2022 Honda Ridgeline vs 2023 RAM 1500

Honda isn’t known for pickup trucks, but that means it brings a different perspective to the genre. The 2022 Honda Ridgeline is like no other pickup on the market.

The Ridgeline isn’t just being different for the sake of being different, either. It uses the same unibody construction that gives crossover SUVs greater refinement than traditional models to offer increased comfort and better on-road handling than most pickups.

Since the Ridgeline’s debut, the Hyundai Santa Cruz and Ford Maverick have applied the unibody concept to smaller compact pickups, creating a new niche, but the Honda is a larger vehicle that competes with existing midsize pickups like the Ford Ranger, Jeep Gladiator, Nissan Frontier, Toyota Tacoma, and Chevrolet Colorado/GMC Canyon twins.

The Ridgeline debuted for the 2006 model year and the current second-generation version dates back to the 2017 model year. It got a facelift for 2021, so it carries over to 2022 essentially unchanged. In Canada, trim levels include the base Ridgeline Sport, midlevel EX-L and Touring, and the range-topping Black Edition, which is what we sampled for this review.

Do you remember when pickup trucks were used only by construction workers and gardeners? They were work machines, meant to have scratched beds, a cab full of McDonald’s wrappers, and a big dent on the tailgate from an unfortunate run-in with a telephone pole.

Not anymore. Today’s trucks give luxury vehicles a run for their money, with fancy features and ridiculous amounts of technology. Today we’re looking at the 2023 Ram 1500. This truck hasn’t gotten a major update since 2019, and while it still holds its own next to the offerings from Ford, Chevrolet and Toyota, the others are catching up quickly.