2024 Honda Ridgeline TrailSport Review (2024)

My first question about the 2024 Honda Ridgeline TrailSport was, “Can we take it on the extreme course?” I was at Mudfest, an annual off-road vehicle shootout hosted by the Northwest Automotive Press Association (NWAPA). There are two off-road courses at the event, a general one that even relatively pedestrian crossovers like the Hyundai Kona can handle and an extreme one meant for hard-core machines like the Ineos Grenadier. You have to bring a PR person with you on that one. “Absolutely,” replied Honda PR man Brad Nelson, and off we went.

Mudfest is all about testing a bunch of trucks and SUVs back to back, on a track and off-road, to see how they truly stack up. This has to happen in a controlled environment, so Mudfest happens at Ridge Motorsports Park on Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula. 21 journalists flogged the Ridgeline TrailSport and 19 other vehicles through the gauntlet dozens of times, and it didn’t bat an eyelash, even on the more difficult sections.

In truth, this course isn’t exactly King of the Hammers, but the Honda Ridgeline tackled the very same hilly, rutted terrain as the Grenadier, Toyota Tacoma, and Ford Ranger Raptor with aplomb. Yes, there was some scraping of skid plates owing to the Ridgeline’s very modest 7.6 inches of ground clearance, but the four-wheel drive system distributed power just fine, and the TrailSport’s grippy all-terrain tires bit into the mud exactly as they were supposed to.

The addition of the off-road-themed TrailSport trim is the Ridgeline's only major change for 2024, adding a skid plate, all-terrain tires, a few cosmetic touches and a lightly modified suspension. It's a modest measure, but it does demonstrate that the Ridgeline is more capable than its detractors might think. This is, after all, a crossover pickup, half truck, half previous-generation Honda Pilot. It’s never going to be a Ranger Raptor, and it isn’t meant to be. It’s also an aging design, now eight years old, even though a big facelift in 2021 gave it a more truck-like visage.

2024 Honda Ridgeline TrailSport

8.5/ 10

Expert Opinion:Though its crossover truck recipe is familiar now, the 2024 Honda Ridgeline still offers a great balance between car-like comfort and midsize pickup utility. Its TrailSport trim is also dirt-friendly than you’d assume at first glance.

Engine

3.5-liter V-6

Transmission

9-speed automatic

Horsepower

280 HP @ 6000 RPM

See Also

More Rugged Ridgeline: 2024 Honda Pickup Gets Increased Off-Road Performance and Upgraded Tech2019 Honda Ridgeline Review | Pricing, Trims & Photos2024 Honda Ridgeline - Review | CarBuzz2006 Honda Ridgeline For Sale ▷ 2,733 Used Cars From $6,734

Torque

262 LB-FT @ 4700 RPM

Driveline

All-wheel drive

Fuel Economy

21 MPG Combined

Towing Capacity

5,000 LBS

Payload Capacity

1,583 (max)

Make

Honda

Model

Ridgeline

MSRP (As Tested)

$44,980

Pros

• Rides and drives like a luxury car
• Very nearly as much truck capability as more conventional rivals
• Roomy, comfortable cabin
• Lots of nice storage features
• Easy-to-use systems

Cons

• Unexceptional fuel economy
• One-size-fits-all cab, bed, and engine choice
• Awkward styling
• No hard-core off-road model to upgrade to
• Low towing limit, limited ground clearance

After Mudfest, I drove the Ridgeline TrailSport home and lived with it for a week. It overachieved as a daily driver in the same ways past Ridgelines have. There’s room to shove a pair of Trek ten-speeds in the back seat, and adults can actually fit comfortably back there when you use it to haul people. You can carry 1,500 pounds of topsoil in the bed and tow 5,000 pounds. Even with the TrailSport trim’s chunky all-terrain tires, it drives as quietly and smoothly as a luxury crossover, and it handles better than any body-on-frame truck.

Most people don’t haul the maximum payload limit or tow 7,000 pounds every day, but they do spend a lot of time driving around doing normal day-to-day stuff, and that’s where the Ridgeline truly excels. The problem is that many other trucks are now catching up in refinement, and this Honda isn't cheap for what it is.

