Honda designers gave the new Ridgeline a "machined billet" look that favors a single-piece profile rather than the separated bed and cab of traditional pickup trucks.
This angular-shaped pickup was developed exclusively by a team of American designers and engineers who have done a thorough and brilliant job. The Ridgeline is currently built in Honda's Alliston, Ontario plant.
A Simple Lineup
The Ridgeline is offered in a single configuration: as a four-door, five-passenger pickup with a 5-foot-long bed and four-wheel drive.
The Ridgeline and the newest Odyssey minivan use the same all-aluminum 3.5-liter SOHC V6 engine, complete with VTEC electronically-variable valve timing. It develops 255 horsepower at 5750 rpm and 252 lb-ft of torque at 4500 rpm, with drive-by-wire and a superbly smooth and quick-working 5-speed automatic gearbox.
Standard on all Ridgeline trims are high-capacity radiator and cooling fans, plus additional coolers for the gearbox and power steering fluids, to reliably deliver its full towing capacity. There's also a high-mounted fresh air intake for deeper water crossings and dusty going.
All models share a rear seat that proves exceptionally comfortable for three adults, with a high cushion providing good thigh support, plenty of foot space even in the center (thanks to minimal "tunnel" intrusion), and adjustable head restraints at all positions. The seat also splits in 60/40 sections that can be easily flipped and locked up by pulling a single handle on either side.
There is an abundance of storage bins and cubicles inside, including a large console that be slid open in stages.
In terms of safety, all trims have Honda's Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA) system that includes traction control plus frontal, side and side-curtain airbags with rollover sensors. The Ridgeline also became the first 4-door pickup to be awarded a five-star rating for both frontal and side-impact crash tests performed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Standard equipment is more than plentiful on the RT, which has a base price of $27,700: air conditioning, power windows and door locks, a 6-speaker 100-watt AM/FM stereo with CD player, cruise control, keyless entry and more. The $31,490 RTL gets climate control, leather seats and a 7-speaker 160-watt audio system (with subwoofer and 6-disc CD changer) that offers much better sound than the other system.
The top-level RTL trim, starting at $34,640, adds a navigation system with touch screen and bilingual voice commands, an auxiliary jack for digital media and a power sunroof. An additional $2,200 serves up a DVD-based rear-seat entertainment system.
Beefy Where Needed
Contrary to other pickup trucks, the Ridgeline has a "closed box unit body frame" that combines unit-body construction (for better quietness, handling and ride) with a separate "ladder" frame that allows the truck to tow up to 5,000 pounds. Total vehicle payload capacity is 1,550 pounds.
Tough enough? The bending rigidity of the Ridgeline's structure claims to be more than 2.5 times greater than the best body-on-frame competitor, and 20 times stiffer in rear torsion. Stiff unit-body construction also allows for narrow body panel gaps of only 3 to 4 millimeters, for better wind noise control, among other virtues.
The Ridgeline shares some if its basic DNA with Honda's other large utility vehicles, the Pilot, Odyssey and Acura MDX, all built on its "Global Light Truck" platform. That said, the engineers modified 93 percent of the basic components, and gave the Ridgeline a 95 percent exclusive interior and its very own body panels.
True Innovation
The Honda pickup's fully independent front and rear suspension has MacPherson struts in front, and a combination of multiple links and trailing arms in the rear.
That rear suspension—a first for pickups—inspired a significant innovation: a large, trunk-like cargo space hidden under a locking flip-up panel that doubles as the rearmost part of the Ridgeline's bed. Honda has trademarked it as an "In-Bed Trunk."
And just forward of that 8.5 cubic feet of open space, the spare wheel is tucked underneath the cargo bed on a tray that slides rearward by unscrewing two butterfly nuts. This way the wheel always stays clean and rust-free; a far cry from spare wheels that hang in the open under the back end of other pickups.
Made of solid black plastic, the cargo box is large enough for a big cooler or even three golf bags, says Honda. The watertight box can hold ice for a picnic, and it can be hosed clean and drained by removing a plug at the bottom.
The bed has a payload capacity of 1,100 pounds (more than half a ton), thanks to three steel cross members underneath. Bed and box are made of rust- and dent-resistant, steel-reinforced composite material (SRC). There are six heavy-duty hooks to tie down anything from garden equipment to an ATV. Honda engineers have even carved three sets of shallow indents in the back panel and floor, making it easier to secure dirt bikes.
Another benefit of the independent rear suspension: minimal wheelwell intrusion, so objects as wide as 4.1 feet can be slid into the bed.
Ridgeline also has a "dual-action" tailgate that can be flipped down in the traditional way or swung open curbside. That tailgate is anything but flimsy: it can support up to 300 pounds, and it opens and closes with the crisp ring of tight-fitting, robust metal locks and detents.
A Full Array of Tests
The Ridgeline's press launch, in California, included long road and highway loops, with two special stops along the way. At the first venue, we drove the trucks over a mountainside off-road track that mirrored the 14-point test tracks used during its development.
