It seems like everyone wants to drive a truck these days. From the kind-of-awful all-new Bronco to the ever-popular Ford F-150, America is just gaga for trucks.
I’ve said repeatedly that I would never drive a big truck as a daily, but I do get that they have purpose. I mean, we do have race cars to tow and plywood, fencing and bags of concrete to fetch.
So while I don’t understand this truck obsession–and don’t even get me started on the Carolina squat–I am starting to understand my own hypocrisy. You see, despite my disdain for full-size trucks, I too own and love to drive (some) trucks.
As many of you know, I have a perhaps unnatural love for Honda Ridgelines. I owned my first Ridgeline for 13 years and covered more than 235,000 mostly trouble-free miles. From our Florida base, we drove it to places like Road Atlanta, Road America and even Laguna Seca.
When the newly redesigned Ridgeline came out in 2017, we were invited by Honda to the press preview. I felt that Honda had improved the styling, along with everything else, and we worked out a deal for a long-term loaner.
When the year ran out, I purchased the same truck in the same color. For a brief time, while waiting for Honda to pick up its loaner, we had two identical white Ridgelines in the driveway. Our neighbors thought we were nuts.
The Ridgeline fulfilled all my needs. It could tow 5000 pounds, plenty enough to get our car to the track and also drag home building materials. On a trip out to Montana to pick up an early VW Rabbit GTI, the Ridgeline managed 24.9 mpg.
But that’s not the only truck currently in my life. A few years ago, I needed six-passenger seating and even more towing capacity. I bit the bullet and bought a used Ford Expedition. The idea was to keep this humongous gas hog in our barn until needed, as I’d rather not single-handedly deplete the earth of all its resources.
To me, at least, it was no Ridgeline. The Expedition lacked the Ridgeline’s economy, packaging and handling. My wife, however, had other ideas.
She drove the Expedition for the first time and declared that she loved it and wanted to use it as her daily driver. I protested: It’s huge, inefficient and lacks panache. It wouldn’t even fit in the garage.
Yeah, she countered, but it’s roomy, fast as hell, and has both heated and air-conditioned seats. So I lost that skirmish rather quickly.
Then there’s the special relationship I have…
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