Tacoma vs. Ridgeline Review

There was a video I saw recently where it was the Ridgeline vs Tacoma vs Colorado vs Nissan and the Ridgeline tapped out because the transmission was overheating. The one cool thing about the Ridgeline is the tried is in a compartment in the bed not in the elements.

 

ridgeline definetely has some neat features that would be nice to have...that being said, there are places i will go in my taco that would be out of question in the ridgeline....

 

Guarenteed it's more like a yuppy flower and bagged top soil getter not for real off-road or work.

 

Ridgeline is a nice comfy car, like most hondas.

 

Yes power seats are nice but for dam sure not necessary. If you are the only one to drive your truck how many times do you need to move your seat. I am kind of a set it and forget it kind of guy as far as my seat position is.

 

I'm about the only one who drives my T4R but, I do like the added/extra adjustability of having power seats. Not needed if manual adjustment had as many adjustments.

 

Ridgeline is a F..ing douchemobile! I care only about capability and reliability. When you keep your truck for 20+ years, things like power seats and sunroofs become liabilities. It pisses me off that the Taco has no locking rear diff...I could care less about heated mirrors...give me a freakin locker!

 

thought funny cars were well over 300mph and past the 1/4 in 5 sec? my 1.3L DD rx8 was close to 5 sec to 60 with not even 180ft lbs

 

I wasn't referring to funny cars. "funcar" is the moniker I use for my '10 BMW 335i convertible, trying not to sound like a prick name-dropping the brand name every time I reference it.

The 335i coupes and 'verts are by no means muscle cars, but are fun as hell carving corners with. The 300HP/300ftlb torque blows the doors off any midsize truck in acceleration even though there's tons of other faster cars on the road.

 

Im still wondering why they chose the Nissan at the end. The Colorado was decent minus that front chin, that the TRD Sport also has. I usually like there videos but that one disappointed me.

 

It probably a ploy for Nissan....I don't know personally but I've read the Nissan is pretty sweet. I chose the Tacoma because I always wanted one and then the resale value thing.

 

Wow, suddenly I would consider owning one.

 

At least a El Camino was a Body on Frame vehicle with rear wheel drive.

 

Yeah I was thinking that but was going more off the appearance. But if you take it to Diesel Brothers they can build you a Monster Camino which is capable of anything.

 

I was interested in actual measurments after you posted this for comparisons sake. Here is what I measured today between my Taco and my buddies Ridgeline as he was over at my place.

Keep in mind my Tacoma is a LB so the length for the SB Taco is from a Toyota spec sheet everything else is measured by hand.

Tacoma bed: Width 56.5" [between wheel wells 42" bottom & 45" top]
Length 60.5" (from spec sheet)
Depth 19"

Ridgeline bed: Width 60" [between wheel wells 49.25" same top & bottom]
Length 63.25"
Depth 16.75"

So the Taco bed isn't quite a foot wider . Wait it isn't even wider but actually narrower by 3.5" .

On another note the truck I replaced (still have it to use as my beat on/up work truck around the farm) with the Taco is a 1993 GMC Sierra 1500 W/T 4x4 Reg Cab with 8ft box with the 4.3 V6 and 5 speed manual. The bed on the "full size" truck is 19.25" deep, 64.5" wide (49" between wheel wells) and 97.5" long. Proves that mid size trucks are catching up to the full size trucks of 15+ years ago .

 

^^ thanks for posting real as opposed to alternative facts. I like my Taco and knew what I was doing when I bought it, but for my specific needs, the Taco short bed is just a few inches smaller, in width and length, than the dimensions that would make me happy. So a Ridgeline-sized bed would be nice. Ditto cab inside dimensions. Otherwise, Taco FTW.

 

I wonder how much different it looks when viewed from a normal angle rather than looking up at it?

With the camera placed lower than the axles, the hood line is made to appear more trucklike; perspective gives the impression of a flatter, less sloped hood.

 

A couple of thoughts: First, these discussions are almost always useless. Any discussions of "best" has to start out with some criteria for how to measure best. If two different people have different criteria then they can easily come to different conclusions on which truck is best and both be right. Being that this is a Tacoma forum, our criteria are going to align with the Tacoma's strengths because that is what we bought. Otherwise we would have bought something else. It really is an individual thing and starts with "I need/want a truck for (purpose)." If the idea is "I need a truck to haul my family around and make occasional trips to Home Depot" then the Honda might be the "best" vehicle.

Second thought: In almost every magazine, shootout, consumer reports, etc. I see the Tacoma come in third behind the Honda and the new Chevy Colorado on a consistent basis. Clearly based on their criteria the Tacoma is inferior to the Honda and Chevy . On the other hand, the Tacoma sells more than the Honda and Chevy combined. This would seem to indicate that the criteria used by most reviewers is not the same criteria used by most buyers. My guess is that Toyota is perfectly happy losing all the shootouts and winning the sales contest.

Third thought: People under-estimate emotional and aspirational factors involved when making a truck purchase. Perhaps the majority of Tacoma owners will never go off road and don't really need the capability, but they get satisfaction out of the idea that they have the capability and could if they wanted to. I happen to need the longer bed (I have an access cab) and do go off road occasionally, but I did not with my first Tacoma, and I have to admit that the "truckinshness" of the Toyota also appeals to me for no rational reason. You can discount that or laugh at it, but really much of what we spend money on in life is more about how it make us feel than what we really need. For many people the whole idea of buying a truck means buying a certain capability (whether we use it or not) that the Honda doesn't provide.

 

There is a reason, maybe psychological, why I see so many Tacomas around here.

I had to do some training in WV couple weeks ago. While getting coffee, my colleague notice 8 or 9 Tacomas in just one of the parking lots. There is a reason for that. There is reason for the crazy high resale value of these trucks. It's not because they come in third! I'm not saying it's the best truck, don't care really. I know what they can do and take. We beat the hell out of my friends and the only thing that broke was his rad support when he got stuck on a stump. Then he traded it in for another. Only thing he did was normal maintenance.

 

Why do people constantly want to compare their Tacomas to Ridgeline? Is it an inferiority complex? Because Honda?

It's a different vehicle for different users, like comparing a Dodge Caravan to a Toyota Sienna AWD, serve the same purpose but have totally different driveline and needs.

Lose the hurt! Who cares about the Ridgeline, it's not the same vehicle.