Tacoma or Ridgeline?

^. This. We just loves our tacos here. Let us know what you decide.

 

OP, reading your post, unless you have a need for a bed. why not consider a SUV. They are more than capable of towing a trailer with two bikes.

That said. If you look the Honda RL has the largest turning circle of the mid sizes 44.4' vs Tacoma's 42'. Nissan is at 43' and the GMC twins have the smallest of the group. Reason I bring that up is you said this would be your daily driver.

The RL is also coming with a V6 with a cylinder management system , where at times it will make it a 3 cylinder vehicle. Past experience, Honda had some oil consumption issues with this system.

The bed of the RL is unique. However, the new gen you cannot get a full size spare in the compartment. With Toyota it comes with a full size spare.

Test drive each and decide. They both are approximately the same. Except the top of the line RL is around $42K+

 

Small penis checking in. Get a Tacoma if you want a truck. The Ridgeline is not a truck.

 

It appears that is the significant different between the two. At least, no one yet has pointed out where the Tacoma is superior on pavement. I fully agree that the Tacoma is a much better looking truck than the Ridgeline but looks are not at the top of my priority list.

Thank you for the advice. I suspected as much but thought I would ask the pro-Tacoma crowd just to ensure I wasn't overlooking any of its pluses.

 

Go to the 3rd gen section and read all the complaints on the Tacoma. Seems there are trans issues that are the hot item now. I know on previous gens they had awful rear suspension and frames that love to rust. Don't seem Toyota has addressed them out the door more of a TSB. Again I have a Tacoma but I'm not a Tacoma only person. Be open minded, weed through the total crap you will get here, and drive both!

 

Every time I see a dude driving a ridgeline:

 

I have a SUV now and am able to tow the bikes with it. The motorcycle thing is my logical justification for buying a truck but really, I don't need a truck. I just one.

I have driven both and liked both. The Tacoma looks better and handled like a truck, the Ridgeline drove like a luxury sedan (which is okay with me).

 

You're not going to win many points for owning a ridgeline if a truck is what you're after. Honda makes good, reliable vehicles there's no doubt about that. I agree even, for your uses, a Honda Ridgeline should suit you better. It will do the light hauling, have the capacity to move and store items in the bed, and transport your clients comfortably.

The issue of placing the Ridgeline in the truck category is it's ability to do all those truck functions well. Sure it has a bed and AWD, but in application of things like bed payload, towing, off-roading (ground clearance), 4WD, and things that most trucks are engineered with in mind, I feel the Ridgeline comes up short.

Independent suspension front and rear for example. While great for handling, you won't have the bed payload capacity to transport heavier items on coil springs. No overload spring means that exceeding what the coil spring can handle can cause the coils to bind and land you right on your bumpstops (rear suspension compromise). Independent suspension also isn't optimal for high torque output because a thicker solid axle has been sacrificed for two smaller, flexible axles. Thirdly, independent suspension doesn't flex as much as a solid leaf sprung axle, which makes it bad for clearance and traction. Lastly, I don't know what method Honda is using for torque vectoring from front to rear or in their limited slips, but I am not confident in their ability to have reliable 4WD.

To me the Ridgeline is a vehicle that is trying to do a lot of things, lot of good things, but you know what they say about tools that try to do a variety tasks, they wind up not doing all of them very well.

 

Thanks Supra4x4. All of that makes sense. If I understand correctly, the Tacoma is the better choice for hauling heavy loads and off-pavement work. I guess I need to decide if I will ever want to go off-pavement. If so, then the Tacoma is the more logical choice due to the way it is designed and built.

 

Ridgeline is good if you don't need a 'truck' but like the convenience of a bed, in that case stay with the FWD, the 'AWD' is a reactive system.
GM Twins are good if need a truck but don't wheel, they have better road manners than the taco, plus the diesel option if you like.
Tacoma if you need a truck and 4 wheel or otherwise spend time off-road. It will be better stock vs the GM's and the aftermarket will be orders of magnitude larger.

 

Do large-penised folks like Tacomas or ridgelines? I'm getting confused. I think they're both ok, can I consider my penis average?


Yeah, that's probably a little optimistic...

 

Well if the soccer mom comes free with it

 

Neither, smart cars.

 

Damn it. Back to sub-average status.

 

Oh boy, here we go again, but OK...

They say chit rolls down from the top, so I ask you, would you rather be the top dog at the top of the hill or the dung catcher at the bottom?

Take a look at the chart and see who is at the top of the food chain for the small truck segment, and who is at the bottom.



To put it another way, are you a bottom feeder or are you at the top of the food chain?

Your vehicle says a lot about you, and is perceived as a reflection of you, choose wisely

Hope that helps
Cheers!

 

The Ridgeline should be called a Hondamino !

 

If you are commuting daily, the Ridgeline will give a better ride.

It is tiring driving a stiff bouncy truck everyday.

 

No problem, my advice as an auto enthusiast is free! And yes, the Tacoma is a better choice for those applications. But that isn't to say a Ridgeline couldn't handle a dirt road, it certainly could.

 

But the people seeing you don't know it's free. Ha,Ha. here comes a soccer mom.
I'd opt for the 4x2 Tacoma over a ridgeline anyway even if the ridgeline was free Lol.