New Ridgeline looks more like a truck, acts more like a car.

[MinisterofDOOM]

So the leaked pictures that popped up last year ended up being genuine. The new Ridgeline looks like a pickup. It even has a separate bed, despite its still-unibody architecture. No word on how that's achieved, but it's not the first truck to do things that way (the old Jeep pickups had frame extensions off the unibody to carry the bed and rear suspension).

http://www.automobilemag.com/auto_shows ... ridgeline/



The stupid buttressed bedsides of the 1st gen were a horrible idea, eliminating one of the most useful aspects of a pickup bed: the ability to just reach into the bed. Unless you're comically tall with apelike arms (like yours truly) that's basically impossible with a 1st gen Ridgeline. The new one has a normal, flat-belted bed. It's also bigger (most significantly: longer).

The new tailgate is no longer weirdly sized relative to the bed, and opens vertically or horizontally a-la 60's Ford wagons. The stupid (yet somehow popular) locking underbed "trunk" is still there, keeping your spare tire conveniently buried beneath whatever it is you've filled the bed with. For some reason, people like this feature, and it's sticking around. I guess if you never actually put anything in the bed, that's a non-issue.

I'm surprised to see that there are no convenient steps built into the rear bumper or anywhere around the bed--another indication that Ridgeline owners don't really use their pickup beds, they just like having them around for emergencies.



As far as looks, I think it's actually pretty okay. It's a lot better looking than the latest overdone Tacoma update, and about on par with the new Colorado. The front fascia is pretty damn bland, but the rest is okay.

Marginally increased pickupness aside, the "truck" is still based on the Pilot (which is itself Accord-based) and will come with the Honda family V6 making not-really-much-power-for-its-size.
Bizarrely, Honda is adding a FWD-only model to supplement the existing AWD arrangement. Not exactly sure who would buy this (or why) but it will probably serve the purpose of artificially lowering base MSRP for the model in in marketing situations.

So, basically, I still don't understand why it exists, but it's improved over the last model in some significant ways. It's still a sort of modern Isuzu Vehicross in that it's not excellent at either of the things it wants to be, but people buy 'em and it's nice to see some better looks and a more usable bed on the thing.

[OriginalWheelman]

The target market are people who use trucks but never offroad with them. I'd expect to see these everywhere for parts shop delivery vehicles. Honda dependability 4 doors, a bed. I can see NAPAs buying these things by the dozen.

Another market being the new home owners. There are a lot of younger people settling down, be it 10 years later than their parents. Finally buying houses and getting married. I bought a house and quickly learned I needed a truck to do my own projects. There will be the appeal of a dependable every day car that can haul the 7 times a year I need to. Because renting trucks is stupid expensive. It was cheaper for me to buy an old one than to keep renting them. If this was an option when I was car shopping, I would honestly have considered it. Not to mention, grocery runs with a bed are soooooo much easier. And the ease of owning 1 car.

[Kompresshun]

^Agreed. Trucks are hard to live without, but I did it for a long time. I finally bought a pick-up again myself a few months ago though because even with the Pathfinder, it's still nice to have a truck at your disposal. It was cheaper than buying a decent trailer too though, so it was hard to pass up.

As for the Ridgeline - I do see a purpose for it, because most people really just need the utility of a truck bed and generally aren't going to haul anything of considerable weight in them. People that actually haul stuff on a regular basis won't even be stepping foot on to a Honda lot anyways.

To me this is a better option for the people that like to convince themselves they need to daily drive a truck anyways, for the 10 bags of mulch they haul every spring in the back of their Platinum Edition F150 4x4 Crew Cab. That probably infuriates me more than most reasons to own a car, because why in the hell would you spend $60,000+ on a truck that you never intend to really use as a truck? Why not just buy a nice SUV and get a trailer to pull behind it? One of the managers at my previous job had an $70,000 F150 and he would never haul anything in it. He'd borrow one of the shop trucks or borrow one from someone else so he didn't have to scratch his. Whatever though - It's not my money.