Our Passport's padded instrument panel boasted an easily readable complement of gauges. The full-sweep tachometer and speedometer were surrounded by oil pressure, coolant and fuel gauges, all of which illuminated during start-up. The gear shift, parking brake lever and console were easily reachable to the right, as were the mirror-adjusting and mirror-heating switches. Lighting controls were to the left, and the cruise-control switch sprouted from the right side of the steering column.Reclining front bucket seats were quite comfortable and went back far enough to allow our tall driver to extend his arms and drive comfortably. But the Passport didn't cheat our rear passengers in order to provide that front-seat spaciousness: Three adults could easily ride in the backseat without worrying about an elbow in the ribs. The 38-inch clearance afforded ample headroom in both the front and rear, and the rear bench seat could be folded flat or split 60/40 for varying storage requirements. One caveat, however: The front-door armrests, which housed the power-window controls, protruded into our legroom area. Several times, our test driver banged his left knee against this housing.
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