I'm kind of surprised Uhaul rented you anything useful with all their asinine restrictions. Not surprised at ALL that the Ridgeline performed excellently!
Recently our Honda Ridgeline acted as a support vehicle for the Smoky Mountain Tour, a one-week mountain road tour in North Carolina hosted by our sister magazine, Classic Motorsports. Meanwhile, we spotted a 1991 318is at a repair shop in Highlands, North Carolina. We find E30-chassis BMWs hard to resist, and this one year only 318is with a rust-free body and some engine damage was a must-buy for only $450.
Thankfully, since were already armed with our Ridgeline, all we needed was a trailer and we could get this beauty home. We procured a U-Haul one-way rental trailer in nearby Franklin, North Carolina, and loaded the E30 on the trailer for the eight hour trip home.
While we had towed with our Ridgeline before, this would be our longest trip yet. Quite frankly we were blown away with how well our Ridgeline towed this 2700-pound car. While U-Haul recommends that you not exceed 55 mph, we can tell you that at times we were running nearer to (and even above) 80 mph with absolutely no drama. The active cruise control and lane departure guidance system make the new Ridgeline our favorite tow vehicle for loads weighing less than 5000 pounds. We got over 13 mpg towing at an average of nearly 80 mph, and barely noticed the load behind us.
On this trip, the odometer on our Honda Ridgeline crept up on the 20,000-mile mark. before the trip, we put new wiper blades on the truck and changed the oil for the second time, and installed a new oil filter.
The oil filter housing is on the right front of the engine and you can change the oil and reset the computer in less than half an hour, without jacking the truck up. This is an easy one to perform home oil changes on.
Yup, still in love with our perfectly reliable, long-term Honda Ridgeline, and are presently making plans to buy the truck and keep it perhaps forever at the end of our long-term loan.
Watch the pages of Grassroots Motorsports for the full project car series. Subscriptions start at just $10.
I'm kind of surprised Uhaul rented you anything useful with all their asinine restrictions. Not surprised at ALL that the Ridgeline performed excellently!
"While U-Haul recommends that you not exceed 55 mph, we can tell you that at times we were running nearer to (and even above) 80 mph with absolutely no drama."
I don't think this is precaution has anything to do with the tow vehicle, I think they are worried about the last yahoo that rented the trailer and loaded up a 10,000# truck and blew out the bearings and brakes.
pinchvalve wrote: "While U-Haul recommends that you not exceed 55 mph, we can tell you that at times we were running nearer to (and even above) 80 mph with absolutely no drama." I don't think this is precaution has anything to do with the tow vehicle, I think they are worried about the last yahoo that rented the trailer and loaded up a 10,000# truck and blew out the bearings and brakes.
Try renting a U hall trailer with an Explorer. It is the tow vehicle that they are looking at when renting.
13MPG towing? I would have expected a lot better with that light of a load. I get 14 with an old fashioned V8 and heavy steel and wood trailer.
Uhaul trailers are exceptionally heavy for their size. I'll agree that the towing MPG isn't stellar, but I also think there are basically no Ridgeline buyers who buy the Ridgeline primarily for towing. The empty mpg also probably whoops the ass all up and down of most trucks that might get slightly better towing mpg.
The empty trailer weighed 2200 pounds according to the sticker on the tongue, so I wouldn't call it light. I'd call it 100 pounds shy of the truck's maximum capacity.
In reply to Vigo:
Do we really want to go down that path again? There are plenty of light trucks that whoop the ridgeline in towing and empty mpg. We just finished 22mpg round trip with 4 days of small island driving last month in an 11-yo example with an archaic 4spd auto. If real gas still existed that would have been 24.
I was merely making hte point I expected it to do better than that. With direct injection, 154 gears (yes, I'm exaggerating for comedic effect) and modern trickery I thought it would be better. Then again, the new GM's/Fords/Dodges aren't either. MPG still doesn't seem to be the goal like it was at one point. Probably why we'll keep this one for many more years to come.
TOM: My trailer tips in at 1800 empty with no ramps (almost 100lbs for the pair, steel and 2x12's 8' long). Forte was 2800, plus a week's worth of tools, supplies and stuff. I imagine loaded weight would have been very similar. I am jealous of the 6spds though.
Darn it, guys ... you're continued showing of pics of the Ridgeline is making is REAL hard for me to continue resisting dumping the GTI and S10, and getting one of those as a two for one vehicle replacement! Keep up the good work, please ... 
But, but,..... it isn't a real truck! (holds breath, stomps feet and dreams of rolling coal).
Note: this isn't aimed at any one person.
Do we really want to go down that path again? There are plenty of light trucks that whoop the ridgeline in towing and empty mpg. We just finished 22mpg round trip with 4 days of small island driving last month in an 11-yo example with an archaic 4spd auto. If real gas still existed that would have been 24.
Was I here for the last one? I don't remember there even being an argument considering that on Fuelly even filtering down to 4.8L only there's a 5-6mpg difference in the Ridgeline's favor in average reported MPG. I personally am sure that there are some people who get 22mpg average in a Sierra vs the more common 17. The thing is, those are the same people who would also be getting 27mpg avg in a Ridgeline instead of the more common 22. I don't indulge in apples to oranges comparisons where people say 'epa ratings for my vehicle are crap because i vastly exceed them but i'm going to compare my #s to other vehicles epa ratings anyway'. It's a non-starter. Add 2mpg to my stated Ridgeline numbers if we're talking 'real gas', btw.
But since we're on tangents that the Ridgeline owners in the thread give zero E36 M3s about, how about we compare the Ridgeline's mpg to whichever 11y/o GM pickup could also do 0-60 in 6.4 seconds? Were there any, besides the Silverado SS that the epa rated as THIRTEEN mpg average? I mean, add that Bobzilla factor and 'real gas' and we're up to like 18, but that's still a loss.
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