Compare the2025 Volkswagen TiguanVS 2025 Honda Passport

For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Volkswagen Tiguan have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision. The Honda Passport doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.

The Volkswagen Tiguan has a standard driver’s side knee airbag mounted low on the dashboard. The knee airbag helps prevent the driver from sliding under the seatbelts or the main frontal airbag; this keeps the driver better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. A knee airbag also helps keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Passport doesn’t offer knee airbags.

The Tiguan has a standard front seat center airbag, which deploys between the driver and front passenger, protecting them from injuries caused by striking each other in serious side impacts. The Passport doesn’t offer front seat center airbags.

The Tiguan has a standard Automatic Post-Collision Braking System, which automatically applies the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The Passport doesn’t offer a post collision braking system: in the event of a collision that triggers the airbags, more collisions are possible without the protection of airbags that may have already deployed.

Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Tiguan has standard Maneuver Braking that use rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically apply the brakes to prevent a collision. The Passport doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.

When descending a steep, off-road slope, the Tiguan 4Motion’s standard Hill Descent Assist allows you to creep down safely. The Passport doesn’t offer Hill Descent Assist.

The Tiguan SEL has a standard Area View to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Passport only offers a rear monitor and front and rear parking sensors that beep or flash a light. That doesn’t help with obstacles to the sides.

The Volkswagen Tiguan’s rear backup camera has a standard washer for maintaining a clear view under various conditions. In contrast, the Honda Passport does not offer a rear camera washer, meaning its effectiveness relies on manual cleaning by the user when necessary.

Both the Tiguan and Passport have rear cross-traffic warning, but the Tiguan has Rear Traffic Alert (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The Passport’s Cross Traffic Monitor doesn’t automatically brake.

Both the Tiguan and the Passport have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras and rear cross-path warning.

The Tiguan comes with a full 4-year/50,000-mile basic warranty, which covers the entire truck. The Passport’s 3-year/36,000-mile basic warranty expires 1 year or 14,000 miles sooner.

The Tiguan’s corrosion warranty is 2 years longer than the Passport’s (7 vs. 5 years).

Volkswagen pays for scheduled maintenance on the Tiguan for 1 year and 8000 miles longer than Honda pays for maintenance for the Passport (2/20,000 vs. 1/12000).

The Volkswagen Tiguan’s engines use a cast iron block for durability, while the Passport’s engine uses an aluminum block. Aluminum engine blocks are much more prone to warp and crack at high temperatures than cast iron.

On the EPA test cycle the Tiguan gets better mileage than the Passport:

Regenerative brakes improve the Tiguan’s fuel efficiency by converting inertia back into energy instead of wasting it. The Passport doesn’t offer a regenerative braking system.

For better stopping power the Tiguan’s front brake rotors are larger than those on the Passport:

The Tiguan’s optional tires provide better handling because they have a lower 40 series profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the Passport EX-L/Black Edition’s 45 series tires.

The Tiguan has standard front and rear gas-charged shocks for better control over choppy roads. The Passport’s suspension doesn’t offer gas-charged shocks.

For better maneuverability, the Tiguan’s turning circle is 1.2 feet tighter than the Passport AWD’s (38.1 feet vs. 39.3 feet).

The Volkswagen Tiguan may be more efficient, handle and accelerate better because it weighs about 450 to 650 pounds less than the Honda Passport.

The Tiguan is 4.7 inches shorter than the Passport, making the Tiguan easier to handle, maneuver and park in tight spaces.

The Tiguan is 5.6 inches narrower than the Passport, making the Tiguan easier to handle and maneuver in traffic.

The Tiguan has a higher maximum payload capacity than the Passport (1014 vs. 948 lbs.).

The Tiguan uses gas struts to support the hood for easier service access. The Passport uses a prop rod to support its heavy hood. It takes two hands to open the hood and set the prop rod, the prop rod gets in the way during maintenance and service, and the prop rod could be knocked out, causing the heavy hood to fall on the person maintaining or servicing the car.

The Tiguan R-Line has a standard heads-up display that projects speed, infotainment and driver assistance information readouts in front of the driver’s line of sight, allowing drivers to view information without diverting their eyes from the road. The Passport doesn’t offer a heads-up display.

The Tiguan’s power parking brake sets with one touch and releases with one touch or automatically. The Passport’s parking brake has to be released manually.

The power windows standard on both the Tiguan and the Passport have locks to prevent small children from operating them. When the lock on the Tiguan is engaged the driver can still operate all of the windows, for instance to close one opened by a child. The Passport prevents the driver from operating the other windows just as it does the other passengers.

The Tiguan’s front and rear power windows all open or close fully with one touch of the switches, making it more convenient at drive-up windows and toll booths, or when talking with someone outside the car. The Passport’s rear power window switches have to be held the entire time to open or close them fully.

The Tiguan’s rain-sensitive wipers adjust their speed and turn on and off automatically based on the amount of rainfall on the windshield. This allows the driver to concentrate on driving without constantly adjusting the wipers. The Passport’s standard intermittent wipers change speed with vehicle speed, but can’t turn on and off or change speed based on changing rainfall.

Heated windshield washer nozzles are standard on the Tiguan to prevent washer fluid and nozzles from freezing and help continue to keep the windshield clear in sub-freezing temperatures. The Passport doesn’t offer heated windshield washer nozzles.

To help drivers avoid possible obstacles, the Tiguan SEL has standard cornering lights to illuminate around corners when the turn signals are activated. The Passport doesn’t offer cornering lights. The Tiguan also has standard adaptive headlights to illuminate around corners automatically by reading vehicle speed and steering wheel angle.

The Tiguan’s power mirror controls are mounted on the armrest for easy access. The Passport’s power mirror controls are on the dash where they are possibly hidden by the steering wheel and are awkward to manipulate.

The Tiguan SEL has standard massaging front seats in order to maximize comfort and eliminate fatigue on long trips. Massaging seats aren’t available in the Passport.

The Tiguan SEL R-Line’s Park Assist Plus can parallel park or back into a parking spot by itself, starting, stopping and changing direction automatically. The Passport doesn’t offer an automated parking system.

The Tiguan is available in both front-wheel drive and four-wheel drive configurations. The Passport doesn’t offer a two-wheel drive configuration.

The Volkswagen Tiguan outsold the Honda Passport by almost three to one during 2024.