2020 Honda Ridgeline

The Ridgeline is available in four trims: Sport, RTL, RTL-E, and Black Edition. Pricing starts at $35,020 including destination for the Sport and climbs to $44,640 for the Black Edition.

Every Ridgeline is powered by a 3.5-liter V6 engine that produces 280 horsepower and 262 pound-feet of torque. A nine-speed automatic transmission now mates up to this engine.

The bottom two trims come standard with front-wheel drive and have all-wheel drive available for $2,240 on the Sport and $2,150 on the RTL. The RTL-E and Black Edition are strictly AWD.

The Ridgeline is good for up to 1,584 pounds of payload capacity, which just edges out the Chevrolet Colorado but can't beat the Ford Ranger. With all-wheel drive, a Ridgeline can tow up to 5,000 pounds. That's better than some variants of the Colorado and Ranger, but it can't top their 7,000-pound-plus maximum towing capacities.

If those stats sound weak, keep in mind that the Ridgeline is a unibody design; in fact, it's the only truck to currently utilize this construction technique. Now universally used on cars and crossovers, the unibody offers better ride and handling characteristics than a traditional full-frame vehicle, but it doesn't afford the same capability. It's why the Ridgeline can't compete with the American mid-size trucks on towing and payload numbers.

Fuel economy numbers are a different story, though. In FWD form, the Ridgeline returns an EPA-estimated 19 miles per gallon city, 26 mpg highway, and 22 combined. AWD models drop to 19/24/21 mpg (city/highway/combined). This is better than average for the class, though there are a few pricey diesel options out there than can do just as good or better.

While other trucks offer a choice of cabs and beds, Honda has chosen to offer the Ridgeline only as a Crew Cab with a 5-foot-3-inch bed. The cab is spacious enough to easily accommodate five people, with the rear bench offering 36.7 inches of legroom – which is more than the Crew Cab Colorado and Ranger.

The bed isn't going to tote around the same amount of cargo that a long box can, but it still manages to hold 33.9 cubic feet of stuff. There's also an in-bed trunk that holds an additional 7.3 cubic feet of cargo.

Honda has also designed the Ridgeline for work as well as play, and to that end the bed can cater to your tailgating whims with an in-bed 115-volt power outlet, an available in-bed audio system, and drains in the in-bed trunk so it can double as the game-day cooler.

Like the rest of the Honda lineup, the Ridgeline comes standard with the Honda Sensing suite of active safety features. It includes adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking, forward collision warning, lane-keeping assist, and lane departure warning.

About the only common feature not part of this bundle is blind-spot monitoring; you'll need to buy an RTL-E and Black Edition model to get it along with automatic high beams and front and rear parking sensors.

The IIHS has deemed the Ridgeline to be a Top Safety Pick, while it carries a five-star overall safety rating from the NHTSA.

Nestled in the center stack of every Ridgeline is an 8-inch touchscreen sporting Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. It also has Bluetooth and an auxiliary jack, and there are also two USB ports up front.

A HondaLink app lets owners monitor their trucks from afar. It can disclose parking location and fuel levels and facilitates scheduling service visits. Roadside assistance is also included for the duration of the factory warranty.

The RTL-E and Black Edition add two rear USB ports, satellite radio, HD radio, navigation, an eight-speaker audio system, and the in-bed audio system.

The Sport opens up the Ridgeline lineup. As a base truck, it's rather lavish; standard features include tri-zone climate control, remote start, push-button start, fog lights, cloth upholstery, and a seven-speaker audio system. It rides on 18-inch wheels and all exterior trim is body-colored. Eight tie-downs can be found in the bed, and there's also an integrated class III tow hitch.

One step up from the Sport is the RTL. Upgrades over the base trim include leather upholstery, a power moonroof, a power-sliding rear window, heated mirrors, and a leather-wrapped steering wheel. The driver's seat is 10-way power-adjustable, the front passenger seat gets four-way power adjustment, and both front seats are heated.

Moving into the RTL-E means additional standard features like the aforementioned safety and connectivity features, a two-position memory driver's seat, ambient LED lighting, a heated steering wheel, and two second-row charging ports. The bed lights are upgraded to LED and the door handles are now chrome.

The top-spec model is the Black Edition. Rather than slather on additional luxuries, the Black Edition is about aesthetics. This means a black leather interior, black wheels, and black trim, all accented by red stitching and ambient lighting. There are no additional functional or convenience features over the RTL-E.

Compare Ridgeline Trims Side-By-Side