The Honda Ridgeline is not a real truck.
Or so we keep getting told over and over. In fact, when you buy a Ridgeline, you also get a pink frilly tutu to wear while driving it.
No, The Harley Davidson Sportster is not a real motorcycle. The Ducati Monster is not a real sport bike.
The Ruger American is not a real rifle. The Beretta 92FS is not a real handgun.
Lund is the only real boat. Real houses must be stick built.
The purists have had their say, and they are right. Always.
A short time ago, I traded in my 2009 Toyota Tacoma on a new 2017 Honda Ridgeline. I have to start by saying, despite a sometimes love/hate relationship, the Taco was a good vehicle. In eight years and over 100,000 miles, it has had more good than bad moments. But there were some items that were coming up, somewhere between repairs and maintenance, that would need to be addressed. These would likely be painful, so it just made more sense to take the plunge.
I thought about another Taco, but the new model is much more evolutionary than revolutionary with many of the same known weak points.
And while the Taco was overall good, several minor repairs over the years showed a build that would have been far more reliable if trivial changes had been made. As an example, a few extra cents on the fasteners for the exhaust shields would have made them last the life of the vehicle over the eye-glass sized screws that held them together only briefly.
For reasons I won't go into here, my choices were narrowed down to the Ford F-150 and the Honda Ridgeline. Apples and oranges.
I actually test drove the F-150 first and like it more than I thought I would. It is, frankly, bigger than I need and even with substantial discounts, getting what I wanted in my next new vehicle would have meant trade-offs by getting some of what I don't want with a higher cost. This is the case even with substantial discounts (A-Plan) and current rebates.
Cost aside, my choice was made when I actually test drove the Ridgeline.
And in a situation that continues my string of punctured tires in 2016, the Ridgeline had a screw in the tire at test drive. New tire since installed. I hope 2017 will have better inflation.
Like many truck owners, I probably don't NEED a truck. However, there are many times when having a truck makes life easier to the point that if I didn't have one, I'd probably need at least a small trailer; I do not want to have another wheeled thing to keep stored away some where. A truck makes far more sense than a trailer and a car that can pull it. I've not yet figured out how to go hunting and carry bloody critters around after the fact without either a truck, or a lot of hassle. Truck it is...
So I need a truck to carry bulky and bloody stuff. I don't need to tow a houseboat. I don't need to drive half way up Denali. I don't need to carry a 2-ton generator in the bed to a job site.
As a truck, the Ridgeline IS everything I need.
The Ridgeline is what it is, but it does not pretend to be something it is not.
If you want a four wheel drive vehicle to rock crawl in the Mojave, a Ridgeline is not your best choice; get a jeep with front and rear locking differentials.
If you want a truck to tow a backhoe around, get a GM2500HD.
If you want a real man's 4-Wheeler, get an International Scout (My siblings and I used to get driven to school in one of these on winter days. Those brutal aluminum bleacher seats and a rusted out floor with winter coming through forces a kid to be tough.)
If you need a wheeled vehicle which can go absolutely anywhere, get a SHERP ATV (google it).
If you ignore the chatter of the body-on-frame-or-nothing crowd, the Ridgeline makes far more sense than most other trucks for the vast majority of buyers. For the body-on-frame crowd, this was probably good advice ... in 1982.
The vehicle is comparable to other similar sized trucks in the areas of payload and towing. It is far more capable than my 4-cylinder Taco it is replacing.
The ride quality is infinitely better than other midsized or full sized trucks.
The fuel economy is better, but only marginally. I think overall the fuel economy of all trucks is lacking. I'm curious what the maybe-someday new Ford Ranger will be - an Ecoboost 4 cylinder sounds quite intriguing. Damn the Chicken Tax as there is a demand for efficient capable open-bedded vehicles of a less substantial girth.
The AWD drive system on the Ridgeline is better at handling varying winter road conditions than the dedicated 4WD on most trucks. Journalist and owner reviews I've read show it is at least capable during off-road situations.
The bottom line: I can't think of anything over the last eight years I've done in my Tacoma that the Ridgeline would not also be able to capably handle, but I can think of many times when the Ridgeline would have been a better choice.
Of the various trucks I've owned over the last few decades, my favorite was and is my 1994 F-150 - a truck I spectacularly totaled in the late 1990s. As full sized trucks have continued to grow, the Ridgline is nearly the same size as that 1994, but with a more usable interior. I can only hope I'll like it as much as that Ford in the long run.
The proof will be in the
So, mock the Ridgeline if you must, frilly tutu or not. But first question the need for a larger, less comfortable vehicle used for the 95% of what most trucks are used for. Look at the K5 Blazer, and realize it is just a station wagon on steroids. Wonder why a $50,000 King Ranch F series always seems to be parked at the mall - at least I think - I haven't actually been to a mall in a few years.
Time will be the ultimate test of the Ridgeline, but I'm really looking forward to that time. There will be an in depth review some time after more real world miles are on the truck.
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