First Impressions

From a distance, it’s hard to spot what’s new about the TrailSport. Visually, it isn’t really much different from all the Ridgelines built since that 2021 facelift. The all-terrain tires and TrailSport badging are subtle, and this one was painted Sonic Gray, which you can get on any Ridgeline. (A Sky Blue hue is unique to the TrailSport.)

Exterior Dimensions

Inside, the cabin is as black as a Goth club and there’s lots of hard plastic, but it’s very comfy, with excellent ergonomics. This is also true of the back seat, which feels materially more spacious than most other compact and midsize trucks. The TrailSport badges inside work better than the ones outside, and there’s subtle orange ambient lighting to match. The infotainment system is simple, and so are the controls.

Driving Impressions And Performance

As has been the case since 2016, the Ridgeline offers only one powertrain, a 3.5-liter V6 making 280 horsepower and 262 pound-feet of torque. It's a smooth and potent engine, though you have to rev it to get the most out of it. All-wheel drive has been standard since 2021, and power is channeled through a smooth-shifting nine-speed automatic. It isn’t fast, with zero-to-60 coming up in just over six seconds, but that’s actually a little quicker than most of its competitors. On the minus side, towing is limited to 5,000 pounds, good for a midsize SUV but below par among trucks this size.

On pavement, it’s easily the most refined midsize truck and only the smaller Hyundai Santa Cruz comes close for smoothness and handling prowess. The steering is precise and offers plenty of feedback. There’s not too much body roll for what is a pretty tall vehicle, and you have to work hard to get it out of shape. The ride is buttery smooth—laden or unladen—something traditional trucks struggle with, and arguably even softer in the TrailSport than the standard Ridgeline. It’s a relaxing, comfortable, and quiet machine, but not afraid to play if you want.

Off-road, the Ridgeline is limited by its ground clearance and its lack of a low range or lockable differentials relative to trucks like the Jeep Gladiator, but the i-VTM4 all-wheel drive is good at distributing torque and offers four modes: Normal, Snow, Sand, and Mud. The system performs well in the same way Subaru’s X-Mode system does. An extra inch of ground clearance, and this thing would easily handle anything a Subaru Forester Wilderness can and many things that a four-wheel-drive Ford Ranger FX4 can.

Performance Specifications

It doesn’t beat you up off-road, and the TrailSport’s extras aren’t just limited to skid plates and tires. There are softer springs (approximately 10% up front and 5% in the back), a 75% softer (and solid) anti-roll bar for better grip. No, it can’t rock crawl with a Gladiator, but it’ll be happy and comfy on most Forest Service trails.

Off Road Specifications

2024 Honda Ridgeline TrailSport Fuel Economy

The EPA rates the Ridgeline TrailSport at 18 mpg city, 23 highway, and 20 mpg combined, which is 1 mpg below the standard version in highway and combined measurements. In a week of combined driving, plus a little light off-roading (which tends to equate to slow city driving), I saw 18.2 mpg. When the Ridgeline was new, it was pretty economical by midsize truck standards, but most of its rivals now do better, and the hybrid Ford Maverick and Toyota Tacoma are much better.

Interior Design and Comfort

Visually, the Ridgeline’s interior isn’t anything special. It’s filled with black plastic no matter which trim you choose, and the layout is starting to look a little old. However, what it lacks in visual spice, it more than makes up for in comfort and ease of use. The interior experience is also helped by the Ridgeline’s smooth, quiet ride, though there is one sore point. The Ridgeline’s push-button shifter isn’t the most intuitive design.

The back seat is still tighter than most SUVs, with an upright seatback and 36.7 inches of legroom, but it’s bigger than almost any other competing crew cab truck apart from the Jeep Gladiator. Adults can fit comfortably in the back seat, which is difficult in the Tacoma, Maverick, and Chevy Colorado. The Gladiator is bigger inside but not as soft or smooth to drive.

Interior Specifications

Technology And Ease Of Use

Every Ridgeline comes with an 8.0-inch touch screen. Honda’s native interface is very simple to use even if the graphics seem a little dated, but wireless Android Auto and Apple Carplay are both standard if you prefer them.

