I have a 2017 Ridgeline. It has triple door seals, acoustic windshield, car play, and a great interior. Its suspension is quite comfortable in any condition with a torque vectoring AWD system for snow. I can haul furniture and home/lawn related "stuff" from home depot. My wife drives it 60mi daily getting 22.3 mpg. I dont care what people call it, its a dam good "truck".
I own a 2006 ridgeline and totally agree and love it. I'm finding that except for ground clearance and flat bed capability, everything that makes trucks "trucks" actually suck. Now we have to ignore the haters.
Nice test; I appreciate your guys pushing three different trucks to see what all failed. Especially appreciated the reports on what the dealerships could, and couldn't, handle.
Typical dealer response nowadays. I get treated like a criminal every time I bring one of my cars in for any warranty work. Has made me second-guess why I even bothered to buy a new car with a factory warranty :-/
A "warranty" Is just them saying "It isn't going to break until this point." At which point it will possibly fall apart. Should it break before that -- which it shouldn't -- they will fix it. I will never purchase a new vehicle just because of a warranty. Better to buy a cheaper vehicle and save up money to repairs.
Bilstein TRD off-road shock failure on both sides on the Tacoma while the Honda "car", (as the Tacoma crowd calls it) is holding up 10 times better. That is some funny stuff right there! lol!
Thanks for the update, Dan. Good to hear you had a supportive Honda dealership. I took my 2010 Nissan Xterra Off Road into the dealer for routine maintenance shorty after a run down Berdoo Canyon Road in Joshua Tree National Park. To my surprise they told me they found the left motor mount collapsed. Without any questions at all they not only replaced the fail mount but the other side as well, all under warranty. It's good when these guys stand behind their products advertised as "off road" vehicles.
Man, I'm starting love this truck. I mean this is all you need and to be honest I didn't like th idea of converting a crossover into a truck but Honda did a smooth ass job here.
people hate honda because it came to america as a small bug and grew into giant beetle with technology been using 3.5 engine for the last 17yrs and very efficient machine achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort or expense.thats why
I know my Sentra, a 2015 that sees 38,000 a year, and rarely sees a dirt road except for the few times we go hiking, blew a left rear shock before 40,000 miles. My extended warranty didn't even cover it. However, my CVT trans was jacked up at 59,000, and the folks at Lee Nissan in Topsham, Maine, took great care of me, changed it, and gave me a rental Frontier to drive for 4 days. Sure home trans number 2 lasts a lot longer.
In Australia with these types of roads, a careful balance between speed and comfort is required. Added speed provides a different bump frequency and also allows more cooling airflow over the shocks, reducing the chances of failure. Sometimes this can also add comfort, given less large vehicle movements. It's a balance between safety, comfort and vehicle durability. Worth noting for extended dirt use. Not all tests are created equal, driven differently all cars may have made it through unscathed.
Very good point. However most people that are going to tackle a drive like this would of course drive this terrain at probably the same speeds as in the test. The cold hard reality is that honda does an amazing job when it comes to R&D. It's been a company wide priority since it's inception. Props to honda. As most of us who follow Edmunds we would all like to see the same test done with the big three trucks. Thanks again Edmunds.
Same story here. We went to "real de catorce" amazing place in mexico, honda ridgeline 2010, tacoma 2013 and jeep cheroke late 2000s. Tacomas and cherokees suspensons end up leaking oil, but besides that they were still functioning fine. The ridgeline issue was that the front left speaker stopped working which was fixed with a medium-hard slap that did the trick.
Great video and info I owned a 2008 tacoma and it was time to replace it. Went to my toyota dealer and test drove the 2019 tacoma sport with all the available options. To my surprise it didn’t feel comfortable at all and felt too under power and decided not to buy it. I stop by on the way back home at a honda dealer and test drove the ridgeline rtl-t I bought it and i’m very satisfied with it, Very very comfortable and yes all ready use it to carry a yard of dirt and help my son move furniture . After watching your videos I feel I made a good purchase. And yes it can be used as a truck
mountainhobo I'm sure they'd all fail as well. Unless they've got an extra reservoir like the ZR2 and Raptor, standard shocks can't handle the stress/heat.
