Best Mid-Sized Pickup Truck for HomeOwners is about this Architectural firm analyzing then choosing, then actually buying and then re-buying the best mid-sized pickup truck for homeowners in the USA.
This firm looked at Toyota Tacoma, Ford Ranger, Chevy Colorado, Jeep Gladiator and Honda Ridgeline. We imagine a lot of other people are also. Very hot time for car and truck buying going on right now. Pickup trucks especially. So much so that’s Ford’s no longer going to be making anything but trucks and SUVs soon. The Mustang may persevere for a while. Because: virtually no one is buying sedans any more. The market segment has shifted into pickup trucks (and commercial trucks) and SUVs. So why gear up to sell something no one (or very few) want to buy?
Now let’s take it a step further. Say you are a homeowner. And you like having the freedom to pickup trees and bushes and fence posts and other materials and take it home in your own pickup truck? Turns out a LOT of people think that way. Hence: Home Depot and Lowes and other DIY big box stores selling construction materials of all sorts. Gives a person a sense of independence and immediacy. “I can get my own stuff and bring it home.” Or to the jobsite. Or people just like the IDEA of having that pickup bed back there, just in case.
Okay, so do you REALLY need a full-size pickup truck? F-150? Silverado? Will it even fit inside your garage and let you by (without bumping your knee into your trailer hitch) when the garage door is down? No? Well, how about a mid-sized pickup truck then? Yeah. A lot of people are thinking that way. Including this Architect. Can you believe 22.5 mpg in the mountains? With a powerful 6 cylinder engine? And comfortable seating for 5 in a 4 door crewcab.
And after not only driving their choice from 3 years ago (Honda Ridgeline RTL-T, which is now called in 2022 an RTL-E), they decided to compare. And according to Edmunds, and quite a few other resources, the Honda Ridgeline is winning the contest. Unless you REALLY want to go mud-bogging? I mean, who really does stuff like that? Do you have time to go off-roading? Do you REALLY need that Z71 logo and all that means? What are you? An Accountant? A Contractor? An Architect (that’s us)? Doctor? Professor? Engineer? Nurse? Grocery store manager? Real Estate Broker? Shop Owner? Okay. With all that’s going on in your life, you mainly want DEPENDABLE, Reliable transportation that will get you out of a fix (snow, ice, sand, mud), and always get you where you’re going. That’s the Honda Ridgeline. And hundreds of thousands, if not millions of other professionals have come to the same conclusion. Consider the Colorado if you want to high-wading in the mud (yeah and when are you going to do that?). Every 4 months?
And the Ridgeline seems to have the most interior room (width if not leg room). And the Jeep Gladiator is way cool, but who is really going to want to have to dismantle their roof to enjoy the sun, then have to stop and reassemble it when it starts raining? And for over $50,000? Has Dodge’s build-quality issues been fixed? Not sure. Hope so. The Jeeps are looking cooler than ever. But once again: professionals want convenience and push-button comfort and capability. Unless you’re going in the backwoods. Are you?
And let’s remember where the Ridgeline came from: yeah: the front end of a Honda Pilot luxury SUV with a rear pickup bed. Nowadays, Honda is working harder than ever to erase that artistic beginning, no matter how successful it has been in practice. Some die-hard truck enthusiasts don’t call the Ridgeline a “real” truck. Well, for not being “real,” it appears to be out-selling millions of others. So I guess it is a real truck. At least for all those millions of people buying them. I can also share my own experiences that my older Ridgeline has gone into AWD with the “MUD” switch on at my sloping lower meadow on wet grass and successfully pulled out my John Deere three times, when it was stuck sideways off the edge of the cliff. And I have loaded MORE weight than I was supposed to (about 3/4 ton) into the bed and hauled it home safely. And towed the John Deere on my Big Tex trailer behind the Ridgeline many times to get the JD serviced. No strain. Handles great. Brakes fine. Steers well. And those seats are comfortable. And even at highway speeds (and then some), the ride is super smooth and tracks safely.
In other words, I’ve been a happy owner since 2019, and I just cut a deal to get another new one. You’re not going to believe this: my deal included credit for my 2019 Ridgeline trade-in at MORE than I paid for it 3 years ago. To be exact, $2,000 more than I paid 3 years ago. How can that be? Well, it is. How can you say no to a deal like that? Sure, I have to pay more cash into the deal to total up to what the amount needs to be to obtain the 2022 Ridgeline RTL-E, but I’m okay with that. It works out to about $2,583/year of vehicle use. I used to know another Architect in Florida who had a standing deal to trade in his full-sized GMC pickup truck for $4,600/year and we all thought that was a good deal. Well, until now. Especially if you really don’t need that giant beast to haul your one body around in, back and forth to work or elsewhere. And if you aren’t hauling heavy machinery like forklifts every day.
And the technology and safety of the Ridgeline appears to be beating out all the others these days, and still having leather, navigation and a sunroof, all of which I want to feel the luxury I feel I’ve earned in this life of hard work. I don’t think I need or really want the Honda Ridgeline Black Edition visual bells and whistles. It’s no different mechanically or in terms of features that actually do something for you.
Don’t get me wrong. I like Ford. I’ve had several F150s. Great truck. Very roomy in the front and rear crewcab. I toy with the idea of perhaps getting one of their new hybrids someday (half gas-half electric). But I still no longer need that big of a truck. I’m happy with the mid-sized Ridgeline. Get what works best for you.
Best Mid-Sized Pickup Truck for HomeOwners