Ford’s Maverick and Hyundai’s Santa Cruz have been getting a ton of love from the automotive press lately. And all the while, Honda’s sitting here saying, “yo, dawg, what about us?”

If you haven’t been following the car world for the past few months, let us break it down - the Maverick and Santa Cruz are a “radical” new take on trucks, ostensibly taking a unibody crossover platform and making a truck out of it. The theory is that this sort of packaging helps provide a right-sized pickup truck with the comfort and driving ease of a car.

In other words, Hyundai and Ford just built their own version of the Honda Ridgeline.

Honda’s been building the Ridgeline since 2004, with the current, second-gen truck having been on the market since 2016. In the grand scheme of things, a five-year-old platform is, well, old, but the Ridgeline remains a success for Honda, so we’ll probably be seeing the current-gen truck for a little while longer.

Honda was kind enough to toss us the keys to the 2021 Ridgeline Sport with the optional HPD package. And as self-proclaimed Honda fans, our initial impression is that this is the coolest Honda truck yet. Well, save for the one that went out and raced Baja…

2021 sees the Ridgeline get a mid-cycle refresh, with a new look from the A-pillar forward. The redesign tries to make things look a bit more truck-y with a big, in-your-face grille, but to be honest, it almost feels like a miss. We still feel the original grille feels a bit more thoughtful, more elegant. But truck buyers want a big, gaping maw at the front of their vehicles, so we get the rationale behind the design.

Helping us get on board with the new look, however, is the addition of the HPD (Honda Performance Development) package. Consisting of matte-black fender flares, a revised blackout grille, bed decals and 18-inch bronze alloy wheels. It all adds the right bit of toughness without making the Ridgeline feel like a can of Monster energy drink. And this package makes the truck look “right” - especially when sprayed in Platinum White Pearl - and we wish Honda would just offer it as standard equipment across the lineup.

But most important of all, 2021 sees the Ridgeline finally get an actual, physical volume knob. Oh, tactile controls, how we’ve missed you.

Now that we got the setup out of the way, let’s talk about what’s really important: the drive. Long story short: the Ridgeline drives just like a Honda. Scoff at the Odyssey underpinnings all you want, but we love the Ridgeline’s smooth ride, and the fact that it actually changes direction when you turn the steering wheel.

Look, we love trucks, and we love it when manufacturers loan us their hardcore off-road versions, but they’re difficult dailies. They’re stiff and unrefined, and while we can appreciate things being a bit rough around the edges when they serve a purpose (like when yeeting oneself off a dune), it kind of sucks to live with day to day.

Not the Ridgeline, and especially not with the HPD package. This truck is more than ready for daily driver duties, and if we’re being 100% honest here, it’s the only pickup truck we could genuinely see ourselves actually buying with our own money. We’re not hardcore off-roaders, and both generations of Ridgeline have been more than capable during our own off-pavement journeys. And as we mentioned earlier, its on-road manners are fantastic. Throw in the fact that it’s got a large, usable bed with a cool storage space, and we can’t help but feel that this is a near-perfect pickup.

That’s not to say that the Ridgeline is flawless - we’d love to feel a bit more shove coming from the powertrain. Power is adequate, with a 280-horsepower 3.5-liter V6 resting under the hood. But it’s the 9-speed transmission that could use some work. It’s fine, smooth like the rest of the Ridgeline. But the gearing and/or shift logic make the Ridgeline feel slooooow. No real issues to speak of when driving around town, but when laying on the throttle to merge or pass, it seems to take forever to get up to speed. Not a deal breaker by any means, but it does mean that the Honda feels slower than, say, the current turbocharged Ford Ranger.

The interior is nice, if not a bit basic. Honda’s Ridgeline HPD press loaners are all built atop the base “Sport” trim, as Honda feels this will be the most popular version to spec out. So the steering wheel is hard plastic, and the seats are standard fabric. But again, it’s a Honda, so it’s not like the materials that are here feel cheap. And given the fact that we’re in a truck, it all feels appropriate. That said, there are still enough nice features to make it all feel special. The infotainment screen is bright, high-res and clear, and comes standard with Apple CarPlay. The center console is massive, and can probably double as a sleep cubby; the rear seats are easy to fold up and out of the way for even more storage; and it’s even got Honda/Acura’s push-button gear-selector, if you’re into that sort of thing. All that really matters, though, is that it’s comfortable inside, again reaffirming the notion that this truck is built for daily-driving duties.

So the Honda Ridgeline Sport may not be the newest or most exciting truck out there - with or without the optional HPD package - but it remains one of the best pickup trucks currently on the market. It will easily handle the needs of 99% of truck buyers out there, and will be more comfortable than 100% of its competition to boot. So let Ford and Hyundai take their best shot - Honda is still king of the unibody truck hill.

Highlights	Description
Engine	3.5-liter V6
Horsepower	280 hp @ 6000rpm
Torque	262 lb-ft @ 4700 rpm
Transmission	9-speed automatic
Suspension, F/R	MacPherson Strut / Multi-link
Brakes, F/R	12.6-in. ventilated discs / 13.0-in. solid discs
Wheels and Tires	18-in. alloy wheels, 245/60R18 all-season tires
Curb weight	4436 lbs.
Overall length	210.2 in.
Overall width	78.6 in.
Overall height	70.8 in.
Wheelbase	125.2 in.

Honda Ridgeline Sport HPD