The second-generation Ridgeline's docile ride and amazing convenience features make it a near-perfect pickup. Just leave your truck assumptions behind.
At Honda's drive preview in San Antonio, the benefits of this construction were made undeniably clear. On the road, the Ridgeline cruises in ultimate smoothness and comfort, cushioning away all road imperfections and cocooning you in a luxuriously quiet ride. Getting out of the Ridgeline and into one of the brand-new Toyota Tacomas or Chevy Colorados that Honda brought along for comparison was like stepping backward 30 years in chassis design. On worn Texas pavement, the Ridgeline absolutely erased the small-amplitude pavement ripples that juddered the Tacoma, and the body-on-frame groans that the two traditional trucks made over larger pavement imperfections were entirely absent in the Honda.
Car and Driver
As before, the interior of the Ridgeline positively embarrasses the competition. It feels enormous and comfortable front and rear.
Neither does any competitor have the Ridgeline’s clever tailgate that either drops like a regular truck’s or swings open to the driver’s side like an old-fashioned station wagon’s. Nor do they have the Ridgeline’s in-bed trunk beneath the load floor. And most important, none of them come anywhere close to the Ridgeline’s ride quality.
The Honda Ridgeline enjoys a ride that no live-axle, body-on-frame vehicle could dream of.
No matter how it’s outfitted, the Ridgeline is a no-brainer of a truck: unmatched in smoothness and comfort, and full of innovation well beyond its unibody construction. It deserved far more sales than it netted in its inaugural generation. Here’s hoping this one realizes its full potential.
MotorTrend
The general attitude I sensed from the GM camp during the 2015 Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon launch event was, “Yeah … forget about the last Colorado and Canyon. We’re going to try this whole midsize truck thing again.” Toyota’s sentiment at the 2016 Tacoma soiree: “Yeah … we know what we’re doing with Tacoma. We don’t want to mess with it too much.” And most recently, the OEM perspective at the 2017 Honda Ridgeline get-together: “Yeah … we have a weird truck. We’re keeping it weird and making it better.”
Flattening the gas pedal doesn’t produce the typical rear-wheel-spinning drama you’d expect from a truck, but it feels strong once you’re going. The compromise is the Ridgeline uses an honest-to-goodness, not-by-braking torque-vectoring rear differential that promises fantastic real-world drive force without having to resort to low range or manual diff locking. In moments of need, up to 70 percent of available power is circulated to the rear.
Automobile Magazine
If you hold prejudices that dictate what a truck’s nationality should be (this one’s built in Alabama, by the way), or how it should be made, or what it should look like, un-truck yourself. Give the Ridgeline a look. You just might find it’s as fun, capable, and practical as I did.
The Car Connection
The Ridgeline does the best imitation of a passenger car inside, by a huge margin. Other trucks have narrower, chintzier cabins and lots of road noise. Most Ridgelines are as ritzy as most Pilots--which is very--and they're also very quiet.
The Ridgeline could end up being the safest truck on the road, but the IIHS hasn't given it a Top Safety Pick+ just yet. It's worth noting Honda has crash-tested the truck with a thousand-pound load in the bed, and measured intrusion into the cabin--a test no other truck builder has yet performed.
Autoblog
In the face of ever-bolder and blockier competition, the Ridgeline looks, dare we say, aerodynamically sound. It's all based on the rational desire for greater efficiency, comfort and convenience.
In the same way that a car-based crossover is a better choice for most families than a truck-based SUV, the Ridgeline is a better choice for a large swath of pickup buyers. It really is more comfortable, more fuel efficient, roomier and easier to live with than its primary competitors.
In a nutshell, the Ridgeline is a pickup truck for rational people. Problem is, pickup buyers haven't proven themselves to be rational people.
