet with the rear seat folded. But the space feels tighter than that in the real world, given the high cargo floor. And the folded rear seat doesn’t lie flush with the floor on most 4Runner configurations. The 4Runner’s unique retractable rear windshield adds some flexibility (and fresh air). And expensive hybrid models can tow 6,000 pounds, rather than the 5,000-pound maximum on other 4Runners and the Passport. But otherwise, we’d pick the Honda as our gear hauler.  

Winner: Honda Passport 

2026 Honda Passport TrailSport Elite ・ Photo by Brady Holt

On-Road Driving

The redesigned 2025 4Runner is quicker and more agile than its lumbering predecessor. A turbocharged 278-horsepower four-cylinder engine is standard, while an optional gas-electric hybrid makes 326 hp. These engines are all business – they’re quick but offer gritty droning noises rather than eager rumbles. Many devotees found the old V6 4Runner endearingly flawed, with its roaring but sluggish V6 and its bouncy suspension. The new model drives more like a normal modern SUV – just not an outstanding one, and without as much character as before. 

The Passport doesn’t have that much character, either. But it wins on competence. It rides more smoothly and handles more nimbly than its truck-based rival, with unexpectedly alert and responsive steering at higher speeds. Traditionalists will also appreciate its non-turbo 285-hp V6 engine, which sounds rich and makes plenty of power. We found some stumbles from the 10-speed automatic transmission, and the engine has to rev high to reach its peak power. But overall, it was the more natural and comfortable SUV to drive – especially since we no longer chalk up the 4Runner’s drawbacks to a matter of taste. 

Winner: Honda Passport 

2026 Honda Passport TrailSport Elite ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Off-Road Driving

The 4Runner’s off-road technology and body-on-frame construction combine to make a nearly unstoppable machine when you leave pavement. Depending on the 4Runner model you choose, you can get an electronic locking rear differential; driving modes that are optimized for different off-road conditions; a stabilizer disconnect mechanism improves the suspension articulation at low speeds; and up to 10.1 inches of ground clearance. You’ll find all this on the TRD Pro model pictured here. But even the luxury-focused Limited excels at keeping all four wheels on the ground and powering over obstacles – when you remove the air dam that hangs below its front bumper to improve fuel economy. 

For a crossover, the Passport excels off road as well. Its all-wheel drive system automatically directs power to whichever wheel needs it, and the TrailSport models’ all-terrain tires help it grip the ground to muscle through. It can churn through mud, sand, or snow. And its skid plates protect the car from getting too scraped up underneath. But the Passport has a lower ground clearance of 8.3 inches, and its suspension doesn’t have as much travel as the 4Runner’s – meaning that in extreme conditions, the Honda is more likely to bottom out or lift a wheel off the ground. 

The Passport is a capable off-road vehicle, while the 4Runner – especially in its TRD Off-Road, TRD Pro, and Trailhunter configurations – is downright hardcore. 

Winner: Toyota 4Runner

2025 Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Fuel Economy

Despite the 4Runner’s toughness, it has become a relatively economical SUV. That’s thanks to its new choice of four-cylinder engines and its choice of rear-wheel and four-wheel drive. 

High-end 4Runners with the powerful i-Force Max hybrid powertrain get an EPA-estimated 23 mpg in the city, 24 mpg on the highway, and 23 mpg combined. Four-wheel drive is standard on all 4Runner hybrid models. With the base i-Force non-hybrid turbo engine, expect 20 mpg city, 26 mpg highway, and 22 mpg combined with rear-wheel drive and 20 mpg city, 24 mpg highway, and 21 mpg combined with four-wheel drive (varying slightly by trim level). 

By contrast, every 2026 Passport has all-wheel drive and a V6 engine. The base RTL model gets 19 mpg city, 25 mpg highway, and 21 mpg combined, while TrailSport models manage 18 mpg city, 23 mpg highway, and 20 mpg combined. 

We tested a 4Runner Limited 4WD with the turbo engine, a 4Runner TRD Pro i-Force Max, and a Passport TrailSport Elite. Our testing wasn’t scientifically precise like the EPA’s, but we averaged an identical 20 mpg in all three SUVs. In other words, we matched the Honda’s EPA estimate but came up short in the two Toyotas’. But based on the EPA numbers, the 4Runner wins this category. 

Winner: Toyota 4Runner 

2025 Toyota 4Runner Limited ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Final Thoughts

The redesigned 2025 Toyota 4Runner has smoothed out its predecessor’s wrinkles. It drives like a modern SUV, it has the interior of a modern SUV, it has the features and amenities of a modern SUV, and it has the fuel efficiency of a modern SUV – all while retaining legendary off-road capability. On the other hand, it’s still not objectively the best modern SUV in everyday conditions, and loyalists may not find as much subjective charm as before. 

The redesigned 2026 Honda Passport faces its own conundrum between subjective and objective appeal. Objectively, it beats the 4Runner in most ways for less money. But purely objectively, you’d skip the Passport and go straight to the roomier, similarly priced Honda Pilot.

Here’s the personal question for you: Do the Passport’s capability and style give it the authenticity and overall “cool factor” to justify it versus a competent, economical three-row crossover? If so, great news – you’ll get to benefit from its sensible side, too. For that reason, it’s our winner. But we won’t argue with you if you’re willing to pay extra for the modernized 4Runner’s more extreme limits. 

Winner: Honda Passport

2026 Honda Passport TrailSport Elite ・ Photo by Brady Holt