No One Can Agree on the Status of the Most Controversial Pickup Truck
The Honda Ridgeline is one controversial truck! Government officials struggle to classify it. Economic experts canāt agree on how āAmerican-madeā it is. Even reviewers bicker about whether or not it is any good. Hereās the truth about the Honda Ridgeline pickup, a truck in a segment of its own.
What class of truck is the Honda Ridgeline?
The Ridgeline is a unibody truck that shares a chassis with the Honda Pilot. The automaker advertises it as a compact pickup, but its high GVWR means it legally falls in the same class as the Ford F-150.
The U.S. government classifies vehicles based on their (GVWR), or the combined weight of the vehicle and its maximum payload. Most compact and midsize pickup trucks fit into āClass 1ā because they have a GVWR below 6,000 pounds. But the AWD trim of the redesigned Honda Ridgeline weighs up to 4,510 pounds and has a GVWR of 6,019 pounds. This legally bumps the Ridgeline into āClass 2aā which is home to trucks such as the Ford F-150 and Toyota Tundra.
Because the Ridgelineās towing and payload capacities are nowhere near the other trucks in Class 2a, Hondaās marketing department has no interest in comparing it to these āhalf-tons.ā Another interesting anomaly: the AWD Honda Ridgelineās weight actually makes the unibody truck heavier than certain trims of the full-frame Toyota Tacoma.
How American-made is the Honda Ridgeline?
Some experts rank the Honda Ridgeline as the most āAmerican-madeā pickup truck. And no one argues with the fact that itās assembled in Alabama. But some economists say it doesnāt deserve this status because Honda is headquartered abroad.
When Cars.com compiled its 2023 most American-made vehicle index, the Honda Passport earned top marks. In fact, it only came in behind Teslaās lineup. So you wonāt be surprised to hear that its Ridgeline cousin earned ninth place. Thatās ninth out of every vehicle in every class. The runner-up in the truck segment was the Toyota Tundra, which earned 12th place.
But when the Kogod School of Business at American University developed its own American-made index, the Ridgeline and Tundra lost out to the Chevy Colorado and Ford F-150. Kogod admits that the Ridgeline is assembled in Alabama, and 70% of its parts come from the U.S. or Canada. But the Ridgeline lost points because Honda is headquartered in Japan. Why is this important? Kogod considers processes such as research and development, marketing, and re-investing in the automaker, as parts of the vehicle-building process.
Is the Honda Ridgeline a good vehicle?
The Honda Ridgeline is an excellent vehicleāfor certain people. It offers the driving characteristics of a unibody SUV with a small bed for hauling cargo. But donāt expect it to have the same capacity as a true full-frame pickup truck.
Many drivers love their Honda Ridgelines. According to GoodCarBadCar.netās data, Honda sold over 40,000 Ridgelines in 2021 and 2022. But that puts the Ridgeline near the bottom of the pickup truck segment. Ford sold 653,957 F-Series trucks in 2022. Toyota sold 215,853 Tacomas.
Why, then, do reviewers such as Consumer Reports and Edmunds perennially rank the Ridgeline as one of the best pickup trucks? This conflict between automotive reviewers and how the average buyer votes with their wallet may highlight a problem with automotive reviews.
A company such as Edmunds gives each vehicle a rating in multiple categories (Interior, Technology, Towing and Storage, Fuel Economy, etc.). To be blunt, the Honda Ridgeline pulls off scores just a bit above averageāin every category. So its overall score comes in above a full-size truck, which sacrifices many categories for its more extreme towing and hauling capabilities.
The Honda Ridgeline is divisive
There is nothing wrong with the Honda Ridgeline. Itās an outlier and difficult to classify. It is the right tool for certain jobs. But for most drivers, itās far from the best vehicle in the pickup truck class. And that may be one reason this vehicle is so divisive.
Next, read why the Rivian R1T is impossible to classify too, or find out why the Ridgeline might be the perfect truck for ānon-truck peopleā in the video below: