Can you hear Bob Barker in your head, or is that just me?
Well, the new truck has been added to the family. As much as I love Fessick, the needed repairs were getting to the point where they didn’t make sense. After several months of shopping I purchased a 2024 Honda Ridgeline RTL in Sonic Gray.
Why a Ridgeline? For the past 15 years, I’ve been driving Ford trucks. First was a single cab F-150. It was great before we had kids. It was okay when we had one child. But I can’t own a vehicle that doesn’t seat the entire family, so once kid # two entered the picture, the pickup had to go.
I thought the Excursion would be a perfect vehicle, but it turns out that it’s just too damn big for New Jersey. And even worse if I ever want to go to Philly or NYC, which are each less than an hour from my house. The Excursion was great in that I could load our entire SCA camping setup inside the truck as long as I was willing to climb onto the roof. Once I got tired of clambering onto the roof & bought the trailer, the “need” for the Excursion disappeared.
So I sat down & reviewed the ways I’ve actually used my truck in the past 15 years. Not the things I’d like to do, but the things I’ve actually done. It turns out that a mid-sized truck can handle everything I’ve thrown at my past two vehicles, so I started looking at all the mid-sized trucks in the market. {If I’m being really honest, the Ford Maverick w/ 4K tow package meets my needs as well, but it’s far too small to be a family car.}
One of my primary concerns is room for back seat passengers. My kids are nearing adult height, and this truck is going to be our camping vehicle. So I need a truck that is suitable for long road trips for them. Hands down, the Ridgeline has the best back seat of any of the mid-sized trucks.
If I were into off-roading, I wouldn’t have chosen the Ridgeline. Because it’s basically a minivan wearing a truck suit, it doesn’t have the ground clearance or suspension travel for serious off roading. It also doesn’t have any good frame attachment points for recovery hooks, so if you get it stuck, you’re probably going to do significant body damage pulling it out.
That being said, the Ridgeline’s full time AWD is going to be better on slippery roads than the traditional part time 4WD found on the competition. The Ridgeline is constantly sending some power to all four wheels. When one wheel looses traction, the computer immediately sends power to the wheels with traction with zero driver input
In a traditional 4WD system, the driver needs to decide to send power to both axles when they are loosing traction, but if you drive in 4WD on dry roads, you’re going to chew up your front tires and steering gear.
Long story short, there are many vehicles that meet my true needs, but the Ridgeline has more room for my family and is more suitable for the conditions I drive on. This is the truck for someone who knows what they need and doesn’t feel the pressure to show off for their neighbors.
Modern Anachronist 