Honda's new pickup was designed for "medium off-road use," but it handled the steep climbs, bumps, dips and fast downhill turns of this track with ease. It has 8.2 inches of ground clearance, a 25-degree approach angle, and a 22-degree departure angle.
The Ridgeline's VTM-4 electronic four-wheel-drive system—similar to the system used on the Acura MDX—can send up to 70 percent of the engine torque to the rear wheels, working in concert with the standard VSA stability control system in normal driving.
There is no "low range," but for tighter going, a "lock" button on the instrument panel sends equal torque to the rear wheels at speeds up to 18 mph. The Ridgeline can climb a 28-degree (53 percent) dirt slope from a standing start, say its creators. Our first tests support this. Honda also claims that it can pull a 5,000-pound boat up a steep landing ramp.
Breezing Through and Pulling True
The second test had two parts: We first compared the Ridgeline to a couple of its rivals in terms of handling, and also checked the effectiveness of its stability control system over a long slalom course that mixed fast corners with some tight and twisty turns.
We were then invited to compare the load-pulling capacity and behavior of the Ridgeline against a Ford F-150 full-size pickup equipped with the optional 5.4-liter V8, no less. Both vehicles were pulling trailers loaded to the Honda's 5,000-pound towing capacity.
In both tests, the results were quite convincing. The Ridgeline tackled the slalom course with ease, showing a notable advantage in stability and agility over its rivals. Its rigid platform, fully independent suspension, vehicle stability control and VTM 4-wheel-drive system yield peerless on-limit handling performance for an all-purpose pickup.
In the towing exercise, the Ford rig did accelerate harder from a standing start, to an indicated speed of 53 mph, versus the Ridgeline's 45 mph, over the same distance, but the Honda remained impeccably stable, confidence-inspiring and easy to drive when we rounded a long sweeping turn and a few left-right maneuvers simulating lane changes.
On the Road
The very first impression a driver receives when entering a vehicle comes from the quality of the driving tools presented. The Ridgeline earns high marks in this respect, first with an impeccably sculpted and supportive seat that adjusts easily. The steering wheel follows suit, although I wish it adjusted in reach as well as height.
All other controls are quite typical of Honda: simple, effective and smooth, complementing large, clear gauges. The notable exception: wiper-washer controls that have been combined with the turn signals in a single, left-side column stalk, rather than the more effective two separate stalks. This was likely done to give proper clearance to the stubby, column-mounted shift lever.
It took very little driving to reveal the Ridgeline's excellent driving characteristics. A few hundred yards of city driving were enough to highlight the excellent body rigidity, stable handling and precise, linear steering. Ride quality is impeccable, too. In fact, the Ridgeline felt superior—and more pleasant to drive—than its first cousin, the Pilot SUV.
Full one-week tests of two different Ridgeline trims—a base RT and a fully-loaded RTL with navigation system—followed in May, back home. They confirmed and validated all initial driving impressions, even on our often broken, pothole-strewed Canadian streets and roads.
The single clear negative that surfaced is the dismal visibility when backing up. The bed's tall side panels and the tailgate block the driver's view to the rear in parking maneuvers, unless he or she gets up slightly from the seat.
The Ridgeline can be equipped with audible rear parking distance sensors as a dealer-installed option. These should be made standard in the name of safety.
Performance and Braking
The base Ridgeline RT produced a standing-start 0-60 mph acceleration average of 8.92 seconds, and it covered the traditional quarter mile in 16.77 seconds, with a speed of 84.1 mph at the timing point. The slightly heavier, fully-equipped RTL completed the same tests in 9.43 and 16.98 seconds, respectively, with a peak speed of 82.5 mph.
As for fuel economy, the Ridgeline's EPA ratings are 16 mpg for city driving and 21 mpg on the highway. The 22-gallon fuel tank is said to provide a maximum range of 462 miles.
All trims share standard four-wheel disc brakes with ABS, brake assist and electronic brake distribution. In our simulated emergency braking tests, the RT and RTL braked from 60 mph over almost identical average distances of 145.6 and 144.7 feet.
Both Ridgelines braked perfectly straight, but the average dry asphalt grip of their specially designed Michelin LTX P245/65 R17 all-purpose tires made for longer braking distances. By comparison, the slightly heavier Odyssey Touring minivan, also equipped with 4-wheel discs and ABS but running on tires that are not required to deliver off-road grip, needed 139.7 feet to brake from 60 mph.
Conclusion
The Ridgeline will be a hit for Honda, but it also will change this segment by modifying the expectations of pickup buyers in terms of practical features, comfort, overall handling, performance and efficiency. (Not to mention the expected reliability and durability that have propelled closely related Honda model lines such as the current Odyssey and Pilot to the top of their respective classes.)
Truck purists and the macho crowd might dismiss and deride the Ridgeline for things such as its front-wheel-drive origins, the absence of a massive rear axle—or even lack of leaf springs—and its rather un-truckish exterior styling.
Let them talk.
The Honda Ridgeline is a superbly designed and executed newcomer that sets new standards for midsize pickup ride and handling. It is truly innovative, remarkably comfortable, and it offers peerless practicality in day-to-day, real-world driving.
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