A big part of the promise of a unibody pickup truck, as opposed to the traditional body-on-frame designs favored by most every manufacturer, is a lighter curb weight?which should lead to better fuel economy. The first-generation Honda Ridgeline utilized a unibody design, but somehow missed the fuel-economy mark. That truck’s successor, the 2017 Honda Ridgeline, on the other hand, lives up to its billing, if only just. The mid-size unibody truck’s EPA fuel economy estimates have been released, and they sit near the top of the class.

With all-wheel drive, the new Ridgeline is EPA-rated at 18 mpg in the city and 25 mpg on the highway, numbers that sit above the 17/24 mpg salute given the six-cylinder Chevrolet Colorado 4×4 and the 18/23 mpg earned by the Toyota Tacoma V-6. For the first time, the Ridgeline will be offered with front-wheel drive, too. This is the most efficient Ridgeline configuration, as you’d expect, and is EPA-rated at 19 mpg city and 26 mpg highway. Again, this tops the six-cylinder mid-size competition, although the two-wheel-drive Colorado V-6 matches the Honda’s highway figure, but not its city or combined numbers. We’re comparing to the V-6 models because the Ridgeline doesn’t offer a four-cylinder engine. Chevrolet and Toyota do, but Chevy’s base four-cylinder is offered only with rear-wheel drive. The two-wheel-drive, four-cylinder Colorado with the more efficient automatic transmission beats the Rid...