The updated 2021 Honda Ridgeline will hit dealer lots in less than a month and when it arrives it’ll be sporting a bold new look up front and standard all-wheel drive.
In addition to new style, Honda announced pricing for the pickup. The base-model Ridgeline Sport will start at $37,665, including destination charges, an increase of just $465 over 2020’s all-wheel drive Sport.
The current and second generation of Ridgeline dates to the 2017 model year. For 2021, Honda gave it a significant refresh aimed at injecting more street cred with traditional pickup buyers. In the process, the former base-model with front-wheel drive is no longer available and new option packages have been added.
Riding the same platform as Honda’s Passport minivan and Pilot three-row SUV, the Ridgeline is the only unibody–rather than body-on-frame–pickup on the market.
Its construction means it forgoes overall payload and towing abilities compared with conventional trucks, but delivers superior on-road driving dynamics and efficiency. The Ridgeline has sharp handling and a smooth, quiet ride for a pickup and returns a combined average of 21 mpg. It also packs class-leading cabin space among midsize trucks and many user-friendly features, like its dual-action tailgate and lockable in-bed trunk.
A Bold New Look
The Ridgeline’s user-friendliness, however, hasn’t made up for a perceived lack of ruggedness among some traditional pickup buyers. Honda sold just over 32,000 Ridgelines in 2020, placing it 11th in sales among the 13 pickup models sold in the U.S., according to MotorIntelligence.
Part of the problem may have been visual.
“People like trucks, and they want to be seen driving a truck that looks like a truck,” Honda spokesperson Carl Pulley told Forbes Wheels. The previous look of the Ridgeline may have been too soft and SUV-like up front. “That helped with aerodynamics,” Pulley says, but perhaps not with image.
For 2021, Honda redesigned all of the sheetmetal from the A-pillar forward, giving the Ridegeline a much more aggressive and butch-looking face. “The new look is better at telegraphing the truck’s abilities,” Pulley says. Though the front-wheel-drive Ridgelines provided a lower cost of entry, he adds, many customers valued all-wheel drive as much as the perception of ruggedness it brings.
On top of the aggressive new look, Honda also added a new HPD (Honda Performance Development) package for $2,800. Installed at the factory rather than dealerships, the HPD package adds black fender flares, a distinct grille, special bronze-colored wheels, graphics and an HPD emblem. The look is reminiscent of other sport truck treatments from Toyota and Ford.
Also new are three other equipment packages. The Utility ($1,465) package adds running boards, roof rails and crossbars. The Function ($270) and Function+ ($1,315) packages add a variety of cargo system extras, with the Function+ including a hard tonneau cover.
Inside, the 2021 Ridgeline adds a physical knob for audio volume control, wireless phone charging and contrast stitching on the seats. The top two trims also get revised accents on the dashboard, console, and steering wheel.
2021 Honda Ridgeline Trims & Prices
For 2021 there are four trims: the Sport ($37,665, including destination fees), RTL ($40,645), RTL-E ($43,595) and the monochrome Black Edition ($45,095). Equipment levels will be broadly similar to 2020.
The mechanical pieces of the Ridgeline are largely unchanged, but some parts of Honda’s safety suite that were previously available on only the top trims are now standard.
Power comes from a 3.5-liter V6 engine packing 280 horsepower and 262 pound-feet of torque mated to a nine-speed automatic transmission. Honda’s i-VTM4 all-wheel-drive setup can transfer up to 70% of the power to the rear wheels.
All Ridgelines now come with the full Honda Sense safety suite of driver assist systems, including enhanced emergency braking, forward collision warning, lane departure warning and keeping assist, road departure mitigation and adaptive cruise control.
The 2021 Honda Ridgeline will begin arriving on dealer lots on February 2.
The Link LonkJanuary 15, 2021 at 06:18AM
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2021 Honda Ridgeline Pricing, On Sale Date Announced - Forbes
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