Several years ago, a friend loaned us a front-porch bench. It's iron and wood, heavy and awkward to carry. On a recent weekend, it was time to return the bench. Its owner, once a neighbor, now lives nearly 100 miles away.

With remarkable ease, my wife reconfigured the back seat arrangement of the new-look and more spacious 2005 Honda CR-V, and the cargo area opened into a flat and cavernous compartment. The bench is five- feet long, but with a little twist here and a turn there it fit l ...
Author: James Raia
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The Honda Ridgeline is Honda’s new pickup truck on the market. It uses Honda's unibody large vehicle platform, shared with the Acura MDX and Honda Odyssey. It is powered by an all aluminum 255 hp 3.5 L V6 coupled to a 5-speed automatic transmission with all wheel drive capable of towing 5000 lbs. The Ridgeline will be the first pickup truck with a fully-independent suspension.

Some of the more innovative features of the Ridgeline are its tailgate, which can fold down or hinge to the sid ...
Author: Stuart Simpson
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The trunk was open when one friend walked by and the hood was popped open when two other friends meandered by.

"If I took off my front wheel, OK maybe both wheels, I could get my bike in the trunk, no problem," one friend said. "That's a spacious trunk for a mid-sized car."

My two other friends were more impressed with the powerful and efficiently designed engine.

"Look where everything is; it's easy access, for sure," he said. "Even if you know nothing about cars, you can f ...
Author: James Raia
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