new auto cars 2012: 2013 Honda Ridgeline

2013 Honda Ridgeline

2013, Cars, Honda, Honda Ridgeline 6:03 AM

The Honda Ridgeline is a mid to full size sport utility truck produced by the Japanese automaker Honda. The Ridgeline was released in March 2005 as a 2006 model and is Honda's intended first foray into the North American pickup truck market. Until 2009, the Ridgeline was built in Alliston, Ontario, Canada alongside the Acura MDX, Honda Civic, Honda Civic Si, and Acura CSX. The Ridgeline was awarded Motor Trend's Truck of the Year for 2006. The Ridgeline is based on the Acura MDX platform, alongside the Honda Pilot. The Ridgeline was shown in concept form as the Honda SUT in 2004.

The Honda Ridgeline uses unibody architecture ladder frame/unibody hybrid chassis. Honda claims this design gives it 2.5 times more bending rigidity and 20 times the torsional rigidity than the standard ladder frame only type of chassis construction, while retaining the load carrying capacity of the traditional ladder frame.

Although the Ridgeline is more aptly classified as a sport utility truck, this recently-introduced category is not well known with consumers, initially with the only other rivals being the Chevrolet Avalanche and Ford Explorer Sport Trac. However, the Toyota Tacoma and the Nissan Frontier are more appropriately a comparison to the Ridgeline. Honda decided instead to advertise the Ridgeline as an alternative to traditional 1/2 ton full-size pickups such as the Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado, and Toyota Tundra, all of which had standard V8 engines. This likely harmed Ridgeline sales, as some cited the V6 engine as a lack of comparison to a traditional V8 and lack of ruggedness due to its unibody construction, while its relatively short cargo bed compared to a standard pickup truck made it unsuitable for contractors. However, the uni-body construction offers increase torsional rigidity and does not flex at the seam of the bed like traditional body-on-frame designs. Unlike other crew cabs, the Honda Ridgeline lacks the option of six-passenger seating, as it only offers bucket seats and not bench seating in the front.

Sales were initially slow, partly because it was considered over-priced. Consequently, dealers have been discounting the truck, and the average selling price has come down steadily according to J.D. Power.