Yahoo Autos 2021 Honda Ridgeline First Drive Review | Less friendly by design
CANTIL, Calif. — Ever since jumping into the U.S. market in the 1950s with the tagline “You meet the nicest people on a Honda,” the company's corporate image has been one of extreme friendliness. Even as its Si and Type R coupes spawned an army of young brand loyalists other carmakers would’ve killed for, it treated them like a dropout stepson, shunning them to embrace the wholesome, khaki-shod Helpful Honda Dealer. Hell, even their best-selling cars are named for good citizenship and agreement.
That unyielding desire to be congenial was the Achilles’ heel of the current-generation Honda Ridgeline when it debuted in 2017. We had almost unanimous praise for our long-termer’s function and features notwithstanding its gentle mug. It was supposed to be the friendly neighborhood pickup, with a car-like unibody construction and a look that was more conventional than the vaguely avant garde original Ridgeline.
As it turned out, Americans may appreciate a more conventional truck shape, but they also expect them to appear tough. That mostly means have a grille the size and shape of a refrigerator. Despite the raves, the way the self-fulfilling spiral of male insecurity works is that even if you’re fine with it initially, getting repeatedly told that it’s not Marlboro Man enough makes you question whether you want to be seen in one.
Well, Honda heard the critiques loud and clear. They’ve given the refreshed 2021 Honda Ridgeline the equivalent of calf implants, beefing it up to more confidently declare "truck!" Everything forward of the A-pillars has been remade, the gently curving hood has given way to a tall, upright grille (you can see the difference above between the new design, left, and the previous). The leading edge of the prow is blocky now, and the hood bulges like Schwarzenegger’s pecs. There’s so much frontal surface area that Honda had to add functional side vents in the fascia to maintain the same level of streamlining.
The new rear bumper gets rid of the dainty brightwork and hidden exhaust for a chunky black bench over dual chrome-tipped pipes. Honda worked with Firestone to develop a blockier tread design for the tires. New wheel offsets push them out by 10mm on either side for a wider stance. For their commercial voiceovers, Honda’s even sacked earnest, friendly and totally unthreatening Fred Savage for a manlier spokesman — and his name is John Cena!
Underneath the buff new sheetmetal, the 2021 Ridgeline is the same truck most of our staff fell in love with so hard they considered buying one for themselves. It’s not just us, either. The Ridgeline has been repeatedly called the truck that most truck customers actually need when they buy a brawnier ladder-frame midsize or full-size.
The Ridgeline still drives like a chummy, smooth-riding Honda crossover. By comparison, a Tacoma bounces around like a Baja trophy truck. But that’s not to say the Ridgeline’s as detached and soft as — just to pick a random crossover — a Honda Pilot. Despite the visual resemblance, it isn’t just a Pilot with the back chopped off. The Ridgeline employs a different body structure with a truss-style inner construction aft of the cab and has a more robust suspension. As a result, it steers more responsively and scrubs a significant amount of body roll and pitch.
In any mode but Sport, the throttle response lags. Stomp on the pedal for a highway merge and the 280-horsepower V6 seems to ask, “Are you sure you want to do this? Yeah? Well, OK, then,” before giving you the whole bag of beans. On the other hand, Sport is so sporty that it’ll definitely eat into your precious fuel economy of 18 mpg city, 24 mpg highway and 21 mpg combined. It would be nice to nudge the drive settings map closer towards Sport, and make Eco Mode the real fuel sipper.
We tested the 2021 Ridgeline’s off-road prowess at Honda’s proving grounds in the Mojave Desert. While it won’t take on serious rock crawls, functions like hill-hold assist as well as Mud and Sand drive modes are good enough for light off-road duty. Like many of its other truck functions, from its ability to take on cargo to its 5,000-pound towing capacity, it’s sufficient for the majority of pickup customers.
