SPEAKER 1: Have you ever wondered
what it would be like to have 700 horsepower
under the hood of your car?
Doesn't really matter what you drive.
It could be an SUV, could be a sedan.
I mean, really if you've ever wondered
what 700 horsepower would be like under the hood
of everything, you could probably
work at the R&D department at Dodge, Jeep or RAM.
That's what I've been doing for the last few years.
First with the Challenger and the Charger Hellcat.
Then with the Grand Cherokee, Track Hawk.
Now the Durango SRT Hellcat.
And finally, what's next is this big bruiser here.
The RAM 1,500 TRX.
They're also calling it the T-Rex,
and there's a couple of Easter eggs we'll show you later.
It also gets the 6.2 liter supercharged
V8 that's under the hood of the Hellcat cars.
And it also gets more than 700 horsepower.
We're going to see how it performs in a pickup truck.
I mean, hey, why not put it in a Fiat 500?
We want to take a closer look at the RAM.
We want to see just how well it does on-road, off-road,
and what it's like to drive a 6,300 pound pickup
truck with that crazy V8 under the hood.
For more videos like this, click the Subscribe button below.
And to get a cash offer on your car today,
go to edmunds.com/sellmycar.
(MUSIC)
I know, I know.
It's got a Hellcat engine, but there
is so much more to this truck than just what's
under the hood.
There's a ton of stuff going on underneath.
For starters, it's a lot wider.
It's eight inches wider from fender
to fender than a standard RAM.
And it's got six inches of additional track,
plus these big 35-inch tires.
Up front, you've got 13 inches of suspension travel,
and back, 14 inches of suspension travel, all
brought to you by two and 1/2 inch Billstein shocks,
with remote reservoirs.
Now, RAM says all of this is there
because this truck needs to be able to sustain speeds
of over 100 miles an hour in the desert
and it weighs 6,300 pounds.
That's a tall task.
So with all those changes to suspension and tires,
it also makes some compromises.
So the standard RAM has a max tow rating of 12,750 pounds,
but this truck can tow 8,100 pounds.
Now, that's a big loss.
A 4,000 pound difference.
But it's still pretty capable.
And 8,100 pounds in the TRX is 100 pounds more
than the Raptor.
The payload capacity in this, while it's not
top of the class, is still impressive at 1,310 pounds,
and is 110 pounds more than the Raptor.
It sounds like they planned it that way.
It also has 11.8 inches of ground clearance.
More than the Raptor.
And it has 15 inch brakes, an inch more than the Raptor.
They planned it this way.
So does the TRX stack up against, well,
other RAMs, and other full-sized pickup truck competitors?
Absolutely.
It comes with all sorts of stuff that you
expect in the RAM 1,500, like this awesome 12-inch center
touchscreen.
It's our favorite in the segment,
and one of my favorites in any car really.
And there's these aluminum shift paddles which are fantastic.
They even break up in the middle so you still have access
behind the wheel to the volume controls
and the track controls behind the steering wheel
that we love from RAM so much.
It also comes with all sorts of cool tech.
For instance, in this 12-inch screen,
RAM has combined performance pages and off-road pages.
A first for them.
Putting the stuff that is in Hellcat vehicles,
in combination with the stuff that's in trail vehicles,
like Jeeps.
And also, this RAM 1,500 gets a new head
up display, which is a first for any RAM.
Plus there's a new 9.2 inch rear-view mirror screen.
In case there's a bunch of tall people sitting behind you,
you've got a screen there based on a camera in the bed.
It's pretty cool, and you only normally see
that on higher end luxury vehicles.
And if you really want to blast the tunes while you're
driving through the desert, this particular truck
has a 19-speaker Harman Kardon stereo system.
And there's lots of great details.
This is the high end TR2 trim, which means there's suede,
leather, and every TRX has this cool plate here
that has your VIN, how much horsepower the engine has,
and how many PSI the supercharger is putting out.
It really is a high end interior.
Now, let's quit talking about the suede and leather
and do what this truck was meant to do.
Go fast.
Let's go Jeff.
We're in a 700 horsepower pickup truck.
Clearly, it's going to have to have launch control.
Now, this is the same system that's
in the Challenger, the Charger, the Track Hawk,
we're assuming the Durango as well.
What you can do over here, is you
can set the launch control RPM.
And then, when you put it in drive,
which is what you should be in, it
gives you how many PSI of brake pressure.
So you want get over 1,200.
Then you mat the gas.
Let go of the brake.
