NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
The Honda Ridgeline is very strange. Its appearance is rather odd. But under its skin, it's even weirder than it looks.
It is, of course, a pick-up truck. You can tell that by looking at it because it has a large area in the back where there are no seats, no windows, and no roof. But it differs from other trucks in some fundamental ways
Pick-ups of virtually all shapes and sizes have a cab and a bed, which are built as separate pieces and attached to a strong, simple metal frame. (If you get up close, you can actually see daylight between the cab and bed of most pick-ups.)
The Ridgeline has a uni-body design instead of body-on-frame. In a body-on-frame design, the body isn't meant to do much more than shelter the vehicle's occupants while the frame supports most of the weight. In a uni-body design, the body does double-duty, providing shelter as well as supporting weight and preventing twisting over bumps and such.
The Ridgeline does have a frame, as other trucks do. But the Ridgeline's frame is an add-on integrated into what is, essentially, a strengthened uni-body. Honda claims that make its truck 20 times more resistant to twisting and 2.5 times more resistant to bending than rivals.
The structure also allows the Ridgeline to have independent rear suspension, instead of the more common front-wheel independent suspension.
With independent suspension, each front wheel is connected individually to the frame. If one wheel hits a bump, the other wheel can roll undisturbed.
Traditional pick-ups' rear wheels, however, are mounted on a long axle that connects the two wheels. This is called a solid axle, or live axle, design. To absorb bumps, each end of the axle is connected to the frame via a leaf spring -- a stack of long thin metal bars connected to the truck's frame at each end and to the axle in the center. The bars bend to absorb impacts.
It's a simple set-up and it's proven tough, with a history dating back to the hard-working horse-drawn wagons guys called "teamsters" used to drive.
Independent suspension systems, which offer a smoother ride and better handling than solid axles, can be strong, too. But making them strong isn't easy or cheap.
Honda claims that the Ridgeline can haul and tow loads as heavy as those pulled by many other trucks. But the Ridgeline rides and handles more like a tall car than a pick-up thanks to its sophisticated suspension system
An independent suspension requires a rigid body structure, otherwise the suspension can get a little too independent. That's one reason the Ridgeline's complex body structure is so important. (Honda had no body-on-frame vehicles in its product line on which to base its first truck. For Honda, it made more sense to start with a uni-body design and make it work as a truck.)
Lock it up
Following this line of engineering thought a little further, we come to the trunk.
That's right. The trunk.
The Ridgeline has a lockable trunk in the rear part of the bed. To get into it, you raise a cover that lies flat in the floor of the bed. The trunk rides under the bed, in space made available by the Ridgeline's independent rear suspension.
But getting into that trunk would be a real pain if you had to lean across an open tailgate. So the Ridgeline has a unique and complex tailgate. It can be opened downward like any other pick-up tailgate, but also by opening to the side like a long car door. That means it's out of the way for reaching things in the trunk or farther back in the bed.
Who's buying?
With everything it has going for it -- car-like ride and handling, plus the ability to haul big stuff -- it's tempting to think that Honda might have a hit on their hands beyond the mere 50,000 units they expect to sell.
After all, except for its relatively short bed -- five feet compared to six or more for a full-sized truck -- it can do most things a full sized truck can do. Plus, it rides and handles better, too.
"It makes, in my view, a terrific car with a bed," said Jim Hossick with automotive marketing consultants AutoPacific.
So why isn't this thing going to turn the whole truck world on its head?
For one thing, the truck world just isn't meant for nice guys like this.
"Image is important and pickup buyers like to think of themselves as macho," said Hossick.
The Ridgeline is a Honda, after all. "Tough guy" is just not part of the Honda brand DNA, as marketers like to say.
Still, Honda will likely sell every one they can build.
"There's a waiting list now at most of our dealers," said Mark McReady for CarsDirect, a Web site that sells cars through selected dealers.
Even so, don't expect other truck-makers to start including trunks, independent suspension and two-way tailgates on their models. That stuff's just too pricey and too fancy for traditionalists, anyway.
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To find out what the Ridgeline's really like to drive, read Lawrence Ulrich's road test.
