DETROIT — Looking to repeat the innovation of the original but not duplicate its offbeat styling, Honda today will reveal the all-new Ridgeline midsize pickup truck at the 2016 Detroit auto show.
The second-generation Ridgeline will go on sale this spring as a 2017 model and launches at a time when crossovers and light trucks are the hottest ticket in town, thanks mainly to low gas prices.
“We are bringing our unique technology and original thinking to the market in a new and challenging concept for a Honda pickup,” John Mendel, executive vice president of American Honda Motor Co., said in a statement ahead of the truck’s reveal later today. “We think we’ve got a better idea.”
That better idea means using a refined unibody platform like a crossover SUV would, rather than the traditional body-on-frame setup of nearly every pickup truck — midsize or fullsize — on the market today.
The Ridgeline shares a platform with Honda’s Odyssey minivan, Pilot crossover and Acura’s MDX crossover.
Looking a lot like the Pilot with a bed attached to it, the Ridgeline uses the same 3.5-liter V-6 engine as its cousins. Honda hasn’t released horsepower ratings for the Ridgeline, but they’re not expected to be much different from the Pilot’s 280 horsepower and 262 pound-feet of torque.
The Ridgeline’s engine will be hooked up to a six-speed automatic transmission. Front-wheel-drive will be standard while a torque-vectoring all-wheel-drive system similar to the Pilot’s will be optional.
Probably a good choice for someone that wants a pickup, but really doesn’t actually need it to BE a pickup.
There’s a niche for it and it’s probably for me or close to it except for one thing, no MT. Also no back hatch to use the backseat for cargo space too.
I don’t need a truck, I don’t want a truck, but I do need to haul stuff on occasion and I get buy with the cars I have but something more suited for hauling a couple-few hundred pounds of stuff while not being a van would be better. The problem with this thing is that the bed is too short for most things I can’t haul now that I’d need a bed to haul.
On another note this thing loses some capacity vs. my present cars. I can carry long things in my cars because the back seats fold down. I can go from dash or foot well all the way back to the inside of the trunk lid. In my Mazda the seats come out easy enough and that makes it even better. The ridgeline can’t do that because there’s a solid wall in the way.