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Honda doesn't sell traditional pickups and SUVs with body-on-frame construction. The midsize Ridgeline—Honda's sole pickup truck offering in the United States— utilizes unitized body construction and independent rear suspension similar to what the automaker uses in its passenger cars and crossover SUVs. That results in a pickup that performs, rides, and handles more like an agile, smooth-riding car than a husky, lumbering truck, albeit one that can still do truck things like carry payloads up to 1,583 pounds and tow up to 5,000 pounds.
Photo: Ron Sessions
So, the Ridgeline is for midsize pickup buyers who don't necessarily covet the traditional truck-driving experience. That said, the robust, capable, “sure-I-can-do-that” pickup truck look still has many devotees. Stray too far from conventional pickup-truck design, however, and manufacturers run the risk of offering a vehicle that looks less capable.
When Honda introduced the second-generation Ridgeline for the 2017 model year, the design borrowed some styling cues from the midsize Pilot crossover SUV. The problem was that it was just too gentrified, not something that looked like it could do the dirty jobs pickups are supposed to be able to do.
To make the Ridgeline look more truck-like, Honda beefed up the front-end appearance of the midsize pickup for 2021, giving it a taller hood, blunter nose, and a larger, more upright grille.
For 2024, Honda continues beefing up the look of the Ridgeline with a new TrailSport trim level that adds a hint of off-road ability without compromising its superb everyday usability in the civilized world.
Highlights of the 2024 Honda Ridgeline include:
For 2024, the Ridgeline lineup includes the base Sport, well-equipped RTL, off-road-oriented TrailSport, and top-of-the-line Black Edition. Each features standard all-wheel drive (AWD). Including the $1,395 destination charge, prices are as follows:
JD Power previously published a review of the 2021 Honda Ridgeline. This review focuses on the Ridgeline's updates for 2024 and how they potentially impact its overall consumer appeal.
For this 2024 Ridgeline review, Honda provided a test vehicle equipped with TrailSport trim and the following options:
The test vehicle's price was $46,830, including the $1,395 destination charge to ship the truck from the Lincoln, Alabama, assembly plant to your local dealership.
Photo: Ron Sessions
By extending the TrailSport trim to the Ridgeline, Honda moves to give its SUV-based pickup truck more off-road sizzle and substance.
Honda didn't jack up the Ridgeline TrailSport's suspension to increase ground clearance, add locking differentials, or switch to off-road racing-style shock absorbers as in midsize pickup competitors such as the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 or Ford Ranger Raptor. Indeed, the TrailSport is still a Ridgeline that's just fine as an everyday truck on paved roads. It has a little more off-pavement ability for the occasional dirt trail adventure or back-country overlanding, but it is unsuitable for tackling rugged terrain.
The new Ridgeline TrailSport gets a bolder multi-segmented grille inset, a black crossbar above the grille, black door-pillar trim, and black mirror caps. The TrailSport's side mirrors are power folding for easier retraction when negotiating off-road obstacles such as thick brush and overhanging tree limbs.
Throwing subtlety to the wind, all 2024 Ridgeline trims follow the current trend of using billboard-size, big-font, all-caps lettering on the tailgate. Hey, sometimes it pays to advertise.
Also not subtle are the TrailSport's more aggressive all-terrain tires. These 245/60R18 General Grabber A/T tires feature an open tread pattern that wraps partially around the sidewalls for enhanced grip in sand, mud, snow, and rocky terrain. The tires wrap pewter-finish five-spoke alloy wheels.
Underneath, the TrailSport rolls with an off-road-tuned suspension featuring slightly softer TrailSport-specific spring rates and shock-absorber damping curves. Resized front and rear stabilizer bars allow greater off-road wheel articulation.
Ridgeline TrailSport equipment includes a steel underbody skid plate to protect the somewhat low-hanging and vulnerable engine oil pan.
Inside, TrailSport eye candy includes contrasting orange stitching on the leather-wrapped steering wheel, heated leather-trimmed power-adjustable front seats, a 60/40 split-folding rear bench seat, door armrests, and the center console. Also included is orange ambient lighting.
In addition to the grille and tailgate, the TrailSport orange logo appears on embroidered front-seat head restraint insets and is molded into tray-style, all-season rubber floor mats.
Photo: Ron Sessions
Eight years into its second-generation model run, the 2024 Honda Ridgeline receives key updates to the cabin.
Ahead of the driver is a more modern-looking, configurable 7-inch color driver cluster with a digital tachometer and physical speedometer (also a digital speedometer), clock, ambient temperature, gear indicator, odometer, trip meter, fuel-economy readout, fuel gauge, and Honda Sensing telltales.
