Used 2019 Honda Ridgeline

In the 2019 Honda Ridgeline, Honda has created a vehicle delivering the comfort and driving familiarity of an SUV, with the flexible versatility of a midsize pickup truck. The Ridgeline’s open bed is cleverer than that of the Nissan Frontier, Chevrolet Colorado or Toyota Tacoma, providing a hidden compartment beneath the bed floor for stowing items safely out of view. A 1,500-pound payload and 5,000-pound tow rating should meet most customers’ light-duty needs, and available all-wheel drive assists in both snow and modest off-road situations. The Ridgeline is offered in a number of trims, as well as with such important safety features as Collision Mitigation Braking, Adaptive Cruise Control and Lane Keep Assist.

Based on a version of Honda’s Global Light Truck platform that underpins the Honda Pilot, the Ridgeline offers a lot of the same ride quality and comfort of that flagship SUV. The accurate steering, cornering ability and interior quiet are all right in line with the best crossover SUVs. Ride comfort is a key advantage, as the independent rear suspension means there’s none of the "bed hop" one gets in a traditional truck with its solid rear axle. Since the Ridgeline is lighter than the Pilot, the 280-horsepower 3.5-liter V6 engine makes for brisk acceleration. If you don’t plan on off-road excursions the front-wheel-drive model should serve you well and offers better fuel economy. Alternatively, the Intelligent Traction Management system on all-wheel-drive models offers various driving modes to help tackle difficult terrain like sand and mud, making the Ridgeline more capable off-road than you might think.

If you think the interior of the 2019 Ridgeline looks familiar, that’s because it is nearly identical to the popular Honda Pilot, and that’s a good thing. Controls for the climate control, infotainment and various button and switches are logically arranged. Soothing white backlighting makes them easy to find at night. Upper-level trims include heated front seats, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto plus a power-sliding rear window for improved ventilation. All models offer excellent room for five plus rear seats that flip up, providing enough room to fit a mountain bike or perhaps a new flat-screen TV.

The original Ridgeline’s somewhat polarizing design was abandoned in favor of a cleaner look commonly associated with a midsize pickup truck. The removal of the flying-buttress structures makes it easier to load the large bed, which includes a 2-way tailgate that can either swing out or fold down. A standard composite lining on the bed belays scratch and rust worries, while a lockable trunk beneath the floor provides an added level of security even a topper can’t match. Although all one piece, Honda designers placed a seam between the bed and cab to make this unit-body design appear more like a traditional body-on-frame pickup.

TAILGATE PARTY!
The Ridgeline’s bed features a lockable storage compartment perfect for hiding valuables too large or dirty to place in the cab. A drain plug allows the compartment to serve as mobile cooler, while the 2-way tailgate, A/C outlet and in-bed audio further bolster the Ridgeline’s party persona.

INTELLIGENT TRACTION MANAGEMENT
With just a push of a button, Ridgeline owners can adjust the traction-management system to accommodate snow, mud, sand or just normal pavement. The system automatically adjusts throttle and torque distribution for maximum traction. There’s even a less robust system for front-wheel-drive models offering normal and snow settings.

The base Honda Ridgeline RT’s list of standard equipment reads more like an SUV. There’s the drivetrain, of course, a 3.5-liter V6 connected to a 6-speed automatic transmission driving the front wheels. But there’s also active noise cancellation, hill-start assist, a rearview camera, power windows with (front) auto-up/down, push-button start, cruise control, a tilt/telescoping steering wheel, air conditioning with filtration, and a 200-watt audio system with Bluetooth for phone and music streaming, a USB port and a subwoofer. On the truck end of things are the useful dual-action tailgate, eight tie-down cleats, truck bed lights, an in-bed trunk, and Intelligent Traction Management.

Every Ridgeline model except the base RT can be ordered with all-wheel drive, and it’s standard on RTL-E and Black Edition models. Beyond that, Honda tends to group equipment by model, rather than as stand-alone packages. Leather is available on RTL models, as is an acoustic windshield. RTL-T models add Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, but it’s the RTL-E and Black Edition that are most lavishly equipped, with navigation, truck-bed audio, a 400-watt truck-bed outlet, and the Honda Sensing suite of active-safety features that adds collision-mitigation braking, active cruise control, blind-spot assist, road-departure mitigation, forward-collision warning, lane-departure warning, and lane-keeping assist.

The only drivetrain option offered with the 2019 Honda Ridgeline is the choice between front- or all-wheel drive (FWD, AWD). That’s because each Ridgeline comes with the same 3.5-liter V6 engine and 6-speed automatic transmission. The V6 features direct injection and cylinder deactivation to improve fuel efficiency. FWD is standard on everything but the RTL-E and Black Edition, which get AWD as standard. AWD is available on all models except the base truck. Opt for FWD and you get very good fuel economy — 19-mpg city, 26 highway — but your towing capacity gets limited to 3,500 pounds. All-wheel drive docks the new Ridgeline’s fuel economy by one mpg — to 18-mpg city and 25 on the highway — but towing capacity goes up to 5,000 pounds.

3.5-liter V6
280 horsepower @ 6,000 rpm
262 lb-ft of torque @ 4,700 rpm
EPA city/highway fuel economy: 19/26 mpg (FWD), 18/25 mpg (AWD)