Honda Ridgeline is a solid ride, and sized just right

Mark Glover’s AutoGlo car reviews also can be seen in the Northern & Central California Cruisin’ News magazine published monthly out of Folsom, California.

Sacramento, California -- There's something to be said for driving a pickup truck that's not the size of a cargo jet.

Drivability?  You bet.  That's what you get in the Honda Ridgeline midsize pickup.  Specifically, my tester was the 2021 Honda Ridgeline AWD Sport.

It came with a 3.6-liter V-6 rated at 280 horsepower and 262 foot-pounds of torque, married to a nine-speed automatic transmission. With unibody construction and four-wheel independent suspension, the Ridgeline handled with all the smoothness of a well-tuned midsize sedan.

I quickly overcame my ingrained pickup truck timidity and commenced to whip the Ridgeline around like it was a BMW 3 Series.  Tight parking lots were not a concern either as the Ridgeline zipped through tight spots and seemingly snapped itself into parking spots without my help.

Freeway cruising was a quiet breeze, and when asked, the V-6 dug in and tackled uphill runs with virtually no complaints under the hood.

Fun to drive?  Check.

But this is still a pickup truck, so you get the convenience of that, albeit with a smaller cargo bed than you find on the big boys.

While the Ridgeline is a midsize, its wide stance enables the owner to stack four-foot-wide items in the bed between the wheel wells, and the standard, lockable In-Ben Trunk offers an additional 7.3 cubic feet of storage space under the bed floor.

Standard payload capacity is just shy of 1,600 pounds; towing capacity is 5,000 pounds.

My tester came in at a bottom line of $40,860, and that included a generous supply of standard safety, comfort and convenience features.  Notable perks included LED headlights/fog lights, power door mirrors, braking enhancements, tri-zone climate control and four-wheel disc brakes.

Did I mention that it looks good?  It truly does with some tweaks for 2021, including some nice sculpting cuts to the grille, front bumper and front fenders -- all of it riding on 18-inch alloy wheels and all-season tires. The tested Ridgeline sported "Radiant Red Metallic II" exterior paint, a stunningly bright contrast to the black interior.

Honda claims best-in-class safety ratings, including a max five stars overall in federal government crash tests.  Fuel mileage is so-so at 18 miles per gallon in the city and 24 mpg on the highway.

Granted, this is not the top-seeded truck for a typical work site.  You won't see TV commercials with tons of concrete and lumber being dropped into its bed (although I'm not sure that's a good way to treat a full-size pickup, either).

What you will see from a Ridgeline is practical-sized, comfortable daily driver capable of transporting sizable cargo, while looking right at home in a country club parking lot.