2025 Honda Ridgeline Review
Looking like it's ready for anything, the 2025 Ridgeline TrailSport is still better on the road than off it.
Jim Resnick
The first Honda Ridgeline debuted on the pickup truck main stage in 2006 as something distinctly different. Based on a unibody platform instead of using a body-on-frame design like most other pickup trucks, the Ridgeline offered better paved-road driving dynamics, making it a fine choice for folks who didn't need high towing capacity or hefty off-roading capability.
Nearly two decades later, the trend has moved toward rugged looks and legitimate off-road capability. Enter the 2025 Honda Ridgeline TrailSport. With knobby tires, a retuned suspension, an oil-pan skid plate, and a moniker that more than hits the mark, it looks ready for the rough stuff.
But I kept thinking "promises, promises" while driving it — and not to the tune of the 1980s hit single by the new romantic Brit-pop band Naked Eyes. The 2025 Ridgeline TrailSport's rugged styling belies its modest off-roading talent, limited partly because it supplies the same ground clearance as the other Ridgeline models. On the road, I found the transmission slightly uncooperative, and thought the road noise from the tires compromised driving satisfaction.
Jim Resnick
About the 2025 Honda Ridgeline TrailSport
Honda builds the 2025 Ridgeline in Sport, RTL, TrailSport, and Black Edition trim levels. Prices start in the low $40,000s and climb to the high $40,000s, including the destination charge to transport the truck from the assembly plant in Lincoln, Alabama, to a dealership.
For this 2025 Ridgeline review, Honda provided a TrailSport for testing in Arizona. The only option was Diffused Sky Pearl paint, which increased the manufacturer's suggested retail price to $47,330, including the destination charge.
Jim Resnick
The 2025 Honda Ridgeline Is Sleeker Than Most Midsize Pickups
The Ridgeline is available only in a four-door crew-cab configuration with a short cargo bed. Because it shares its platform with the prior-generation Honda Pilot SUV and the current Honda Odyssey minivan, the front half of the Ridgeline looks less truck-like than most other midsize pickups.
I found the Ridgeline's cabin more comfortable than most midsize pickups, too. Although the interior design is conventional and features a lot of plastic, it still conveys a sense of quality. Honda places the primary controls within easy sightlines for the driver, with secondary buttons located low on the left side of the dashboard. Steering wheel switches operate the cruise control, stereo volume, radio station presets, voice recognition system, and the multifunction instrumentation display.
Jim Resnick
The Ridgeline's front seats offer good comfort for a variety of body types, and the TrailSport's seats feature perforated leather with red stitching, the latter also decorating the center-console lid and door-panel armrests.
Up front, the center console offers good storage. A flat tray big enough for two smartphones to lie side by side sits ahead of the transmission controls and houses the wireless charging pad. Two USB ports (one Type A, one Type C) plus a 12-volt socket are located below the conventional climate controls.
Rear-seat legroom and headroom are good, though the bench seat's cushion is relatively flat. You can lift the cushions to create in-cab storage space on a level floor, which is useful when transporting large and heavy objects.
The Ridgeline's bed length stacks up well. At 5-feet-3-inches, it's longer than a Toyota Tacoma's standard bed, which measures 5 feet. In addition, the Ridgeline's bed is wider at the wheel wells than the Tacoma's, measuring 4-feet-2-inches to the Tacoma's 3-feet-7-inches. The Ridgeline also features a nifty lockable trunk that sits under the bed, which can accommodate a carry-on luggage bag with room to spare, or even a huge cooler box.
Jim Resnick
The Ridgeline's Tech Checks the Boxes but Still Disappoints
The Ridgeline uses a 9.0-inch touchscreen for audio, navigation, and standard smartphone integration. The Ridgeline's setup is simple and intuitive, featuring a dedicated volume knob and hard tuning buttons. So, thumbs-up on user-friendliness.
However, I found the navigation system essentially useless when trying to find locations using the voice recognition system. It could not understand elementary requests like "Fountain Hills, Arizona," "McDonald's," or "Costco." Yet it could navigate to 20 different Starbucks locations. The TrailSport's seven-speaker audio system was another miss, too. It sounded middling and didn't make Frampton Come Alive. Thankfully, Apple CarPlay worked perfectly.
