Talk me out of a Honda Ridgeline

They are uglier than sin... Its a tie between the Ridgeline and the Avalanche for ugliest truck.. Just get another Tundra, if you are that worried about mileage just get a diesel and retune it for mpg... Then spend the difference on maintenance.

I agree with the payload issue, try tying down a stack of lumber across the bed with those silly cab flairs...

 

No diff drop to offset the cv angle with the lift kit you’ll need to get you out of that 3rd mangina option you listed.

 

LOL...I went to the hardware store with the wife and family today to pick up some garden soil. My wife went through the cash register and I didn't realize how many bags she bought. After loading up 18 1.5 ft^3 bags of lawn soil (pretty wet, 40 lbs each?), I was doing the math in my head as I pulled out the parking lot and realized we were at or above the rating of the truck. After I mentioned this to the wife, you should have heard the tone of her voice when she asked why I spent over $50k on a truck that can’t carry 18 bags of garden soil and my family...Tunda didn't seem that manly or impressive to her in that moment. Ridgeline would have been better today...or maybe we should have taken our Odyssey to the hardware store.

I figure I had about 700 in the bed and 425 lb in passengers. Over my payload when considering mods and everything else in the cab.

Honestly, I would have considered the Ridgeline if we were a family of 4 rather than 5. Also, I actually think they've improved the looks a bit in the latest refresh. In 2019, it looked too much like our Odyssey for me. I had a coworker years back that had a first gen Ridgeline and he loved it. He had an older F-150 (1990s) he kept around for something, but raved about the Ridgeline.

 

But, it does fill a niche...tree huggers and girly girls.

 

Sheeeeshh, How much convincing do you need, close this thread already. It is humorous, but now it is a little asinine.

 

If you aren't going to be towing a lot, or doing any heavy hauling, then you should totally get the Honda. They ride nice, they get great mileage, they handle better than any body on frame anything... They're rated the best-driving mid-sized pickup for a reason. At least objectively... seriously, enough with the "Mans Truck" bulls***. "Tough" or "Macho" is being comfortable enough not to give a damn what your seen driving in.

It all comes down to personal taste... you want a nice ride, good MPG, and a bed to occasionally haul stuff? Get the Ridgeline. Plan on doing more out-doorsey stuff and want something mid-size with more customization? Go with a Colorado or wait till the new Frontier comes out cause the Tacoma is a disappointment. It's cramped, handles like it weighs more than it does, and the 3.5 V6 is gutless. (I can say this... I own one, and anyone who thinks otherwise is lying to themselves).

And if you're considering a Tundra, make sure its for no other reason than its the best deal as far as full-sizers go to haul heavy loads and do a lot of towing, otherwise you're just going to look like you need a big, gas guzzling 5.7 V8 powered TRUCK to balance out whatever inadequacies you have. I mean... that's what they say about "big truck" guys, isn't it?

 

Wow! 5 pages - 125+ posts in less than 24 hours over THS?!?!?

No, the Ridgeline is not a true "truck" in that it is not on a sturdy truck frame and is not meant for towing. But if it meets your needs then go for it. BUT, you've already stated that you don't like how it looks. That alone (your own opinion) is reason enough NOT to buy a Ridgeline. You will find every reason to be dissatisfied with it, and will eventually sell it or trade it in for whatever you should have bought in the first place. As far as all the stereotypes, I know enough people who drive a Ridgeline (and other "stereotype" vehicles) to ignore those.

Maybe the Tundra is not for you, but being an accountant, you might want to consider the true costs of ownership for whatever you buy. MPG's come in far behind repair/maintenance costs if you don't get something with good reliability. And with you being an accountant, I doubt if the gas mileage of the Tundra would cause you any financial burden.

 

Yeah, that's what I said, more than once!!!

 

If Honda decided to make the Ridgeline Type R, it will attract a lot of buyers even if has a transmission issue.
Heck, you bought a Tundra even it has a CAM Tower issue.

 

The only Ridgeline everyone here would approve of you driving is this one:






That said, the trunk in the bed that the Ridgeline has is kinda cool. Good use of limited space.

But let's focus on the handyman business you're going to be starting. You're going to need a ladder rack to carry ladders (duh) and materials (plywood, drywall, etc.) Does any company make a ladder rack for the Ridgeline? The bed of the Ridgeline will be pretty small for carrying tools and materials. Not a problem with the Tundra.

I'm guessing you'll also have to haul away the demolished materials from handyman gigs. More bed space with the Tundra for doing that. If you get a Ridgeline, you could be making numerous trips because of the limited bed space. You might need to get a trailer, or maybe rent one. Will the Ridgeline be able to pull a fully loaded trailer? The Tundra can.

In short, get the Tundra for what you know it can do and might have to do. Get the Ridgeline if you need to get orange slice before dropping the kiddos of at soccer practice.

 

I forgot to mention that my cousin, who's a contractor in the oil field, is currently driving a Ridgeline as his work truck. He prefers to daily a lighter truck (his words). He had a Colorado with the baby Duramax and liked the fuel economy but got tired of the transmission problems. However, his personal truck is a Powerstroke F350 if he needs more truck.

 

Well, makes sense to me! Better than cheating on him.

 

They are ugly...you're welcome.

 

Just get a fist gen Avalanche.

 

This thread was over when the OP had a Tundra and said he didn’t love the look of the Ridgeline.

 

No, I have a 4.7. Even if it did, I have 182k miles on it...

 

Well said. I have a 2006 Ridgeline. I purchased it because the Toyota dealers just would not deal. They were like, "The sticker in the window is the price."

