Honda Ridgeline
- Thread starter Bobber
- Start date
My '03 Durango went to 239k when I traded it and it had years left if I wanted to put a little money in it. If you do get the new Durango get the 5.7 liter engine. I get 26 highway at 70 mph without load. This truck is stripped down (cause I'm cheap) and it's AMAZING.
Plus the Durangos have a new body profile.
this is the reason I went with a 1/2 ton still a 2 years ago the difference in pulling the 4-5,000lbs I do a few times a year is night and day difference between a mid sized truck and a full sized (want to look at a travel trailer in a few years also) plus the interior room (width) up front.
Hyundai and ford are both looking a bringing out a small lite duty unibody based truck here in the states, something small and cheap for those who are wanting to replace their old ford rangers for doing nothing but hauling trash, yard waste/debris and stuff like that.
what year Durango? looking at a 3.6l AWD GT trim for my Girlfriend and baby in 2 years after my truck is payed off. we have the pentastar in our 2 work trucks and think it handles the weight just fine there (its not my hemi V8 but it does ok) trying to get her to look at a Caravan or Pacifica but she is not into van life even though they are the best people/stuff movers for a family, v6 AWD Durango actually gets one better combined MPG then the Caravan too.
I just don’t trust Dodge reliability anymore. Mine is a 12 so still had a lot of the Mercedes influence. The Italians came in and it became more about profit than good engineering. A coworker had a year or 2 newer Durango and had a lot of mechanical problems.
12. Not sure I trust the newer ones anymore because Fiat owns them.
For kids and road trips we take our Honda Odyssey. So much more space and practically.
If it maintains that rating when it’s 5 or 7 years old, than I will be impressed. It’s more a beauty rating than a health rating at this point ( will say my brother the farmer has a 2011 Dodge and has been a good pickup.).
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Honestly its the reverse from what I've experienced. Chrysler under Mercedes was given handy-down parts and cash that was made worse under Cerberus' management/ cost cutting, Fiat has been a breath of fresh air for Chrysler and quality fit and finish really. before the Daimler merger Chrysler had one of the highest R&D budgets/accounts in the industry. the merger of equals was really just Mercedes way of getting a hold of that money to use themselves and then give the scraps to Chrysler. look at the vehicles that came out or just after the merger, then the refreshed/new vehicles after and how horrible/worse the interiors were (my old 04' 1500 had a better interior then my coworkers current 07', my moms 01' PT Cruiser compared to the interior on my sisters 08'). Then look at the interior of pre merger with Fiat and then those updated/new post merger.
I want a new 19' ram as I love the options on them crew cab 6'4" bed available with an off-road package and locking rear diff. so far the only issue with my current 17' with 30k mi is my cruise control button doesn't like to work, but thats a small issue and still under warranty. our 2 work trucks one had an exhaust leak when we first got it (fixed under warranty) now each have 20k on them this year and are used on some rough county roads daily.
I've been trying to tell her that you won't get the space and features available in a mini van plus the ease of use for kids. it will be the 2 of us the kid and our 2 Aussies on trips. I grew up with my parents all ways owning a Caravan, my dad even bought a new 16' after both me and my sister moved out that gets a lot of use due to the versatility of it.
If it's anything like Tesla's other models, expect to see it in 4-5 years.
My view...Mercedes bought a lot of problems in the form of Union obligations & company with a vastly different culture. They did it to mainly get market access and they were arrogant ( Mercedes has its own problems even now). It ultimately bit them and they decided to cut their losses and sell out. I thought Chrysler had some pretty good mojo pre-Mercedes.
Fiat bought a company coming out of Bankruptcy. Vastly different dynamics and economics. Again my opinion, but they have mainly improved aesthetics of the vehicles. This certainly needed to be done, but their engineering work has been negligible and recall lists are full of Chrysler’s with issues.
Hard to beat a Minivan for practically...
Here is the article on Motortrends website. They took the trucks and used them for truck things. Its a good read.
https://www.motortrend.com/cars/che...ger-honda-ridgeline-toyota-tacoma-comparison/
I have seen that article before. Yeah I think it’s very well done and pretty objective. It’s one of the reasons am also considering the Colorado.
I replaced the brake pads 1 time on my 2008 Ridgeline and had 96,000 miles on it when I traded it for my 2013 so I wouldn't call brakes an issue. Had the one brake caliper that froze and that was some kind of fluke but easy to change out. Had nothing to do with using ceramic pads either but I will only use ceramics for sure.
Also agree with the comments about how to use the Ridgeline. I've towed campers, a small vehicle to Denver from Des Moines and done all sorts of hauling with it. I grew up on a farm and if I was farming I wouldn't be driving a Ridgeline but I can't not have a truck and this one fits the bill perfectly. I have done quite a bit more with it than I would have with our Odyssey but that was pretty good advice.
Not a big fan of the Gen 2 Ridgeline yet but I wasn't a fan of the Pizza Hut logo shaped Gen 1 I've driven for 14 years until a friend who worked at the Honda dealer in Clive told me I needed to drive one and was hooked pretty darn quickly
Like those warranties but do you really plan on driving the same truck for 20 years? Unless you have a job where you put lots of miles on the truck don't see many people using up those warranties. Good marketing ploy tho for sure.
And when I get rid of my 2013 Ridgline, my next truck will be a Colorado or Canyon diesel. Love them vehicles.
I think a lot of people bagging on the Colorado/Canyon pickups is from the first generation that came out with the I4 and I5 engines as they were terrible. But like you said 2015 and beyond they are light years ahead of the first generation.
I've driven a lot of farm fields in the 14 years I have had my Ridgeline and had no issues.
Found it interesting a guy on Edmunds posted that the Ridgeline is bigger than his 96 full sized Chevy he traded to buy it. He loved the Ridgeline.