Jim Resnick
With its standard suite of Honda Sensing safety features, the Ridgeline TrailSport comes packed with all the advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) you'd expect in 2025. Of course, the mere presence of this safety tech is helpful and reassuring, but not all ADAS are created equal.
During my time with the Ridgeline, I found Honda Sensing's performance lacking in comparison to some competitors. In particular, the lane-keeping assist felt erratic and indecisive at times and undermined my confidence. While this behavior was infrequent on interstates, which have minimal curves, it was unmistakable when driving the truck on state highways and higher-speed county routes.
During my time with the truck, its adaptive cruise control reacted sluggishly to cars merging into the gap ahead on the highway. Additionally, it only operates above 20 mph, whereas many systems can now bring the vehicle to a complete stop in traffic and resume travel when the vehicles ahead are back on the move.
That said, crash tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Ridgeline earns a five-star overall rating and five-star ratings in all individual assessments. Not only that, it also gets a four-star rollover-resistance rating.
Jim Resnick
The 2025 Ridgeline Is Best Suited to On-Road Driving
Every Ridgeline comes standard with a 3.5-liter V6 engine good for 280 horsepower and a nine-speed automatic transmission. An all-wheel-drive system utilizes torque-vectoring differentials at the front and rear axles.
With plenty of power on tap, acceleration is brisk, and the V6 also has a nice sports-car snarl to it near the redline. The transmission isn't so swift, and requires a hefty boot to downshift when you're looking for maximum thrust. Sport mode alleviates this, but I didn't like using it as much in everyday driving.
Honda also offers Normal, Sand, Snow, and Mud driving modes to suit whichever condition best matches the moment, and equips the TrailSport with knobby General Grabber All-Terrain tires. Honda additionally retuned the suspension to improve off-road performance and enhance wheel articulation when navigating tricky terrain.
Jim Resnick
Despite these modifications, off-roading represents a compromise. The grippy tires and AWD certainly make the most of the available traction, and the steering gives you accurate placement in tight quarters. But Honda doesn't add any extra ground clearance compared with other Ridgelines, which is a significant shortcoming. I never grounded out on rocks, ruts, or logs during my off-road journeys, but I was extremely cautious.
On the road, the ride and handling reflect the fact that the TrailSport is better at tackling pavement than challenging trails. The steering wheel itself also has a pleasingly thick rim, with perforated leather grips. However, there are some shortcomings here as well.
The knobby tires make a lot of noise on tarmac; far more than I expected. Also, the brake pedal proves difficult to modulate — something I never noticed off-road — so I found coming to a smooth, complete stop a challenge. Vague steering feel is likely due (at least in part) to the tires, but the net effect makes the TrailSport unappealing to drive on the twisty paved roads that often lead to trails.
The EPA rates the Ridgeline TrailSport at 20 mpg in combined city and highway driving, and I got 20.6 mpg on my standard driving loop under mixed conditions. I didn't include my off-roading in the calculation.
Jim Resnick
Is the 2025 Honda Ridgeline a Good Truck?
The Ridgeline TrailSport is compromised both on and off the road because the equipment that provides slightly better off-road performance degrades the on-road experience. In any case, the TrailSport doesn't really fulfill its intent. I think the off-road versions of other midsize trucks tackle unpaved terrain with more talent than this Honda.
That leads me to think a different version of the Ridgeline makes better sense. Stick with the Sport, RTL, or Black Edition if the comfort, utility, and on-road driving dynamics of the 2025 Honda Ridgeline are what you're after.
Written by humans.
Edited by humans.
Jim ResnickFrom racing exotic sports cars, to ranking new cars, to peeling back layers of cover up in an exhaust emissions scandal, Jim has chronicled the automotive sector for decades. Jim has also worked inside the corporate headquarters of three carmakers, and therefore understands how the automotive sausage is really made. But Jim’s affinity for vehicles takes a back seat to finding the truth and the cultural implications of modern transportation. He has also lectured at universities to engineering and policy students and faculty on the industry’s relationship with legislation in the wake of the diesel exhaust emissions scandal several years ago. Put simply, Jim reports on autos, mobility, tech, car culture, and the traffic jam of topics within.
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