Honda is updating the current generation Ridgeline with a bold redesign that reflects its rugged and versatile pickup truck capabilities.
The 2021 Ridgeline features all-new sheet metal from the front roof pillars forward. Design changes include a new hood sporting a pronounced power bulge, and new front fenders that emphasize the squared-off nose and more upright grille, flanked by LED headlights updated for better illumination. Atop the grille is a crossbar that bisects the headlight lenses – gloss black on Sport trims and Black edition, chrome on RTL and RTL-E.
Below, a new front bumper highlights the toughness of the new Ridgeline’s design and adds broad side vents that route air through the bumper and around the front tires and wheels, creating air curtains to improve aerodynamic performance.
The body color is also extended farther down the front bumper, and a prominent skid plate emphasizes Ridgeline’s tough new look. In back, a reshaped bumper exposes aggressive new twin exhaust outlets.
All trims feature tougher looking 18-inch wheels with backspacing reduced 10 mm, increasing track width a total of 20 mm and lending the Ridgeline a broader, more planted stance, bolstered by all-season tires with a new, more aggressive sidewall and shoulder design.
The 2021 Ridgeline’s spacious cabin, which offers top-class passenger comfort and rear-seat legroom, receives an updated Display Audio system with crisp new graphics, easier-to-use touchscreen icons, and a physical volume knob. In addition, Ridgelines in Sport trim add new cloth seat inserts, all trims get new contrast stitching on the seats, and Sport, RTL and RTL-E trims have new dash, steering wheel and center console accents. Ridgeline’s flat floor and foldaway 60/40-split rear seat bottoms continue to offer enhanced flexibility for carrying long and tall items in the cabin.
Standard on every 2021 Honda Ridgeline is a 280-horsepower, 3.5-liter direct-injected VTEC V6 backed by a smooth and responsive 9-speed automatic transmission. Available on Sport and RTL, and standard on RTL-E and Black Edition, is Ridgeline’s i-VTM4 torque-vectoring all-wheel drive system, which automatically sends up to 70 percent of the engine’s 262 lb.-ft. of torque to the rear wheels and continuously apportions 100 percent of that torque between the left and right rear wheels based on driving conditions at each wheel. The Intelligent Traction Dynamics System, standard on all Ridgelines, optimizes power delivery and distribution for various conditions including snow and pavement for 2WD models, while Ridgelines equipped with i-VTM4 get additional selectable modes for mud and sand.
