Imagine starting a journey in Seattle, then pummeling through endless miles of dirt and gravel as you travel to Canada’s Arctic Circle, then deep into Alaska, and then some more. You must drive over 5,000 miles in just 11 days. But this isn’t any ol’ joy ride, this is competition. Seasoned teams and newcomers alike must face long hours, little sleep, mammoth animals, and bad road conditions. We competed in North America’s longest time-speed-distance (TSD) road rally: the 2025 Alcan 5000 Rally. My husband, Andy Lilienthal, and I partnered with Honda Motor Corporation to put its newest off-road SUV, the 2026 Honda Passport TrailSport, to the test.

Alcan 5000 Rally, 41 Years Strong

The Alcan 5000 Rally is an accuracy and precision-based competition. It is not a race. It’s a time-based event held on public roads, at or below public speed limits. It’s typically held every two years (except for times like this year to shore up the two-year calendar cadence). The Alcan 5000 Rally changes routes, too. Teams must use the Richta rally app on a smartphone and follow specific route directions in a route book at prescribed speeds. If they arrive at hidden checkpoints early or late, they’re penalized. The more they are off timewise, the higher their score is. Competitors with the lowest scores over the entire duration win their class, or for one lucky team, the overall title.

Some participants tackle the rally’s optional “extreme control routes,” which are usually additional far-flung remote destinations traveling on challenging dirt or gravel roads. This extra effort, if successfully completed, will garner another accolade and bragging rights. We did it all, totaling a hefty 5,502 miles (about 1,000 miles of that dirt and gravel) over this year’s 11-day duration.

Summer Alcan 5000 rallies fall into two general categories: automobiles (cars, trucks, and SUVs) and motorcycles (most of which are adventure touring or dirt bikes). This year 17 rigs and 12 motos left the Seattle area and headed north, searching for perfect scores and hoping for clear weather. Competitors journeyed through Canada’s British Columbia and the Yukon Territory to the Arctic Circle, over to Fairbanks and Valdez, Alaska, and back to Canada, finishing in Williams Lake, British Columbia. Teams braved rain, tough roads, tons of construction, mechanical issues, flat tires, and split windscreens. No matter the issues, teams stuck together and helped one another. Nearly every team finished this year’s grueling run.

2025 Alcan 5000 Rally Classes

The 2025 Alcan 5000 Rally is comprised of five classes. Cars are 1U (Unlimited) or 1S (SOP or Seat Of Pants). Trucks and SUVs are 2U or 2S. Historic vehicles and motos are scored via other classes. Each class needs to use the proper rally equipment per rally regulations.

Unlimited teams can use any kind of rally computer or rally app to compete. SOP teams can use an OEM odometer plus slide rule or Stevens wheel and calculator to help them stay on track. Rally tables are also allowed in SOP. SOP teams can use hand calculations to figure out incremental arrival times at a specific route change. Think of taking off at your designated start time of 8:00:00 (hours:minutes:seconds) and arriving at X at the exact time to turn right on Smith Street while going 37 miles per hour and arriving there after traveling 2.29 miles. TSD rally is all about exactness, not how fast you can get somewhere.

While it may sound overly complex (and if you make it so, it can be), staying on course is the basic rule.

Andy and I first competed in the winter 2020 Alcan 5000 Rally in the Historic class with our right-hand-drive turbodiesel 1991 Mitsubishi Pajero. We were invited to be a tribute vehicle honoring the late, legendary racer, Rod Hall, as he had died the year beforehand. He competed in a Dodge Raider—a rebadged Mitsubishi Montero/Pajero—in the 1986 Alcan 5000 Rally. Since then, we’ve competed in three more Alcan 5000 rallies, each partnering with different automakers, including this year with Honda.

Our 2026 Honda Passport TrailSport Rally Rig

The latest Passport TrailSport has many off-road-ready features. This includes reinforced steel skid plates (not the thin plastic stuff other manufacturers pass off as skid plates), an off-road tuned suspension, and co-developed General Grabber all-terrain tires.

“The Passport TrailSport was a very good choice for the Alcan 5000 Rally. The AWD system, standard General all-terrain tires, and interior space lent itself to be a great choice,” driver Andy said.

“The 285 hp V6 had lots of get-up-and-go; perfect for getting around slow campers and semis on the Alaska highways and back roads. It offered 8.3 inches of ground clearance, but another inch would’ve been welcome. Regardless, Honda put together a vehicle that stood up to the demands of roads in the far north, many of which are truly terrible.”

The General Grabber A/T Sport all-terrains are standard fare on the 2026 Honda Passport TrailSport. “As a mild all-terrain, they stood up to the harsh conditions in the north,” Andy exclaimed. “This included huge potholes, nearly 1,000 miles of dirt, and more. We had zero flat tires over our entire 5,500+ mile rally (which included all optional extreme control routes), while some teams had up to three flat tires. While not the most aggressive all-terrains, they were perfectly suited for our mix of pavement and dirt and will be a great tire for most Passport TrailSport drivers.”

Durable Skid Plates And Honda’s Ergonomics

“The Passport TrailSport’s standard skid plates also did a great job. These are real skid plates, not flimsy plastic splash guards,” Andy added. “We also had Honda’s factory optional rock sliders. And while we didn’t employ them on the Alcan 5000, it was good to know they were there just in case. The entire package was more rugged than we expected, and we had zero problems the whole time we had the vehicle.”

