The 2026 Honda Ridgeline TrailSport never pretends to be something it's not. It can’t haul sixteen pallets of cinder blocks. It won't crawl up a boulder field using low-range four-wheel drive. It has never once asked to be photographed in a river crossing with an aftermarket snorkel. What it will do with Honda-like perfection is make suburban and semi-rural homeownership significantly more pleasant, more organized, and more enjoyable than you ever expected a pickup truck could be. If you own a house, have a garage full of weekend ambitions, and a boat or trailer that needs towing a few times a year, the 2026 Ridgeline may be the most sensible vehicle you haven’t considered.
I fell in love with the Ridgeline years ago. Over the past decade, every publication I’ve written for has named it to its Best Truck lists over and over again. I have owned a pickup in the past; in fact, a compact Mitsubishi Mighty Max was my first new vehicle purchase. Every time I drive this Honda truck, I want to run right out and buy it. I truly regret not getting one instead of my Bronco Sport Badlands. With every passing test, the Ridgeline knocks down objection after objection to not buying a smaller-than-full-size pickup.
Let's be honest about what this truck is. The Ridgeline TrailSport is constructed upon a unibody rather than the body-on-frame construction of "real" trucks like the Tacoma, Ranger, and Gladiator. Plowguys and dudes who want to go mudwhomping on weekends will see that, and there ends their interest. But for a homeowner driving on paved roads 90% of the time, that unibody construction is an advantage, not a flaw. It's why the Ridgeline drives like a comfortable, confident crossover rather than a lumbering, wallowing work vehicle. It's why your back doesn't ache after a two-hour highway run to the cabin. It's why mountain passes are fun, rather than just more road.
Couple the smart chassis construction with the reality that all-wheel drive is superior in every way in winter driving to four-wheel drive, and the Ridgeline is also a much better New England truck than one hobbled with old-fashioned locking differentials, a solid real axle, and low-range nonsense.
Driving Like It Actually Belongs on a Road
The 2026 Ridgeline is powered by a 3.5-liter V6 making just under 300 horsepower, paired to a smooth, geared automatic transmission. All-wheel drive with rear torque vectoring is standard on every trim. The steering is accurate and well-weighted. Not laser-sharp like a sports sedan, but a lot better than every truck except the street-rod Maverick Lobo. The Ridgeline’s supple suspension absorbs the broken pavement of Metro Boston winters or Central New Hampshire dirt roads with equal grace. Body roll in corners is zero. Cornering feels confident rather than vague, in part because it has a fully independent rear suspension.
This is a truck you can parallel park downtown without a spotter. It's a truck you can load with mulch on Saturday and take on a two-hour Sunday drive without feeling like you're piloting a DPW dump truck. Honda's engineers clearly benchmarked the Ridgeline against the outstanding driving experience of their own Passport SUV, and it shows. The result is a pickup that legitimately earns the right to be your only vehicle. And we’ll explain why it can be right now.
The Trunk: Honda's Secret Weapon
The party tricks that inspire Ridgeline owners to host impromptu information sessions in parking lots are the in-bed trunk and dual-action tailgate that can swing out or drop down. Concealed beneath a sturdy, lockable floor panel in the composite, factory-lined cargo bed is a massive, waterproof storage compartment that holds about 7 cubic feet of your stuff. That's enough for all the overnight bags for a couple of people. It’s ideal for things that you don't want visible in the cab or sitting in the cargo bed. A laptop, duffel bags, a cooler, groceries, and such. All locked away, all dry, all organized. There are even molded-in separators you can use with lumber you cut to make separate compartments.
The drain plug at the bottom of the trunk is another example of Honda's thoughtfulness. Pack the trunk with ice and beverages for a tailgate, a beach day, or a backyard party. Drain it when you're done. No cooler required. No separate bin rattling around in the bed. Honda has been doing this trick since 2005, and, to their credit, nobody has figured out how to do it better, though we will say that Hyundai’s Sana Cruz has a similar storage compartment. The compact spare tire and jack, meanwhile, are tucked just above and behind the trunk, below the cargo floor, in their own cubby.
Rear Seat Storage: The Mountain Bike and TV Compartment
Inside, the crew cab's rear seats fold up in a split configuration to reveal additional underfloor storage beneath the seat cushions. This isn't just a cargo bin; it's the kind of space that replaces an entire category of organizational anxiety. Work gloves. Extension cords. A first-aid kit. Reusable grocery bags. The dog's emergency leash. Items that normally migrate between trunk, back seat, and garage floor finally have a dedicated, protected home.
Better than that, the rear section inside the cab, when the seat bottoms are folded up, is also ideal for an adult-sized bike, or even two. Easier than loading a hitch-mounted rack or pulling bikes up into the bed. If you need to take home a big item like a TV, it would fit perfectly back on its side. And it will be locked in when you stop for lunch. Not sitting open in the cargo area, tempting the morally flexible.
