2006 Honda Ridgeline RTL
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02-02-2005, 09:25 PM
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2006 Honda Ridgeline RTL
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Honda Ridgeline rocks: Clever, classy, capable
Pickup is ideal for a hip mom or a weekend warrior dad
By Anita Lienert / Special to The Detroit News
SAN DIEGO -- It looks too pretty.
That's what consumers in U.S. focus groups told Honda Motor Co. executives when they saw the 2006 Ridgeline, the Japanese automaker's first pickup truck in North America.
"It doesn't look like a traditional pickup" was another complaint.
That didn't faze Honda, which says it avoided creating a cookie-cutter workhorse patterned after more conventional trucks like the Dodge Dakota or Ford F-150.
"The trouble with most pickups is that the husband feels like he's made a selfish purchase," explained Jim Keller, Ridgeline's assistant large project leader/design. "A guy struggles when he buys a vehicle that doesn't address the lifestyle of the whole family. We wanted a vehicle a wife would approve of."
After a day and a half of testing the Ridgeline in a variety of southern California settings, including driving an off-road course and using the truck to haul a heavy box trailer filled with rocks, this wife -- who selects and buys the vehicles in our household -- gives her seal of approval.
The Ridgeline is the biggest Honda ever built and the only pickup on the market with a lockable trunk designed to hold a baby stroller. This truck is clever, classy and capable.
It's ideal for a hip mom who doesn't want to schlump around in a frumpy minivan or a weekend-warrior dad who needs a Home Depot hauler.
The only person I couldn't picture behind the wheel of the Ridgeline is a macho Texas rancher-type who would probably scoff at a midsize, Japanese-brand truck that puts a huge emphasis on safety features and is more petite than the best-selling F-150, the gold standard in all-American pickups.
The five-passenger, Canadian-built Ridgeline goes on sale in early March.
While Honda has yet to announce prices, the Ridgeline will cost between $28,000 and $32,000, the company says, not including a $515 destination charge. Expect a navigation system to add $2,000 to the bottom line. An options package that bundles a moonroof with XM satellite radio will cost around $1,150.
That compares with a base price of $20,805, including destination, for the base 2005 Ford F-150 regular-cab truck.
Buyers who are used to configuring a truck according to their personal needs might find Ridgeline a little frustrating. Products like the F-150 offer a range of choices, including 4x2 versions as well as V-8 and diesel engines. You can't get any of those with the Honda truck.
All three Ridgeline trim levels come only in a four-door, four-wheel-drive set-up with a single-overhead cam.5-liter V-6 engine that makes 255 horsepower and 252 pounds-feet of torque. That engine is based on the same one in the Honda Odyssey minivan and the Pilot sport-utility vehicle.
In fact, the Ridgeline's driving characteristics are very similar to those of the Odyssey and the Pilot, although its design is a bit different. Honda says the Ridgeline has a unitized body, like most passenger cars, but adds a ladder-type frame, like most pickup trucks. The Ridgeline also incorporates fully independent front and rear suspension, which helps improve the ride quality.
The Ridgeline is easy to handle and feels stable and well-mannered, even when it is hauling a load or navigating a steep, silty hill on an off-road course. There is virtually none of the bouncy ride you get with most domestic trucks. Even rear-seat passengers will be fooled into thinking they are in a sedan, not a pickup.
However, the Ridgeline can't keep up with some of the big boys in terms of horsepower. The Honda falls short of the 300 horsepower and 365 pounds-feet of torque that you get with the F-150's optional 5.4-liter V-8 engine.
Still, the Ridgeline's engine seemed perfectly adequate for hauling four or five passengers and passing and merging on the freeway, even though it was a little noisy at highway speeds.
On a surprisingly challenging off-road course set up by Honda at Vessels Stallion Farm in Bonsall, Calif., the Ridgeline was a valiant performer. It easily navigated steep, wet hills and small water obstacles. The Ridgeline can tow 5,000 pounds and has a payload capacity of around 1,550 pounds. Because it lacks a low-speed transfer case, it's not ready for the vaunted Rubicon Trail, but it can be expected to handle just about anything suburban life can throw at it.
A standard five-speed automatic transmission helps the Ridgeline achieve decent, but not spectacular fuel economy ratings. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the Ridgeline gets 16 miles per gallon in city driving and 21 mpg on the highway. That compares with 16 mpg and 20 mpg. for the full-size Ford F-150 with a standard 4.2-liter V-6 engine and five-speed manual transmission. You can't get a manual transmission in the Ridgeline.
As a mom and a safety-conscious buyer, I was blown away by the Ridgeline's impressive list of standard safety features.
They include four-wheel antilock brakes, front side air bags and side curtain air bags that protect all outboard passengers. A vehicle stability assist system, which integrates traction control and helps keep the rear end from fishtailing in slippery conditions, is standard, too, along with a tire-pressure monitoring system.
The attention to detail doesn't carry over to all parts of the Ridgeline, though. In some ways, the promise to appeal to women is empty.
