2024 Honda Ridgeline AWD Trailsport - Review by David Colman +VIDEO

Yippee ki yay, mother dearest!

David Colman

Photos and Story by David Colman
Special Correspondent to THE AUTO CHANNEL

Okay, you can muzzle those six shooters and stow your cowboy hat in the closet. The latest iteration of Honda's Ridgeline may be called the TrailSport, but you won't be conducting any cattle drives from inside its plush, leather-lined cabin. So if you're aiming to be a trail boss, best choose either the archaic leaf-sprung Jeep Gladiator or Chevy Colorado. Honda's sophisticated, fully independent suspension Ridgeline is just too civilized for wagon train duty. But while unfettered canyon bashing may be slightly out of its comfort zone, the new-for-2024 TrailSport is perfectly suited to every other truck job you need to perform.

Given the current array of available compact pickups, the Ridgeline is the pick of the litter if you spend most of your drive time on pavement. This trim looking Honda is comfortable and civilized in a way rival pickups aren't. For example, the instant you climb into the cab of the TrailSport, you will feel like you're ensconced in a plush sedan. The leather front bucket seats are distinguished by delicate orange stitching and embroidered orange TrailSport insignias on the headrests. The door panels, instrument panel, and rear bench seat are similarly adorned with orange piping and stitchery, and the interior is illuminated with subtle orange lighting.

The layout of the dashboard is excellent. In addition to volume and tuning knobs for the excellent 7-speaker audio system, we counted 15 tactile switches across the center of the dash for AC/Cabin Temp/Seat Heat/Steering Wheel Heat/and Ventilation Direction. Another pod of clearly labeled push buttons for rear-view mirror adjustment is located to the left of the steering wheel. The wheel itself, finished in perforated leather with orange stitching contains a plethora of further physical buttons to regulate adaptive cruise control, lane keeping assist, and lane departure mitigation.

But the polished personality of the new TrailSport is slightly deceptive. Beneath its luxe veneer lurks a marked suspension upgrade that sets it apart from more common Ridgeline offerings. For example, Honda engineers have revised shock absorber jounce and rebound settings to offer more compliance and better traction for off-road travel. These changes have been augmented by a switch from conventional street rubber to all-terrain tires offering more grip on loose dirt. Our test TrailSport mounted 245/60R18 General Grabber A/T radials mounted on model-specific 18 x 8J silver gray alloy rims. These beefy off-road tires are mud and snow-rated. Further attributes of the TrailSport are the addition of a skid plate to protect the engine oil pan, and an "i-VTM4" all-wheel drive system which compensates for terrain anomalies by offering intelligent traction management for snow, sand, or mud hazards.

The drivetrain of the TrailSport is identical to that of other Ridgeline offerings, with a 280hp gas-fed V6 engine driving all four wheels through a 9-speed shift-by-wire automatic transmission with paddle shifters. The currently standard Honda gear actuator mechanism is located on a pedestal mounted low between the front seats. Even after many encounters with this unit, I still find it unintuitive and hence difficult to actuate due to its confusing layout. But there's no quibbling with the thrust generated by the highly sophisticated V6, which transports the Ridgeline with alacrity. The 0-60mph run takes just 6.2 seconds, the quarter mile run flashes past in 15 seconds at 93mph, and the top speed is governor limited to 111mph. Our test vehicle had covered just 2,000 miles from new, so perhaps its reluctance to jump smoothly from a standing start could be attributed to its newness. However, we did find it somewhat disconcerting to encounter a slight lag between the time we mashed the throttle and when the TrailSport responded.

Honda offers a slew of beneficial goodies and packages for the Ridgeline. One of the most appealing is a full-size pop-up tent designed specifically to fit in the truck's 5.3-foot bed. While other similar-sized pickups offer both short and long bed versions, all Ridgelines are fixed at 5.3 feet in length. But it should be noted that Honda has provided a hidden lockable storage locker beneath the bed that will hide 7.3 cubic feet of goods from prying eyes. Ridgeline is also the only compact truck to allow flat placement of a 4 x 8-foot sheet of construction material in its bed. Another handy feature is the ability to fold the rear bench seat up and out of the way to carry cargo. However, I discovered that due to wider rear armrests, the Trailsport's cab will no longer accommodate the same mountain bike that slipped into last year's Ridgeline cab with ease.

2024 HONDA RIDGELINE AWD TRAILSPORT

• ENGINE: 3.5 liter V6. 24 valve, aluminum block and heads, direct fuel injection
• HORSEPOWER: 280hp@6000rpm
• TORQUE: 262lb.-ft.@4700rpm
• FUEL CONSUMPTION: 18MPG City/23MPG Highway
• PRICE AS TESTED: $46,830

HYPES: Most Civilized Pickup You Can Buy

GRIPES: Light Switch Throttle Response

STAR RATING: 10 Stars out of 10

©2024 David E Colman