This is a prime example of less is more. Honda has taken a Ridgeline pickup truck and stripped it of some non-essential items. Those would be things like the doors, roof, front windshield, and anything that wouldn’t be useful off road. Once deconstructed, this Ridgeline has been reformed using parts from the Honda Pioneer 1000 UTV.
The result is a jumbo side-by-side with plenty of power for dune bashing, trail running, and other off-road shenanigans.
The dashboard from the Ridgeline remains. As does that 280-horsepower V6 engine. The seats come from a Civic Type R but they’ve been shod with the waterproof material from the Pioneer 1000. You have a roll cage, a useful truck bed, and upgraded suspension.
It’s called the Honda Rugged Open Air concept truck, and it’s sadly just that at the moment. Honda has no plans to put this Mad Max’d Ridgeline into production.
But maybe, with enough interest, we can create some crossover into both segments. How about a 280-horsepower side-by-side and an off-road ready Ridgeline? I’m down for both. Though Honda could just slap a price tag on this one here and call it a day.
Honda has built a go-anywhere Ridgeline side-by-side concept
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3 responses to “Honda has built a go-anywhere Ridgeline side-by-side concept”
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I’m struggling with this one and have been since I first read about it.
Would it compete with the RZR 4, or the Wrangler Unlimited?
Let’s assume it’s not street legal. In that case it’s essentially a fullsize buggy, but does it retain the Ridgeline’s FWD-biased AWD/4WD system? If so, that’s an absolute deal-breaker. And for the trails in the Northeast at least, it’s too big for ATV/SxS trails and probably not as capable as a JLUR or 4Runner on the fullsize trails, which it would probably compete with on price.
And if it is street legal, where’s the removable doors and roof? It could certainly build a JLU (or upcoming Scrambler) competitor if it had those. But it doesn’t, so it’s more RZR than Wrangler.
I realize it’s just a design concept and not something on sale today, but I can’t say I totally get it. The market for this will either have to pull from Wrangler buyers or RZR buyers, and I don’t see that happening. -
This is Honda trolling everyone. You see, size/scope creep is everywhere in truck-dom. The whole raison d’être of the Ridgeline is all the capability 90% of truck owners (like me, an F150 driver) need with fewer of the drawbacks, yet all they get for their troubles is mockery from the guy who is trailering his way too big side-by-side out to the country behind his way too big truck.
If you can’t make them buy your entirely decent truck, trick them in to buying a ridiculous toy.
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