The front console gains illuminated cupholders, a new, wider, nicely padded center armrest, and a deep covered bin large enough to stash a standard-size tablet. This replaces the shallower, tambour door-covered center bin and individual inboard front-seat fold-down armrests used previously.
Also new for 2024 is a large open tray ahead of the console-mounted pushbutton gear selector. This tray houses a standard wireless charger pad for a Qi-compatible smartphone.
There's a space race underway in infotainment screen sizes. Honda obliges for 2024 with a high-resolution landscape-format color touchscreen that increases incrementally from 8 to 9 inches in the Ridgeline. With TrailSport trim, the system includes continuously updated Honda satellite-linked navigation, voice recognition, and Honda HD Digital Traffic.
The upgraded infotainment system offers a bright and colorful experience with new graphics, faster processing, and less dependence on sub-menus compared to the previous version. During my test, response times to inputs were pleasingly prompt.
Analog fans rejoice. The new, larger screen keeps the previous screen's easy-to-find-on-the-fly rotary volume knob and physical tap left/tap right arrow buttons for tuning directly below it.
One disappointment, however, was in the native voice-control system's ability to find point-of-interest locations. Nationwide fast-food chains and hardware mega-stores were no problem. Still, the Honda system flubbed searches for a local eatery and a nationally recognized Native American museum in a neighboring town.
I quickly remedied that situation by launching Android Auto and using its excellent Google-powered voice-control POI search, which promptly found and offered to navigate to the locations the native system couldn't. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone mirroring are new for the Ridgeline for 2024.
Pairing my Samsung phone was quick and easy. After following the onscreen prompts, I could effortlessly make and receive calls and stream music from my Pandora account.
For 2024, the Ridgeline also gets faster USB ports. One USB-A data port and one USB-C charge port are above the center console for front-seat occupants; Honda also places two USB-C charge ports at the rear for those in the back.
The TrailSport has an ample 215-watt, seven-speaker audio system, not the immersive 540-watt, eight-speaker premium system limited to the range-topping Ridgeline Black Edition.
Photo: Ron Sessions
The new TrailSport is a soft-roader, and that's not a slight. Its off-road-tuned suspension feels slightly softer over bumps than I've experienced previously in other Ridgelines. It delivers a balanced ride on-road or off, with carlike agility, steering response, and brake performance.
Getting in and sliding behind the wheel is a breeze since Honda didn't jack up the TrailSport to gain more ground clearance. Running boards are available as factory-installed accessories, but they're not needed.
The key to the TrailSport's off-pavement and all-weather capabilities is the same torque-vectoring AWD system that's standard in all Ridgelines. To maintain traction, the system can send up to 70 percent of drive torque to the rear wheels. Depending on available traction, it can also parse as much as 100 percent of that torque to the rear wheel with the best grip.
I limited my off-pavement exploration to established dirt trails and avoided ones with deep gullies that might high-center the truck or large rocks or stumps that could damage the low-hanging nose. The AWD system worked as advertised on one uphill section with loose gravel. One rear tire initially lost traction and then regained it as the system directed the drive torque to the opposite rear tire with grip.
As expected, the General Grabber A/T tires' open tread quickly found purchase on slippery surfaces. The pleasant surprise was that these all-terrain tires neither substantively diminished on-road handling nor became noisy over brushed concrete or high-aggregate asphalt surfaces.
However, one consequence of the more aggressive all-terrain tires is slightly reduced fuel economy. According to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates, the TrailSport nets a 20-mpg combined fuel-economy rating compared to 21 mpg for other Ridgeline versions. On my 62-mile loop, including interstate, rural highway, city, and residential roads, the TrailSport test truck averaged 20.5 mpg. The truck's 19.5-gallon fuel tank would result in just under 400 miles of cruising range.
Photo: Ron Sessions
While one could characterize it as “off-road lite,” the 2024 Honda Ridgeline TrailSport brings confident dirt trail capability with its off-road-tuned suspension and all-terrain tires while maintaining its pleasing ride and handling balance on paved roads.
Its 3.5-liter V6 engine and 9-speed automatic transmission deliver ample performance, and the Ridgeline's roomy back seat, wide cargo bed, ample underfloor cargo storage, and dual-action tailgate offer a feature set unavailable in other midsize pickups, including the Chevrolet Colorado, GMC Canyon, Ford Ranger, Jeep Gladiator, Nissan Frontier, and Toyota Tacoma.
Ron Sessions is a seasoned vehicle evaluator with more than four decades of experience. In addition to his contributions to jdpower.com, he has penned hundreds of road tests and buyer's guide reviews for Road & Track, MotorTrend, Car and Driver, and Autotrader.
