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The Ridgeline trunk gets its' own review on Motor Trend

18K views 44 replies 4 participants last post by  Col677  
#1 ·
#4 · (Edited by Moderator)
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#5 ·
The article reads, “Between the in-bed trunk and the roughly 3 cubic feet of under-seat room, we managed to get everything secured out of the weather on the outbound trip, save for a small table we were delivering. We picked up some exercise equipment and other stuff along the way that forced us to break out the tarps and ratchet straps for the trip home. As always, this necessitated stops to re-secure loose tarp corners, tighten ratchet straps, and strengthen our resolve to obtain a tonneau—under which everything on this trip would have fit.”

It amazes me why pickup truck owners struggle with this, when if you used a van, all of your cargo would always be secure and out of the weather. I am new to a pickup, a Ridgeline, after many, many years of driving vans. I wanted to see why trucks were so popular, but I’m having trouble finding a pickup useful for what I usually haul. Without the Ridgeline’s in bed trunk, I would not have bought a pickup at all.
 
#6 ·
I’m having trouble finding a pickup useful for what I usually haul.
I feel like that answers your question already. If you had to haul a fridge or something that would not fit in the back of the van, what would you do? The practicality of a van vs truck depends on a lot of factors inlcuding where you live. In the NW it rains a lot more than it does in the SW, so that is only an issue sometimes for people.

I agree that many that use their trucks to haul stuff would do fine with a van. Me personally, I would not want to because I like to keep my vehicles clean. With the truck, I can haul dirt/mulch and just rinse out the bed when I am done. Would be much more difficult in a van.

Plus, you can't discount the fact that there is a stigma with vans with some folks. We have an Odyssey, but most of the folks around us drive SUV's because they would never drive a minivan. Well, when we are getting twice the mileage they are, all I can do is laugh when they complain about gas prices...
 
#10 ·
Was there a dead body in it?
 
#14 ·
You guys do you, but for me one of the happier days of my life was when I traded in the Plymouth Caravan with the failing transmission on a new Subaru Outback.

Our other vehicle the Odyssey was great for 4 kids—not many choices for 3 row SUVs in those days. We traded it for a CRV when my daughter turned 16. Prior minivans: the transmission in our 2 Voyagers gave up the ghost at about 150K miles. The Ford Windstar we had caught fire and was totaled (probably due to a cruise control short).

So for me, I’m Truck Guy now. Not interested in going back to being Van Guy.
 
#20 ·
I never made the connection that....... wife + 4 kids = VAN! Once I had that forth child, yes, you guessed it Mini-Van hell for the next 10 years. For a while I had considered giving up my youngest son for adoption!

Gusto!
When we got our first van, there were no 3-bench SUVs except the Suburban, which was huge and out of our price range. The Pilot came along, as the first smaller SUV with 3 benches, but the 3rd row was super uncomfortable in the first gen, and the ex-wife nixed it. That's why we went with the Odyssey for a couple of years. IMO one of the best of the minivans, but still big and boaty and not fun to drive.

Now there are a lot of choices. My sister has a loaded Highlander hybrid with 3 rows, and it is a much more stylish way to transport kids to soccer or band practice than the minivan.
 
#21 ·
I had "The Enterprise Shuttle" for one. The Chevy Lumina APV (All Plastic Vehicle). lol It was a "hunk of junk" IMO. But I had lots of vans. I loved them for carrying stuff in the warm and dry spaces inside. The Windstar was a favorite of mine. You could put a 8 foot couch in there and close the back hatch ! lol It was AWESOME.
 
#23 ·
The Dodge/Plymouth minivans were so much better than the competition in the 80’s/90’s…until the Windstar.

We got one in ‘98 based on the Consumer Reports recommendation. It was a very nice vehicle for awhile. Quite a bit more stylish than the Dodges. However, within a couple of years CR had downgraded it to Don’t Buy based on poor reliability.

My daughter was driving ours in the mid-00’s when the engine compartment started smoking and caught fire. She stopped the car and got out, just before flames started shooting up from the hood. I happened to have a couple of thousand dollars of Afghani carpets in the back which were mildly smoke damaged—still have one as a matter of fact—a good steam clean and they were like new.

We were actually looking to sell the van, and were glad to get the insurance settlement for $2000 more than our asking price, and used that as a downpayment on an ‘05 CRV, which turned out to be one of the best vehicles I have ever owned—275K miles without a major problem.
 