A wireless charging pad and two forward USB ports, A and C, are standard. Two more USB-C ports are optional for the rear, though only the USB-A port actually works for transmitting data. The others are just charging ports. The TrailSport and top-trim Black Edition also include navigation with voice controls. There’s no native digital assistant, but the navigation does a good job of recognizing voice inputs most of the time.

Thanks to its age, the Ridgeline’s dash has hard controls for all of its vital functions, and that’s much easier for most people than scrolling through mountains of touchscreen menus. On a Colorado, you need to click through three layers to reset the trip odometer. Here, everything is straightforward and simple.

Honda also bundles in lots of active safety systems. Forward automatic emergency braking, lane departure warnings, lane keeping assist, blind spot monitoring, and adaptive cruise control are all standard, and the only option features are front and rear parking sensors (included on the top trims, TrailSport included). This gear works well, but it’s not the market differentiator it used to be. Five years ago, the Ridgeline was almost unique among midsize trucks for offering so much of this stuff, but many competitors now include at least some of these systems.

Cargo And Storage Space

Honda only builds the Ridgeline one way, as a crew cab with a five-foot bed. That is a limitation relative to some alternatives like the Toyota Tacoma, but this is now how most midsize and compact trucks come. The Chevy Colorado, Ford Ranger, and GMC Canyon don’t offer meaningfully larger beds anymore, though many of their beds are deeper. The Nissan Frontier and Tacoma still have an edge here with available six-foot beds on crew cabs, but they don’t offer them on every model.

The Ridgeline’s bed utility is also augmented by its hidden, locking in-bed trunk, which allows you to store things out of sight easily and also makes a neat cooler. Hyundai copied this feature for the Santa Cruz, but that truck’s bed is appreciably smaller than the Ridgeline’s. Inside, the cabin is also cargo-friendly, and the generously sized back seat means more potential storage space in the cab than in some alternatives like the Ranger or Maverick.

Cargo Specifications

2024 Honda Ridgeline TrailSport Vs. Its Competitors

Amazingly, the Ridgeline is now the second-oldest pickup design on the market, behind only the ancient Ram 1500 Classic. Many other alternatives have popped up since 2020. On the small end are the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz. Both are crossover pickups like the Honda, but they’re quite a bit smaller. The Ridgeline also faces new competition from redesigned body-on-frame machines. The newly redesigned Tacoma, Colorado, and Ranger have all made big leaps in comfort, technology, and capability with their 2023 and 2024 redesigns, and most of them are a little less expensive at comparable specs.

Honda Ridgeline Vs. Hyundai Santa Cruz

The midsize Ridgeline is more than a foot longer and 300 pounds heavier than the compact Santa Cruz, but these two trucks have a lot in common. Hyundai basically adapted Honda’s crossover-based formula but applied it to a smaller vehicle. It even has an in-bed trunk. The Santa Cruz is cheaper than the Ridgeline but smaller, and getting a comparable vehicle (with all-wheel drive and similar power) means upgrading to at least the XRT trim ($40,100 to start in 2024). That negates much of its price advantage. It’s smaller and less utilitarian than the Ridgeline but compares well in other ways.

Performance

Hyundai offers two 2.5-liter engines in the Santa Cruz, a 191-horsepower standard version and or much more satisfying 281-horsepower turbocharged one. It’s the turbo Ridgeline buyers should compare. In XRT form, the Santa Cruz is more agile and engaged on the road than the Ridgeline and probably the sports-sedan-like pickup on the market. It, too, is limited off-road by its design (particularly its long front overhang), but it has more ground clearance and an “AWD Lock” feature that can split power 50:50. That’s sometimes more useful than the Ridgeline’s terrain modes. It can also tow up to 5,000 pounds when properly equipped, but it’s more of a strain than in the bigger Ridgeline. It gets better gas mileage than the Ridgeline too, at around 23 mpg combined.

Comfort

The Ridgeline has an edge here, not just because it’s bigger. The Honda’s back seat feels considerably larger than the Hyundai’s, and the cabin has more volume. But up front, the two have about equal measurements. The difference is that the Santa Cruz’s central dashboard intrudes on knee room, especially for taller drivers. Hyundai’s seats are firm, too, and while a little more supportive in hard cornering, they’re just not as comfortable as the Honda’s on long hauls. Both have similarly utilitarian beds, but the Santa Cruz’s is predictably smaller, and the cab end slopes upward. It does, however, have a really neat integrated tonneau cover.