If you'd like to ask Dan himself about it or anything else about the Death Valley road trip, come @ us on Twitter at 1pm PST for a live QnA! @edmunds #AskEdmunds
James C because people equate a body on frame truck to the size of your manhood. Also people want the ability to tow the world when once in a blue moon they will tow a folding chair.
I looked at all of them. I own ford stock and believe the F-150 is just an amazing truck. But, I bought an '18 Ridgeline. I think if a midsized buyer gives the Honda a fair shake, they'll be impressed. The guys who post the "hate" are just loyal to their purchases.
@Suboptimus Lime The thing is, none of the vehicles we're talking about are "bad". Just different. I cant speak to the SUV segment you're mentioning; but I drove the competition. I liked the Chevy Colorado - especially its towing spec, but didn't like the hard plastic interior and "GM"-ey dash. It was probably the best-off roader in some of the trims I looked at. It drove fine, but kinda truckey-floaty. Not bad, just different. I liked the Tacoma's exterior looks the best, but it sort of hesitated when I stomped on the pedal when I drove it. But what killed it for me were the floor-bound, non-height adjustable seats - I'm 6'0", with a longer torso than legs, and I could't get in the damn thing without knocking my kneecaps on the steering wheel. I thought the Nissan Frontier was panned way too hard in reviews than it deserves. I thought it looked good and drove great in the 4x4 pro trim. I just couldn't get over the fact it hadn't had a refresh in over a decade. I haggled hard but couldn't get them under 30K; I think I could have had it for 31K. I think the time to buy this truck is the 2018 model as the 2019 are announced. In the end, I don't tow or off-road much. Actually I bought a truck so I wouldn't have to tow a trailer for my motor bike hobby. I don't own anything to tow that weighs more than 5000 lbs, the most off-roading I'd do would be a service road or something, and I loved the way the Ridgeline drove. The safety features (LKAS, blind spot warning, radar-controlled cruise, all-time all wheel drive), and the storage features - the in bed trunk is just amazing, and with the rear seats up you have amazing interior room for damn near anything - blow the competition away. So what fit best for me was putting my money on features I'll use every day - driving features, comfort features, storage features - and the bed is there for weekends. What I dont like about the ridgeline is its price. They got me. Its expensive, and they don't deal. I love the truck, but when I think I could have a nice Nissan Frontier for about 20K less (my Ridgeline is loaded), I admit I have some regret about that. But I'm in a place now where that matters less to me than it once did.
I was in Death Valley this March, in my '16 Tacoma TRD Sport 4x4. I am on KO2s, with aftermarket leaf springs, and aftermarket shocks w/ remote reservoirs on all four corners (2.5" up front, 2.0" in the rear). (Intentionally not mentioning brands for either product before both of these "big name" companies have atrocious after-sale customer service and will never get another penny from me.) While I didn't drive the road to the Racetrack, I did drive to and through the Saline Valley, doing 70-75mph over the washboard, with an easy 1200lbs of weight in the back. Combined with 20PSI (hot) tire pressure, that resulted in a fairly comfortable ride. Way better than at slower speeds. In hindsight, doing that speed over rough washboard probably wasn't the best idea, but no shocks were blown or other damage sustained. I even caught air in one spot (two natural "speed bumps," with the first one upsetting my suspension, and the second one - shortly after - launched me).
Great videos. I have a 2013. I have to wonder what year you tested and if my shocks are different since was the second to last in the generation. I went from an F150 4x4 off road to the ridgeline. I primarily drive on pavement, but the times I've had the ridgeline on some rough forest service and fire roads it has done really well. Just need more ground clearance. Wish Honda would bring out a Ridgeline package with more clearance.
