Time for another truck. Sort of.

The Silverado got fired today. I liked the truck. At least while it was running. To be honest, it was way more truck than I needed and was a PITA in the downtown areas where I go. All the torque is fun to have in a DD, but over the last two years and 50k miles, it has eaten 2 transmissions, a BCM, a few wheel bearings, and God only knows how much fuel. The oil pressure had dropped to 10-12 psi hot at idle, it was pissing oil on my driveway and had a coolant leak that was slow enough to never show but constantly smell. I will miss the near 400 hp and 400 torque but it was time for it to go before it cost me another couple of grand.

A local dealer had a smaller truck on the lot that looked appealing so I stopped by after lunch today and gave it the once over. It had fairly high mileage, but it was very clean and had been regularly serviced at the dealer. So I took it for a spin. It drove very nicely. I asked him to consider what the Silverado was worth to him on a trade. After a little wheeling and dealing, I walked out of the office with keys to a new to me truck and a couple of grand. 

Goodbye big red, hello Little Blue. 

2006 Honda Ridgeline, 200k, most of the bells and whistles. So not exactly a full-blown truck, but I think it's the correct tool for the job. 

Nice.

Nice! I've always wondered why I don't see more of these. I think the honest answer is "ego" for most folks. 

mtn (Forum Supporter) said:

Nice! I've always wondered why I don't see more of these. I think the honest answer is "ego" for most folks. 

If you search for used ones you'll find that the people who own them really like them. They don't like them quite as much as tacomas, but still. 

They drive really well, and the back seat is actually useful for adults. We test drove one back in 2008 and loved it. We purchased a minivan (Odyssey) instead, but I really liked the Ridgeline and would consider one. 
 

The transmission in the Ridgeline was stronger than the one used in the Odyssey in 2005 and 2006, but I would still drain the fluid and get some clean Honda ATF in there.

Based on what you've described for your usage, I think it'll work great!

Avalanche wannabe.

These are all the truck like 90% of the world will ever need. I have one on my list for eventually.. they're just fantastic.

I drove one and thought how I felt like I was in an Accord with a bed.  Nice trucks.  Car-like driving, truck-like hauling.

At the risk of saying something that sounds derogatory (but isn't)... they're like the unibody El Camino we all wish we had.

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

The second "car" I owned, back in 1980, was a 71 ElCamino. my best friend at the time also owned one with the same crack in the frame as mine ended up with... Said "ElCaminos are for guy's that want to look like their driving a truck, but don't have anything to haul." He towed a horse trailer, or his boat with his a lot. From his experience, we welded 'er up, and I kept that one almost a year (long time for me back then) Fun stuff.

spacecadet (Forum Supporter) said:

These are all the truck like 90% of the world will ever need. I have one on my list for eventually.. they're just fantastic.

Being one of the smaller percent that has always used a truck, like a truck - and having more friends that do, than don't, I would place that at less than 90%. But then I'm not sure about the city folks; all the mall crawlers may skew that number to way higher than 90!

My wife's son, before he passed, had a ridgline, and she played chauffeur for him for about a month when he got a DUI. She loved that truck. Thought the versatility aspect was great. She uses a truck, like a truck often enough to need one, but prefers a more car like truck as a DD. Her dad's business built most of Homestead, so there was always a truck around, and grew up in the big car days, so doesn't "feel" safe in small cars.

That's a sharp looking Ridgeline. Should be a very practical vehicle. And I agree that you should drain and refill with genuine Honda ATF. Btw, do you have access to any service records? Honda may a log on said records.

After the first 50 miles, I can unequivocally say, this is not a truck. It is a utility car much like the Ranchero or Elcamino. It doesn't drive like a truck. It doesn't ride like a truck. The only thing it has in common with a truck is the utility box on the back. That is not a bad thing, just an observation. I still think it will be a good tool for the job. To be honest, I'm more a manager now than I am a technician and I just don't need a big truck as my daily vehicle.

I have missed the size of the Colorado since I switched to the Silverado. I had been looking for a midsized SUV but few of them have the space in the back to haul a ladder, the Ridgeline does. I haul tools and a few parts that need to stay dry. They will all fit in the trunk on the Ridgeline. The Silverado was getting 12-13 mpg and would only burn 93. The Honda should be in the 18-19 range and it will burn the cheap stuff. I don't see gas getting any cheaper in the next 4-8 years. Add to that the issues the Silverado was suffering, it was a good time to downsize. I still have two full-size trucks in the fleet that can do the heavy lifting when needed and they are driven by the guys that will be doing the work. 

As to the durability of the Honda, we will see. This particular one has been fairly well taken care of. If it turns into a turd, I'll go back to regular trucks and write this off as a lesson learned. Hondas have a reputation for going the distance. We will be finding out if that's the case. 

I always liked these. I also always thought that these are more truck than most people will ever need, and thats coming from the land of cowboy cadillacs and brodozers, where if you want to haul a couple branches or 10 pieces of lumber conventional knowledge says you need a dually and a diesel with the wick turned up. Ill be watching with interest.

I think honda messed up with the 2nd gens, they look like a crv that someone glued a bed on.

We bought my wife a 2019 Ridgeline when we decided we should combine the beater truck with her sedan. It certainly isn't a 'real' truck but it was the perfect compromise for us. It drives like a car based SUV but does all the truck things we need it to do. It tows our nearly 5k pound camper way better than I expected it to. My wife didn't like any of the competitors because they drove too much like a truck for her liking. I think it will treat you well. We are super happy with ours.

Everything that was in the two Action Packers in the bed of the Silverado fit in the trunk of the Ridgeline. I did drop one of the boxes in the trunk to keep things sort of organized. The trunk is bigger than it looks. I can also see a time where I'll be a little pissed because something is in the trunk but the bed is full of stuff I have to move first. That may be a nonissue, time will tell. 

