2006 Honda Ridgeline

In the past four years, Honda has become well equipped on the SUV front, redesigning the small CR-V and introducing the full-size Pilot, boxy Element, and upscale Acura MDX. But strangely enough, until now the company has never tried its hand at a pickup truck. For 2006, Honda is introducing the first H-badged alternative, the Ridgeline, which represents a new generation of truck with a unibody...

Introduction Once upon a time, there lived a family of three bears in need of a new set of wheels. The Poppa Bear, a burly fella who enjoyed dirt bike riding in the desert, liked big and tough trucks. He despised cars, but his wife didn’t like frivolous waste. Yes, the mother bear was a practical lady who appreciated efficiency, fuel economy, and was partial to cars well built with good safety...

When the then-new Honda Ridgeline emerged as the winner of a five-vehicle comparison test a couple years back ["Do-It-All Compact Pickups," June 2005], our mailbags (both snail and cyber) overflowed with outrage. The essence of this bilious tide of correspondence was that "this thing you weirdos call a truck" is not a truck at all but some sort of car decked out in pickup drag and therefore an...