#24 ·
The Dodge/Plymouth minivans were so much better than the competition in the 80’s/90’s…until the Windstar.

We got one in ‘98 based on the Consumer Reports recommendation. It was a very nice vehicle for awhile. Quite a bit more stylish than the Dodges. However, within a couple of years CR had downgraded it to Don’t Buy based on poor reliability.
Did it have the underpowered 3.0L V6 or the headgasket failure-prone 3.8L V6?
 
#25 ·
My family had a mid 90's Grand Caravan that was great for over 100k before it got traded in on an early 00's Grand Caravan. That one also had very few issues when they got rid of it once all the kids were grown. I spent many hours asleep on the floor in the back of those vans on trips between TX and SD. Not the most comfortable place in the world to sleep. I think back to those trips and we had one of those 9" TV/VCR combo units in between the front seats. Wow, we sure have come a long way in 3 years now that a kid can have a high def tablet streaming whatever they want.
 
#27 ·
The ‘02 Windstar was my favorite minivan. It had a comfortable cockpit and was easy to get in and out of. There was room under it for me to mount a full size spare tire. I towed a 3700 pound boat (a bit over the tow rating) and a 6x12 cargo trailer. I had added a transmission cooler, and never had a transmission problem in the 190,000 miles I drove it. It never failed to pull the boat up the boat ramp. It’s towing gas mileage was about the same as the Ridgeline’s, but the Windstar’s 26 gallon fuel tank gave it a more reasonable range. The only real sore spot on that van was body rust.
 
#29 ·
I liked the Windstar for the most part, especially compared to the older Dodge minis. Until the fire of course (see above).

I did have one weird issue. When the van had over 100K miles on it, we took it on a trip from La Crosse, WI, to the east coast including NYC. We left NYC in the middle of the afternoon on Friday, in the middle of a heat wave—fully loaded with 6 people and luggage. As you can imagine, traffic in Manhattan was ridiculous, and it took 1.5 to 2 hours to get out of the city.

We were literally on the entrance ramp to the Lincoln tunnel when the transmission conked out—wouldn’t shift. I was able to pull off at the last minute and park on a side street. I checked all the fluid levels, and the transmission fluid was bone dry. By now it was 5 PM on a Friday. There was a taxi repair place nearby that was willing to sell me a gallon of transmission fluid. I put it in the reservoir, and fortunately it seemed to work fine.

We made it through the tunnel, and for the rest of the trip I stopped every 50-75 miles to check the fluid level, but it never went down. In fact, it never lost transmission fluid again for the next 20-30K miles until the engine fire.

My theory was that there was a leak that only occurred under high heat and pressure conditions.
 
#28 ·
I can't wait to see if my tool boxes fit in the trunk. Not that I carry them a lot because I'm not a contractor, but it would be nice. I've searched and haven't seen anyone try to fit Dewalt Toughsystem 2.0 boxes or Milwaukee Packouts in the trunk. I'm going to try it and maybe post my own real world review eventually.
 
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#32 ·
We currently own an Odyssey that will be phased out within the next year or two. The two main reasons I argued successfully to purchase a Ridgeline: (1) it's a pain in the arse to throw mulch, compost, firewood, etc. in the van with a tarp marginally protecting the interior and (2) the Odyssey drives liked a beached whale in snow (low clearance, struggles mightily for traction on slight inclines under semi-slippery conditions).

I loved the van for family hauling. I love the Ridgeline even more for providing better comfort than the 2012 Odyssey (I can sit in the RL forever w/o any issues....not the same for my Odyssey. 2 hours max, then I need to stretch), allowing me to drive to places in the winter that would cause me great stress with the Odyssey, providing a convenient place (the trunk) to store tools out-of-sight, and preventing the interior of the Odyssey from smelling like composted cow poop.
 
#33 ·
We currently own an Odyssey that will be phased out within the next year or two. The two main reasons I argued successfully to purchase a Ridgeline: (1) it's a pain in the arse to throw mulch, compost, firewood, etc. in the van with a tarp marginally protecting the interior and (2) the Odyssey drives liked a beached whale in snow (low clearance, struggles mightily for traction on slight inclines under semi-slippery conditions).

