looking to purchase a trailer

mejackson · April 20

Hello, new to the neighborhood. Looking at a 2025 T@B 400. I drive a 2021 honda passport, with factory towing package rated 5000 lbs towing, and 500 lb tongue weight.Any thoughts, and be kind and gentle with your remarks.Thanks MJ.

Cherokee · April 20

You might try it and see. To get my truck setting level when connected, I raised the back 1" higher then the front to compassionate for the 297lb setting on the receiver.

qhumberd · April 20

We have a 2019 400 designed when tongue weights were higher than current models. I must admit that I was hesitant to tow near the limits of our original vehicle so we ended up with a 1/2 ton truck and have been very happy.

It appears your Passport can tow 5,000 but that is MAX and when you get over 3500 (which your loaded 400 will doubtless be close to this) Honda recommends premium fuel. If you follow that it will add to cost. Trim and handling are also a consideration when getting close to tow limits. As I mentioned I was not an experienced driver with a trailer so the thought of getting pushed around by the trailer kind of unnerved me.

Your experience may be different but I would find out what other Honda owners have found. Towing recommendations also should consider the wheelbase of the tow vehicle (longer is generally better for stability).

The Passport’s capabilities are impressive when properly equipped.

Towing accessories are readily available for installation at dealerships.
Maximum towing capacity for 2WD models is 3,500 pounds.
Maximum towing capacity for the Passport AWD is 5,000 pounds.
Premium unleaded fuel is recommended when towing more than 3,500 pounds.
Refer to the owner’s manual for additional towing information.

Bill&Suze · April 20

mejackson said:

Hello, new to the neighborhood. Looking at a 2025 T@B 400. I drive a 2021 honda passport, with factory towing package rated 5000 lbs towing, and 500 lb tongue weight.Any thoughts, and be kind and gentle with your remarks.Thanks MJ.

Welcome @mejackson, I have to say that everyone participating in this forum is civil and gentle, so fear not.
As regards your Honda Passport, a quick Duck Duck Go search says that it has 280 hp and 262 lb-ft of torque. In comparison, our Kia EV9 has 379 hp and 443 lb-ft of torque. It also is rated to tow 5000 lbs and has 500 lb max tongue weight. We tow a 2024 T@B 400. The EV9 tows the heavy 400 effortlessly although EV range is literally cut in half. I would venture to guess that your fuel mileage would be similarly affected and the car might struggle in hilly terrain. Maybe a good idea to check with a dealer or two to ask about towing in general and how robust the transmission is under constant load?

Gomers2 · April 21

I think it depends on your usage demands. If you're just staying local and going to the state park a couple times a year you're probably fine. If you're looking to tow out west over the mountains and do long trips you might be disappointed in the power, handling, gas mileage etc. It's not an inherently unsafe setup so give it a try. If the tow vehicle does not have a built-in trailer brake controller you'll add one to the camper and that will give you some increased braking performance.

EasternJL · April 21

I have a Honda ridgeline and considered the 400 at one point. The ridgeline and the passport are basically the same..towing wise. There's a ridgeline forum where there's lots of folks discussing towing the 400 with a ridgeline, with no problem...including in mountainous terrain. You might check it out.

EasternJL · April 21

There are also some posts on this forum on this subject
https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/10324/honda-ridgeline-and-tab-400

elbolillo · April 21

We previously had a ‘21 Honda Pilot with the tow package combined with our ‘23 Tab 400. It also is rated for 5,000lbs towing. I installed an e2 wdh and we put on well over 15,000 miles towing, including many mountain passes. It performed well.

However, I would agree that, the Pilot or Passport, would be better suited to lower mileage trips. If we were to only take short trips with only the occasional mountain passes we probably would have stuck with the Pilot.

We now have a ‘24 Sequoia, and the difference in towing is night and day, especially for long driving days. One big plus for us is that with the Sequoia we don’t experience “towing fatigue” like we did with the Pilot. Rarely does the Sequoia need to rev up like the Pilot did and does not get pushed around by wind and tractor trailer gusts.

Horigan · April 21

We tow with a 2013 Highlander that has similar performance to the Passport. As stated above, it's fine for most trips. The Highlander struggled a bit on steep high altitude passes in the Rockies. I would get the trailer and see how you like it. If you end up doing a lot of towing over mountains, you may decide having a bigger rig to be worth it. For us, we like the smaller footprint of the Highlander for other driving.

mejackson · April 21

Thank all of you for the input on this subject.Hope to make a informed decision soon.Happy camping. MJ

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2019 T@B400 Boondock Lite "Todd"