(Photo: Lesley Wimbush, Auto123.com)

Long-time traditional domestic truck supporters scoffed at the
Ridgeline's debut, dismissing it as lightweight - a novelty more SUV
than pickup truck. But the Ridgeline has an 1,100-pound (550-kilogram) bed payload capacity and can tow a 5,000 lb. trailer.

So how does the Ridgeline stack up in a test against long-established domestic truck brands known for their toughness?

In addition to a week spent with the tester, I was part of the Truck Evaluation Team for last fall's AJAC Car of the Year Testfest. We spent a full day driving three completely different trucks - the Ridgeline, the Lincoln Mark LT and the Dodge Ram MegaCab.

It's tough, to my mind at least, to evaluate and compare vehicles that are targeted towards completely different buyers. Of the group, the Ridgeline was the only one with no V8 engine and came in the base configuration with cloth seats, in contrast to the others which were fully loaded.

The Ridgeline garnered praise for the highway segment of the evaluation, with its tight handling, smooth ride and almost complete lack of cabin and road noise or vibration. The offroad portion was a grueling test comprised of winding trails with steep hills, water, bog, large chunky rocks and thick, deeply rutted mud. The Ridgeline clambered over large logs slick with wet mud, climbing hills with no difficulty whatsoever.

(Photo: Lesley Wimbush, Auto123.com)

I did find however, that it scraped the undercarriage more often than the others, since at 8.2 inches, it had the least clearance of the group and was the only one not equipped with a true locking differential. With its front-biased VTM-4 all-wheel-drive system (torque available on demand), it plugged through the thick ruts without stopping and acquitted itself admirably enough. When the votes were tallied the Honda Ridgeline was awarded Best Pickup Truck for 2006.

The transverse-mounted 3.5-liter Honda V-6 makes 255 horsepower and 252 pound-feet of torque - but doesn't get the cylinder deactivation from the Odyssey and Accord hybrid. Traditional truck buyers may find it frustrating that there is only one powertrain, one cab configuration and one bed length (five feet. You gets what you gets, I guess.)

The bed (widest in the industry) was designed to carry full size 4x8
building materials, or full-size ATV vehicles (particularly those made by Honda). There's no need for a bed liner, since the composite bed is virtually indestructible - demonstrated at the press launch by a front-end loader which repeatedly dropped skids of rock into it with no ill effects).

There are several innovative features of the bed, one of which earned a smile from everyone I showed it to. Thanks to the extra space created by the unique rear suspension, there's an 8.5 cubic foot waterproof storage compartment hidden beneath a lockable trap door in the bed of the truck. Besides storing the spare wheel and keeping it salt, rust and dirt free, the trunk is drainable and presents a variety of possible uses: storage for fishing tackle, picnic provisions, or filled with ice - a handy beer cooler.

(Photo: Lesley Wimbush, Auto123.com)

Access to the storage trunk and the rest of the bed, is made easier by the tailgate's two-way opening ability. It can drop down like a conventional truck tailgate, or unlatch and open to the side like those found on station wagons in days of yore. The top edge of the gate has a cutaway dip - which really helps rear visibility when backing up.

Kudos to Honda for thinking outside the box. Their first foray into the large pickup truck market resulted in a vehicle that's innovative and adaptable.