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Dogcars: Road-testing the Honda Ridgeline
By Gina Spadafori
March 18, 2007
The Honda Ridgeline was introduced a couple years ago to great reviews, and it deserved every one of then. The truck is solid, comfortable, adaptable, rugged and good-looking.
But a great dogcar? That depends.
If you ask my young retriever, you’d get an enthusiastic “yes.” Although you’d think a dog who loves to go anywhere, anytime doesn’t really care what vehicle he jumps into, in fact young Woody is does seem to show preference. And he loved the Ridgeline. Something about the size, width and support of the rear bench seat just suited him to a T.
For casual riding with belted in with a harness seat belt, Woody’s ride suits me, too. Lift up the rear bench seat and you can fit one large dog crate in there, safely and comfortably. (Depending on the size of the crates, you might have to remove the seat entirely.) That’s makes the Ridgeline fine for one large dog — or a couple of small ones– and not a lot of mud.
But add another retriever and a day of field training, and the situation gets a little muddier, figurative and literally. You couldn’t put two large crates butt-to-butt in the space left by the folded up or removed rear bench seat, and you probably wouldn’t want to let the mud-puppies ride on the seats themselves, even belted up for safety. That means you’d either be looking at putting two crates in the Ridgeline’s truck bed, or, ideally, after-marketing a shell to provide shelter from the elements. Probably fine for anything but extreme weather on the hot or cold side.
I tend to hesitate to recommend any vehicle that needs a lot of aftermarket adjustments to make it as a dog car — why bother, with so many ideal choices? But the Ridgeline has so much to offer that it’s tempting, really tempting. It’s just an incredibly comfortable truck, with smooth car-like ride. It’s fun to drive, responsive to handle and easy to get around with in city or suburb. Away from civilization, its four wheel-drive is more than adequate, as is its ground clearance. Bargo space is a little compromised by its four-door status, but there’s more than enough for most situation.
The deep rubber matting made post-river run clean up pretty easy, too.
The price ranges from $28K to $35K, and the 4WD tester reported fuel efficiency of 16/21.
With three active retrievers who live to be muddy and the hot California climate to deal with, the Ridgeline isn’t going to be the dogcar for me. But I wouldn’t rule it out for others, and it’s well worth consideration for fewer or smaller dogs. You’ll enjoy it, and if Woody’s any indication, so will your dog.
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I think this dogmobile review is an idea whose time has come!
One suggestion: I think how many dogs and crates that can fit in a dogmobile is one key criterion. Of course, size of dog and crate is a factor but it w/d be helpful to have a numerical rating in each dogmobile review of carrying capacity based on a standard crate size (for example, what crate size do you use for your labs?).
I have 3 German shepherd’s dogs that spend long periods of time in their crate while training and so far I have found that the only vehicles big enough are full-size pickup trucks and mini-vans. I find that a Chevy Suburban sized SUV is just not acceptable given its environmental footprint.
Comment by Harry — March 27, 2007 @ 3:25 pm
Our two golden retrievers think the Ridgeline is a great dog vehicle.
They love the wide bench seat in the back, the great view all around, and that the windows roll down enough to stick their heads out. They also appreciate the running board to step up an into the back. They’re 5-1/2 and 7, so still spry enough to step up in, hopefully that lasts a long time.
In the summer, one of them love to rest her head on the console, which means she’s hogging the A/C vent from her sister. We push her away, but she loves the cool air on her neck and doesn’t understand the concept of sharing. :-)
We found a heavy-duty, double-layer dog cloth that does a great job keeping the back seat clean. My wife found large plastic clips that we attach to the childseat hooks, which does a great job holding the cloth up. I just wish we could find an over-sized heavy-duty cover, as the back of the seat is taller than most vehicles.
We almost never kennel them, but one would fit in the back with the seat raised. If I had to kennel them for a ride, I’d probably put the kennels in the truck bed and hold them in place with the tie-down hooks. They’ve ridden for short, slow rides in the bed on our property and love it.
They enjoy riding in our Honda CRV too, but seem to prefer the Ridgeline, probably because that’s what we pull our camper with. So they know the truck can mean more fun than the CRV! :-)
Comment by Stew — April 20, 2007 @ 11:50 am