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I'm impressed with mine at 17,000 miles. I have the 5.3L 4x4 extended cab.
I take mine fairly often into the spillway (not recently b/c of the high water)...A nice 14 mile drive to the hunting camp through rutted roads, swells, and stream crossings.
It's a pretty good off road vehicle, and it's ride is pretty smooth on washboard roads.
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Well, the northern route was bad enough to blow out all the shocks on the Ridgeline which is marketed as a 4 wheel drive vehicle so, maybe a "1" doesn't cover it. But you're right that it isn't technically "off road" but just rough road. When I got to the Rack Track there were all kinds of cars and trucks there including a Ford Focus and a 2009 Hyundai Elantra wagon that had been in an auto show and wasn't even badged.
Thanks for posting the link to the video of the moving rocks on the Race Track playa.
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Congratulations on taking a real pickup truck off road, but you realize that the Racetrack isn't really that far off road, right? Depending on which route you took you barely scratched the surface of what a real pickup truck should be capable of. On a difficulty scale of 1-10, the northern route around past Ubehebe Crater through Teakettle Junction is about a 1. The southern approach from Saline Valley up the Lippincott Mine Road rates about a 3 (uphill -- only 2 downhill). Relatively mild offroad work overall.
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I agree daytona 500, sort of. But if you market something as a truck and put 4-wheel drive under it, you've got to expect it to be taken off-road and engineer it accordingly.
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Nice pictures. That's what trucks like these were built for.
In all fairness to the Ridgeline, its not a real offroad truck, you would have been better of in a Tacoma/Frontier.
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Dealer: "That is how hard it suppose to shift, it is a truck, live with it!"
HAHAHA.......
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Opfreak - I understand your point from an owner's perspective, but at the end of the day they will most likely get a "We can't fix something that's not broken. Unless a light comes on or it doesn't go into gear, keep driving it."
Have they done a fluid flush yet? Apparently, that can cure a reverse gear lockout nowadays (see Honda Fit)...hehehe.
For some reason I see Chevy balking at a total trans replacement for a hard shift.
Joe
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opfreak
- Jan 22, 2008 12:33 pm
(#9 Total: 16)
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just 5 days ago the senior photo guy posted about the neck breaking shifts, now its going off road?
ethier the tranny is dead, or its not. if its neck breaking take it somewhere until its fixed. I dont know why people find it acceptable by any dealer/shop to just let things go.
if they didn't fix it times 1-2, keep going back, get on the phone with a regional manager etc, why live with something if its broken and cost thosands of dollars?
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"they'd rather not fix the tranny, so they can keep saying how bad it is."
It's been in twice to two different dealers and neither have been able to fix it, IIRC. What do you expect them to do, wave the magic wand? I'm sure it'll go back yet again.
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I liked this post....I never realized how much heat a constant strut adjustment would generate, but it makes sense. I always just thought they (struts) needed to be "beefier" to handle the stresses of off-roading, but I guess they also need to be better at things like heat dissapation.
I don't know if I would've gone out into the desert with a suspected trans problem (although from the sounds of it's it's no so much a trans problem as it is a consistent occurence that bothers people).
Little side story: My wife and I honeymooned in Aruba in '05. To tour the island we rented a "4x4" Suzuki Jimny (that's right, a JimNY, not Jimmy). I didn't want to pony up the extra 40 bucks for the wrangler. Well, the Jimny's auto trans started slipping when I'd come to a stop. About 200 feet into the off-road trail, I lost complete confidence we'd make it back alive (on a 3-mile wide island, lol). I drove back and upgraded to the wrangler.
The wrangler was fantastic. I kept it to about 20-25 mph on the backroads because the dash was jumping so much on the bumpies. At one point, I was on a scoured rock trail that was incredibly bumpy and was shaking my wife and I (and the Jeep) so badly I slowed down to 10mph.
That's when I started getting passed by little 10 year old hyundai elantras doing 25mph.
Either that Jeep was beaten to crap and couldn't suppress every bump or those locals knew something I didn't.
Joe
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billt9
- Jan 22, 2008 12:11 pm
(#6 Total: 16)
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The Honda is so embarassing. Honda should have upgraded all struts to respectable standards for free.
What's the point of having a ladder frame when the struts give out first.
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The problem with the Ridgeline is people look at it and see a 4WD truck when in reality it's a Honda minivan with a small bed on the back.
Good for runs to the garden centre for potting soil but don't take it off road.
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opfreak
- Jan 22, 2008 11:40 am
(#4 Total: 16)
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they'd rather not fix the tranny, so they can keep saying how bad it is.
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Yeah, I don't think I'd venture into Death Valley with a questionable transmission.
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How is the tranny crunch going?
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I go to Death Valley every year with a group of Land Cruisers, I love the Racetrack and glad to read that even a non-offroad guy appreciates it!
Here's a video on the mystery of the moving rocks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1hoiHvOeGc
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