I loved the van for family hauling. I love the Ridgeline even more for providing better comfort than the 2012 Odyssey (I can sit in the RL forever w/o any issues....not the same for my Odyssey. 2 hours max, then I need to stretch), allowing me to drive to places in the winter that would cause me great stress with the Odyssey, providing a convenient place (the trunk) to store tools out-of-sight, and preventing the interior of the Odyssey from smelling like composted cow poop.
Yeah you either need a truck bed or you don't. I have hauled a buttload of stuff (no manure!) in all kinds of vehicles, including minivans and sedans and even my Miata.

However...there's just no beating the convenience of a flat open bed for stuff like loads of branches, mulch, etc. My GF is using my truck today to haul a load of limbs and branches and brush clippings to the compost center. I don't have to worry about someone else scratching the interior or getting sticks and dirt on the carpet.
 
#35 ·
I'm not sure I'd call it an "in-depth" discussion on minivans... more like passing musings on what was and what could have been.

I'd be interested in a minivan if it had a firewall directly behind the front seats, no other seats, and a leak proof bed from the front seats back, complete with a pluggable drain in the floor. Add tie-downs along the walls, and make the back section of roof removable so one could haul refrigerators, etc.

That would be one heckuva utility hauler. Bed should be big enough to hold 4x8 sheets with the rear doors closed, and a small pass-thru in the firewall to allow the occasional ten-foot board or conduit.

Let's not forget auto sliding doors on both sides, and upfitting accessories for storage along the sides.

That's getting a little more "in-depth". ;)
 
#36 · (Edited)
You can blame me for directing the thread towards vans, mainly full size in my mind, but from there it was refocused to minivans by others. Except for maybe the ability to have an in floor drain and to be able to haul an upright refrigerator, you can pretty much build what you describe from a full size van. There are multiple body lengths and roof height configurations available. At work we had movable/removable cargo barriers behind the front seats to protect the occupants from shifting cargo, but they had open space below so you could haul a limited amount of 10 foot long materials. You could add tie down rails to the floor and walls as desired.

A removable second row of seats could support passenger duty when required.

This is probably the route I‘ll go in the future, as a replacement for the Ridgeline. I had full size vans in the ’80s, and their excellent utility and versatility is calling me back.
 
#40 · (Edited)
So a couple days back I made a four hour return trip to the city (we live in the country and don’t go to the city any more than is humanly possible) with the RL, and on the way, it hit me that in 36 years of vehicle ownership, THIS is the first vehicle that I’ve ever owned that hits all the nails on the head for my current usage.

Every vehicle, some dearly loved and some hated with a passion that borders on the religious, had one thing in common… there was at least a couple spots where it would fall short.

Ram 3500 SRW Quad Cab short box… sucked for the camper.
Ram 2500 Crew Cab 8’, sucked to park.
Chrysler 300c, sounded awesome, worked great, useless for towing and winter.
Pontiac TranSport, carried all manner of stuff, great on the highway, sucked because… Pontiac TransSport.
Jeep JK Rubicon, cool AF, drive over anything, sucked on the highway, can’t tow shit.
Golf TDI Wagon, great mileage, super useful, but too low to get in and out of…

Etc etc etc ad nauseum.

In the moment, I need the following: in no particular ordr and non-exhaustive list…

  • Not to sit on the ground
  • Comfortable highway manners
  • Utility to carry country house maintenance tools, etc etc
  • Towing lightly
  • Space for the dog
  • AWD for steep winter driveway
  • Leather bum heat
  • Reliability
  • Bangin’ stereo
  • 1/2 sensible gas mileage
  • Fits in the garage
  • Suitable aftermarket following
  • Acceptable acquisition and maintenance cost

TOTAL no brainer to buy the RL.
 
#44 ·
When I first bought my 17 Ridgeline in 2016, the cover I wanted didn't exist yet for the Ridgeline (the Bak Revolver) so I waited until it was. But that summer my family went camping up at Lake George, so for about 40 bucks I bought a soft roof top carrier bag, and strapped it in the bed. It rained like hell and everything stayed dry, worked perfectly.
Hell if you really wanted to add more storage you could strap it to the top of the tonneau.

But that's not my point, vans and trucks have a lot of crossover uses but there is no doubt they each excel differently. I love being able to open or take off my cover and put large items in the bed, but they will get wet on rainy days. However I don't want to clean out a van after hauling debris, mulch, rocks or anything that started off wet, or covered in mud or whatever. I've had to do that many times with my dad's minivan - I hated it.

It comes down to how you use it, thank God we have options.