Excuse Honda for missing an excellent opportunity to improve upon Chevy’s Avalanche design by offering a mid-gate system that could expand the length of the cargo bed, and you’ll find that it is in the areas of storage and cargo that the 2006 Ridgeline excels. The interior is littered with storage trays, bins, and cubbies; all large, and most lined with a rubber mat for easy cleaning and to grip smaller objects and keep them in place. We particularly liked the exposed in-dash cubbies located in the passenger’s side of the dashboard, an area usually dedicated to thick-grained plastic or fake wood trim in other trucks. The Ridgeline’s glovebox is positively huge, and the giant center bin has a private storage box at the bottom. Even the door handles have integrated trays. Occupants enjoy two big cupholders in front, and four in the back.

Outside, the Honda Ridgeline’s steel-reinforced composite (SRC) cargo bed measures five feet long, and though you can carry longer items by poking them through the sliding rear window or driving with the tailgate dropped, neither solution is preferable to a GM-style mid-gate design that would extend the bed into the cabin. In case you’re wondering, the bed is 20.7 inches deep, 49.5 inches wide at the wheel wells, and can carry up to 1,100 pounds. It even has indents molded into the SRC to accommodate motorcycle wheels.

Under the bed is Honda’s ingenious, and class-exclusive, locking trunk. The trunk is bigger than you might think, able to hold a 72-quart cooler, three golf bags, or, if Tony Soprano is creative enough, a former “associate.” Use it as a “cooler” and you can drain fluids through the special plug at the bottom. Plus, four in-bed lights make loading and unloading in the dark a snap. Accessing the cargo bed using the dual-action tailgate is easy. You can drop the tailgate like a conventional truck for tailgate parties, loading heavy items, or carrying longer cargo. Or, you can swing the tailgate to the side to make use of the in-bed trunk.

If you need to protect your gear from the elements, you can stow up to 2.6 cubic feet of stuff underneath the standard 60/40-split folding rear seat. That’s not much, granted, so kick your passengers to the curb and pile as much as 41.4 cu.-ft. of stuff on top of the folded rear seat. Or, you can flip the back bottom cushion up with one-hand and slide a mountain bike inside. Honda even installed a plastic groove in the floor perfect for holding the tires.