And go.
And what the vehicle does is it actually deactivates
four of the cylinders while it's waiting for you to let off
the brake, because there's so much power that the brakes
can't hold this thing in place.
So we mat the brake.
Get 1,300, 1,400 PSI.
Hit the right foot and go.
Oh, listen to that whine.
Oh, it's moving and shaking.
Eighth mile over dirt.
Oh jeez, and I'm going.
80 miles an hour in that short period of time.
Wow.
That's fun.
That's real fun.
One of the reasons I love the Ram 1,500 so much,
is because it's comfortable.
The V6 is quiet.
Even the Hemi V8 is relatively muted.
This has a big whining supercharger.
It does a lot of work.
But it also sounds pretty good.
The exhaust isn't that loud.
The tires aren't that loud.
The supercharger is the loudest thing about this vehicle,
especially when you're on it.
Freeway on ramps are kind of fun.
Once you're on the highway, you've
still got RAM's coil spring suspension.
And while it's not as comfortable as a standard RAM
1,500, it is as comfortable as a RAM 2,500.
And what I mean by that is, it's kind of bumpy.
If you're going over an undulating surface,
it's not as comfortable as the standard RAM 1,500.
But you'd expect that with all that suspension travel
we talked about earlier.
It doesn't hide the fact that it's a high powered
off road vehicle.
This is the RAM T-Rex, and it makes no qualms about that.
But it's still, for what it is, a very comfortable, very
capable vehicle.
Going around corners, it doesn't load up as nicely
as the standard RAM.
It has a little bit more body roll.
And again, that's to be expected.
The sport mode I've found to be the most stable and most
enjoyable around corners, obviously.
Problematically, the sport steering is really heavy.
Artificially so.
But you can select in the custom drive
mode screens, the difference in steering,
and the difference in transmission,
and the difference in how you want your shocks to respond.
So really, this is a very customizable truck.
And you can get it set up however you want.
RAM claims that this 700 horsepower, 6,000 pound pickup
truck, will do 0 to 60 in 4.5 seconds.
And it'll do the quarter mile in 12.9 seconds
at 108 miles an hour.
And they say the top speed is limited to 118 miles an hour.
Why?
Because of the tires.
They had to make it off road capable enough for this
to be fun in the dirt and crawl up rocks,
but they also had to make it a compound that was good enough
to handle 700 horsepower.
And also it's 8 inches wider, so you kind of
have to be careful where your tires are going.
That supercharger whine is always fun.
At 70 miles an hour, though, the supercharger whine one
goes away.
And you just feel like you're inside of a RAM 1,500.
The materials are nice, the screen
is just as good as it is in any other RAM,
and, really, it's docile on the highway.
It's also got a great head-up display,
with my lane keep assist in front of me,
it's got adaptive cruise control that's actually
set to a pretty close following distance,
and the steering wheel doesn't wander
as much as it does in some other pretty off-road
capable vehicles.
Driving this thing on the highway,
I could see myself taking long road trips, no problem.
This truck is $91,000 and change, as equipped.
The base model of the TRX is around $71,000,
and you can option a TRX up to nearly $100,000.
Now, people that are aware of Hellcat engines
and what they've been in before, are
no stranger to that concept.
The last time I drove a Hellcat-engined car was,
not actually a car, it was the Jeep Grand Cherokee Track Hawk.
And that one was $97,000.
You're paying for a lot of engine in this car,
and it doesn't on the towing power of the standard RAM,
or the refinement.
But it is a pretty cool halo car and, honestly, if I
had the money, I might get one.
Just because I like how weird and crazy and off-the-wall
it is.
What I love about RAM and FCA in general,
right now, is they've got a sense of humor.
There are Easter eggs in this car.
There's a 1/60 scale embossment of a dinosaur in the center
console.
And there's a T-Rex eating a Raptor under the hood.
Somebody got a laugh out of that.
This truck is hilarious and funny.
And I love that about it.
We've spent all morning driving the RAM 1,500
TRX on-road, seeing how it performs
on the asphalt, curvy back roads, long highway stretches,
you name it.
Now, we're going to take it where it belongs,
into the dirt.
Now, we are at a Motorsports Park near Lake Tahoe.
And really testing these RAMs out,
means doing quite a bit of different kinds of work.
We've done some rock crawling stuff.
Now we're going to some more high speed stuff.
There's also track stuff.
You can jump these.
And there's even a mode to do that.
But really, what's crazy about this truck
is how versatile it is.
