My Wife, Carin, and I bought a new 2017 Passport 153ML a couple weeks ago and had our first trip out this past weekend at Cloudland Canyon in NW Georgia. We do a lot of mountain biking and tandem riding and Cloudland has great MTB and hiking trails. It's only 1.5 hours from home, so offered a good test run of our whole setup. We have previously owned a Fleetwood E3 popup camper.
My tow vehicle is a 2016 Toyota Tacoma which has a 6100lb tow rating. The TT is 3100lbs dry and probably 3400lbs thus far with gear, so we are well within the TV limits. We are using a Curt trutrack weight/sway system which worked very well on the bumpy and twisty secondary roads. The truck pulled the camper pretty well considering the difference in height. Stopping duties were no problem with a P3 handling brake duty.
We looked hard at the Jayco Hummingbird/Minnie Drop variants but they were just too small inside. We really liked the Micro Minnie's from Winnebago but just couldn't find the right floor plan. We really were focused on floor plan and useable space vs a specific manufacturer and when the new for 2017 Passport 153ML showed up, we knew it was the right floor plan.
After spending several hundred bucks at Walmart setting up the camper with sheets, dishes, Keurig, etc., we were ready to hit the road. We tested all of the systems over the weekend and, to my surprise, everything worked flawlessly. We were extremely comfortable all weekend long. The furnace warmed up the camper as the temps dropped down to 32 overnight.
Things that I found I needed to "add" include:
Better speakers. The inside and outside speakers crackle with any level of volume. They're just cheap and this isn't a problem for me to replace.
There isn't much counter space, so I will add a flip up butcher block counter on the side of the cabinet to create some additional working space.
I will change the pull out 30a power cable to a Furrion plug in unit. Stuffing the cable in the outlet is a pain and it is a spot for critters to get in.
While build quality may be an issue over time-hope not, thus far, everything works well. The TT is comfortable and has a great, 2-person floor plan.
Some pics...