2021 Honda Ridgeline: The City Truck that Stole My Heart
Erica Mueller
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The Honda Ridgeline pickup truck has received a lot of flack over the years.
Truck enthusiasts are not the biggest fans of this vehicle’s unibody construction, and many claim it doesn’t even look like a real truck. However, the Honda Ridgeline has held its own with an audience who loves a more urban style and wants the utility of a pickup truck while enjoying something a little smaller and easier to park and drive in a city environment. The 2021 Honda Ridgeline keeps all the things Ridgeline fans love but opens up the truck to a whole new fan base with its more rugged appearance.
Related reading: The All-New 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz Is The Ideal Adventure Truck for City Driving
Hidden, lockable storage in the truck bed makes the Ridgeline unique, and I loved it! This storage area has a drain plug too, so you can use it as a cooler. Win! Photo: Erica Mueller
Falling in Love with a City Truck
Okay, I’ve driven a Ridgeline before, so I entered this week with some preconceived notions about the 2021 Honda Ridgeline. I knew the looks had been updated a bit, but I wasn’t prepared to actually love this little truck. From my first drive, I loved the way it handled and how grounded the truck felt on the road. While I’m a huge fan of the “truck feeling” when I drive a large pickup, I really appreciated the more refined ride the Ridgeline offers due to its unibody construction. The smoothness feels more like an SUV, and that’s a good thing when you drive a lot of miles like I do.
I found the Ridgeline to be very comfortable. Not only was the ride smooth, but the seats felt good, I didn’t feel cramped at all, and I was able to put all three of my kids across the back seat. One of them is 6 feet tall, and the baby is in a large convertible car seat. This impressed me. Speaking of car seats, the 2021 Honda Ridgeline has easy-to-access LATCH clips.
After just a few days, I could totally see myself owning one of these as a daily driver. That’s saying a lot for a girl who loves big trucks and SUVs and never thought she’d consider a small truck.
The 2021 Honda Ridgeline has converted me.
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The driver’s seat and console area are so roomy, and I liked having tactile knobs for things like volume and climate controls. Photo: Erica Mueller
What You Need to Know About the 2021 Honda Ridgeline
The Ridgeline is far from a luxury truck. The model we drove had an adjustable driver’s seat, but it was manual, not electric. The steering wheel does tilt and telescope, but again this is something one does manually. There are no memory settings. That said, I enjoyed the truck so much that these things really didn’t bother me. Once I had things set the way I liked, I was able to just leave them. Here are a few of the main features that come standard on the Ridgeline AWD Sport.
- 280 horsepower, 3.5L V6 engine
- 9-speed automatic transmission
- 18 city / 24 highway and 21 combined estimated miles per gallon
- All-wheel-drive
- 18″ alloy wheels
- Auto on/off LED headlights
- LED fog lights
- In-bed trunk
- Remote start
- Adaptive cruise control
- Lane keep assist
- Push-button start
- Backup camera
- Bluetooth enabled
- 7-speaker audio system
- Wireless charging
- 60/40 split fold-up rear seat with a fold-down center console
- LATCH system for child seats
- MSRP $36,490
- Model I drove: $40,860
Available new post-production option packages (factory installed)
- HPD Package ($2,800): 18” HPD alloy wheels, fender flares, grille, HPD decals and emblem
- Utility Package ($1,465): Running boards, roof rails, crossbars
- Function Package ($270): Bed cargo net, trunk cargo net, trunk cargo dividers, first-aid kit
- Function+ Package ($1,315): Hard Tonneau cover, bed cargo net, trunk cargo net, trunk cargo dividers, first-aid kit
The appearance package on the model I drove was the Honda Performance Development package. I really liked the decals but was not a fan of the bronze wheels or the plastic fender flares. The flares just looked and felt cheap. I would probably choose not to get the HPD package for these reasons. It also had a premium paint color which added to the final price, but I loved the color! Everything else about the truck is the same as the Sport model.
The Ridgeline’s back seat is roomy! We put the car seat in the center and still had plenty of space for passengers on either side. Photo by Erica Mueller
Did You Know?
The Ridgeline comes standard with all-wheel drive, has the heaviest standard payload in its class, and offers the largest standard bed in its class. These little facts were new to me and just made me love the Ridgeline even more. Honda boasts that the Ridgeline also has the largest and most comfortable cabin of any mid-size truck, and I have to agree.
Related reading: Why Girls Love Trucks, and How the Best Trucks Make Us Feel
Disclosure: The 2021 Honda Ridgeline was lent to me so that I could drive and experience it for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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