My family and my husband's family have alway bought GM vehicles. After a bad expierence with a Montana, I started looking at Honda. I bought a CR-V earlier this year and my husband snickered at my "Jap Car".
When it was time for him to trade in his Blazer, he looked at the Avalanche (nice ride, but less than perfect safety ratings and no available side curtain airbags), Tundra (way too big for our needs), Tacoma (very "jumpy" ride") and briefly at the Colorado (we needed more passenger space). He didn't need the traditional full size truck. He owns a hardware store and delivers salt to our customers. He never goes off road or tows. Since this was to be our primary family vehicle, we wanted lots of passenger space and most importantly, we wanted something safe. The Ridgeline fit our needs perfectly.
We are getting about 23 mpg (no towing and no a/c at this time of year). My only complaint is that the steering wheel sits too close to the dash for my taste. We used the "trunk" constantly and the duel action tailgate is really nice. I didn't like the looks of the truck at first, but they have grown on me. This is certainly not a truck for everybody, but I'm glad it was an option when it was time for us to buy a new vehicle.
