2018 Honda Ridgeline

"The 2018 Honda Ridgeline ranks in the middle of the compact pickup truck class. It has a roomy and well-appointed interior, as well as engaging driving dynamics." - Cars.USnews

The 2018 Honda Ridgeline truck is offered in a total of six trims. The price range of the same starts at $29,630 and goes all the way up to $43,120. Excluding the basic RT trim, all the others in the lineup get an AWD option. The base trim offers a 7-speaker sound setup that includes a subwoofer, a 5-inch colour LCD screen, push-button start, Bluetooth handsfree link and streaming audio, and more. On the other hand, the high-end black edition offers exclusive black-painted 18-inch alloy wheels, black leather trim seats with contrasting red stitching, interior ambience lighting, and more.

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We would recommend you to go for the RTL-T trim it comes equipped with several advanced features and includes Sirius XM radio, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, Honda link, 8-inch display touch screen, satellite-linked navigation system and more. All of this fits well within a budget of $40,000 and hence proves to be a value for money offering.

"The Honda Ridgeline gets decent fuel economy compared to rivals’ V6 engines." - Cars.USnews

Fuel Efficiency of the 2018 Honda Ridgeline

The 2018 model gets the same engine as the 2017 edition; the fuel economy it delivers is also the same. The 2018 Ridgeline returns a reading of 18 miles to a gallon for the city, 25 miles to a gallon for highways, and a combined reading of 21 miles to a gallon. It is the 6-speed automatic transmission in place that helps maintain this fuel economy. We would like to mention that the fuel economy would remain the same regardless of the drivetrain.

When we compare the fuel economies of the competition, we find out that it is the 2018 Honda Ridgeline that offers the best gas mileage. The Toyota Tacoma ranks close to the Honda, losing out by a couple of miles per gallon. On the other hand, the 2018 Colorado seems to be even more close to the offering of the Honda. Overall, all the cars in the competition rank similarly in terms of mileage.

"This Honda’s cabin leaves little to complain about. It’s well-designed, well-appointed, and quiet, and it’s arguably the nicest interior in the class."-Cars.USnews

Seating and Comfort of the 2018 Honda Ridgeline

The Ridgeline is a car that provides you with a lot of options even with almost 6 trims being available. Honda offers only one cabin size that is a crew can with the maximum sitting of 5 people. While the seats are comfortable and heated on the higher trims, the 60:40 split rear can also be folded for even increased cargo space on the car. However, the truck doesn’t really have a fully flat floor underneath the seats but sure helps in carrying some more weight around when the trunk is full or in case of bad weather.

Taking the ‘bad’ ground clearance into consideration, the Ridgeline has the seating height of 30.9 inches which is lowest in the class. While low seating height can be an issue for some looking for a bird’s eye view from inside of the car, getting in and out of the car is not going to be an issue for even the people with small bones.

Interior Quality of the 2018 Honda Ridgeline

The interior of the Ridgeline is along the lines of a pilot, It’s a cockpit-like cabin with interior warped in leather upwards of the RTL trim of the vehicle. Even the base (RT) and Sport trims, you can opt for black fabric upholstery interior.

The dashboard is made out of soft plastic that meets the lines of luxury and sophistication. With a choice of 5.0 -inch non touch music control and an 8-inch HondaLink Infotainment system, the cabin sure looks upmarket. However, the music interface fails to impress, making the Illuminated Steering Wheel-Mounted Controls a standard on all trims.

Infotainment System of the 2018 Honda Ridgeline

This is an area where most people, even not-so-music-buffs are not going to be happy about. Honda has not been very effective with the HondaLink on the Ridgeline. The system is not much fun to use, it’s more on the lines of unresponsive, and takes time getting used to. Covering the bad ground are some features Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and a trick, optional in-bed audio system, but still not impressed.

Infotainment Features of the 2018 Honda Ridgeline

The standard infotainment equipment on the base model is a 5.0-inch non-touch display with Bluetooth connectivity. The Bluetooth connectivity is simple and quick, but won’t work when the truck’s ignition is off.

However, as you move up the trims, the display size increases along with the availability of touchscreen. Upwards of RTL-T trim, Honda offers an 8 – inch touchscreen HondaLink Infotainment system with Garmin-based navigation. Garmin is a third party navigation and tends to work well with most cars.

