“This” specifically being Honda, trying to make the Ridgie more Off-roady. I mean, on the one hand, it’s a little silly but so is the average consumer so I guess...point taken Honda.
Truthfully its got enough for what most people want. The 3.5 has enough power combined with the 9 speeds decent ratio to do some fairly hard routes. It’s not going to be a Tacoma, and it’s better for not trying (though they clearly are with the HPD treatment...gotta have a 3 character off-road trim to play this game I guess). Honda should come out with a kit though, a level kit at least that has a real spring lift.
That being said, I think the 2-inch front and 1.5 rear spacer kits and bigger tires look alright
This image sucks...its literally the best one out there and I cleaned it up as best I could. I added the super important blue line of off-road worthiness and as you can see it passes in this configuration. (all the body is above the line drawn that goes through the center of the hubs).
With this new facelift, a good set of bigger tires, and a lift you can have a nice little truck for light-duty trail work.
For reference, with the 9 speed and 4.33 axle ratio is has a very decent 20.5:1 ratio. You can fit a 31.5 inch tire too with a lift and the i-VTM4 works pretty well in the dirt.