See Photos of the Honda Rugged Open Air Vehicle Concept

Today it's ready to rip up the raw earth inside Honda's Proving Grounds in Cantil, California. We've been granted three laps around one of the facility's many off-road courses, one usually used to develop side-by-side UTVs, dirt bikes, and Honda's other powersports products.

Honda would like us to believe the inspiration for the ROAV was its rugged Pioneer 1000 side-by-side, but the truth is that Honda engineer John Barlow simply missed his 1999 Mazda MX-5 Miata.

Barlow, along with Tony Gloriosa and Yousuf Riad, pitched the idea for the ROAV in one of Honda's internal idea contests. It was a hit, and a plan was struck to build the vehicle in coordination with Honda's Powersports division using as many existing components as possible. A "crusher" Ridgeline was secured for parts, along with a new body-in-white, which was shipped from Honda's Lincoln, Alabama, assembly plant before the pillars and roof were welded into place. It's basically just a floor pan, the engine compartment structure, the firewall, and the bed.

Pressing the ROAV's engine start button on the dash does not conjure thoughts of a big-time desert racer. There's no thundering V-8 rumble or lumpy idle.

Instead, the Ridgeline's untouched 3.5-liter V-6 fires without drama and settles into a mild purr. Barlow and company did fabricate a dual exhaust system with tubular mufflers and oval pipes, which look awesome dumping just ahead of the truck's rear tires.

It may be louder than stock, but it isn't going to wake the neighbors. "It's not to be babied, but it's not to be fully off-roaded either," Barlow says before our first lap. We agree to slowly roll over the track's massive jumps, although we're free to hammer the ROAV down its short straights and banked corners.

His concern is understood. The truck's all-wheel-drive system, six-speed automatic, and suspension are all stock Ridgeline fare. There's no additional wheel travel or articulation. The factory springs have been painted red and the dampers are old prototype units found lying around the shop. Barlow admits he has no idea about their specs for rebound and compression.

The beefier stance is courtesy of a two-inch lift for the minimal bodywork and 33-inch- tall LT305/60R-18 Dick Cepek Extreme Country off-road tires. Between the stock brakes and aftermarket wheels are two-inch wheel spacers.

Honda says there's 14.1 inches of ground clearance, but we measure 10.0 inches beneath the substantial aluminum front skid plate, which Honda fabricated, and just 8.5 inches beneath the truck's rear suspension arms. There is no additional protection for the plastic gas tank or the aluminum rear differential. "If we could have started from scratch, all of that would be gone," Barlow says waving his arm at the rear suspension.

Another concern is the truck's fragile front bodywork. The fenders and front fascia were 3D printed to emulate the look of the Pioneer 1000. Each is made up of several pieces bonded together and, like the truck's floor and dash, coated in spray-on bedliner. The bedsides are steel.

Despite its sparse appearance, the ROAV weighs just 250 pounds less than a stock Ridgeline, the last of which we had on our scales weighed in excess of 4400 pounds.

The truck is well-composed, and the chassis feels solid over the track's first series of ruts. The hood and front fenders flap around as the suspension bounces over the loose terrain, but nothing appears to be ready to fall off. The steering is light and quick, and there's plenty of traction from the big off-road tires.

The ROAV's doors, with their plastic red panels, as well as the headlights, taillights, and steering wheel are sourced from the side-by-side. The new bodywork and lift also increase the Ridgeline's angles of approach (34 degrees), departure (27 degrees) and breakover (27 degrees) considerably.

One last cinch of my shoulder belts, and I lay into all of the Ridgeline V-6's 280 horsepower and toss the truck into the track's first right-hander, which leads to a massive table-top jump. The dust is flying, but the acceleration is tame.

With the Ridgeline's all-wheel-drive system in Sand mode, 70 percent of the torque is sent to the rear wheels and its rear differential is electronically locked.

But most of the weight is still over the truck's nose, and there's considerable understeer in corners.

Pushing the red ROAV Mode button to the left of the steering wheel activates a custom drive setting that sends even more of the torque to the back wheels and disables the stability control system and ABS—making the truck much more fun to slide around.