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2019 Sport AWS vs 2020 RTL AWD vs 2020 RTL-E

6K views 25 replies 16 participants last post by  14v6 
#1 ·
Shopping around a new Ridgeline in past week and it comes down to the follow model and ball park price:

2019 Sport AWD - $33000
2020 RTL AWD - $36000
2020 RTL-E AWD -$39000

The Honda Sensing is almost a must but the 2019 one can save me some money.. Also - what is the biggest different between 2020 RTL and RTL-E? Aside from the blind sport monitoring.. Are both of them have the same “heavy duty transmission cooler”? I bought this mainly to tow a travel trailer and can throw the kid bikes on the bed, without have to suffer poor ride quality on traditional truck.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
 
#2 · (Edited)
You can look up and compare features on the Honda website but I can't stress how poor the headlights are on anything less than an E. Unfortunately Honda makes you go to the E trim to get them and the safety rating. That 2019 Sport price is terrible, when the last few were left I think someone got it for 27ish. with all the incentives they had.
 
#8 ·
I have an RTL-T. I didn't know I had bad headlights. Ignorance is bliss I guess.
I too did not realize that the headlights on my 2019 RTL were bad. Perhaps I will need to pay more attention. I'm confident that without a side by side comparison that I could not detect a lack of lighting on my RTL.
The RTL-E/BE headlights received the IIHS's highest rating (good).

The headlights on all other trims received the lowest rating (poor).

The RTL-E/BE's low beams illuminate over 100 feet farther ahead than the other trims - that's huge.

 
#4 ·
I agree with 14v6 on the quote you got for the 19 Sport, it’s high in my opinion. You can and should do better.
Besides the depreciation hit you take on a new vehicle, you also take another hit due to loosing a year on the “new” 2019 model. The dealer should at least take part of that hit on the 19.

Again, just my opinion.
 
#5 ·
Based on your three choices I would take the 2020 RTL as the best "value". I too did not realize that the headlights on my 2019 RTL were bad. Perhaps I will need to pay more attention. I'm confident that without a side by side comparison that I could not detect a lack of lighting on my RTL.
 
#6 ·
All I can say is that I had an idea that the headlights were poor (although they are the same setup on our CRV and Accord which work well) when my wife told me to turn the headlights on when the were on :oops:. At night in the rain they are poor. I also find that on country roads at night going 55-65 I need the high beams to compensate. My mom had a G37x and I use that as the standard of everything I've driven and those were fantastic.
 
#7 ·
I had the same question and made up a list of changes in the trim levels and what you get at each level. It was surprisingly hard to find on the web site. I only priced for AWD 2020's because I'm not interested in 2wd, but subtract $2240 from the RTL to see the difference. Nobody pays MSRP but I assume the negotiated price would be close to 10% on any of these.

For me, I live where it's cold so heated seats are a must. If I lived where it's warm I'd probably just get the Sport. But for my money, the RTL is worth the extra coin but the RTL-E isn't as strong a value unless you really care about some of those features. This must explain why my local dealers have no RTL's but there are a ton of RTL-E's. I did have a fully loaded Accord and I have to admit it'd be hard to go back to a lower trim level :)

So, here's what I gathered from the web site.

The 2020 Sport AWD has an MSRP of $36,410.
No heated seats, no sliding window, but I think it's pretty well equipped as is. I don't really mind cloth seats either.

RTL adds $2,410 to MSRP ($38,820) and gets you:
Heated and leather seats and steering wheel
LED map lights
driver memory seat
power adjustable seats
heated mirrors (AWD)
acoustic windshield
power sliding rear and moon roof

RTL-E adds another $3,200 for an MSRP of $42,020. ($5,610 more than the Sport).
Blind spot / x-traffic, parking sensors
auto hi-beams and LED's everywhere
2nd row USB
Sirius/Xm, HD Radio, linked nav, 540w stereo sub sub, truck-bed audio
heated steering wheel
auto-dimming & extra blue lighting
2 way memory on the power driver seat
Memory heated mirrors
Chrome handles
gray painted wheels

Hope this helps.
 
#9 ·
I bought this mainly to tow a travel trailer and can throw the kid bikes on the bed, without have to suffer poor ride quality on traditional truck.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
You will not be disappointed with the towing capability and smooth ride of the RL. Just keep your weights under the maximums for tongue weight and total combination weight. Use a weight distribution hitch as well!

The AWD models have a higher towing capacity than the FWD models as an FYI.

Also, make sure you look at the LED DRL's "eyebrow" and the projector headlights or at least compare them so you can make your choice instead of finding out later that you didn't get what you thought you were getting.
 
#10 ·
33000 for a 2019 sport is not a good price. Check out the price thread. That’s about 4-5 grand too high. If you go for savings make sure you really get the savings you deserve. My last quote on a 2019 sport was about 28000 with dealer doc fees. 29000 should be attainable
 
#11 ·
Agree that the sport price is high. As far as the headlights go, you can update to LED headlights for around $100 in the lower trims. You don't get the cool eyebrow thing though, but unless you really need that look for some reason, I wouldn't factor that in to the decision. But if you want a good deal, I'd negotiate on the 2019 for a better price or hunt around a bit more. I paid under $31K for my 2019 RTL before trade and such and that included a few dealer options I didn't really need.
 
#12 ·
As far as the headlights go, you can update to LED headlights for around $100 in the lower trims.
Just be aware that installing LEDs in housings designed for halogen bulbs will have unpredictable results (such as uncontrolled dispersion and/or glare to oncoming traffic). What looks good shining up against a garage door may not look good hundreds of feet ahead or to oncoming traffic. More often than not, LED/HID retrofits result in better visibility for the driver at the expense of blinding oncoming traffic.
 
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#20 ·
Be reasonable with the amount you tell them you're willing to pay. If it's too low, they'll just ignore you and won't even try to negotiate. Also, dealers who are just shy of meeting their sales goal for a given month will be most motivated in the last hours of the month - sometimes, it's better for them to literally lose money on a small number of sales in this case. Fortunately, the internet tells us exactly how much every dealer pays for a given vehicle. Unfortunately, it does not tell us what a dealer's monthly sales goal is, how many vehicles they've sold for the month, or how much of a bonus they'll get - none of which should matter, anyway - that's their business and not ours. You don't demand to know how much the grocery store paid for a gallon of milk or how much the electronic store paid for a smartphone, do you? :)
 
#21 · (Edited)
Look up the car you want to buy on KBB and don't pay more than $1500 over the "low end" of that range.
Also, don't pay for "dealer fees" and never EVER talk financing with a salesman.

Watch a few videos from this guy to keep from getting screwed by dealerships!

 
#23 ·
Another suggestion is to watch sales training videos like the ones from this guy. Get inside their minds and become aware of their techniques so that you're not blindsided by these fast, smooth talkers.


Here's an audio story that I enjoyed recently.

 
#25 ·
Thats definitely a horrible price for a 2019 Sport. The RTL is a good value if you won't miss the things you won't get on the E. RTLs in the color combo I wanted were too hard to come by and I didn't want to sacrifice creature comforts in a vehicle I intend to drive for as long as possible. $36k for the RTL and $39k are about where the market is right now from what I was able to ascertain. Do be careful when comparing internet pricing if you go that route. They will send you some amazing sounding numbers but then you will find out they were including incentives you don't qualify for (College Grad and Military are the only ones available currently AFAIK), and some will even take the destination charge out even though they included it in the original MSRP. Ask for a detailed price breakdown so you know you are comparing apples to apples. I use a fake email account on Truecar to get offers from every dealer I could to find out where the bottom of the market truly is.
 
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