Honda has long been known for its ergonomics, and that continues with Passport TrailSport. For Andy, everything was intuitive and easy to use, even the infotainment system. For me, I had more than enough room to stash navigational supplies, as well as areas to keep multiple cameras secure.

“There were loads of cubbies and storage areas that fit all our stuff, from phones and full-size Nalgene water bottles to snacks and sunglasses, there is a ton of storage in the Passport TrailSport.”

Passport TrailSport Add-Ons

While the Passport TrailSport is solid in factory trim, we knew we’d need additional lighting for the dark nights ahead. For this, we worked with California-based Rally Innovations which manufactured a prototype front light bar mount for this SUV. The mount employed four Baja Designs Squadron Pro LEDs. OEM fogs were replaced with Baja Designs Squadron Sport LEDs, which used custom wiring and light mounts to make them fit.

We also utilized the Passport TrailSport’s two-inch hitch receiver for a Factor 55 Hitchlink 2.0 rear recovery point. The SUV also offers two recovery points of its own on either side of the receiver.

Honda OEM-Offered Accessories

Honda supplied factory-optional accessories to round off our rally rig. Adding to the protection package are Honda’s accessory rock sliders. For $995 these pieces offer legitimate rocker protection while tucking up neatly against the body.

Rugged black 18-inch Honda HPD wheels ($1,840) replaced the standard Matte Shark Gray alloy wheels and added to the vehicle’s “rally” look. A new cargo platform roof rack ($900) secured our MAXTRAX XTREME vehicle recovery boards, a Front Runner Wolf Pack Pro storage box, and a five-gallon fuel canister.

Pro Tip: Make sure to test fit rooftop gear with the mounting straps you intend to use before you leave for a trip. This OEM-supplied rack had small slits on its sides, and slats which were several inches apart creating the platform. Our traditional ratchet straps with hooked ends wouldn’t fit through the rack’s side openings, nor would they hook to the sides. The side rail slits were too small to pass hooks through, and the side rail lips aren’t deep enough to adequately secure hooks. However, a product like the Keeper Kwikfeed ratchet tie-down strap is the perfect way to secure cargo on this new cargo rack. We passed the hooked ends underneath the side rail and looped them onto the same Keeper strap using its integrated strap loops located by the ratcheting mechanism. They worked like a charm and over several thousand miles, our cargo and straps stayed tight and secure.

On the inside we used Honda’s optional MOLLE panels ($160) to house gear in the rear cargo area. We also carried a full-size spare tire using the manufacturer’s interior vertical spare tire holder. This nifty setup uses part of the rear’s false floor and a three-point heavy-duty seatbelt strap system to secure it in place. It never loosened. Finally, Honda’s super-bright LED lift gate light ($100) lit up the entire cargo area when loading and unloading in the dark and is another must-have.

An Ideal Adventurer But Room For Improvement

There was a lot to love about our 2026 Honda Passport TrailSport rally rig. It was comfortable, spacious, and kept us on the straight and narrow during our 7,535 total miles (including both the Rally’s 5,502 miles and the trip to and from the starting and finishing locations) with it, nearly 1,000 miles of that dirt and gravel.

Honda’s TrailWatch camera system was also instrumental in many manners. It turned on at slow speeds so you can have a bird’s eye view of the vehicle, see both front fenders, and use it to park in tight spaces. We wished other adventure-centric manufacturers had this robust of a camera system.

“However, the rig wasn’t perfect,” Andy explained. “I would’ve loved to have had another inch of ground clearance. Plus, the vehicle felt large and lumbering at times; not quick and nimble. But then again, this isn’t a sports car.”

The 2026 Honda Passport TrailSport traveled well over nearly every type of terrain. Keep in mind the rally took us over road surfaces that were much worse than most people will ever experience. “The suspension could’ve used more damping over the big frost heaves in Alaska and the Yukon Territory. The SUV would use all its suspension travel, occasionally hitting the bump stops on full compression. Revised turning would help this.”

Perhaps, Honda would offer a Passport TrailSport version with even more off-road prowess in the future, like a Passport TrailSport X, per se, much like Subaru has done with its Wilderness series? Time will only tell.

“That’s not to look down upon the Passport TrailSport’s already impressive off pavement capability,” Andy said, reiterating its existing adventure-ready stature, “but just a few more off-road accoutrements would make this a real trail slayer.”

Summing Up The Alcan 5000 Rally

The 2026 Honda Passport TrailSport is the most rugged SUV the automaker has made to date. It was a great traveling companion that helped us get to the top for this year’s Alcan 5000 Rally. We won our 2S class again, this time out of 17 vehicle teams, and nabbed 2^nd place overall. We also earned the Go Farther and Arctic awards, as well as the Finisher acknowledgement.

The Alcan 5000 Rally is the best of the best when it comes to the rally community. It’s an insanely challenging and rewarding competition. Where else can you marry your love of travel, vehicles, rally, spending time with friends and your teammate (husband), and the challenge of it all? It’s overlanding meets adventure, but in a unique and interesting way.

Registration is currently open for the 2026 summer Alcan 5000 Rally and it’s much less expensive than you might think. You might just find a new vehicle-based passion just like we did several years ago. The Alcan 5000 Rally packs full a lifetime of experiences in just 10-11 days. But it’s 100 percent worth it. Ask us how we know.

Photos by Mercedes Lilienthal