I can go through pretty much any desert road.
I can go up some of the rockiest trails on earth.
And I can also --
listen to supercharger whine.
I can also take it on the highway.
Now, what's it like to off-road.
It feels big.
It feels Power Wagon big, in fact.
This truck is --
bumpy, bumpy, bumpy, bumpy, bumpy, bumpy.
Must go faster.
This truck is 6,300 pounds.
Now, that's not as much, in terms of weight,
as the Power Wagon.
It's a whole 2,000 pounds less.
Oh God.
I'm in Baja mode right now.
And that is wildly fun.
And it puts a couple of different parts of the truck
into different modes.
It puts the steering into sport, suspension in the Baja,
which allows for more travel.
And it puts the stability control
in Baja, which allows you a little bit more slip.
The paddle shifters are on.
So dusty.
So the transmission is in Baja.
Paddle shifters are on.
The steering is in sport, which tightens it up a lot.
It's too much for my liking on the highway,
but when you're out here in the dirt, it feels pretty good.
It really does feel like a trophy truck,
but one that can have the seat coolers
going at 118 miles an hour.
Oh, so much fun.
Oh, just kicking out rooster tails.
This thing is --
you get it on the flat parts and it's hilarious.
I mean, they warned us to --
so good.
So much supercharger whine.
They warned us, hey, it's going to sound like things
are going really bad.
The rocks are hitting the underside of the truck.
But it can handle it.
And really it feels like it can.
This thing doesn't feel delicate or weak.
I am not as confident as I would be after a day or two,
but I'm pretty confident in this truck.
We now put it in four-wheel drive, low.
I selected rock mode, which is steering is in rock,
suspension's in bar-hop and transmissions in rock.
I'll figure out the differences between the transmission
in rock and Baja later.
But what I can do with the paddle
shifters is, change the speed at which the truck is limited.
So now I can go up.
I'm at 4.3, 5 miles an hour, back to 4.3.
I've got no feet on brakes.
No feed on gas right now.
Helps a lot with driver fatigue.
It also helps if you're trying to go down a hill slowly
and not overwhelm the brakes.
There is a weird confluence happening right now
of vehicle capability and vehicle comfort.
The thing about vehicles like this
is there's almost nowhere on earth
you can't go in something this capable.
And, as long as you can fit this thing
in your driveway or your garage, you can drive it every day.
All right.
So we put the vehicle into four-wheel drive, low.
We selected the axle lock.
We pulled up the TRX drive modes performance
page and selected Rock Crawl.
Now, we are going to crawl over some rocks.
This thing is meant to do some serious work.
I mean, if we're talking about going over woops
at 100 miles an hour.
That's a whole different bag of tricks.
Then, some guy guiding me up some big rocks
where I can't see anything.
Now, I haven't engaged the forward-view camera.
I'm just having him guide me.
Now I'm straight.
OK.
This is hairy stuff.
Just trying to be slow.
It feels frightening crawling up stuff in something this big.
I'm not going to lie.
I'd rather be in maybe a Wrangler or something.
I see the guy's hand straight up.
It wants to crawl.
There we go.
Oh, that grip.
That grip is -- hey, I don't want to hit that guy.
Now, I'm going for the next guy.
All right.
That sounded awful, but it is a rock rail.
This truck does have rock rails.
It can handle some of this stuff.
One step at a time.
One rock at a time.
One round at a time.
OK.
Kudos to you if you go out and you buy a $70,000,
and in this trim closer to $90,000 pickup truck and this
is the kind of stuff you do with.
(MUSIC)
With all the updates to the RAM TRX's suspension,
the bigger tires, the bigger brakes, the upgraded frame,
the upgraded interior, and, of course, the 700 horsepower V8
under the hood.
This really is a truck that is a force to be reckoned with.
RAM calls it the apex predator of the truck world.
And honestly, I'm not going to fight them on that.
The Raptor has got a serious competitor on its hands.
And we don't even know what the next Raptor
is going to look like.
So all we can do is compare it to what's
currently on the market.
This is an expensive truck, sure.
But it is just as capable as you need it to be.
It's comfortable and quiet on the inside.
And honestly, if money were no object.
It might be my favorite truck that you can buy today.
For more information about the RAM TRX, all its competitors,
and for more videos like this, click that subscribe
link below.
And for a cash offer on your car today,
go to edmunds.com/sellmycar.
All right, I got it.
Dodge Grand Hell-caravan.
Get your kids to school while they're screaming in fear.
No?