I was born into a farm family and raised in the great state of Kansas.
All of the trucks on the property were either Ford, Chevy and Dodge. If memory serves me correctly I think there was a Studebaker or two in there as well. My dad always stressed how important it was to buy American to support our economy. He would roll over in his grave to think that his only son bought a Honda truck.
They never had foreign-engineered tractors and combines such as Kubota or Nissan. They had Massey-Ferguson, John- Deere, and International just to name a few. The domestic automakers better get on the stick and start making cars and trucks that people want to buy or they will loose the battle.
I bought this truck because it suited my needs as a weekend warrior and has a great ride to boot. Has anyone noticed that solid thump sound when the doors are closed? How about that great ride and handling capability. The room and storage compartments. The VTM and the VTM-4 system. It is very obvious that many hours of careful planning and engineering went into this state of the art vehicle. I knew before I bought it that the gas mileage was really no better than my F-150. I’ll never complain about that. The overall quality and the solid reputation of Honda made this an easy transition for me. Yes I have run into a few situations where a so called (real truck) would have been more suitable for the job at hand. I do allot of yard work that usually ends up with a load of loom (dirt) or bark mulch. I was very comical explaining to the guy operating the front-end loader that I wanted a load of bark mulch in the truck and not on it.
Yes the bed could be longer but I knew that before I bought it also. I knew from the first commercial during the super bowl back in 2004 I think it was that I wanted one of these trucks. I agonized for quite some time shopping and test-driving. I looked at all of the foreign and domestic trucks and kept coming back to the RL. One of the biggest decision makers was all of you friendly people here on the ROC. Yes I stumbled upon the ROC purely by accident and was glad I did. This web site has it all. I wanted to thank all of you for your humor, and wit and above all you excellent information. I lurked for many months before becoming a member. I’m glad I did. Thanks