Although the increase in size doesn’t really solve any of the real-life problems faced on the Ridgeline. With touch sensitive volume slider which doesn’t really execute right and a not-so-responsive touch display, it becomes mandatory that you use on-steering controls, all power to the wheel.

"More advanced construction techniques have let Honda remove the odd buttress-like structure from the previous Ridgeline's bed, giving it a more traditionally truck-like appearance, and significantly improving the aesthetics."-KelleyBlueBook

Exterior dimensions of the 2018 Honda Ridgeline

The 2018 Honda RidgelineR gets a fine-designed pickup but it is only about average in terms of dimension. It weighs the most measuring 4515 lbs and has the smallest length in competition measuring 210 inches. It records a width of 78.6 inches and a height of 70.8 inches. It gets the least ground clearance which measures just 7.9 inches.

Compared with its competition, it is the 2018 Chevrolet Colorado that gets the largest dimensions but it is followed closely by the 2018 Toyota Tacoma with only a couple of inches to spare. Colorado measures 4480 lbs and is the longest measuring 212.7 inches, it is also the widest at 83.9 inches and measures a wheelbase of 128.3 inches.

Exterior features of the 2018 Honda Ridgeline

• Inside Mounted Spare Tire
• Alloy Wheels
• Pickup Bed Tonneau Cover
• Bed Liner
• Running Boards

"The 2018 Honda Ridgeline has the highest composite safety scores among compact pickup trucks" - Cars.USNews

For its safety offering the 2018 Honda Ridgeline scores a perfect 5-star rating as awarded by NHTSA. It goes ahead with this five-star rating even in the aspects of frontal crash and side crash. However, in the aspect of rollover safety, its score is 4 out of 5 stars. Even in the records of IIHS, the 2018 Honda Ridgeline score a good grade in all the aspects other than in "Small Overlap front: passenger side" and in the aspect of "Latch: ease of use".

Standard Active Safety Standard Features include:

• Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA) with Traction Control
• Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS) with Electronic Brake Distribution (EBD)
• Brake Assist (BA)
• Multi-Angle Rear View Camera with Guidelines
• Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS)*with Tire Fill Assist and Location and Pressure Indicators
• Daytime Running Lights (DRLs)

2018 Honda Ridgeline vs the 2018 Toyota Tacoma

The 2018 Toyota Tacoma comes priced at $36,315 and offers a lower power generation compared to the Ridgeline. It even fails to impress in terms of acceleration and brake performance. However, it does put up a better towing capacity in comparison with the Ridgeline. Given that it comes with a lower power output than Honda, one would expect it to have better fuel efficiency but that isn't the case, the 2018 Toyota Tacoma is slightly behind Honda in fuel economy. The tables turn around when we talk about the interior space provided however, in terms of comforts it is again the Honda that is better. Both the offerings are safe and reliable and choosing between them seems to be an easy task.

2018 Honda Ridgeline vs 2018 Chevrolet Colorado

In comparison with the 2018 Chevrolet Colorado that is priced significantly lower than the Honda Ridgeline, at $36,200, we find that the former comes with a better engine delivering a lot more power and torque. However, it is the 2018 Honda Ridgeline that delivers in terms of performance and records an acceleration time of 6.6 seconds compared to Colorado's 7.1 seconds for the 0-60 mph feat. With a better power and torque output to its name, the Chevy does deliver in terms of payload and towing capacity but this leads to compromised fuel efficiency. Considering its spacious interiors, which leave behind the Honda Ridgeline, and also looking into their exterior designs where we find that Chevy is way ahead, we come to conclude that the latter is a better offering.

The 2018 Honda Ridgeline is offered in 6 trims but has only one powertrain, priced at $29,630 for the base trim it ranges upto $43,120 for the high-end trims. It manages to churn out 280 HP and 262 lb-ft of torque with its 3.5L V6 engine. It further comes with a 6-speed automatic transmission and delivers phenomenal acceleration performance along with the best in class brake performance and payload capacity. With a class-leading fuel economy to its name and above-average interiors, the 2018 Honda Ridgeline makes a fine offering that one should consider.