Honda Pickup: Thoughts

[K Frame]

Face it, Fatboy, they're panding to the dominant element of society, people like... well, like your wife!

[...has left the building.]

They would NEVER have a chance of selling a "real" pickup truck to the hairy chested pickup crowd so why bother?

I disagree.  Toyota and Nissan do a good job, why can't Honda?  All they have to do is make a REAL truck.  That means a real frame, real suspension, etc.  I'd certainly consider a Honda pickup or SUV if they made one with truck underpinnings and not that of a minivan.

I don't think anyone would have a problem with the Ridgeline if they advertised it showing it being used the way you say it's intended to be used.  However, the ads I've seen show it offroad in situations it'll never see in real life.  It's the same with the Pilot.  They advertise it as a hairy chested offroad machine, but having driven one, I'd wager you'd get it stuck the first time you got into deep mud or sand.  That said, it's a very nice vehicle (my friends have one and I've drive it several times), but not an offroad machine.

There's nothing silly about the S2000 (or any of their cars for that matter).  If I didn't have a kid and/or had room for a third vehicle, I'd like to have one.  Of course, I could just park it in my front yard, but that would make El T sad.

Chris

I think the difference with Toyota is that people have used their Land Crusiers, Hi-Luxes, etc. all over the world in insane conditions. Honda does have that fuel-efficient, reliable, technological, and even soccermommy image, which doesn't mesh well with the people that Mike talks about IMO. And I don't know a single person who owns a Nissan Titan. They could be popular, but I'm just not aware of it.

You do have a good point about the advertising, but I think there is something to be said for escapism. Like in any S2000 literature, they don't show a guy wearing a suit and tie in 90 degree weather, with the top down, sweating his ass off, and trying to drown out the 50 Cent coming at 145dB from the Cavalier next to him while stuck in construction traffic. <---a.k.a. "Last Wednesday in Dan's Life"

I was just being facetious about the S2K being silly, I LOVE that car. It is one of the best all-around sports car I've ever driven. I'll be racing it in SCCA Solo2 next season so we'll see how good of a pilot I am... And if you were going to park the S2K in your lawn, you should definitely get a trailer hitch for it and attach your new bass boat "Git-R-Done III". That would rock El T's world!

[mtnbkr]

Face it, Fatboy, they're panding to the dominant element of society, people like... well, like your wife!

Pshaw.  She laughs at those faux SUVs more than I do.  Shortly after we bought the 4Runner, she got blocked in at some store.  Rather than wait patiently for the offender to return, she drove the 4Runner over the curb, over several feet of median, and onto the road.

Chris

[Felonious Monk/Fignozzle]

Honda hit it out of the park with Civic, Accord, and CR-V.
All are bland, spiceless, stone-cold reliable, and strictly urban/suburban vehicles.

This is what Honda is good at.

The Ridgeline is an interesting design at first glance, and unibody is PERFECT for the urban canyons between high-rises, and the ridgelines above the Soccer Complex.  The really tough guys of the AYSO league might even wow everyone by driving it onto the grass beside the field to unload the goalie gear occasionally.

Perception is reality; all of these urbanites are living vicariously through the advertisers, and $27k is a small price for an Opthalmologist to pay to pretend he knows his way around a horse paddock or a field of Timothy.  

It all goes back to the Montessori school he went to growing up-- "Look at Evan, you guys! He's a cowboy!  Can you write us a report about cowboys, Evan?"

Evan (now aka Dr. Evan Weinstein) has been a cowboy ever since.
And his trusty steed is his Honda Ridgeline. :puke:

[BozemanMT]

it's Fugly
Maybe beyond Fugly
it's so Fugly it makes the Avalanche look good
That's Fugly

Triple Bagger at least.

[w turner]

The Ridgeline has it's place.  Like a few other people hae said, most 4wd's these days never see any time off of asphalt, and most 2wd's don't haul anything more strenuous than a couple of kids and some sports equipment.  This is marketed directly toward people like that who occasionally need an open bed for convenience, but aren't towing aything heavier than a jet ski or two.  

Would I buy one?  For my wife maybe.  The styling is no worse than the Avalanche abomination and it will handle the rough terrain on the interstate just fine for probably around 250K miles or so.  That $27K price tag is more than enough to drive me away though......WTH were they thinking?

What Honda should do is develop a economy line of real pickups about the size of the Dodge Dakota.  Smaller than a full-size, big for a mid-size.  Give it vinyl or cheap cloth seats, rubber floors, and integrated bed liner 4 or 6 cylinder options with a solid rear axle and no luxury items.  Sell them for $13-$15K depending on tranny and engine.  With Honda reliability, they sould sell a million of them, especially in fleet sales.  Fleet sales are what allowed the F150 to claim the title as most popular vehicle for so many years.


W

[doczinn]

That's my dream.

[Harold Tuttle]

theres a bunch of interesting small pickups in Australia

some are more interesting than others:
http://www.fpv.com.au/cars/f6-tornado/overview/overview.aspx
http://www.drive.com.au/Editorial/ArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=9764&vf=18

hello:

[K Frame]

"Rather than wait patiently for the offender to return, she drove the 4Runner over the curb, over several feet of median, and onto the road."

And right into the back of anoher car...

[Sylvilagus Aquaticus]

Yeah, the Aussies have always had weird yet interesting vehicles. I recall seeing photos of 1940 Ford coupes with pickup beds from the factory. The El Camino's illegitemate children are alive and well below the Tropic of Capricorn.

However, at 51K. Au.D I'd home the exchange rate is about 2 to 1 US. Too bad emissions specs keep little diesels out of the US.  I could handle me a whole bunch of Toyota Hilux Crewcab.

Regards,
Rabbit.