2021 Audi Q3 vs 2021 Honda Passport

The 2021 Audi Q3 is a subcompact luxury SUV. Small crossovers and SUVs are seemingly taking over the automotive world, and even among this extremely crowded field, the Q3 is a standout. Despite having “SUV” in the name, the expectation with these vehicles is that they drive as comfortably and are as efficiently as a sedan. The Q3 delivers on this with a refined ride and standard driver assistance features, as well as helpful-in car tech.

The Q3 first entered the North American market for the 2013 model year. The redesigned second-generation model arrived for 2019 and is still on sale today. For the 2021 model year, the Q3 gains additional high tech safety features and loses its top-tier Prestige trim. You can now get the features from this trim as options packages.

The 2021 Honda Passport was introduced for the 2019 model year. It carries over to 2021 largely unchanged, but with some additional features. First used by Honda in the early 1990s, the Passport name harkens back to a time when SUVs were more about rugged off-road capability. SUVs are very different beasts these days, and the Passport bridges the gap as an adventurous crossover SUV that is designed with daily life in mind.

The Passport is closely related to the Honda Pilot. The fact that Honda offers multiple midsize SUVs might seem confusing. Automakers always talk about not wanting one model to cannibalize sales of another. Though the Honda Passport and the Honda Pilot are in the same category, the Passport stands out as a more active alternative. It leverages that older more rugged Honda nameplate and backs it up with some features not found on the family-hauling Pilot.