Amazing what happens to shocks when they're overheated. I don't think any of the manufacturer's would be able to pass that extreme test maybe the ZR2 Colorado and the Raptor because of their specialized shock packages. Spool Valve and Remote Reservoir shocks which aide in cooling of the oil in the shock !
Michael Smith Toyota's TRD PRO vehicles have remote reservoir shocks as well. Toyota themselves have even admitted that the lesser TRD Off Road packages are not really meant for this sort of high speed and/or long duration rough road driving. The TRD Off Road package really just subs out shocks that are a little more compliant off road than the standard ones. When you move up to the TRD PRO, you get a more truly off road worthy package, with revised springs and much tougher, remote reservoir shocks.
Modern Honda shocks are great they are over-engineered and seeing how these ones could even surpass Bilstein quality is a real surprise... Considering Honda has not advertised the Ridgeline to be Off Road Warrior.... In any case under normal conditions those shocks should last a long, long time. On a side note, It is common that Honda replaces pair of shocks under warranty... In the MDX equipped with the ADS Shocks (Magnetic Ride) they replaced ALL OF THEM under warranty even if only a pair was damaged which is good because you can only get them from them and they cost 600 bucks each.
However to replace the "shocks", that are actually struts in the Ridgeline, is a lot more labor intensive than the Tacoma's shocks! I bet you could do both rear shocks on the Titan and rear shocks on the Tacoma, before the rear struts in that Ridgeline!
I don't know why this is such a big surprise. One truck has a modern suspension. The other two have 1950's 3/4 ton Chevy knock-off suspensions. Just look under a modern full size truck today. Nothing under the back of a 3/4 ton Dodge looks remotely like a Toyota Tacoma. Rear coil springs make a huge difference, even with a straight axle.
Maybe just me but I think you guys were riding those trucks way too fast on that road. Just because they come with an "off road" package doesn't mean you can run them like Baja/trophy trucks. I've done death valley washboard roads in a crossover and didn't have any issues. I never exceeded 25mph and often times kept it at 10-15mph slower sometimes if necessary. Any shocks would over heat and blow with that careless driving. To act as if it was through no fault or negligence of your own is disingenuous IMHO.
Wow. That’s pretty shocking. I️ have a base model 02 Tacoma 2wd w/ at tires and have done 100s of miles of roads like that and including that road without issue.
Oooo another lackluster dealer experience at Toyota. 1.5 hours to do an oil change (2 yr. or 25K freebie crap) and come to find out they overfilled the oil. Out of 5 oil changes I bet the some of the other 4 were overfilled. Never could "replicate" the AC Compressor rattle.
I’m not impressed after hearing the dealer service stories. Manufacturers don’t build good off road vehicles sorry this video just confirmed it. Death Valley is extremely hot- but still.
I'm amused by the 'unibody debate' in regard to whether the Ridgeline is a "real truck". If we were to look at the Model T, or really any car produced in this country up until the 1950's, they were all body on frame. Chrysler was one of the first to begin using unibodies in their cars while Europe was using it well before this. That being said, if we applied the same argument or rational that a "real car" is a body on frame, because after all the Model T's, Oldmobiles, and just about everything else 'way back when' were built like this, then a Ford Taurus, Fusion, Chevy Cruz, Impala, Toyota Camry, Avalaon, (you get the point) really isn't a "car". The point I'm trying to make is that when automotive companies began building cars years ago with unibody construction you didn't see people throwing their arms up and yelling, "but it's not a real car!" Just saying...
I agree, who says that a "real truck" has to be body on frame. I don't know why the Ridgeline gets a bad rap especially since there were many other unibody pickups before the Ridgeline. There was the Ford Falcon Ranchero of the 60's. Subaru had two of them with the BRAT and the Baja. There was the Volkswagen Rabbit Pickup(called Caddy in international markets) and the Dodge Rampage/Plymouth Scamp of the 80's. And of course if you go to Australia, car based unibody pickups such as the Holden Ute and Ford Falcon Ute are extremely popular over there. Whether body on frame or unibody, pickups are designed to haul a lot of stuff and as long as they're doing that, it's serving it's purpose.
