Passport's buttons and switches are well-placed and easy to operate. One exception is the windshield wiper control located on a post on the right side of the steering column; it can be confusing if you don't take the time to figure it out. Fortunately, we had driven an Isuzu Rodeo a few weeks before the Passport, and the foibles of the wiper control were still fresh in our minds on a rainy afternoon near downtown Los Angeles.The moonroof (standard on EX) reduces front-seat headroom from 38.9 inches to 37.8. While that 1.1-inch might not sound like a lot, it does make a difference to taller people. Honda's smaller, unit-body SUV, the CR-V, offers more headroom at 40.5 inches, and comparable legroom, at 41.5. While some might find the passenger space limited, there is plenty of cargo room. The Passport has 81.1 cu. ft. of empty space with the rear seat folded down. That compares favorably with other mid-sized SUVs. The Nissan Xterra has only 65.6 cu. ft. of hauling space. The Toyota 4-Runner comes close with 79.8 cu. ft., although the Dodge Durango and the all-new Ford Explorer have them all beat, with 88.0 cu. ft. each. In our review of a 1999 Isuzu Rodeo, we lamented that the seats weren't very comfortable. We must not have been alone in that opinion, and somebody must have been listening. The front and back seats were redesigned for the 2000 models. Without having old and new seats side by side, it isn't possible to pinpoint exactly how the new ones are enhanced, but at the very least the seat bottoms seem bigger and deeper. Whatever the changes, they are definitely for the better.
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