In the case of the reinvented Honda Ridgeline Pickup, its latest well earned industry accolade is a ‘one of a kind.’ According to Honda-Torque News and others, 2017 Honda Ridgeline is the first pickup in Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) history to receive the highest available crash safety rating.
As for me, I like the 2nd generation Ridgeline for cabin comfort, decent road handling and control, as well as a measurable off-road, all-terrain capability — when equipped with all-wheel-drive, and Honda’s exclusive push button electronic engaged variable traction drive mode.
As I recall from my time behind the wheel of Honda’s most surprising offering, available in front and all-wheel-drive equipped models. Read my latest Ridgeline drive review here.
What do NSX, Accord and Civic have in common?
Some how I missed it! Back on December 8, Honda announced the addition of two epic Indycar drivers to the Rolex 25 Hour Acura NSX GT-3 Car. My good buddy Graham Rahal joins Ryan-Hunter Reay teams up with Michael Shank Racing and Honda Performance Development behind the wheel of the all new factory NSX platformed NSX GT-3 car similar to Acura’s choice for the 2017 Pirelli World Challenge Race Series. Take a moment to read my Honda-Torque News update here.
I took a hot-lap or two with Graham earlier in 2016 — damn near lost my lunch, thank you Graham.
In other Honda racing updates: We find rising racing star Shea Holbrook, and team driver Jason Fichter expanding their Honda Accord team efforts for 2017 with the edition of PWC winner Tom O’Gorman and a H.P.D partnered 2017 Civic Si to Shea Racing. With 3 cars on the track in 2017, Shea Racing will be a team to recon with.
I further look forward to reporting on RealTime Racing as they take on the GT class in 2 HPD equipped and Acura factory co-built NSX GT-3 cars. Reportedly approaching 600+ horsepower, rear-wheel drive and track sticky contenders, 2017 should be a winning year for P.D. Cunningham and the RealTime Racing Team.