How fast were you driving that road? It seems like you were trying to make something fail. I get it i guess, you are testing the trucks, but I doubt anyone would take their own truck out there at those speeds.
I bet if you have a Mitsubishi L200/Triton there, to complete the Japanese trucks trio, it would survive as it's shocks design are Dakar Rally influenced.
I have to assume the Ridgeline is much lighter than even the Taco and that weight maybe played a roll in the demise of the shocks. I've certainly blown out some OEM shocks but it's surprising that these wouldn't hold up just cruising down a dirt road. I thought that both of those "off road" packages utilized Bilsteins but I couldn't tell from the video. (Not that my Bilstein 5100's were exactly indestructible either...) but this really makes you wonder how credible their durability testing is and at what point other, less cheap and disposable, parts would fail.
@@danhughes1814 Apparently the Ridgeline weighs 4,515 & Tacoma weighs 4,445 (Comparing Awd to 4wd) so around 70 lbs difference. Anyway, I didn't mean to distract from my point with that quick assumption.
I know the feeling about Nissan dealership warranty work, had an 'Offroad' package Frontier, (Had an OFFROAD sticker on it, lol) and the dealership said they wouldn't warranty work as the vehicle isn't designed to go offroad.
One of the more interesting videos for those looking to purchase a mid-size truck like the Taco or Ridgeline. I'm looking at these and whatever I buy will spend most of the its time on pavement and any "off-roading" will be dirt roads of various quality. Before this, I would have thought the Taco would have been the truck for the dirt road driving. Certainly makes the case for the Ridgeline for the weekend warrior who just wants to go up some US Forest service roads occasionally. Too bad... I always wanted the Toyota.
I also thought finally a new truck for my retirement and Taco would be the truck. But instead RL won out as the many nice features would be something I would use and enjoy; such as remote start, heated and cooled leather, good sound system in bed, tail gate that fold down or swings open, also even though it is not a work horse they still incor. a tranny cooler. Think Toyota along the line forgot about it's loyal consumer base while riding the wave base on its good annual sales.
You can't run that road at 50 mph with vehicles that are not baja worthy. I've been on that road on my dirt bike and while it is flat it is very rough and hard. Way too fast.
Thank you for the review. Now do a test with "American made" trucks and let's see the results! Oh wait, a majority of them aren't made in America? I guess we won't have any tests then.
Toyota buyers who purchased the off road package would be annoyed to find out its not quite that rugged. I like the looks of the Tacoma better, for some reason the new Ridgeline reminds me of a two wheel drive Ford Ranger. That said I could buy one if a loaded version with low miles shows up on the market for about $26k.
In my opinion that would be the best bet as they all depreciate so much in short time. I bought new as It is the first new vehicle(probably only) and figure I deserve it at my age. Don't worry about the outer appearance, once you play your inbed great sound system for your tailgate social you'll be getting compliments!
Edmunds, The new Aluminum front suspension lower control arms, also on the new Pilot and Odyssey look flimsy. Initially they all had buff cast Iron or Steel arms, then they changed to Aluminum, but they were still pretty buff, but the new ones look better suited for a small car, than a heavy off road vehicle, especially with the removal of one large and one smaller portion of Aluminum in the center. How much weight could that have saved vs. the loss of strength and stiffness.
@@SifuBang never heard of them but they must be fairly good. I watched a video of Honda driving 3 vehicles 25 mile up to a lake & the road leading up was like a rumble strip which was very hard on shocks. They did this as they were trying to improve on the ridglines shocks...it was interesting.
The dealers are trash. It's sad that you have to fight for your warranty when on every commercial they advertise it in some form. It's a racketeer and I hope Tesla puts them all out if business for this sole reason. In no other area of business is a consumer treated so poorly. This should not be accepted. All they do is take advantage of good people.
