The Ridgeline has front wheel drive. How would that stack up against a standard 2WD truck and a 4x4 truck?
Doesn’t matter, the Ridgeline is not a truck. It is a SUV with an almost unusable box at the rear.
1 Like
Depends what you want to use it for. They’re selling well I hear. What are your needs?
1 Like
I have tried to determine what the Ridgeline is supposed to be. I think you got it.
On snow and ice 4WD is best, 2W FWD is good, 2W RWD is the worse. Ground clearance may be another consideration., depends on the application.
1 Like
I did OK with 2W RWD on snow and ice for 3 decades. How much snow and ice do you encounter in Southern California? I encountered zero.
The Ridgeline isn’t a “real” truck. It’s based on the Pilot, which is based on the Odyssey, which is based on the Accord. It’s unibody with some reinforcements tacked on, The 3.5L V6 it uses doesn’t have a great deal of low end torque (vs. the big 3’s full sized trucks), consequently it’s gearing quite short to compensate, and because of that, it doesn’t get hugely better fuel economy than an ecoboost F-150 or V8 Silverado. The Ridgeline gets about 2-3 MPG better, but doesn’t offer the nearly the same kind of power or capability despite the prices being largely comparable. It’s basically a vehicle for people that like the idea of having a truck, but really don’t need one.
With all that said, there are some clever packaging/design features. And the people I know who have them, really like them. For me, though, given that the cost is about the same, and the operating costs are pretty close. I’d rather have “real” truck. IMHO the Ridgeline doesn’t do anything noticeably better than the traditional options, and with the F-150,Silverdo,Ram,or Tunda, all of which offer superior towing/hauling and off road capability.
1 Like
If your replying to me, I’m speaking from my experience of living near a Colorado ski resort before .
Sorry. That is very different. I’m not sure why replies usually show who the reply is for and some times don’t.
The Ridgeline is a truck for people who want a truck that rides and handles like a car and only occasionally haul something not too big or heavy.
@oldtimer-11 is right, the Ridgeline is a part time truck.
It actually will tow pretty well up to about 4500 lbs but I’d suggest the AWD version for that. For all-weather driving, the FWD version is fine. Its conceptual big brother is the Chevy Avalanche which is about 25% bigger (and discontinued by GM), has a short 5 foot bed and is based on a real truck chassis. The Av tows more but its bulk makes it an issue for parking and fuel economy.
It depends what you want to use it for. If I were buying a truck, my biggest concern would be that the FWD might lose traction in the front if you put too much weight on the rear, but a weight distribution trailer hitch would address that, and front traction is an issue while towing heavy loads whether the vehicle is FWD, RWD, or 4WD.
No worries. When I suggested that rear-2WD is “the worse” for snow and ice, I didn’t mean to imply it is Simply Thee Worst … lol … I just meant it isn’t quite as good in my experience as FWD for snow and ice. Maybe a “good, better, and best” wording would have been a better description.
My first Colorado car was an early 60’s Ford Galaxy that I drove on snow covered mountain roads to and from the ski resorts for years with nary a problem. I never even got stuck. I did get that car stuck in downtown Denver one time on a date during the summer when I somehow got one of the rear wheels up above the road surface spinning in the air over a city sized gutter … whrrrrrrr … 
I remember the Hudson pickup from 1941 through 1947 that was on a car chassis. In 1957, Ford copied this idea with the Ranchero. There was even a Falcon version. These could hardly be called trucks. Chevrolet had its ElCamino-- a car based vehicle. There was even the Corvair based Rampside. I view the Ridgeline as a small SUV based hauler.
1 Like
The El Camino was a body-on-frame vehicle. Used the same engines as the C/K series too.
The new Ridgeline is available in both 2WD and 4WD. 90% of dealer inventory (or more in some locations where it snows) will be AWD. The staff at CarTalk/BestRide have tested all of the “midsized” trucks. By test, we mean we have actually driven them for a week or more at a time. The RIdgeline is our universal pick as the best overall in the market.. It tied the Genesis for our overall best vehicle for 2016. We realize this is unpopular and we are supposed to somehow say it is a minivan/crossover conversion or something, but it is a tough, refined, and very comfortable truck. Its bed is longer than every short-bed in the class and its width is the greatest. It has the most interior storage space and can swallow a mountain bike (tire on) in the back seat area. BestRide’s staff is not alone. At Torque News, writer Parks McCants, who has owned every brand of pickup, says the Ridgeline is the best he has ever tested. There are trucks in its class that can do more. The long-bed versions can haul more of course. The tiny fraction of a percent of the market made up by of modern diesel Colorados and Canyons can tow more. The Tacoma TRD Pro and Colorado ZR2 are better off-road. Where the Ridgeline really beats the pants off the others are in the trims that might be termed “Limited”, meaning the fancy trims. The Ridgeline is the only midsize pickup to have earned the IIHS Top Safety Pick Plus safety designation. Here’s a review that appeared at both CarTalk and BestRide. The Ridgeline’s production is limited to less than 5,000 units per month by Honda and is built in Alabama with an engine (Alabama) and transmission (Georgia) also built in the USA. It has outsold the GMC Canyon since both were introduced.
Sorry John, I still think the Ridgeline is a truck for people who don’t really want a truck . Side note , I really hated the Chevy Avalanche.
“The El Camino” is redundant, as “El” means “the”.
So, in effect, you are posting about “The The Camino”.
“El Camino” was likely GM’s abbreviated reference to “El Camino Real”–the Royal Road–which was built to connect the Spanish Missions in California
…and that is your Spanish language lesson for today.
A lot better fit for most current F150 drivers I see, who never have anything bigger than a few bags of mulch in the bed…
1 Like
Why don’t you give us your reasons? Did you test drive one? What was your test drive like? How many trucks from the same model year did you drive in comparison?