Hansel Honda

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Walk Around

The Honda Ridgeline's uniqueness starts with its appearance. With pickups, you need a cab and a cargo box, so form to a considerable extent follows function. Yet Ridgeline doesn't look quite like any pickup before it. The grille, the front end, the cab shape, the buttresses coming down off the rear of the roof to join the integrated pickup bed, all seem to have been deliberately designed to be different, and different can be good or bad. Styling has never been our favorite Ridgeline attribute, before or after the 2009 facelift.

At least the front end of the latest version has a bit more contour. The grille opening, once rigidly rectangular, now narrows a bit at the bottom as it dips into the top of the bumper; and is now boldly outlined in chrome instead of body-color plastic. The grille insert has been simplified: The Honda H still features prominently at the center, but rather than something that looked like an old television antenna, it is now flanked by a pair of flattened wings. These wings are black on the Ridgeline RT and show up against the black mesh grille mostly because of the difference in texture, a handsome, sophisticated touch. On Ridgeline RTS and RTL, however, the wings are painted silver, which to our eye spoils the effect, ultimately trading the previous weird grille for one that's just plain clunky.

Beneath that, the top bar of the bumper has narrowed (a necessity, given the deeper grille), and the bar below that is now recessed, emphasizing by default the bumper's corners. As before, each corner is opened by an air slot, but the new slots are much larger, more like rectangular scoops, and are half-filled by accessory lights on RT and RTS and filled up by fog lights on RTL.

At the rear, the taillights have been thankfully simplified; and a bold, black molding now defines the top of the bumper, dipping down under the license plate at the center in a way that suggests the business end of a Texas Longhorn. Honda calls the new look more chiseled. To us, it looks lighter, less bluff, less toy-like, more mature.

Ridgeline's unchanged profile still shows a lot of metal sculpting from end to end that conventional pickup trucks with separate beds don't have. The RT's wheel covers look reasonably like five-spoke alloys (at least from a distance) and don't detract from the Ridgeline's appearance. The RTL comes with real, rugged-looking 18-inch alloy wheels with two flattened machined surfaces on each of five spokes, while the RTS retains 17-inch alloys in a six-spoke pattern similar to what we've seen on Ridgelines since 2006.

The cargo bed is made of steel-reinforced SMC plastic, not steel with a sprayed-on or slipped-in liner. The bed is five feet long with the tailgate up, and six and a half feet long with the tailgate down, enabling it to carry two dirt bikes or a large ATV. A tubular aluminum cargo bed extender is available for longer loads. There are four large retaining chocks, one in each corner of the bed, to help secure large pieces of cargo; and a total of eight cargo tie-down points.

The two-way tailgate is unusual, but it works great. It will drop down in familiar fashion, top to bottom, and it also opens like a door, from right to left. There's a hidden latch on the lower right side and hinges on the left, so users don't have to lean across the tailgate to store or retrieve items in the bed or the storage trunk. The tailgate is retained by a conventional cable on the left and a patented, hidden retainer on the right.

The storage trunk, even more than the tailgate, distinguishes Ridgeline from other pickups. This covered, sealed and lockable bin beneath the bed works like the trunk in a sedan. It offers 8.5 cubic feet of secure storage, which according to Honda is enough space for a 72-quart cooler or three sets of golf clubs. The compact spare tire mounts forward of the storage trunk in a sliding, locking tray. The trunk is fitted with a drain plug for those times when ice turns to water, or when accumulated crud needs to be hosed out.

Interior

2010 Honda Ridgeline

Inside the Ridgeline, Honda has turned down the brightness a bit, primarily by removing the bright metal ring from around the speedometer, as well as the bright ornament from the end of the column-mounted gear selector. The steering wheel hub is still outlined in bling, but has been subtly re-shaped so that the single down-spoke is both more narrow and slightly concave. Ridgeline's three-dimensional gauges now have a finer, lower-contrast look; there's also less contrast between the color of the climate control knobs and the plastic that surrounds them.

The Ridgeline offers as much comfort, space and convenience as any half-ton pickup available. Bucket seats come standard in front with a center console. We found the driver and front passenger seats to be roomy, comfortable and supportive, with plenty of adjustment range for rake and travel.

Anyone who has owned a late-model Honda will feel familiar with the layout inside the Ridgeline. We mean things such as nice, even seams throughout, good quality soft plastics, convenient switch placement and large, easily readable instrument graphics. All models feature illuminated vanity mirrors for the driver and front-seat passenger. The big, raised pull rings around Ridgeline's door-release levers are one of a kind and kind of cool. They're certainly effective for hefting the doors shut.

The navigation system, with its DVD data base and eight-inch screen, is a paradigm for size, brightness, contrast and overall ease of use. The voice commands work well; alternately, the menus are simple, effective and easy to master. Yet in the Ridgeline, one of our few gripes applies to the screen's placement. It's off center a bit toward the front passenger, and flat, so in certain light it can be difficult for the driver to read. The driver has to almost lean sideways toward the center of the vehicle for a better look.

The rear doors are shorter than the front doors, standard practice in this segment, but there's no problem getting in or out.

The back seats are quite comfortable for two adults, with a 24-degree backrest angle, more like a front seat. The rear seat is nearly as roomy and versatile as those in front. A six-foot male driver would be able to fit behind himself in the back seat with reasonable leg room and knee room.

The rear seat splits and folds, 60/40, to stash fairly large pieces of cargo in the cab. The under-seat storage space, something like an airliner's, is great for backpacks or briefcases.

The Ridgeline's unusual exterior design reduces outward visibility. The buttresses where the cargo box meets the cab create a blind spot for glancing over the shoulder.

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