Im calling BS....I brought my 14 nissan Xterra pro 4x out to the race track in November and was racing a jeep rubicon on that road! I even got air on the way back to the crater. My bilsteins were just fine and I also did air down to 30 psi.
LoL.. Chill mate. Everyone who really go off-road and put their vehicles to real test know how much the shocks withstand torture. This video is just entertainment for Honda fans.. May be have a minute of silence for all those who want to buy a rdgeline to use it other than as a car.
dampers made in China just to save costs and not care about customers safety. Older trucks/cars were made tougher materials. my 2nd gen 4runner still rock solid: no leaks. suspension nice and comfy.
Notice how the heaviest truck blew all 4 struts, and the lightest one only started leaking with minimal damage? It's not the trucks here, it's the weight. Ok the ridgeline is the lightest of the group and faired well in this test but that still doesn't say shit. Lets load these trucks to the brim and test it.
Got a 2022 Ridgeline. I'll never go back to anything that "drives like a truck". Ridgeline meets all my 'truck' needs, but drives like a lazy-boy - super comfortable...
If you have any lingering questions or comments, we're doing a live Twitter QnA tomorrow at 1pm PST with Dan himself! You can direct your questions to @edmunds. #AskEdmunds
David Herzig Sad...Honda trucks can't take the 27 mile dirt road, it's Blistein's fault. Sorry, Honda chooses its parts, Honda owns it. My guess is the truck needs heavier springs, but Honda went with ride quality over off road capability and over heated the shocks by excessive up and down movements. Again, the Japanese trucks all failed. Let's see how stronger American trucks hold up on the same 27 mile dirt road.
Let's see a Ford Raptor, Ford F-150 4x4, Chevy Silverado 4x4, and a Ram 1500 take the same test. I'm sure they could make it to the track before falling apart like these Japanese trucks. I always had a suspicion that these Japanese trucks were not well built.
The 2017 Ridgeline is the most American truck you can buy. It was designed and engineered by Honda of America, has the highest percentage of US parts, and is completely assembled in the US in Alabama. The Silverado is the LEAST American truck you can buy, being assembled in mexico and only containing 38% US parts. firworksdotnet.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/truckcoo.png Source: 2017 NHTSA AALA Report
FirworksYT And all the profits for Japanese cars goes to.......Japan. The same Japan that sneak attacked our sailors in Hawaii and tried to kill us all. Sorry, I'm buying American.
You I'm sure know that they are all global companies. Whether you buy from an American, Japanese, German or Chinese company there's one thing for certain. None of those profits are coming back to the USA. They ALL move money and hold it overseas because of unfavorable taxes. At the least you can have a positive impact by employing US workers and supporting manufacturing in the US.
FirworksYT I'm sure you or I don't know where Toyota stores all its money from selling cars to Americans. I'm also sure Japan benefits from selling cars to America, and only employ Americans by law, or want to make you think their Japanese cars are American cars because they make them here, they're not. I want to drive American cars, not Japanese, Chinese, or any other kind of foreign cars. You can pretend you are helping America by buying a Nissan, but we know you are not.
Well toyota sells cars to toyota dealerships whom are either corporate owned or individually owned. The family that owns the toyota dealership I work at has some pretty deep pockets...So atleast I know the profits from this dealer are deff staying over here in the states...And if a car is built mostly over here with mostly parts from over here...how is that not american? Just because it's mother company is based overseas? Makes no sense old timer. And your suspicion is still a suspicion and has zero concrete proof...this was a pretty extreme washboard road for 27 miles...Now if the frame broke or something actually produced by the manufacturer of the truck...then you might have a little proof.....Didnt that happen to the raptor?? hmmmmm
Please do not buy this junk, Honda insult us as consumer to invent this junk. I have a 2012 thinking the 2016 ridgeline will be better then the 2012. I'M very disappointed of Honda dealer. Please do not buy any latest ridgeline from them.