Technology

As in the Ridgeline, an 8.0-inch infotainment screen is standard in the Santa Cruz, but trims comparable to the Ridgeline get a nicer 10.3-inch unit. Its graphics are nicer and more contemporary than those of Honda, and its system has more functions and depth without being overly complex. For now, this larger screen only has wired CarPlay and Android Auto, but updates are coming for 2025 that will make them wireless. The Hyundai’s controls and tech features are on par with Honda’, and its systems are a little more comprehensive.

Hyundai offers active safety systems similar to the Ridgeline’s but gets higher marks from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) for safety. It earned that agency’s “Top Safety Pick” designation for 2024.

Honda Ridgeline Vs. Chevrolet Colorado

Freshly redesigned in 2023, the Chevrolet Colorado now comes only as a four-door crew cab with a five-foot bed and only with four-cylinder engines. The Colorado is a more traditional body-on-frame truck, and that gives it certain advantages over the Ridgeline, namely higher payload and towing limits and more off-road ruggedness. The Colorado also costs less to start, and the models that match the Ridgeline TrailSport’s price, the ZR2 and Trail Boss, are much more off-road capable than the Honda. The tradeoff is that the Colorado is less practical, doesn’t handle as well, and isn’t really more useful day to day unless you tow all the time.

Performance

Low-end Colorado WT and LT trims get a 237-horespower 2.7-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, while Z71, Trail Boss, and ZR2 models get a 310-horse version of the same 2.7. It’s those higher trims that are price comparable to the Ridgeline, but they’re not really any faster in a straight line, nor do they handle as well on pavement, though the redesigned Colorado is a more refined driver than its 2014 to 2022 predecessor.

The Colorado is hands-down more off-road capable though, and the Trail Boss sports 32-inch all-terrain tires and a lot more ground clearance than the Ridgeline, and all Colorados have much superior approach, departure, and breakover angles. The Chevy can also tow much more, up to 7,700 pounds on the higher trims, but their payload limit is only about 100 or so pounds higher than the Honda.

Comfort

In the front row, the Colorado and Ridgeline are evenly matched for space. The Ridgeline’s seats are a little more comfortable but not much, while the Colorado’s cabin has a cooler-looking design. In the back, the Ridgeline is much roomier. Adults can fit in the back of the Colorado just fine, but the Honda is definitely roomier, and its cab has better storage options. It also has the in-bed trunk, which Chevrolet does not. Chevy’s bed is deeper, but only by a little.

Technology

Inside the Colorado, you’ll find a big, bold 11.3-inch infotainment screen and a pretty digital driver’s display. They look much more modern than the Ridgeline’s small screen, and the system is more comprehensive too, with Google built-in functionality. The downside is that many systems are now relegated to screen controls and the menus take awhile to scroll through and to learn. The Ridgeline feels much more low-tech, but it’s easier to use. Chevrolet doesn’t include quite as many active-safety systems, but it does offer more than in the past. Equipping a Colorado Z71 with the same features as the Ridgeline TrailSport still results in a cheaper Chevy.

Our Recommendation For Which Ridgeline You Should Buy

The base-model Ridgeline Sport starts at $39,750, but it’s pretty basic inside, without even heated seats, and still appreciably pricier than similar domestic pickups like the Colorado LT. The Ridgeline RTL ($42,580) gets much more stuff, including a moonroof, heated seats, a power sliding rear window, leather-trimmed seats, and other niceties. The TrailSport ($44,980) is a little more expensive but adds the modified suspension, the special badging and interior bits, an upgraded eight-speaker, 540-watt audio system, and the all-terrain tires. Above that is the Black Edition ($46,350) with blackout trim and a few additional features.

Of these, the TrailSport legitimately seems like the best value, even if its chunky tires reduce its fuel economy slightly compared to the other Ridgelines. The model-specific upgrades to make it slightly more rugged and also make it feel more unique than the others. It’s worth a little extra spend.