Despite its 3.5-liter, 247-horsepower V6 engine and a curb weight just shy of 4,500 pounds, the 2006 Honda Ridgeline offers decent punch off the line and good response for passing on the highway. Only when loaded down with passengers and/or gear does the truck begin to feel sluggish, and yes, on hills with hundreds of pounds of payload the Ridgeline quickly spends its head of steam. But for the majority of the light-duty tasks it is asked to perform, the V6 is powerful enough, and it features a pleasantly sporty exhaust note when it’s all revved up.

Just in case you need to hook 5,000 pounds of trailer up to the Ridgeline’s rump, it comes standard with pre-wiring for a 4- and 7-pin connection, an automatic transmission cooler, an oil cooler, a power steering cooler, dual radiator fans, and a special air intake system for better performance in hot weather. There’s no tow mode for the transmission, but the automatic kicks down with verve for passing and operates unobtrusively otherwise, though, as with Honda automatics in the Civic and Odyssey, we had trouble finding “drive” and “reverse” due to vague detents between gears. Our California test truck averaged 16.3 mpg in mixed driving, just more than the EPA city rating of 16 and nowhere near the EPA highway rating of 21, but that’s still better than most 4WD pickups in the compact and full-size segments.

Our trip to the desert near California’s Lake Elsinore proved that the 2006 Honda Ridgeline is no rock-hopper. Its all-wheel-drive system is called VTM-4 (Variable Torque Management), and it automatically adjusts power delivery depending on traction conditions, sending as much as 70 percent of the engine torque to the rear wheels as necessary. When four-wheeling, a “lock” mode ensures a 50/50 power split for maximum traction, but it only works when the Ridgeline’s automatic is placed in the lowest possible gear.

Thanks to a lack of low-range gearing, meager approach, breakover, and departure angles, and a modest 8.2-inch ground clearance, we could traverse only the easy and a few medium difficulty trails at the Wildomar Off-Highway Vehicle Park. However, we should point out that the Ridgeline managed to complete one somewhat difficult section, which could make your average Jeep Grand Cherokee owner squeamish, with only a little scraping and wheelspin.