I got the Ridgeline for a much better price. As a few have said, I really like the two-way tailgate. This was on station wagons years ago and wonder why more don't have it. I also love the trunk. You can fill that with ice, go party, open the stop at the bottom and drain. The Ridgeline also drives more like a car. A friend described it as “driving on a carpet”. I think the 4WD in my Tundra is superior.

Why did I get a Tundra this time? 16 years later, money isn’t as tight. Also, I tow my boat and Chevy to the track. The transmission went at 100,000 miles. Now the truck has 230,000 and it was starting to slip again. I wanted a truck that could tow more than the Ridgelines 5,000 pounds. Also, as many have said, my Tundra looks much better.

Except for the transmission, the Ridgeline has been reliable. The Ridgeline may be a good for shhernandez74 who doesn’t seem to have need for a real truck.

 

While I can accept that there are infinite universes, each with it's own version of Spraynard, there are none where I own a front wheel drive pseudo-truck.

All my experiences with front wheel drive powertrains have been fraught with issues.

 

Dude, take a step back, assess your needs, and buy what you want. Of course most people here will say get the Tundra. Its what we drive and own here. Dont know if there is one (probably is), but check out the Ridgeline forum and see what the owners think. Either way, get what you want and love what you drive. No matter what anyone here says; the size of your testicular fortitude isnt determined by the truck you haul it in.

 

My family has pretty much always owned one FWD car for efficient commuting and one RWD/4X4 for towing. Haven't had more problems with the FWDs. I agree that I wouldn't get an FWD/AWD truck but that's because it wouldn't meet my needs, which appear to be different than OP's.

 

Well, I own and drive a Ridgeline and have for the past 5 years. Yes, I have a 4wd Tundra that I use for farm duty and hauling heavy loads, but the Ridgeline is my "go to" vehicle. Yes, its ugly (1st generation), but you can't beat the ride quality and its put together quite well. Gas mileage is much better than the Tundra, obviously and its a nice comfortable place to be. You can hate on the Honda all you want, I don't care.

 

This all hinges on the handyman business. Is it gonna be weekend small jobs, is it gonna be detail interior jobs, or will it be anything and everything? If it's going to be small jobs that everything can fit in the bed then the Ridgeline can more than likely do the job. Do the last choice and it's everything you would end up towing a trailer a lot and that's where the Ridgeline falters. Myself I'd be in an HD truck (never be limited to capability, can haul whatever is needed) but the work vans are also very capable in hauling those larger items. I don't see myself using a Tundra in any scenario really, either it's too much truck and eats up profit in both up front cost and fuel, or it's not enough truck and would eventually limit the business.

 

This is why I don’t recommend Odysseys/Pilots/Ridgelines to anyone without the Honda lifetime powertrain warranty. The handful of people I know with those vehicles have had transmission issues around 80-100k miles.

Half of a handyman gig seems to be small jobs like fixing a minor roof leak, and half of it seems to be bigger jobs—hauling away limbs, debris, construction materials, etc, that people would rather pay someone else to deal with, rebuilding a section of a fence, fixing gutters, simple landscaping tasks, etc. A handyman without an actual truck or cargo van and trailer seems to trying to do a job with the wrong tools.

The Ridgeline is rated for hauling and towing half of what our outdated Tundras are rated for. To me, that makes it the wrong tool for the job.

EDIT: just learned it actually has decent payload

 

Lol reading through the comments it looks like some guys got their feelings hurt. If you felt the need to mention “toxic masculinity” in a post full of jokes and memes, you need to give your balls a tug.

 

I am a contractor too and while I have a Sprinter and 2 Tundras I can also pretty much run my stuff out of my Element too and often try to too!

While I am OK a lot of the time it almost always seemed stupid in hindsight when I need to do something that the Toaster can not do.

Sadly using a Ridgeline for contracting seems fraught with many of the same problems to me and I did look at them pretty hard too before I bought my newer Tundra too.

I loved the idea of the in bed trunk for sure but the problem with it is that once I have anything in the bed on top of that space then I am no longer able to easily access that space. I thought I would use the trunk for tools so that I could keep them locked up and out of the way but I actually need them directly in the way if I am going to use them!

There are several little nuggets like that in the Ridgeline package too and it almost got me but in the end I just need a truck and not a car/truck or truck/car or suv/truck ......and maybe that is just me.

Actually it is pretty easy to argue that a Van is just a better tool for the job for almost anyone really but many will never look at it that way either.

It turns out that the truck is just another tool to use to get the jobs done and what might not work for me might well be fine for you?

I hope your MMV if you bite on the Ridgeline.

 

The ridgeline is fine. The redesigned front end for ‘21 looks much better than the previous version. If it meets your needs then it will excel at it. If it doesnt meet your needs then it will be a huge let down, thats all. Theres plenty of people here who dont even tow enough to outstrip the capabilities of a ridgeline, let alone a Tundra.

This is a tundra forum, though, everyone, including me, will tell you to get another Tundra.

 

Agreed. BRB....

 

The Ridgeline is rated for hauling and towing half of what our outdated Tundras are rated for. To me, that makes it the wrong tool for the job.[/QUOTE]

ridgeline has higher payload than most crew max tundras. So technically it can “haul” more than tundras

 

I agree with this. There is a market for the Ridgeline and if it fits your needs then it's the truck for you. Not everyone needs a V8, not everyone needs 4x4, not everyone tows heavy trailers, etc....
I know a few people with Ridgelines and it works just fine for them. And of course it has a bigger payload than the Tundra .