2006 Honda Ridgeline in Costa Mesa

So this is how it went for the Honda Ridgeline, from the moment it entered our lives until the day it left, one year later:

Logbook Entry #1 November 29, 2005: On the Ridgeline's first day with us, I drove it straight from the office to a friend's apartment to help move his bed to his new condo across town. A double box spring and mattress fit lengthwise in the bed with the tailgate down. I also folded up the rear seats and we stashed four wheels and summer tires from his Mazda 3 hatchback.

In the next month alone, the Ridgeline's five-foot cargo bed and commodious 8.5-cubic-foot underbed trunk saw groceries, more tires, luggage, a (fake) Christmas tree, cross-country skis, a futon, a Polaris ATV, a 48-quart cooler, and hunting gear--not to mention what wasn't listed in the logbook. That was one month. It went on to carry hundreds of grocery bags, one load of sixteen tires, a La-Z-Boy recliner, thirty cans of paint, three sets of wheels and tires with a jack and two toolboxes, a queen-size mattress and box spring along with a bookshelf and card tables, chairs, lamps, a fridge, coolers, dog crates, more luggage, three mountain bikes, and thirteen bags of mulch.

It's no surprise that we hauled a lot of crap over the course of twelve months. The Ridgeline is a pickup truck. But it was more handy than your average box on wheels. Two things stand out: that weatherproof underbed trunk and the dual-action tailgate. The supreme simplicity and overwhelming usefulness of a trunk in the bed of this clever truck made seemingly everyone who saw it say the same two things: "What took so long?" and "Why doesn't ever... Read full article