Review: 2021 Honda Ridgeline Sport 

Owned a 89 silverado, 2008 avalanche, 2019 silverado and now a 21 ridgeline.... Besides having a bit less interior room, this is a great truck. The trunk is truly a game changer and as a daily it's amazing

Thanks matt. I agree with you it was smart for Honda to make this more "trucky"

The HPD appearance package jacks up the price almost $3000. The base model Sport sells for around $35k. For that money it's a great bargain. That's around the average price for a new vehicle today, and less than a comparably equipped midsize truck. Remember, the "base" prices for most midsize trucks do not include 4WD or a V6 engine which is stock on the Ridgeline. The Ranger only offers keyless ignition in the top Lariat trim. The Colorado/Canyon is the only competitor to have anything other than manually engaged part time 4WD and it features an "Auto" mode that will engage it when slip is detected, but it's NOT a torque vectoring AWD system like the Ridgeline has. The competitors also do not have the interior room of the Ridgeline and they do not have a flat load floor in the back with the seats raised. The do not have the in-bed trunk. If you compare apples to apples, the Ridgeline is a very compelling bargain. I shopped for a midsized truck for 2 years before buying the Ridgeline. I'm a "man's man" and I was dead set on the Ranger FX4 until I drove it and found it's too cramped for my 6'5" body. The Tacoma is not any better and may be one of the most uncomfortable vehicles I've ever been in (and I owned a Miata). I never in a million years thought I'd end up with a "minivan with a truck bed", but a few test drives and some research showed the Ridgeline was perfect for my needs. I loved my 2019 Ridgeline so much that I was convinced I'd keep it for years...until I got $33k in trade in for a vehicle I paid $28k for new. That means my Ridgeline went UP in value by $5000 in a year. Crazy! I traded up to the 2021 and like it even more. The 9-speed transmission is very nice and always keeps the engine in the power band. I never notice it shifting much either. It also starts in 2nd gear unless you downshift manually with the paddles or hit the gas hard. 1st gear is a sort of "granny gear" and will launch the Ridgeline harder than you expect it to. I have not noticed any delay when shifting the transmission from reverse to drive or vice versa. I suppose I just don't do it very fast. On a recent trip that consisted of windy mountain roads and interstate driving, I got 24mpg. I suspect all highway driving would exceed the EPA estimate. I don't use Eco mode either. There always seems to be a lot of haters for this truck, and I was one of them. I didn't "get it". But now that I've owned two of them, as well as several other trucks, I can tell you there is no better truck on the market if you don't tow more than 5000lbs or do extreme off road driving.

The key to this update is truckiness and aggressiveness. Thanks Matt.

Just got one two days ago, Love ❤️ it,

I just bought one and i LOVE IT

I just bought a new Sport. I was looking for a good used RTL-E because I wanted all wheel drive and adaptive cruise control. As it turns out the 2021 sport comes with those features and was only about $4k more for brand new. After months of shopping I realized that 2ond gen Ridgelines have very good resale value.

I have a 2021 Passport and my suggestion is get a VCM tuner for the 3.5 engines as soon as possible! The vehicle drives so much smoother and we get alot better gas mileage plus doesn’t hunt for gears as much either! Best $100 I’ve ever spent

I WANTED the sport trim, as I prefer cloth seats in my trucks. And I want as little nanny-tech as possible. BUT... the driver's seat in the sport trim is a crappy manually adjusted unit. It's crappy because it's down/back and up/forward motion. There is a ton of headroom (I'm 6'-4") and I can move the seat way up. This gives me better view out, and it allows the seat to give better hamstring support. BUT with the manual seat, if you push the seat up - it also goes forwards. Sigh... I'm getting an RTL JUST for the power driver's seat. (It has independent up/down, and front/back movement - it's NOTICEABLY more comfortable)...

Hi Matt! I really loved your presentation, but I have to say this: I don't mean to be a broken record or irritating, but I have to say that if Honda decided to strip away nearly all of the options for the base model, I really wish that they could have at least given it a twist key ignition even as an option. But nonetheless, I really enjoyed the vid so far and I look forward to watching more of your vids :)

Matt my parents have a 2020 MDX and I’m noticing the same thing with their transmission I believe it’s a ZF isn’t it? You go from drive to reverse

Found you through this video review. Those look like western PA roads. You in the area?

