Autonet.ca Review; 2010 (2011) Honda Ridgeline Truck

Here's a nice review on the 2010, but you could substitute eveything said for the 2011, no changes....

Photos by -Autonet.ca
Daniel Barron

Published: 07 09 2010
Ridgeline the young upstart

Buying a pickup often isn’t a matter of going to the nearest dealership and picking one in your favourite colour. There’s a lot more to consider, whether it’s engine type, cab size, bed length, drivetrain, option packages, and more.

There’s one vehicle that bucks this trend, though - the Honda Ridgeline. Every model in its four trim line-up is outfitted with the same engine, is equipped with all-wheel drive, and features the same crew cab and bed length. The only real difference between the trims is the number of creature comforts in each.

Though no one will claim Ridgeline is meant to take on the responsibilities of a heavy duty beast like a Ford F-350 or Ram 2500, it’s more than adequate at the slightly-less demanding jobs of a smaller truck.

Ridgeline is equipped with a 3.5-litre V6 that produces a generous 250-horsepower and 247 lb.-ft. of torque. That’s at the very least in the ballpark of most V6-equipped competitors, if not a lot more. Its 5,000 lb. standard towing capacity is also ahead of many competitors, and it’s worth noting that most other trucks in the segment need additional towing or off-road packages before they hit the 5,000 mark, which often equates to more moolah.

The Ridgeline has a 1,550 lb. payload capacity as well, which is also well ahead of many competitors, including the Chevrolet Canyon, Nissan Frontier and Toyota Tacoma.

Once the comparisons on paper are done, though, Ridgeline proves itself as an able-bodied, easy-to-use truck when it’s actually called upon to get its tires dirty. Its automatic all-wheel drive system can be locked in first, second or reverse gear when it’s gotten in (the mud) too deep.

There are no fancy-schmancy footholds or poles to help step into the bed, but you need not worry about scuffing up the steel-reinforced bed when you throw stuff in. Though the heavy duty tie down hooks throughout the bed aren’t adjustable, there are eight of them in total, which should be sufficient for most jobs.

All Ridgelines come standard with a seven-pin trailer connection, pre-wiring for trailer brake control, and heavy duty front and rear tow hooks.

The five-foot truck bed simply may not be enough for some jobs at the work site, but what that shorter bed allows for is a very roomy cabin. We’ll eat our left arm if we hear of anyone complaining about the room in the front or back seats of the Ridgeline. Loading three passengers in the rear may be pushing it a bit, but there’s all kinds of room for four occupants in total.

Opting for the EX-L with Navi package will give you all sorts of extra features, from Bluetooth, to ambient lighting, to dual-zone climate control; but this is still all truck inside. Large grips surround the door handles, while knobs are big and easy to manipulate for the large-of-hand.
The rear seats, meanwhile, can easily be flipped up or put back down in a single motion with one hand, and the centre console can be configured in all sorts of ways to hold as much or as little as necessary depending on how busy your day is.

That’s not to mention the exterior, with its dual-action tailgate that flips down like a standard truck, but can also swing out like a door. The in-bed trunk is great not just for keeping beverages cold during tailgating, but for stowing expensive items. Best of all, it can be locked and unlocked with the rest of the vehicle using the key fob (no need to fumble trying to get a key into a lock).

It would seem all too easy to ignore the young Ridgeline for more well-established models from General Motors, Toyota or Dodge, but there’s simply no denying that Honda’s pickup truck is a capable performer.

Summary:
Year/Make/Model
2010 Honda Ridgeline
Price as tested
$43,690
Trim level
EX-L
Price range
$34,990 - $41,490
Freight
$1,590
Options
Navigation pkg ($2,200) inc. Bluetooth and rearview camera.
EnerGuide fuel economy ratings
14.1 L/100km city; 9.8 L/100km hwy
Observed fuel economy
14.2 L/100km over 439 km
Warranty (basic)
3 years/60,000 km
Warranty (powertrain)
5 years/100,000 km

Competitors
Chevrolet Colorado; Dodge Dakota; Nissan Frontier; Toyota Tacoma

Strong Points
- storage
- comfort
- ride

Weak Points

- fuel economy
- one configuration

Editors Rating:
Fuel consumption
The V6 engine is forced to work hard.

