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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday March 5, 2008 - 29 Discover the innovative Honda Ridgeline By Rob Beintema OAKVILLE BEAVER Novelty has a short shelf life. But when radical design is based on problem solving and providing innovative answers, the result can still capture your attention long after the shine of newness wears off. As is the case with the Honda Ridgeline. It's been three years since Honda launched their take on the North American pickup truck. A take that was pooh-poohed in the industry as too wishy-washy for the hard core truck market. The pickup formula was, after all, already chiseled in stone ­ traditional body-onframe construction, separate cab and pickup box, heavy-duty axles for towing, basic rearwheel drive (also for towing) with maybe a four-wheel drive option for occasional offroad bushwhackers and snow-bound Northerners like us. Oh, and don't forget multiple body choices and multiple engine choices for the multiple customer classes from farmers to construction workers to weekend warriors to everyone else in between. Honda, instead, took a clean sheet approach to the pickup truck challenge, starting with the foundation of a closed-box unibody frame that combines the strength characteristics of a ladder frame with the handling and packaging advantages of a unibody design. Look, ma, no gap between the cab and pickup box. To this platform, they added a onechoice, transversely-mounted 3.5-litre VTEC V-6 engine, harnessing a respectable 247 hp and 245 lb-ft of torque. This J35A91 engine is mated to a five-speed electronically-controlled automatic transmission with power transferred through Honda's Variable Torque Management four-wheel drive sys- With its unibody construction and unique buttressed lines flowing from cab to cargo sides, the 2008 tem (VTM-4) that can send up to 70 percent Honda Ridgeline still sets a distinctive style in the pickup truck market. of power to the rear wheels but that, during normal cruising, operates mainly as, ye truck owners, more than three quarters of fort and, yes please, any storage innovations them in fact, rarely use their trucks to their possible. gods, front-wheel drive. Well, there's no shortage of either in And did I mention a four-wheel inde- full capabilities Rather, they use them for occasional trips Honda's version. Inside, the Ridgeline seats pendent suspension system instead of the normal load-lugging leaf springs on a live to gardening and home reno centres, haul- five in a comfy cabin with all the usual userfriendliness of Honda interior design. rear axle? Yikes. What the heck were they ing light loads, usually towing less than 5000 lb load recreational trailers and are Even the old-style column thinking? Well, what they were thinking was that, generally more concerned with passenger according to research, the majority of pickup priorities of elbow room and long haul comContinued on Page 31 Y OUNGS AUTOMOTIVE LTD. ' CALL FOR DETAILS TODAY! COME IN AND MAKE YOUR BEST DEAL ON A GOODYEAR OR DUNLOP TIRE AND GOODYEAR WILL SEND YOU A 10% REBATE 2002 VW Beetle GLS 2004 Nissan Sentra 1.8S 2002 Hyundai Accent GL GOODYEAR TIRE $ .10 EVENT ON NOW! 1 0 Auto Service SPECIALS Auto trans, leather $ sunroof, 51,000kms. 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