That leaves the bed currently empty other than the ladder. Not having to have a tonneau cover and a bed full of tools may make this more usable as a truck than the Silverado. I won't have to worry about things getting stolen or wet when the bed cover is retracted hauling something big. 

I had a 2008 Ridgeline and loved it. Totally reliable and trouble free. I averaged 18-19 mpg and it towed very well. I only sold it because I needed a bigger truck for my 44' gooseneck enclosed trailer.

Didn't the folks that run this site go through a couple of these with high praises?

Neighbor is on his second one and likes it enough to trade in his old one on a new one. My son has one and he like it. Especially the trunk mentioned. Plenty of room for his 2 kids.

400 miles in. She got a set of tires today to replace the rock hard Cooper tires that were on it. 

I prefer a AT tire on my work vehicle but didn't want a heavy truck tire. Falken makes a Wildpeak AT Trail that is about half way between a AT tire and a All Season. It should be the perfect compromise. 

Looks like I will be getting around 17 mpg around town. 

like these much better than the 2nd gen ones

It is surprising how bad those old tires were. They were only 6 years old but must have been as hard as a rock. Ride quality is 100% better and road noise is reduced by half. 

I put about 450 miles on it today, from Charleston SC to Charlotte NC, for a funeral. Blast up the interstate, turn around and blast back. While it did a very nice job running up the interstate, it's not the road machine the Silverado was.

I was running around 80 the entire way. At that speed, it would lose a couple of mph on every hill and then the transmission was looking for lower gears trying to get back up to speed. That is a bit of a pain in any kind of traffic. The Silverado, once it hit OD, would just lope along in OD and never downshift. It also never really slowed down. 

The fuel economy wasn't as good as expected. It was a mile or two per gallon better than the Chevy at the speeds I was running. I thought it would be in the 18-19 range instead of the 17+ range. 

I had all my kids with me. It's not a good road trip machine for 5 people. The back seat is a little narrow for 3 adults on a long haul. No one complained about legroom, but they were sitting hip to hip the entire time back there. The extra width in the Silverado would have been nice.

My only other complaint is road noise. On smooth asphalt, it's as quiet as a tomb no matter the speed. On old asphalt, it is surprisingly loud. Originally I thought it was the old tires. While the new tires helped, they didn't get rid of all of the noise. The Silverado, on AT tires, was louder on new asphalt and quieter on old asphalt. In the Chevy, road noise was mostly tire noise. In the Honda, the road noise from a bad road reverberated through the entire vehicle. 

Overall, I still like the Honda better than the Silverado. It is a better tool for the job I need it to do. The trunk is brilliant. It was large enough to layout 4 suit coats and not crush them. But the next time I need to make a road trip with more than 4 people, I'll take the Suburban. 

I'll be putting another few hundred miles on it tomorrow for work. Mostly back roads and slower speeds. We will see how it does in that setting. I'm betting the MPG will take a decent jump. 

"real trucks" are overrated. I knew a guy who ran a successful contracting business out of a 1965 Ranchero. But that theme has been beat to death. Apples and oranges. Speaking of durability, there's a guy on the Ridgeline Forum who has half-a-million miles on his 1st gen R-line. He was complaining that the original transaxle took a dump at 502K. I wonder how many times he's changed the timing belt?

In reply to Toyman01 + Sized and :

A couple of suggestions:  I'll bet the Hondas fuel economy is much more speed sensitive than your Silverado was.  Instead of 80 mph try 70 or 72 and I'll bet you see a sizable gain in mpg.

Also, for the noise consider Dynamat or one of the many knockoffs.  A little extra sound deadening will go a long way.

I'm a fan of these and hope you become as enamored of it as you wanted to be originally.

In reply to Kreb (Forum Supporter) :

I wouldn't call them overrated, there are some things that they do better than other vehicles. That's just facts. In this case, the Silverado is a better vehicle. It is better at eating up miles of interstate than the Ridgeline is. Every vehicle is a compromise, the Chevy had them, so does the Honda. The Honda will be better in many situations and so far I prefer it over the Silverado for what I do. I run a company, I drive the Honda. Smaller, less powerful, more fuel-efficient, more car-like. I like the way it drives. The guys in the field that work for me are now driving full-size trucks. Bigger, more capable, more powerful, better load capability. We ran Colorados for several years. They got the job done and I like them enough to keep one for my youngest son as his first car, but they were a little too small to work out of. The Ridgeline suffers from the same problem. It just can't do what a full-size truck can do. That isn't an attack on Honda or the Ridgeline, it's just a statement of fact.

I don't doubt the durability of the Honda, I'm counting on getting at least 350k out of this one. I was disappointed in the durability of the Silverado so I sold it. If I'm disappointed in the Honda it will be gone as well. These vehicles are tools. I don't care who makes it, I have no emotional attachment to them, I just want the best tool for the job at a price I'm willing to pay. At the moment, I think the Ridgeline is the best tool for me. If I change my mind, I'll let you know. 

In reply to: Loweguy5 (Forum Supporter) 

I knew the mileage was going to take a hit at those speeds but I had places to be and wasn't worried about the fuel economy other than noting it was lower than I thought it would be. It's still better than the Chevy and it burns regular instead of premium. Today's run will be about 250 miles at 60 mph. I'm guessing there will be a significant jump. The Silverado at 80 mph would get around 15. At 55 it got 19. Around town, it got 12-13. It was very sensitive about the throttle pedal. 

The road noise doesn't bother me enough to do anything about it. I spend 75% of my driving beating around town where it isn't noticeable.