The Ram 1500 TRX Is the Top of the Pickup Truck Food Chain
It’s wonderful because it’s inexcusable. And it’s inexcusable because it’s wonderful. It’s a half-ton pickup powered by a supercharged 6.2-liter V-8 that thumps out 702 horsepower and roars pure menace through twin five-inch-diameter matte black exhaust tips. It’s a crew cab, four-wheel drive, off-road truck that Ram claims weighs in at 6350 pounds, but thunders to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds. The formal name is Ram 1500 TRX, but civilians will call it T-Rex.
It’s a 2021 model because a year as crazy, crummy, and crappy as 2020 doesn’t deserve a truck like this. The basic idea isn’t much different from that of Ford’s F-150 SVT Raptor. That is, to elongate the suspension arms and springs for additional travel, add sophisticated off-road shocks, and then bolt on a set of all-terrain tires so aggressive most terrains will tremble at their approach. All that is then covered with bulging fenders, a scooped hood, and every tougher-than-tough styling cliché known to uncivilized humanity. Ford makes a scandalous amount of money on every Raptor it sells, and Ram is surely expecting T-Rex to do the same thing.
The star is the SRT don’t-call-it-Hellcat 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi V-8. Familiar since the introduction of the 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat, it’s not the world’s most sophisticated engine—it has pushrods bumping two valves per cylinder and the block is medieval cast iron. But that supercharger exaggerates all its best attributes and obliterates any concerns about its limitations. Fuel consumption? Yes, it does. The EPA mileage ratings on this Ram are hilarious: 10 mpg in the city, 14 mpg on the highway and 12 combined. Drive it hard, the way it begs to be driven, and single-digit fuel economy is inevitable.
The supercharged engine doesn’t start as much as startle itself to life. There are no resonators in the exhaust system; Ram is going for sensory overload and operatic spectacle. The automaker explicitly aimed to produce enough sound to penetrate the cab while somehow not inviting drone strikes from regulators—without resorting to cheats like artificial engine noise pumped in through the sound system. The truck's five-horsepower deficit compared to Dodge Hellcats with the same engine comes down to different exhaust manifolds and the long path from combustion chamber to tailpipe. While the TRX's mufflers are almost vestigial, they can't compensate for long pipes.
The low burbling idle and beautifully nasty growl with speed are unadulterated big V-8. Throw in a bit of supercharger whine and the result is something that sounds like it’s constantly challenging the rest of the world to a street race. And it’s not worried about running out of street.
The transmission channeling the 650 lb-ft of peak torque is the ZF 8HP95 eight-speed automatic. It’s the same German-made transmission installed in FCA’s Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk (which uses the same engine) and the Rolls-Royce Ghost Black Badge (which does not). The 8HP series is likely the world’s most widely used transmission family, and for good reason: The shifts are strong, manual gear selection by paddle is quick, and they’ve all been pretty bulletproof. And as in that Rolls-Royce, it works unobtrusively.
Gone is the rotary shifter found in the other Ram 1500s, replaced by the traditional center console lever out of the Grand Cherokee, slightly redecorated. It’s only an electronic switch, but the shifter feels meaty and serious. So suspend your disbelief and enjoy the drama.
Where the dashboard rotary shifter once lived is a control panel for the four-wheel drive system, and a button marked with an adorable representation of an NHRA-style "Christmas Tree" starting light. This engages launch control.
Just above those buttons is another suite of controls that scrolls through the T-Rex’s eight different computerized driving modes. "Sport," with a tight suspension, 30/70 front to rear torque split and quick shifts for use on pavement. "Snow," because winters exist. "Custom" for the owner with hours to kill tweaking the torque split, steering feel and a bunch of other parameters using the big touchscreen at the dash center. "Mud/Sand" for those times when the driver has gone somewhere to which it wasn’t a good idea to go. "Rock" for when things get craggy. "Tow" because the truck is equipped with a trailer hitch. And "Auto" for those times when the truck is likely to make better decisions than the driver.
What’s missing is a "Conspicuous Cruising" mode for strolling along Ocean Boulevard in Miami or Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles and letting the exhaust roar to attract admirers. After all, that will be a major use of this truck as well.
The TRX dash and center console contains a tsunami of controls for everything from trailer hitching to crawl control speed to ventilation. There’s a learning curve to comprehend all of them and an even longer curve to figure out what works best for any particular owner’s desires. But it also means that T-Rex may offer more positive driver control of both mechanical and electronic systems than any other vehicle that comes to mind. And there’s a heads-up display projected on the windshield to keep you from being too distracted by it all.
More than 700 horsepower will grab a lot of attention and generate a lot of YouTube videos of flannel-clad guys standing in front of the truck giving the thumbs up. But the real achievement of the TRX lies in its chassis. Ram has extensively modified and reinforced the basic 1500 frame for this application, taking a leap beyond the Raptor formula by using new suspension attachment points to optimize the performance of the longer suspension links. The result is 11.8 inches of ground clearance, 13 inches of front suspension travel and 14 inches of travel in back.
This is a massive truck, and it drives like one. But when it’s asked to crawl over obstacles in low range, it’s precise, with easily modulated throttle application and well-weighted steering. When it’s asked to fly over dunes and whoops, it feels like it’s a 787. Much of the credit goes to the fact that the Ram 1500 already has the best suspension in its class, with coil springs in back rather than buckboard-spec leaf springs. More credit goes to the work of the Ram engineers in finding the right combination of bushings and spring rates.
Deserving a lion’s share of the glory, though, are the special Bilstein Black Hawk E2 remote-reservoir shock absorbers and the specific Goodyear Wrangler Territory 325/65LT18 tires. The combination of excellent damping and rebound management from those shocks, plus the grip and flexibility of these tires, elevate the T-Rex beyond other off-road oriented trucks. It may even be more capable and flexible than some vaunted SUVs that rove the planet.
Incidentally, the optional wheels on the TRX carry a trim ring around their circumference. That ring can be replaced with a true bead-lock ring, available as an accessory through Mopar.
With running lights burning in its functional hood scoop, and the avoirdupois of the flared fenders and those big mirrors pushing it out to 88 inches wide (making the running lights legally necessary), this isn’t the sort of truck that blends in. It’s the sort of thing that takes an alpha personality to fully enjoy. It’s the truck parked at the firehouse because the captain put in a thousand hours of overtime this year and wanted to self-reward.
It’s also the most expensive Ram 1500 model by a lot. Including an extortionate $1695 destination charge, the TRX starts at $71,690. Yes, it has a lot of things the other Rams don’t. And leather covers the well-shaped seats and stuff. But that’s $13,945 more than a Ram Limited Crew Cab 4x2’s base price. Hit the option sheet and it’s easy to have a TRX’s total chit scream past $90,000.
As wonderfully inexcusable as this truck is, is it a triumph for internal combustion trucks? As the TRX goes on sale, GM is showing off a 1000-hp all-electric Hummer that performs tricks the TRX can’t, and presents itself as the harbinger of tomorrow. The fight for the future of truck excess is afoot, and Ram has thrown down the first gauntlet.
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