2006 Honda Ridgeline in Naperville

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