Honda Ridgeline

Time for another post, here it is,

The Honda Ridgeline

(credit: caranddriver.com)

I'm pretty sure the thinking behind the Ridgeline went like this:

"Honda should make a truck!"

"Agreed".

"Our truck should be the Honda Odyssey on a Pilot platform, with the Odyssey's D-pillars chopped out!"

So, if you buy a honda Ridgeline, you will be driving a modified minivan on a pseudo-SUV chassis (kind of, its a unibody). Earlier models had these strange things running from the C-pillar to the top of the bed:

(credit: partly me, partly Motor Trend)

The red oval shows the rather odd bed. The old Ridgelines look like D-pillar chopped Honda Pilots of the same era. The thing that is really repulsive is the striking resemblance between the Honda and the Subaru Baja! Are they brothers?

The Ridgeline can't come in a V8? This is 2016! It is standard for full size trucks to have a V8, even the entry-level trucks have V8's as an option. It can't come in a manual transmission, which is such a disadvantage, because it is preferable to an auto, especially in trucks. The V6 Honda has under the hood isn't powerful for a truck, it generates only 280 horsepower. The 2017 Dodge Ram 1500 with the 5.7 liter V8 engine, not the really huge 6.2 liter, generates 395 horsepower. 

I doubt the Ridgeline has any off-road capability, it is on tires better suited to suburbia then to the black rock desert. The truck has a trunk inside the bed. This may be strange, but what Honda has done, is to raise the floor of the bed, making the bed shallower, for the silly trunk and a spare tire. Isn't one of the purposes of a truck to have a large bed? Google Honda Ridgeline trunk for a picture of this. The tailgate opens both on a horizontal axis, as well as a vertical axis. What's wrong with opening vertically? If you are tight for space, a horizontally opening bed is the last thing you need.

Ending on a happier note, the Dodge Power Wagon is back! Dodge, because they are awesome, are answering the F-150 Raptor pack, with the Ram 1500 Rebel TRX!

Do you have any thoughts about cats? What drives you crazy? I welcome any respectful comments so keep it clean!

One post on this blog, one post on A Good Popular Blog About Good Popular Cats (if possible) a week, so stay tuned!