There are no adjustable pedals on the Honda truck and while the steering wheel tilts, it does not telescope. Both of these features would have gone a long way toward helping short women get comfortable behind the wheel and as far away as possible from the air bag in the steering wheel. Honda product planners know this and say that cost was an issue. They also forgot to put any vanity mirror on the driver's visor.
Despite these flaws, the Ridgeline is arguably the most female-friendly pickup on the market.
It has such sweet features as a dual-action tailgate that can swing down or swing open like a door, a sliding center console that creates a big space next to the driver for a bulky purse and rear seat bottoms that flip up effortlessly with the pull of a handle to let you stash gear. You can also get a dealer-installed rear-seat DVD entertainment system, too.
The cabin of the Ridgeline is tastefully decorated with top-drawer fit-and-finish. I drove pre-production models built in October and December, and there were only a few unfinished plastic seams here and there that Honda said would be fixed by the start of January production.
The most hideous parts of the Honda are oversized matte-metal cabin door handles. They look like the metal safety rails you see in hospital bathrooms. Honda said they are functional and made for guys wearing big work gloves. But they seem ridiculous in a truck bound for suburban settings.
That was the only unappealing part of a pickup I found to be more striking and unusual the more I studied it.
And while the Honda truck seems almost too good to ruin with a load of manure, it can take it. The five-foot-long bed -- which is a foot and a half shorter than the F-150's standard bed -- comes with a nonslip coating and six heavy-duty tie-down cleats. It doesn't require a bed liner because it's made of a corrosion-resistant composite material.
The Ridgeline is the first pickup to come with a deep, in-bed lockable trunk that can hold three golf bags. The trunk is tied to the vehicle's central locking system, which makes the truck feel even more like a sedan.
Ridgeline chief engineer Gary Flint says his truck doesn't have the "baggage" of the F-150.
"It would have been a lot easier to go out and copy an F-150 than do this," Flint said. "We've tried to go beyond that."
Ridgeline gives consumers an innovative new choice.
Source: Automakers, Kelley Blue Book Source: Automakers, Kelley Blue Book
More Pics Here http://www.detnews.com/pix/photogall...ondaridgeline/
Product Preview
Honda Ridgeline rocks: Clever, classy, capable
Pickup is ideal for a hip mom or a weekend warrior dad
By Anita Lienert / Special to The Detroit News
SAN DIEGO -- It looks too pretty.
That's what consumers in U.S. focus groups told Honda Motor Co. executives when they saw the 2006 Ridgeline, the Japanese automaker's first pickup truck in North America.
"It doesn't look like a traditional pickup" was another complaint.
That didn't faze Honda, which says it avoided creating a cookie-cutter workhorse patterned after more conventional trucks like the Dodge Dakota or Ford F-150.
"The trouble with most pickups is that the husband feels like he's made a selfish purchase," explained Jim Keller, Ridgeline's assistant large project leader/design. "A guy struggles when he buys a vehicle that doesn't address the lifestyle of the whole family. We wanted a vehicle a wife would approve of."
After a day and a half of testing the Ridgeline in a variety of southern California settings, including driving an off-road course and using the truck to haul a heavy box trailer filled with rocks, this wife -- who selects and buys the vehicles in our household -- gives her seal of approval.
The Ridgeline is the biggest Honda ever built and the only pickup on the market with a lockable trunk designed to hold a baby stroller. This truck is clever, classy and capable.
It's ideal for a hip mom who doesn't want to schlump around in a frumpy minivan or a weekend-warrior dad who needs a Home Depot hauler.
The only person I couldn't picture behind the wheel of the Ridgeline is a macho Texas rancher-type who would probably scoff at a midsize, Japanese-brand truck that puts a huge emphasis on safety features and is more petite than the best-selling F-150, the gold standard in all-American pickups.
The five-passenger, Canadian-built Ridgeline goes on sale in early March.
While Honda has yet to announce prices, the Ridgeline will cost between $28,000 and $32,000, the company says, not including a $515 destination charge. Expect a navigation system to add $2,000 to the bottom line. An options package that bundles a moonroof with XM satellite radio will cost around $1,150.
That compares with a base price of $20,805, including destination, for the base 2005 Ford F-150 regular-cab truck.
Buyers who are used to configuring a truck according to their personal needs might find Ridgeline a little frustrating. Products like the F-150 offer a range of choices, including 4x2 versions as well as V-8 and diesel engines. You can't get any of those with the Honda truck.
All three Ridgeline trim levels come only in a four-door, four-wheel-drive set-up with a single-overhead cam.5-liter V-6 engine that makes 255 horsepower and 252 pounds-feet of torque. That engine is based on the same one in the Honda Odyssey minivan and the Pilot sport-utility vehicle.
In fact, the Ridgeline's driving characteristics are very similar to those of the Odyssey and the Pilot, although its design is a bit different. Honda says the Ridgeline has a unitized body, like most passenger cars, but adds a ladder-type frame, like most pickup trucks. The Ridgeline also incorporates fully independent front and rear suspension, which helps improve the ride quality.