Value for price
Somewhat pricey, especially with tempting aftermarket features.

Styling
Stylish and unique, yet looks the part of a rugged little truck.

Comfort
Lots of space for four, with very good handling and ride.

Performance
Above average towing and payload numbers.

overall
Not a whole lot to complain about.

Source;

http://www.autonet.ca/autos/search/testdrives/2010/08/27/15159106-autonet.html

Honda's first truck tops in reliability

Guess which pickup truck has the top reliability rating of any consumer truck sold in the United States. Two hints: It's built by a company that's known for fuel-efficient car, and it's not one of the best-selling trucks in the country.

The answer: The Honda Ridgeline.

Introduced in spring 2005 as Honda's first pickup, the Ridgeline isn't a brawny brute capable of towing 8,500 pounds and climbing over sizable rocks off road.

Rather, the Ridgeline is a four-door, five-passenger, four-wheel drive, mid-size truck that's agile for everyday driving and comfortable for outdoor getaways on less-aggressive off-road terrain. Towing capacity is 5,000 pounds.

And the Ridgeline remains the only truck with some innovative features, such as a lockable trunk in the floor of its pickup bed and a tailgate that can flip down the usual way or swing out, like a car door, for easier access to the bed. The Ridgeline also has car-like unibody construction to help provide a smooth ride.

Unlike many other trucks, there's no bargain-basement version of Ridgeline, which helps to explain the lagging sales.

The well-equipped Ridgeline has a starting manufacturer's suggested retail price, with destination charge, of $29,160. This includes a V-6, five-speed automatic transmission and standard four-wheel drive and compares with $26,840 for a V-6-powered, 2010 Nissan Frontier Crew Cab SE with four-wheel drive and automatic transmission.

A 2010 Toyota Tacoma Double Cab with four doors, V-6, four-wheel drive and automatic transmission has a starting retail price of $27,550.

The Frontier and Tacoma have body-on-frame construction typical of trucks. They also are offered in lower-priced versions that have less equipment. For example, a 2010 Tacoma with regular cab with only front seats, four-cylinder engine and manual transmission starts at $16,145.

Clearly, Honda officials had something different in mind for the crew cab-only Ridgeline, and it was mostly the owners of Honda cars like the Accord and Civic who also have pickups parked in the driveways.

In 2005, Honda officials estimated about 18 percent of the millions of Honda owners in America were in this category, and they projected annual Ridgeline sales of 50,000. Alas, Ridgeline hasn't caught on, despite the stellar reliability rating of Consumer Reports, where the Ridgeline is a recommended buy and reliability is "better than average."

Even the Tacoma, another recommended buy, doesn't have that reliability rating. Neither do top-selling trucks like the full-size Ford F-150 and Chevrolet Silverado.

The test Ridgeline, a top RTL model with navigation system and voice recognition, leather-trimmed seats, satellite radio, moonroof and alloy wheels, would never be confused with a truck taking guys to a construction site.

The interior was spacious, front and back, and excellent in fit and finish. Controls were large and easy to understand and doors closed solidly.

I marveled at how wide the Ridgeline interior is. My front passenger and I had wide seats and good-sized center console with lots of storage between us. I especially appreciated the deep center storage that could swallow my purse and keep it invisible under a closed cover.

Front-seat headroom of 40.7 inches in Ridgelines with no moonroof is more than the 40.1 inches in a Tacoma Double Cab and the 40 inches in a Frontier Crew Cab. The test Ridgeline with the power-operated moonroof had 38.7 inches of headroom up front, and it was still roomy for me and a 6-foot passenger.

Back-seat headroom in the Ridgeline totals 36.4 inches, which is less than the Tacoma's 38.5 inches and the 38.7 inches in the Frontier.

