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4K views 61 replies 16 participants last post by  Destroyer 
#1 ·
Did you know they are giving $8,000 off on `08 Honda Ridgelines? What do you think of them. I love Cadillac but I love Honda too (go ahead & give me sh1t). I currently own a 75 eldorado, a 2006 IS250 AWD (wife's), an 03 Accord Coupe EXV6, & a 2000 GMC Sierra 1500 Z71 loaded. The GMC gets about 15 miles a gallon and is a good truck but is just regular cab. I really don't have a car that I can comfortably fit 5 in that can be driven year round So I think I'm going to trade the truck in for for an `08 black Ridgeline RTL with tow hitch & custom black honeycomb grill. All i need the truck bed for is going to the dump & home depot, I am in sales not construction. There are 10 or 15 reasons why the ridgeline is better.

Thoughts on the Ridgeline? i'm all about getting a new 33,500 truck for 25k that gets 21mpg on the highway. Am I crazy? I don't need a new car but i can't pass up Honda's deepest discounting in Honda history. :shhh:
 
#2 ·
If you don't need a 'real' truck, the Ridgeline might be right for you, however, 21 mpg isn't that great either. A full size 'real' Chevrolet/GMC truck is advertised to yield 20 mpg highway; and they are offering some pretty big discounts too. Do as you feel, after all, it's your money.
 
#7 ·
That is fair. The dealership I'm going to is a chevy dealer and a honda dealer so maybe I will compare. It is important for me to have a full backseat though so it can ride adults in the back without being cramped.

lol at "fake" truck.
 
#5 ·
interesting that you say that because I noticed the new body style last night when I was leaving the red sox game after the big win! A beautiful white avalanche roared past us and cut down a back road and it looked sweet. The thing is, a LOADED Ridgeline I can get for 25k and a LOADED Avalance is 46k list and will probably end up being at least 11k more. I do like the Avalanche though.
 
#8 ·
A friend has one and he says it's never been to the dealer for repairs in the 48k miles he's had it since it was new. My friend is pretty biased towards Honda and Toyota though so I don't know how accurate that statement is. Either way, the truck is comfortable in a Honda way, and his RTX (top of the line?) model is fully loaded with leather, heated seats, sunroof, etc etc.
 
#9 ·
A goood friend of mine, who is not a car person, bought one last year and really likes it. He says it rides well and is good on the freeway. The mileage is not great, so you might want to put your purchase off a couple of years and see what will come down the line. If you can stand the way the poor homely beast looks and your money is burning a hole in your pocket then go ahead. You won't justify it with the gas saved over the Chev truck.
 
#11 ·
The Ridgeline should not be called a "truck".... my '94 Isuzu 4cyl 2wd is far more of a truck then that thing.... and it gets better then 21mpg hwy.

unibody, engine mounted sideways , all-wheel drive like a car (not a proper 4-wheel drive with low range) among other things.... it is not a truck any more then the CR-V.
 
#19 ·
Amen. It is basically a car that sits higher off the ground and has a bed. The engine is no different from the one they stick in their cars. Real trucks at least have a frame.
 
#12 ·
I know for a fact that you can score a brand new 2008 Chevy, Ford, or Dodge crew cab for less than 25k. All three of those look better than that ridgeline abomination, and are real trucks. The ridgeline is a gas guzzler too, so I don't see the point in buying that pos to get 2-3mpg better.
 
#13 ·
I already bought the Ridgeline...just drove it home. My neighbor who lives 2 doors down is the sales manager and gave me a good trade in on my GMC (above bluebook), gave me 8k off MSRP, gave me a $200 discount on new grill because i wanted the pimp grille, and they gave me $2.9% financing.

I got above bluebook despite, My GMC had a dent in the front bumper & the headlight was dislodged from my wife rear ending another truck, the roof leaked in back near the sliding rear window, the jack couldn't be removed because the water from the leak had rusted the screw & wingnut thing that held the jackstand, the suspension needed to be replaced (wayyy too loose), the Horn didn't work at all, and one of the bars that holds the body in place near the rear wheel well was bent to sh1t because I overloaded it with flooring this summer, and last but not least, the radio had awful reception & the CD player skipped. I actually like many GMC trucks because of experience with my dad's Diesel 2500 which is great in my opinion, and I actually liked my old truck for a long time, it's just that I didn't want to go through the trouble of putting 1500 dollars into it to get it back to where it was when I wasn't ever going to be what I wanted once it got fixed. To be honest, I didn't take very good care of it due to lack of time & energy. I am really pumped about my ridgeline... I'll post a picture or 2 in a minute.

I would agree with you guys and say this is not a real truck...A sport utility vehicle with the partial utility of a truck is what it is. I didn't expect a lot of enthusiastic replies because there aren't a lot of pro-honda guys on here.