The Ridgeline is easy to handle and feels stable and well-mannered, even when it is hauling a load or navigating a steep, silty hill on an off-road course. There is virtually none of the bouncy ride you get with most domestic trucks. Even rear-seat passengers will be fooled into thinking they are in a sedan, not a pickup.
However, the Ridgeline can't keep up with some of the big boys in terms of horsepower. The Honda falls short of the 300 horsepower and 365 pounds-feet of torque that you get with the F-150's optional 5.4-liter V-8 engine.
Still, the Ridgeline's engine seemed perfectly adequate for hauling four or five passengers and passing and merging on the freeway, even though it was a little noisy at highway speeds.
On a surprisingly challenging off-road course set up by Honda at Vessels Stallion Farm in Bonsall, Calif., the Ridgeline was a valiant performer. It easily navigated steep, wet hills and small water obstacles. The Ridgeline can tow 5,000 pounds and has a payload capacity of around 1,550 pounds. Because it lacks a low-speed transfer case, it's not ready for the vaunted Rubicon Trail, but it can be expected to handle just about anything suburban life can throw at it.
A standard five-speed automatic transmission helps the Ridgeline achieve decent, but not spectacular fuel economy ratings. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the Ridgeline gets 16 miles per gallon in city driving and 21 mpg on the highway. That compares with 16 mpg and 20 mpg. for the full-size Ford F-150 with a standard 4.2-liter V-6 engine and five-speed manual transmission. You can't get a manual transmission in the Ridgeline.
As a mom and a safety-conscious buyer, I was blown away by the Ridgeline's impressive list of standard safety features.
They include four-wheel antilock brakes, front side air bags and side curtain air bags that protect all outboard passengers. A vehicle stability assist system, which integrates traction control and helps keep the rear end from fishtailing in slippery conditions, is standard, too, along with a tire-pressure monitoring system.
The attention to detail doesn't carry over to all parts of the Ridgeline, though. In some ways, the promise to appeal to women is empty.
There are no adjustable pedals on the Honda truck and while the steering wheel tilts, it does not telescope. Both of these features would have gone a long way toward helping short women get comfortable behind the wheel and as far away as possible from the air bag in the steering wheel. Honda product planners know this and say that cost was an issue. They also forgot to put any vanity mirror on the driver's visor.
Despite these flaws, the Ridgeline is arguably the most female-friendly pickup on the market.
It has such sweet features as a dual-action tailgate that can swing down or swing open like a door, a sliding center console that creates a big space next to the driver for a bulky purse and rear seat bottoms that flip up effortlessly with the pull of a handle to let you stash gear. You can also get a dealer-installed rear-seat DVD entertainment system, too.
The cabin of the Ridgeline is tastefully decorated with top-drawer fit-and-finish. I drove pre-production models built in October and December, and there were only a few unfinished plastic seams here and there that Honda said would be fixed by the start of January production.
The most hideous parts of the Honda are oversized matte-metal cabin door handles. They look like the metal safety rails you see in hospital bathrooms. Honda said they are functional and made for guys wearing big work gloves. But they seem ridiculous in a truck bound for suburban settings.
That was the only unappealing part of a pickup I found to be more striking and unusual the more I studied it.
And while the Honda truck seems almost too good to ruin with a load of manure, it can take it. The five-foot-long bed -- which is a foot and a half shorter than the F-150's standard bed -- comes with a nonslip coating and six heavy-duty tie-down cleats. It doesn't require a bed liner because it's made of a corrosion-resistant composite material.
The Ridgeline is the first pickup to come with a deep, in-bed lockable trunk that can hold three golf bags. The trunk is tied to the vehicle's central locking system, which makes the truck feel even more like a sedan.
Ridgeline chief engineer Gary Flint says his truck doesn't have the "baggage" of the F-150.
"It would have been a lot easier to go out and copy an F-150 than do this," Flint said. "We've tried to go beyond that."
Ridgeline gives consumers an innovative new choice.
Source: Automakers, Kelley Blue Book Source: Automakers, Kelley Blue Book
More Pics Here http://www.detnews.com/pix/photogall...ondaridgeline/
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02-02-2005, 09:57 PM
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02-04-2005, 04:32 PM
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RE: 2006 Honda Ridgeline RTL
I for one am not a bige fan on the Ridgeline's styling treatment, but it is a nice truck for those who want a fuel efficent, long lasting, and affordiable family truck, who aren't going to be towing big things. Honda has great powertrains, and the 3.5L VTEC V-6 is their best. We have a 2000 Honda Accord EX Sedan and it has 125,000 miles on it, and runs like it is brand new. Honda has great build quality and great build materials. This vehicle will be build in Marysville, Ohio and has more American and Canadian parts on it, than any of the big-three's pickups.
While it will take a while to get use the styling, I give the Ridgeline a 7 out of 10 stars!
redriderbob
While it will take a while to get use the styling, I give the Ridgeline a 7 out of 10 stars!
redriderbob