2021 Honda Ridgeline Sport HPD Package!

Bro, don"t know why but the fat guy in the back going down the hill on the lawnmower at 4:00 is so funny like "weeeeee".

I wonder if the guy at 4:04 was doing a lawnmower review

Nissan should build a nice unibody truck based on the new pathfinder

I guess I got lucky... I don't have any lag when shifting from reverse to drive or vice versa.

Strongly considering this truck but the water intrusion issues give me pause. Don't mind the lack of tech considering they almost didn't bring it back after 2014. The SH-AWD alone makes this the sportiest handling truck in it's segment, also use the paddle shifters to launch the truck in first gear to get you that 6.3 sec 0-60 time.

It's competition isn't out yet🤔

Not going to lie I thought you said HPV package....🤣🤣🤣

No BSM on Sport trim???

Bought a 2018 Sport AWD and sold it last week. Already missing it but I was offered such a high offer for my used one. Really missing it now though.

Had one( 2011 )before. It does everything well. Reliable as a rock. The gold rims and the graphics on your test Ridgeline needs to go.

Always surprised that these didnt sell better, but I guess marketing runs the world. Most of the truck owners I know have never used their truck for anything more heavy duty than bringing a TV home. Those same people would never own one of these because its too car like.

No leather steering wheel?

Matt can I run something crazy by you: Are these Ridgeline, in this Gen, are they secretly utes because of their platform or am I just crazy?! Idk why this thought came to mind.

Does this come in right hand drive?

Highlighting the depreciation was a slam dunk. I'm sure many buyers have found that to be very useful.

Maybe I'm just being a cynic but I think the driver assist being offered before the blindspot monitoring is a way to upsell. People didn't really ask for the minimal self-driving shit. It's cool, sure, but I think 90% of people don't use it. A lot of people feel there's not much point if you still have to keep your hands on the wheel. The blindspot monitoring on the other hand is hella useful. So when you combine the parts bin interior + the upselling basic features + the already high base MSRP? It seems like they're price gouging a bit on this. Perhaps they're having trouble justifying keeping it in terms of sales?

hpd= stickers

Still looks the same to me aggressive or not

Why did Honda send only the sport version to the reviewers? It's a package that is not worth it

noticed you filmed this next to a kids baseball field, fitting since this is primarily what the average driver will be using it for!

The crazy part to me, is that its called the Honda PERFORMANCE Development package, when none of the items in the package have to do with actual performance. Its all just for looks. Different colors, decals, fender flares, etc... none of that increases performance at all. Lift it, maybe throw on a turbo, or even an intake or exhaust.....any of that would be more performance.

There’s just something about the ridgeline that’s wimpy to me. The frontier pro4x and Tacoma trd look way more truck like and aren’t front wheel drive based. Decent truck, just not for me.

When I buy a truck, I definitely want it to look more trucky.

This is a perfect work truck because you don't really care if it gets damaged or destroyed or stolen.

Why does Honda have such a problem with styling the upper grills (Civic, Accord and now this🤪)

Look at the price of 5 year old Ridgelines. You CANNOT get one that has depreciated 50 percent

Why don’t Doug demure also do dis

Honda a'd Toyoda

That shared dash infotainment layout/setup is very, very dated at this point. Honda needs to make changes as soon as possible. It's incredible to think they updated tge Ridgeline so much yet left that the same

Yikes idk about those fender flares 😬

Sounds pretty loud in the cabin.

I drove this for a week. You have to use the paddle shifters to downshift any time you want to accelerate quickly. Can't leave it up to the computer. The AWD is awful.

Honda what?

Anything with a box Less than 6.5 feet I'd useless for me. I can overlook lots of things but that's a deal breaker with any truck for me.

Price still way too high reason why Ridgeline failed from the start.

Not enough capacity in the bed. Truck-wannabe

It's just a Honda pilot with a bed.

Design wise this refresh is like putting makeup on a pig, it's a shame because the 1st gen Ridgeline body style still looks unique and modern but Honda just abandoned that design all together

Its not a real truck. Sorry.

This thing is hideous 👎

Is that an Accord with a truck bed? Ummm, no thanks.