Honda improves 2024 Ridgeline with TrailSport trim, tech updates
Honda announced 2024 model-year updates to the Ridgeline midsize pickup today, including the long-suspected addition of the TrailSport trim level, which promises to increase the off-road-worthiness of the unibody truck.
The TrailSport trim debuted in 2022 on the Passport SUV. At the time, the badge was nothing more than a veneer of adventure-readiness. With the 2023 Pilot, Honda got serious: The Trailsport-spec model got unique suspension tuning, serious off-road tires, and actual underbody armor.
The Ridgeline will get the full-fat TrailSport treatment, which is certainly an improvement, though not a license to book a weekend run to the Rubicon Trail. Opt for this Ridgeline trim (one of four for 2024: Sport, RTL, TrailSport, and the range-topping Black Edition) and you’ll get steel underbody protection; an off-road-tuned suspension with unique spring rates, damper valve tuning, and stabilizer bars; proper General Grabber A/T Sport all-terrain tires; and a unique grille.
There’s still no full-time 4×4 capability, and Honda’s i-VTM4 all-wheel-drive system remains a front-wheel-biased system, but Honda says that its engineers tuned the system at real off-road arenas such as the Imperial Dunes in Glamis, California, and in Dubai. The AWD system is standard on all Ridgelines and can shuffle as much as 70 percent of the engine’s 262 lb-ft of peak torque to the rear wheels. Honda also has a traction management system baked into the AWD running gear that can be customized for different types of terrain including sand, snow, mud, and paved roads.
During our test of a 2021 Ridgeline AWD Sport, we found the AWD system to be plenty capable when managing less-than-ideal conditions. We also came to appreciate the on-road composure that came from its unibody construction, unique in this segment unless you count the smaller Ford Maverick. (Where does “midsize truck” end and “small truck” begin? Discuss among yourselves.)
Ridgeline TrailSports will get a mesh front grille and blackout treatment for the door pillars and exterior mirrors. The front “skid garnish” (read: not a full-on steel skidplate) will be painted Pewter Gray, to match the color treatment on the 18-inch wheels. Other exterior differentiation includes a trim-specific paint color: Diffused Sky Blue, which we’ve seen on the Passport and Pilot TrailSports. It’s the paint color pictured here, and it’s quite tasteful.
Inside, Ridgeline TrailSports get orange ambient lighting and orange contrast stitching on the steering wheel, seats, and door panels. Honda’s TrailSport logo also comes embroidered on the front headrests and the standard rubber floormats.
Honda also baked a few updates into the entire Ridgeline lineup, including the word R I D G E L I N E stamped across the trick rear tailgate, which can open traditionally as a fold-down unit or swing out to one side like a big car door. There were tech updates to the interior, too, including a new 7-inch digital instrument panel, standard across all trims, and a new 9-inch color touchscreen for central infotainment duties that can support wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
All Ridgelines will also get a new, larger center console with an integrated armrest. The console does away with the folding armrests for each of the front chairs (a feature we quite liked on older Ridgelines, though the added storage is probably a plus), replacing them with a single trap-door-style pad for both front-row occupants to share. A new platform ahead of the cupholders and button-type shifter controls now offers accommodations for two large smartphones to lay side-by-side and charge wirelessly.
All 2024 Ridgelines will begin arriving at dealers this winter. Honda didn’t release pricing information at the time of this writing, so we would expect things to continue along roughly the same lines in 2023: Expect low-trim Ridgeline Sports to start around $40K, and higher-trim versions like the TrailSport or the Black Edition to ring in in the high-$40K mark or perhaps reach just inside the $50K range.
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Ridgeline across the tailgate is an odd choice –pickups usually had the brand there not the model. Seeing “Honda” there would be kind of cool in my view.
I test drove a 2019, but was priced out at the time. Otherwise it did everything I would have wanted it to do and it was nice. Who knows, maybe one of this generation ends up mine as they hit their depreciation curve as used vehicles.
Still think they should greatly improve the color options across all trim models. A few yellow ones of these out there and more people would know they exist.
I owned 5 of the first gen models, and kept the last of those, now 10 years old and going strong. As a note, these don’t depreciate much, they just become slightly less expensive used vehicles. I agree with the Honda on the tailgate, Ridgeline seems busy. The other interior updates were items that I noted at a focus group, prior to the release of the second gen trucks. Funny that it takes them years to fix the “improvements” when they change a model. Ford is the pro at making small changes that don’t alienate their loyal buyers.
I’ve driven them, they are good little urban trucks. Roomy for a family, easy on gas, drives like Mom odyssey. But they aren’t suited to do much more. Towing a trailer near capacity results in sky-high transmission temps, same with “off-road” used beyond graded forest roads.
For the Urban truck buyer that would be happier in a car or SUV, they are actually quite reasonable.
Nice trim updates for the customers that would want it. Don’t understand the big Ridgeline logo on the tailgate. Trying to be a Ram or Ford, etc.?