2017 Ridgeline Test Drive

My wife and I went to the Honda Dealer last night chasing after a used car deal. They had a 1997 CRV with under 50K that they took on trade. It turns out it was already sold.

I told the sales guy we had heard about the 2017 Ridgeline and I just wanted to see one. He said they just came out 4 days ago and they had 2 of 9 left from their first shipment. I explained that we owned a 2000 Tacoma and had also test driven the 2016. He offered a test drive with the FWD Ridgeline RTL and we took him up on it. The price as tested was $34,680.

Before we left we took a look around the truck. The locking trunk in the bed was pretty cool. It was accessible and easy to operate. The dual action tailgate was too. The lack of wheel wells in the bed was a nice feature (lay your plywood flat). I would have liked the side opening tailgate of the Ridgeline when I was raking 800 lbs of mulch from the bed of my truck a few days ago. However I kind of wondered if I would have been pushing mulch into the seams of the bed trunk if I was in a Ridgeline. Maybe it is sealed up well. I suppose I could hose out the trunk if needed since it has a drain plug. The bed also included side compartments and LED bed lights. This model did not include the bed audio system.

The interior has a refined feel. The model we drove had leather heated seats and dual climate controls. The seating and the controls generally felt ergonomically correct. The interior felt like a nice sedan... similar to my wife's Camry. There is decent storage under the rear seat that is accessible from the side... like you could slide a golf bag under the seat from the door. The rear is also fairly comfortable and spacious.

The sales guy drove it first. He got on it pretty good as we were leaving the dealership. It is not going to win drag races but it pulled well. Next he turned it over to me. Yeah, it is smooth as silk and very quiet. The first thing you notice is how easy it is to drive. It steers right where you want it and it stays on track. It takes the turns very well and stays flat. It had a positive feel on the road... not boaty. The shift points seemed good. Compared to my Gen 1 Tacoma on 31 inch tires it felt low.

The model we drove was fwd only. It had a button for snow (The AWD version has a selector for multiple terrains). I had some discussion with the sales guy about offroading and drive trains. He did try to suggest to me that the Ridgeline had the offroad capabilities of a Tacoma. He gave his reasons why. I did not argue and mostly just listened. I heard that there are buttons to select terrain and torque vectoring capabilities and that he had seen it in action.

Our sales guy had been to a press event here in Texas before the release date. As a matter a fact, this dealership actually received the 42 prototype Ridgelines in all levels of trim and stored them before the event (On the other side of San Antonio from the Tacoma/Tundra plant). The Ridgelines were taken up to Texas Hillcountry and over several days, Honda put the trucks through their paces with towing and offroad demonstrations among other tests. I understand Honda brought in samples from the competition including Tacomas. One part the sales guy mentioned was that the Ridgeline shares about 50% of parts with the Pilot... most of which are cosmetic. They had a Ridgeline and Pilot in partial disassembly to show differences in structure and design.

My free opinion (equally valued), if you subscribe to the idea that most of us spend 99% of our time on paved roads, the Ridgeline is probably a great truck. Honda has managed space well for passengers and cargo. It is well thought out for many of the things you would ask a double cab mid-size pickup to do. Also, as an iphone user, the Ridgeline supports Carplay. I am not sold on Entune yet and might never be. I already have a smart device, I don't need my car to have another that requires configuration and managing more apps.

During the 1% that the Ridgeline goes "off of the road", it has some capabilities beyond a 2wd standard height truck. In terms of off roading as a sport, it is probably not headed to Rubicon soon (ever). If you gave me a choice between an AWD Ridgeline and a Tacoma TRD 4x4 OR on my next Big Bend trip, I want the TRD. And yeah, the TRD looks BAD too.

My wife and I have come up with a plan, she will get a Ridgeline and I will get a Tacoma TRD Off Road. We have both agreed that we can occasionally trade. Since the bank has not approved this plan, I put it in the capable hands of Honda and Toyota to sort out a future where we can have one truck that we want.

 

Well written review. I've said it before, my only issue with the Ridgeline is the overall look of it. Not my cup of tea, but I have owned several Honda products and they were all very good vehicles.

 

I'm sorry but that "truck" is totally useless as a truck. Even the AWD model is FWD based? How would you tow anything with that? The spare tire is only accessible by lifting up the bed? What are you going to do if you get a flat with a load in the back? Dump your mulch on the highway lmfao?

And the bed itself, it looks like it's about 5 inches deep. What's the point of that? I can not possibly understand why anyone would purchase that thing over a Pilot or Highlander. It's the exact same thing except without a roof in the back.

 

My buddy has the new ridgeline. He traded in his older model ridgeline for it. I gotta say, I'm very impressed by the truck. I can't imagine a better truck for everyday driving general person that doesn't do more than some gravel/dirt roads.

Inside is spacious (I'm 6'4) which great room in the back seat. Lots of storage areas, interior feel nice. The bed trunk is my favorite truck feature I have ever seen. It's the number one thing I wish my Tacoma had.

Truck drives like a dream. Pulls my double jetski setup like it is not even there an d his 22 ft boat with ease.

Great little truck