I genuinely loved the hybrid that I drove. I believe it was a sport touring.
Of course, the sound system in the sport touring is the best. But beyond that, if I were to ignore the sound system, is there any obvious advantage of picking the sport touring against the base sport trim or the sport-L trim?
The Bose and the acoustic glass is about it.
Luca said:
The Bose and the acoustic glass is about it.
And had I known about the acoustic glass I would have made a different decision.
Sounds, bigger rims, hands-free liftgate, acoustic glass, are on the Touring. Worth the price, in my opinion.
Higher trims (to a point) can get you better value and higher resale. Once you add AWD to the Sport L you’re $2k less than the ST. With the ST, you get the power tailgate, heated steering wheel, and better sound system.
If you don’t need AWD I’d say the Sport L is the way to go if you don’t want those extra features. If you want AWD, the ST seems like a no-brainer and could be more desirable on the used car market.
I brought the trim below the Touring. Get the Touring because regrets come later of not purchasing than purchasing.
The Touring has bigger rims, the sound system, some extra safety features I think, and roof rails.
If the Bose sound system is not a big deal for you then go for Sport only. Because the ‘L’ will not give you real leather; it is leather-trimmed.
I’m using 2025 Hybrid ST for the last 3 months. The so-called leather is now getting rough and hard in some areas and I really don’t like the color. The quality of the leather trim is not good at all.
Still, it is up to you. I always prefer non-leather ones, but only for the sound system I picked ST.
The big one, in my opinion, is AWD or not. The extra cost up front for AWD vs. FWD, the bit lower MPG, the bit more maintenance and stuff to potentially go bad, and more picky on tires and stuff like that may not be worth it if you don’t really need AWD.
The rest is pretty much up to you, and it matters how much you want the additional stuff in higher trims, how much you will actually use the features, and if it’s worth the cost difference to you. As far as resale value goes, I firmly disagree about higher trims being better for resale value like others have mentioned.
Sport L gives you most things other than Bose sound system, heated steering wheel, built-in Navigation, and acoustic glass. Also, hands-free tailgate, that some say doesn’t work much of the time. The car is quiet, but if you want quieter, then go for the Touring. I went with the Sport L, and should have gone the Touring route, for the heated wheel and better radio. That said, still very very happy with the purchase. It cost enough as it was; no need to add more $$ for those extras for me.
Heated steering if that’s important to you. I didn’t see acoustic glass called out on the specs - don’t they all have it?
Bose sound system and standard AWD - that’s all I gotta say. As an audiophile, I have JBL in my '23 Camry V6 and Bose in our '23 Acadia AT4 and it blows away pretty much all stock audios. It sucks how they can’t include Bose on the damn Odyssey or Passport; hopefully, the refreshed Passport gets a Bose sound system, since the Pilot got one about time, lol.
I bought the 2025 Sport L Hybrid. The sound, Navigation, and heated steering wheel probably won’t translate to more value down the road on a trade. I use Waze anyways, and the sound in the Sport L is pretty good with my Apple Music. My old Jeep had Nav and the heated wheel. No regrets.
I had a '23 Sport FWD and it got hit, I ended up getting the '24 Sport Touring. I loved the Sport and would have gotten a '24 L Sport if they had FWD. I only wanted the L model for the backup sensors. Anyway, I ended up with the Sport Touring and I’m glad I did. I hate its AWD, but I love the way it looks and drives compared to the Sport and Sport L, and the heated steering wheel alone is worth the price. So for me, it comes down to if you want AWD, then go Sport Touring.