But shoulder room of 62.6 inches in the Ridgeline back seat is noteworthy. The Frontier only has 58.3 inches of rear-seat shoulder room, while the Tacoma has 59.3 inches.

Yet from the outside, the Ridgeline doesn't appear as big as it is. The Ridgeline is Honda's longest vehicle, more than 17 feet long from bumper to bumper. This is longer than even the Honda Odyssey minivan.

But drivers don't feel that they're wheeling around in a big, wallow-y vehicle. Rather, the Ridgeline moves amid city traffic easily, and there's no need to worry about crowding the next lane or sticking out in the grocery parking lot.

There is a sizable turning circle, however, of 42.6 feet, and the test Ridgeline bounced a bit over choppy pavement. Road noise can be loud on rough road surfaces. I didn't notice much wind noise.

There's one engine for the Ridgeline — a 250-horsepower, 3.5-liter, single overhead cam V-6. It's the same V-6 used in the Honda Pilot sport utility vehicle and has strong, confident sounds.

With torque peaking at 247 foot-pounds at 4,700 rpm, this V-6 moves the more than 4,500-pound Ridgeline capably, even if there's not instant get-up-and-go when the accelerator pedal is pressed.

I was impressed with how smoothly the automatic transmission channeled the engine power. Passengers didn't notice shift points.

Too bad, though, that the Ridgeline doesn't come with Honda's notorious fuel-sipping qualities.

Instead, the Ridgeline's federal government fuel mileage ratings of 15 miles per gallon in the city and 20 mpg on the highway are about middle of the range for 2010 pickup trucks. A Tacoma with V-6 and four-wheel drive is rated at 17/21 mpg.

The 5-foot-long Ridgeline bed is made of composite and has no wheel arches intruding.

All safety equipment, including curtain air bags, traction control and electronic stability control, is standard.

Source;
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5itU1WrlwPBj9_UygNZQ1t8N336IQD9EPNIE00

2010 Honda Ridgeline Body Summary

Overview: New Generation Pickup Truck Packaging with Safety and Rigidity

The Honda Ridgeline is designed to be strong and intelligently adaptable to the needs of its users with features not available anywhere else. Honda's approach to body construction incorporates a heavy-duty unibody design for sophisticated packaging and safety with a lower ladder frame for truck toughness. Benefits to this approach have resulted in a first-ever in-bed cargo well; a spacious interior; a large pickup bed with minimal wheel well intrusions; and handling, safety and NVH qualities that outperform conventional pickup truck designs.

Body Summary
-Athletic stance styling with 21st century truck proportions and one-piece cab-to-bed design
-Integrated Closed-Box Frame with Unibody Construction has reinforced deep channel construction with a closed box ladder frame
-5-foot long bed (6 ½-foot with tailgate down) with 4-feet, 1-inch of space between the wheel wells
-Secure In-Bed Trunk with a volume of 241 litres
-Dual-Action Tailgate swings down or to the side and can support heavy loads
-Vehicle-to-vehicle crash compatibility and pedestrian safety designs

Athletic Stance with New Truck Proportions and One-Piece Billet Design

The exterior styling of the Ridgeline is built to convey a modern and strong appearance with honesty toward the vehicle's performance and Honda's unique 21st century pickup truck style. Designed to appear as if it were carved out of a single block of steel, the billet construction styling concept emphasizes "strength" and is evident in the seamless one-piece construction from the cab to the bed (most trucks have separate cabs and beds with a large gap between each section). Details like the integrated bumpers, window shapes and body panel indents blend with the general trajectory of the vehicle's lines to further build on symmetry associated with billet construction. The end result is a pickup truck with proportions built around an athletic stance with short front and rear overhangs, a dominating grille connected to a long and expansive hood with details like large door handles and large side mirrors delivering on traditional truck-functional styling cues.

Now in it's third year, Ridgeline's muscular exterior has been freshened most notably in its front and rear styling.

Source;

Honda Canada