G
 
#17 ·
It's a modern, Japanese El Camino. Take it for what it's worth. As far as my friend's Ridgeline is concerned; between that and the other car of his we use....an '01 Toyota Echo, I'll take the Ridgeline ANY day of the week.

FWIW, I like Honda too.
 
#18 ·
Last night I watched James Mays Great Ideas (BBC, available on tvrss.net). He did a show devoted to artificial intelligence and robots, and there was a segment devoted to Honda's Asimo. That stupid thing is SO cute. And it is capable of recognizing objects, knowing the difference between a table, stool, and chair. It can also learn what something is based on what you show and tell.

James held a toy Mini Cooper up to Asimo and asked what it was. He didn't know, so James told him. When he showed it to Asimo again, he recognized it as a Mini Cooper. Amazing!



There was also a clip of Asimo running, which honestly scared the piss out of me. Imagine being chased down the street by a robot.
 
#24 ·
Thanks guys for your candid opinions but maybe you're missing the point that I got the thing in order to have a car that could fit 5 year round. I really don't need a traditional truck if I did I would've shopped for one of those. I just wanted to be able to go to the dump with my trash cans, tail gate at patriots games, carry stuff home from the home depot, go on ski trips, & maybe tow a small boat. The only car that I wanted to part with was my GMC...

Either way, you're all entitled to you opinions. For the record it looks great in black and will look even better when i black out the grill and tint the front windows. Drove it about 100 miles today and it was a precision driving experience and I loved the sound system & the comfort. I'm kind of depressed I can't find my camera cord to transfer the pics I took of it onto the computer.... anyway, I'm very happy with it... peace!
 
#26 ·
Thanks guys for your candid opinions but maybe you're missing the point that I got the thing in order to have a car that could fit 5 year round. I really don't need a traditional truck if I did I would've shopped for one of those. I just wanted to be able to go to the dump with my trash cans, tail gate at patriots games, carry stuff home from the home depot, go on ski trips, & maybe tow a small boat. The only car that I wanted to part with was my GMC...

Either way, you're all entitled to you opinions. For the record it looks great in black and will look even better when i black out the grill and tint the front windows. Drove it about 100 miles today and it was a precision driving experience and I loved the sound system & the comfort. I'm kind of depressed I can't find my camera cord to transfer the pics I took of it onto the computer.... anyway, I'm very happy with it... peace!
Thats all that matters :) Glad you like it :)
 
#27 ·
that gets 21mpg on the highway. Am I crazy?
That will never happen. I owned an 07 RTL loaded with every dealer option except for the roof rack. I put just over 10k on it in 10 months. The BEST mpg I could muster on the highway was around 19....and that was in the BEST of conditions. The city mpg was right on par with my 03 Escalade: 14 mpg.

The interior was plastic but comfortable. My RTL came with leather, navi, sunroof, heated seats, heated mirrors, dimming rearview mirror, etc. What amazed me was that I paid 35k for their top of the line truck and it came with shitty rubber floor mats. I had to pay another $150 for carpeted floor mats. :bigroll:

The water proof trunk was a cool feature, and could be used as a beer cooler. Honda's awd system did a decent job in light mud and light snow. I never had to use the "locking rear diff" button. I only used it to tow a 14 foot flat bottom boat and it did fine with it. It drove sluggish even when I wasn't towing....but it was anemic as hell when pulling a small boat. I hope you don't intend to tow much.

I liked the way the Ridgeline drove. It handled like a midsize car. My biggest problem was the lack of power. The motor was heartless and worked too damn hard to push that heavy little truck. IMO it would be a different truck with a small diesel engine, or even a V8. It would probably get better mileage with a more powerful engine also. The wife's Acura MDX has the same size motor but a TON of get up and go compared to the Ridgeline's engine. I don't get that. :hmm:

The Ridgeline isn't a serious truck. It won't hold up to hardcore off roading, won't tolerate lift kits, and struggles to tow even light loads. It's basically a car with a truck bed. IT GETS BAD MILEAGE. By far though Honda offers more standard equipment then any other midsize truck on the market. Chevy, Nissan, Toyota, and even Jeep don't offer standard 4 wheel disc brakes, side curtain air bags, and traction control systems. Honda has them as standard equipment, but the Honda costs more then the other offerings. That additional cost sounds like it could be offset nicely by an $8k rebate.
 
#29 ·
Hindsight offers me clarity on many things. If I could go back to that faithful day when I drove onto that Honda lot I would slap the shit out of myself for even considering the Ridgeline. Let alone $150 for floor mats. :cookoo:

eta: I GAVE AWAY the Rosen 8" headrest monitors and the 4k worth of chrome goodies I had installed on the truck. It was an expensive mistake.
 
#32 ·
I respectfully disagree. I think the Colorado/Canyon is worlds ahead of the S/10, in terms of quality, reliability, modernity, design, comfort, etc etc.
 
