Auto Trends

Every now and then there comes a car that is so hideous, so breathtaking, so ridiculous, so different… that it becomes a runaway success. And this is exactly what appears to be happening for the 2008 Honda Ridgeline.

Despite many consumers who are calling it one of the most hideous creations ever to roll off the assembly line since the 2002 Chevrolet Avalanche, the ratings for the Ridgeline are actually quite high. According to J.D. Powers and Associates, the best selling vehicles are usually the ones that illicit some kind of strong response. It doesn’t really matter whether it is a good or bad response, so Honda is taking all criticisms in stride.

While the reviewers and consumers are either loving or hating the new Ridgeline, one thing is for certain. It is not a BAD truck. It just happens to have one of those mugs that only an owner could love. So, without wanting to get into a battle of what looks good, we’re going to put a brown bag over the Ridgeline’s exterior and look at some of the features that nobody can deny.

One of the first items of impressment that the Ridgeline offers is a completely independent rear suspension. This boosts its handling characteristics considerably. Combined with the Honda’s patented one-piece unibody and steel ladder bar, the Ridgeline is claimed by Honda to have 20 times the strength of a traditional truck.

With such an overly strengthened body you might expect the Ridgeline to have an impressive load handling capacity as well, but it doesn’t. Respectable, but not impressive by any means. We’re talking a 1,550 lb payload and 5,000 lb towing capacity.

The Ridgeline’s lack of hauling capability has more to do with its 247 horsepower/245 lb-ft of torque V-6 engine than anything else. While the engine may be reliable, it is not particularly powerful. But opinions vary on this subject. Forbes and Consumers Guide call the engine “gutsy”, “reliable”, and “refined”, while others (AutoWeek, Edmunds.com), say it needs “more ponies under the hood”.

If the Honda’s engine was getting good gas mileage, we might be willing to let it off the hook with just a slap on its fender, but 15 mpg city and 20 mpg highway is rather pitiful. This is comparable to some of the big V-8 Chevrolet and Ford full size trucks with 300-plus horsepower packed under the hood.

But not wanting to leave on a bad note, we are impressed with the lockable in-bed trunk feature of the Ridgeline. It offers 8.5 cubic feet of space and even has a drain plug that gives the consumer the option of turning it into an oversize beverage cooler, or mini bathtub for the kids or pets.

Some reports have suggested that if the bed is weighed down with a heavy load during a rear flat it may make it difficult to reach the spare tire in the trunk. But you would have to be having one unlucky, horrible, very bad day for this combo to get you down.

Yeah, it maybe ugly to some… but with a paper bag over its exterior, it just might almost be drivable by most!