Most people remember their first reaction when they heard Honda was introducing a pick-up truck. The company seemed to be doing just fine for 40 years without one. After a closer look, you’ll realize that it’s not a truck in the conventional sense.
The lineage of its underpinnings point all the way back to the Honda Odyssey minivan. Yes, a minivan. Real truck guys aren’t too interested in hearing about the architecture of its ladder frame/unibody chassis. It’s only available in single 4 door spec with one bed size. They don’t even offer a V8 engine. This truck is almost 100% silent at idle. It can tow a mediocre 5,000lbs. These reasons alone are strong evidence that they weren’t marketing the car to the typical truck type.
Don’t get me wrong here; I’m sure they would still gladly take their money. Fast forward five years later and the Honda Ridgeline sales have rapidly declined. Much of that can be attributed to it being at the end of its model life. In my opinion, it could be that the novelty has worn off. There is talk that Honda will not be releasing an all-new truck. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised.
Let’s say they saddle up for a second round: Give it a diesel. If they are forcing one engine again, it should be a diesel. The advantage Honda has usually held over its competitors was efficiency and reliability. This shouldn’t change. The current Ridgeline is a Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle but it still guzzled gas. My brother/roommate had an 06 for two years which almost meant I had one. We continuously averaged 16-17miles per gallon. The difference between that and a more powerful/capable F-150 are negligible. That shouldn’t be the case.
Honda has experience with diesels. They have publicly stated that they are having trouble getting the costs down in regards to the TSX engine available elsewhere. It would take a different approach of engineering to get most of their current diesels which are mated to a manual to automatic transmissions and meet emissions goals. This company currently is the world’s largest manufacturer of engines. They can definitely pull it off. If they decide to give the Ridgeline one engine, make it spectacular. See VW’s Toureg powerplant for reference. 225hp and 407lb of torque. Mid 20’s mpg and can tow almost 8,000lbs. Let’s see its Japanese counterpart.
- Onehots2K
Images courtesy of Onehots2k.
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on May 18th, 2010 at 4:34 pm
i’d buy one if it had a diesel, thats the only way i’d ever think about getting a truck-type vehicle, they just sound awesome, more capable, better mileage, and did i mention they sound awesome?
on May 18th, 2010 at 5:36 pm
Honda is not able to compete in ALMS against the likes of Audi and Peugeot and they refuse to campaign a diesel engine because they don’t have a diesel in the showroom. Offer a diesel in the Ridgeline and you open the door to a race diesel and a championship season in ALMS.
on May 18th, 2010 at 5:36 pm
i love diesels. i love the 450 miles/tank i get in our golf TDi.
torque on a truck is way more important than HP too.
on May 18th, 2010 at 5:44 pm
A diesel 6cyl with good power(250ish hp, 400ish tq) would be more than competitive with the competitions V8′s and would propel honda in to the truck market in a real way. not to mention it would be more durable and achieve better fuel mileage. now they just have to give it a real frame.
on May 18th, 2010 at 6:46 pm
Honda has almost always had a truck, what are you talking about? One of there first vehicles sold was a truck. Honda Acty… look it up. Good Talk.
on May 18th, 2010 at 7:56 pm
Thanks, Nate. I got a nice laugh out of the Honda Acty. What is the towing capacity on that badboy? I also have to wonder how much efficiency was gained from the Ridgeline being FWD most of the time. The beneifts dont seem to be reflected in the MPG.
on May 18th, 2010 at 8:12 pm
The Ridgleline is the wimpy nerd of the trucks……
on May 18th, 2010 at 11:03 pm
16-17mpg is ridiculous , my 03 Excursion with a 6.0l diesel gets 17-18 and thats just with a turbo back exhaust, after a programmer i should see around 20.
it would be nice to see more diesel options in general in the U.S.
on May 19th, 2010 at 4:36 am
I have a Honda diesel tractor, its four wheel drive and the thing is awesome.
If Honda can put a diesel motor in the tractor, i think it would be awesome if they came out with a diesel truck!
Heck, Chevy’s “Duramax” diesel is actually made my Isuzu…. A Japanese company.
I think Honda would blow everyone away with their technology.
Just my opinion.
on May 19th, 2010 at 6:03 am
Check out http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/
on May 19th, 2010 at 8:55 am
Honda has the 2.2 CTDI diesel, engine of the year when it was intruduced.
Honda does know how to make diesels.
on May 19th, 2010 at 12:06 pm
A TDI Civic would be a great idea.
Honda should have stuck to their plan of launching the TSX with a diesel engine.
Too bad most of the car buying public is averse to diesel. Maybe if gas prices hit $7.00 per gallon, we will start looking at diesels as an alternative.
on May 19th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
the problem is that the chassis (in its current form) cant handle a diesel. the ridgeline is a FWD / AWD truck that can tow all of 5,000lbs. 400ft-lbs tq? right… i’m betting they dont have a tranny that could even handle that without some serious upgrades.
oh, and the duramax? its a joint venture between GM & Isuzu..
the problem with diesel is the price. it was artificially inflated back when gas hit $4/gal and NEVER came back down.
before the gas crisis of my generation (i’m 27) diesel was ALWAYS cheaper than regular unleaded. usually diesel was 10-30 cents below regular everywhere i went.
when the gas crisis hit, diesel shot up 10-30 cents higher than premium and it has never come back down. i’m in dallas and diesel has just now equalized with premium gas prices.
pretty pathetic, but them’s the facts.
on May 19th, 2010 at 7:30 pm
If they made it look like a real truck I would get one.
on May 20th, 2010 at 1:50 pm
Turbosix, those are excellent points!! I guess I’m of your generation too. I’m 24. I honestly recall diesel being much cheaper than regular gasoline as well. It was during a time where nobody cared.
on May 23rd, 2010 at 4:52 pm
i’m down with a diesel as long as it’s turbo’ed w/ an programmable ecu so it’s easy to tune. a ~400-500hp setup would be sweet….