2026 Ridgeline TrailSport - Dirt Road Hero
One scenario in which many trucks are surprisingly bad is driving on dirt roads. Yes, they look like they are good at it, but then you hit a washboard section, and their ancient leaf-sprung suspensions do the funky chicken while rattling your molars. The Ridgeline TrailSport, with its General Grabber all-terrain tires and coil spring rear suspension, is brilliant on dirt roads. We took it to central New Hampshire to enjoy late winter off-pavement exploring, and it came alive.
The Ridgeline can rip up turf in Sand Mode, save you from getting stuck using Mud mode, and Sport mode offers enough fun on the mountain passes to make the drive darn close to exciting. You have to try Sand mode. It turns off traction control, enables a ton of wheelspin, and makes the engine and transmission act like they just had a shot of adrenaline. It’s almost too much fun. You can enable Sport mode without looking with one tap of the D/S switch on the shifter panel in the center console. We used it - a lot.
2026 Ridgeline TrailSport - You Won’t Believe the Price
The Ridgeline starts at just $42,290 in its base Sport trim. That gets you AWD, Wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, and the nifty trunk and dual-mode tailgate. A lot, actually. We tested the $47,490 TrailSport trim, which adds a lot of content, notably the General Grabber tire package and an oil pan skidplate. Our tester also had special Ash Green paint, which added $450. This is the best mid-sized truck bargain in America, and it’s not even close.
2026 Ridgeline TrailSport - What We’d Change
The Ridgeline is darn close to perfect. We’d add visible utility hooks up front. All trucks should have them. There’s one hidden behind the bumper for emergencies and towing, but not the easy-to-access ones most trucks offer. Next, we’d add downhill descent control. That’s a feature I use in winter on steep icy slopes all the time. The Passport has it, and I can’t understand how Honda left it out of the Ridgeline. Finally, we’d offer a premium sound system. The one in our tester was OK, not the best in class audio, like most Hondas and Acuras are today.
The Truck Needs a Hybrid Option
Now the big ask. 20 MPG in 2026 makes us cringe. A simple hybrid system would add low-end torque and recapture braking energy to boost fuel economy. The great news is that Honda could steal some space either under the rear seats or from the trunk to hide the required traction battery. It would seem like an easy add. We would not want the full-whammy “almost an EV” advanced system the CR-V has. It would not make sense in this vehicle. We envision something like Toyota’s Hybrid Max system, with a single motor. Maybe Honda will add these things in the next generation.
Ridgeline is American-made by Honda
The Honda Ridgeline is one of the most American vehicles you can buy in the USA. It is constructed of 75% U.S./Canadian content, and its engine and transmission are both made in Ohio. The truck is built in Alabama by Americans. Honda America’s headquarters and design center are in California, and Honda Motor Company (HMC) stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange. By contrast, both Toyota and Ford import their mid-sized Tacoma and Maverick pickup trucks from Mexico.
Who Is the Ridgeline TrailSport Really For
The 2026 Ridgeline's payload is rated for around 1,500 pounds, and its tow capacity is a very respectable 5,000 pounds. That’s enough to safely haul a good-sized ski boat, a roomy single-axle family camper, a horse in its trailer, or a pair of snowmobiles. It's not a contractor's truck, and it knows it. If you need a way to understand just how much 5,000 pounds is, think of it this way. The Ridgeline could tow another Ridgeline and do so with its cargo bed holding 500 pounds of bricks. It could tow a Miata or a Porsche Cayman race car on a trailer, while holding a second set of race-day tires and all your tools in the cargo bed.
What the Ridgeline offers you as a vehicle owner is a “two-for.” It is a pickup truck that will do what any homeowner or hobbyist needs a pickup truck to do, and it’s a comfortable commuter, road-trip, and family-getaway vehicle. It parks easily in any normal space. It drives beautifully. It organizes your gear with unusual intelligence. Its composite bed shrugs off abuse. Its in-bed trunk eliminates entire categories of weekend logistics hassle. And it does all of it on a platform that you'd be happy to take on a road trip.
If you own a home, live in the suburbs or a rural area, occasionally haul things but don’t build things for a living, and want a truck that can do real-world tasks homeowners want to do, the 2026 Honda Ridgeline isn't a compromise. It might just be the best vehicle you can possibly buy, but haven’t yet considered.
Would you consider the 2026 Honda Ridgeline as your next multipurpose vehicle? Tell us in the comments below.
About The Author
John Goreham is a 14-year veteran of Torque News. An accomplished writer and a long-time expert in vehicle testing, Goreham also serves as the Vice President of the New England Motor Press Association and has a growing social media presence. He’s also a 10-year staff writer and community moderator for Car Talk. Goreham holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and an undergraduate Certificate in Marketing. In addition to vehicle and tire content, he offers deep dives into market trends and opinion pieces. You can follow John Goreham on X and TikTok, and connect with him on LinkedIn.
Image of bicycle and trailer by Honda, all other images by the author.
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