Death Valley Post-Mortem - 2017 Honda Ridgeline Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.com

Death Valley Post-Mortem - 2017 Honda Ridgeline Long-Term Road Test

We subjected our 2017 Honda Ridgeline to a relentless washboard dirt road in Death Valley, and we learned quite a bit along the way.

Read the full story here

yellowbal

Repeat the test with a Ford Raptor and Chevy equivalent?

s197gt

looks like, in this case, the ridgeline was the tougher off road "truck".

off-road is not all rock crawling! rarely so in fact.

metalmania

While it's disappointing to see that the Ridgeline suffered some damage from what would appear to be a fairly benign off-road situation - it's almost unbelievable that it fared better than the Tacoma and Titan with "off-road" packages. Before all the "real truck" guys lose their minds - this situation seems to be more relevant to shock absorber limitations than the trucks themselves, so I would certainly not expect the Ridgeline to show up a "real" truck with an off-road package on a serious trail. However, it seems plenty robust to handle the kinds of environments that most non-hardcore off road people are likely to throw at it.

A lot of the "truck community" seems to want to see the Ridgeline fall on its face. If you consider its limitations though, and what a lot of the truck buying public *actually use* their trucks for, I'm having a hard time saying it's not a really smartly engineered vehicle. I honestly think I'd be more than happy with one.

g35buf

metalmania - As the owner of a Gen 1 (2010) Ridgeline and a current Gen 2 2017 RTL-E Ridgeline, I can say you WOULD be happy with a new Ridgeline...If you like a truck that drives like a luxury SUV and still has excellent payload (my Ridgeline squats only 1.5 inches with 400 lbs in the bed and 4,500 lb boat trailer attached). I also got a true calculated 17.0 mpg on this towing trip with another adult and 300 lbs of cargo IN the truck cab.

Before I get accused by the truck guys of being a Honda fanboy, I also owned a 2014 RAM 1500 Hemi and a 2015 RAM 1500 EcoDiesel. Both excellent trucks and trouble free but I wanted to go back to mid-size. I tested EVERY mid-size. Nothing is CLOSE to the Gen 2 Ridgeline as an overall package.

actualsize

In the end, washboard roads are more like bad city roads than true off-roading. The big difference is they generate a lot moreheat because the bumps come one after another. But as long as the heat can be dealt with the ride comfort advantage of independent suspension shines through. And it's a self-reinforcing cycle because this type of suspension also makes life easier for the shocks because less unsprung mass equals less energy and less heat to deal with. You don't need exotic shocks to make it work. Sure, the Ridgeline has amplitude reactive damping, but they are still twin-tube shocks.

agentorange

I wonder if these blown shocks would have been avoided by more realistically sized wheels and tires.

kyfdx

Maybe, just maybe, the vehicle was being driven too fast for conditions?

vhercules

For the folks at edmunds - great video ! Would love to see how the Ford Raptor, Dodge RAM, Chevy Colorado Z71 perform here, I am sure you guys are itching to see this as well.