#33 ·
my cousin's 98 S10 was a POS. no saying his is...but my cousins was.

not to keep this useless thread going but I love my RidgeLine so far. My favorite features so far are the carlike ride, the full sunroof, the automatic sliding rear window which is very smooth, and the trunk inside the Bed so you can have the best of both worlds. The overdrive is a cool feature but I don't want to use it until 3000 miles. I expect to avg. about 19 mpg with it because it is a heavy vehicle. But what does gas mileage matter when your company pays you 51 cents a mile? :thepan: I promise not to talk about the ridgeline on this forum anymore besides this thread... I will only talk about my ELDO! :cool2: :hide:

And to all of you who are hating on the Ridgeline... that's fine with me. Keep up the good work! "To each his own."

If i was going to go the used truck route, I would've gotten the 2005 GMC 2500 HD, I love those.

Eldo
 
#36 ·
I would agree they are worlds apart, however you are not going to beat a 89 to 93 TBI 4.3 S-10 for longevity drivetrain wise.
When I finally got rid of my 91 it 270,000 miles on it, yeah the interior sucked, but most stuff that old with that many miles will suck.
 
#38 ·
Mike, did you have the S-10 or C/K with the TBI 4.3? Did it offer decent power? I drove a '96 K1500 at work a few months ago with the Vortec 4.3 and boy was that slow. It brought back memories of 2.2L powered S-10s, 307 Broughams and HT4100 DeVilles lol.
 
#39 · (Edited)
I had a 91 S-10 Blazer 4x4 with 3.90s TBI 165 HP 210 FT/lbs of torque, the Vortec should have been better, maybe it was beat or had a problem, but really in a truck it will be slow. Yeah my 91 was not fast at all, but it never let me down. In the just over 200,000 miles I personally put on it, I did 1 water pump, 1 fuel pump (ex wife ran it dry), 1 intake manifold gasket at 190,000, 1 oil pressure switch and 1 idler arm broke it off raoding. I called it Big Blue Bob. I sure do miss that thing.
 
#40 ·
Is this the thread where we admit our vehicular deviances? I kinda like the Honda Element. It seems pretty practical and the rubber flooring would be easy to clean. My dog wouldn't be too pleased if I folded the seats up against the side windows and blocked the view out, though.
 
#41 ·
go ahead! consider it "confession." My brother used to have an Element and liked it but had to sell it because he couldn't afford it at the time. It was the first year they came out and it is literally the biggest backseat I've ever been in. I am 6 feet 6 and I sat in back and my knees didn't touch at all. A very utilitiarian vehicle that has a 4 banger that kind of winds up and is somewhat zippy. He had a standard that was dash mounted.
 
#42 ·
Well... as long as we're at it I think the Fit is kind of cool for what it is, and very zippy with the stick supposedly (however you can just buy an older 4 banger and get the same economy that doesnt look like a roller skate), and the 1991 Honda Prelude Si, the '92 Prelude and the final '97 Prelude VTEC were some of my favorite cars ever growing up. A 1991 Prelude Si in red with aluminum or Alpine White with white wheels is a thing of beauty.
 
#46 ·
A guy at work bought a new one... 1.3L 5spd... it does feel zippy tho.... he said he is getting about 40mpg... what the heck is up with that?

The car is nice... it is red, another male co-worker called it "cute" and I was like, man, a guy dosen't call another guys car "cute" even a Miata... he was like no, really thats the only thing that comes to mind when I see it.... and... I'd have to agree.

Inside the car is actually pretty nice, I guess you can get them for like $14k new, and it seems to be a well pet together car, I am surprised by the room, 4 big guys can get in that thing and there is alot of room, the backseat is roomy, knees aren't jammed into the seat etc... I like it... not that I would pay $14k for one tho, but it seems like if you are gonna get one, then get one new cause used ones with like 50k are still alot of money.

Colorado/Canyon is all Isuzu, except for the drivetrain, same as the Hummer H3. Now had they have the Isuzu turbo-diesel like the Isuzu D-Max pickups have in all other countired but here, that would be a sweet truck.... not no, instead Isuzu is no longer selling passenger vehicles in the US and we are stuck with ho-hum GM engines :(

If only it was sold in the US...

http://www.isuzu.co.jp/world/product/dmax/index.html
 
#43 ·
I also like the Si or VTEC Preludes, especially the last generation ones. When I was 14, before I got into Cadillacs and luxury cars, I wanted either an early '90s Prelude or Trans Am. I got neither. I also don't mind the late '90s Civic Si coupes, as long as they're clean an unmodified...which wouldn't be a problem, but they're harder to find than a clean hooker in Hong Kong!
 
#45 ·
I get to drive a real truck home tonight....that 454 Sierra I made a thread about last week. :cool2: :cloud9:
 
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