2022 Ram 1500 TRX review

It’s called the apex predator of the truck world, and the Ram TRX has more than a few similarities to T. rex. They were among the last of the terrible lizards to roam the Earth during the late Cretaceous period, just prior to the big extinction event. Does TRX foretell another such calamity? 

Who knew anyone needed a bigger, more expensive, more ravenous, raucous and outrageous Ram 1500? That’s the Ram TRX for you; it’s excess on wheels. There’s the price, $250 large, the horses, all 702 them, and the noise, a cacophony of blower whine and exhaust explosions competing for your attention. And let’s not forget the arresting visuals. It elicits equal amounts of admiration and disdain from the public; is such a thing really necessary? Of course not. But we are sure that somewhere out there buyers will find a use for it, even if it is just a flex in the face of farm-gate emissions schemes. Farmers and foresters are the best TRX candidates, for they have the land to let this predator roam, inspired as it is by ‘desert racers’. A shame we don’t have many deserts here, yet, but this will also devour farm paddocks, back blocks and forestry roads. For the TRX is made to do big, lurid skids and take to the air. It’s a modern day General Lee for the good ol’ boys, but don’t ask for a certain flag decal on the roof. 

It’s some $90k more expensive than the 1500 Limited, but the list of TRX specifics is lengthy. There’s the V8, the supercharger squeezing 702 horsepower (523kW) and 882Nm of torque from the 6.2-litre Hemi. Backed by a beefed-up eight-speed auto, it’s enough to send the three-tonne TRX to 100km/h in 4.4sec. There’s so much torque it’s hard to stall it up on the brake for a quick getaway, as it just wants to break free. There’s even a launch control function, the TRX said to do the quarter mile in 12.9s, which is not far behind a Mustang GT. Limiting its ultimate speed, the TRX pushes a lot of wind with a 0.489 coefficient of drag. 

But drag racing really isn’t its thing, as it’s built for off-track excursions. They say it has an ‘impossibly wide, muscular body’. It’s the one thing the Ram 1500 didn’t really need any more of but TRX bits add over 200mm to the truck’s overall girth, with the composite flares encasing the 150mm increase in track width. And so, along with a 14.7m turning circle, it’s a menace in most car parks. Much has been done underneath, the front axle shifted 20 millimetres forward to accommodate the monster truck wheels and their 325/65/R18 knobblies. The chassis is made of thicker, higher strength steels, there are five skid plates in situ, the ride height is increased and on its 35-inch tyres ground clearance measures 300mm. Those alloy running boards sure do help when you’re clambering up into the cab, but the abrasive non-slip surface can be murder to bare shins.

This Ram has TRX-specific independent aluminium front suspension with new upper and lower control arms while at the rear there is a five-link, coil-sprung system allowing for 40 per cent more wheel articulation. Key to its off-road performance are the Bilstein ‘Black Hawk e2’ adaptive performance shocks. The enhanced fully floating rear axle has a locking differential and there’s a BorgWarner full-time active transfer case. So you can see where a lot of the expense is incurred. Even the tray has its own skin, and the blind spot monitoring has been altered to allow for the extra width. 

While the exterior is all rugged and racy, the cabin is more premium than utilitarian, being based on the Limited model. Cue lots of leather and suede, a sports-inspired wheel with oversized shift paddles and a row of Aux switches for your bolt-on overlanding accessories. The throne is wide, swathed in leather with additional bolstering. The safety kit includes the usuals, along with active lane hogging (the TRX takes up most of the road) and an around view camera (handy for when you do eventually find a park big enough). 

Part of the hefty cost of the TRX comes via its RHD conversion process. Not that you’d pick it, the swap job carried out to the usual high standards by the crew in Melbourne. Even after some rough and tumble off-road, we couldn’t detect any squeaks or rattles. There’s the usual amount of abundant cabin space too, three fitting across the rear with no need to squish, and legroom left over. Some of the Ram’s capability has been eroded by the focus on performance, its tow rating a ‘mere’ 3.5 tonnes, the payload 743kg, but you’ll fit lots of ‘light’ things in the big tray. Retrieving them is the hard part, though there is a flip-down step on the left rear corner to give you a leg up.  

But it’s not for practical reasons you’d buy such a thing. A suitably rowdy noise is emitted from the oversize tailpipes, an eruption of burnt hydrocarbons heralding each start up with gusto and there’s always an audible burble from the pipes when cruising. Gas it and you first hear the charger whine before the delightful rumble of thunder arrives. Keep it pinned and both the pipes and blower continue to sound off as the Hemi munches its way through the reserves of the 125 litre tank. With fuel use on test hovering around the 24L/100km mark, your local gas station will look forward to your visit each week. And it demands high octane. That equates to average emissions of around 556g/km, or 8.3 tonnes of CO2 annually for 15,000km travelled. Ironically, given its 3800kg GVM, it’s exempt form the CCD fees…

The torque is ever present and the auto is always willing to churn a gear or two to ensure more than ample thrust is delivered. The eight-speed is forever in the mood to party, and so you learn to temper your throttle inputs, or else you’re regularly lunging forward. Being coil sprung with adaptive dampers, the ride is pretty good for a big truck. It’s not as plush as the air-sprung Limited mind you, but desert racers don’t ponder such things. 

Like T. rex, TRX is made for bursts of straight line speed, but ultimate agility escapes it. The steering isn’t particularly sporting, being a bit slow off centre but it loads up progressively in the bends with a feel for the limits, aided by the audible warning of the big tread blocks under duress. That’s a good point to cool it, otherwise the excess of power and poundage will push it wide in tighter corners. With its mammoth width, and a lot of rubber on the road, it rumbles through faster curves faithfully however. There’s no problem with traction, the 4×4 system seeing to that ably but the brakes sure get a work out. Like T. rex’s puny forearms, the TRX’s brakes are underdone. While they are uprated, and do perform better than the usual pick-up truck dross, the horsepower and weight soon overwhelm them, the pedal travel growing longer along with the stopping distances.

There are various drive modes, some for off-roading (including rock crawling), and it defaults to Auto, which adapts to the driver’s need. Here the torque split is 40/60, the dampers in ‘Street’ mode. Move into Sport and the trans snaps the gears 50 per cent quicker, the steering firms, as do the dampers, and the torque split moves to 30/70. There’s a definite stiffening of the ride, which can help the turn-in too, while the auto is even more responsive. But the sportiest setting is Baja, the auto shifting quicker again, the Bilsteins set to ‘full damping’ and 75 per cent of the drive is sent rearwards. This is a boon in the sand, the dampers soaking up the terrain, though it’s impossible to go fast enough to get the full effect of such a set-up without the use of a proper desert track. However, with the ESP off and most of the drive to rear, it gladly plays the role of sand blaster, the Hemi happy to churn the beach up all day long. 

Another of the TRX’s attributes is ‘Jump Detection’; it knows when it’s airborne and will limit power output to ‘prevent driveline-damaging power spikes’ and also modifies the damping rates to nail the landing. We had to check it out. Hitting a yump in the sand was all TRX needed to fly, and once airborne, the supercharger whine is extinguished as the power is briefly cut. The landing is smoother than your average jumbo touching down, the dampers dispersing the energy of the initial impact while the rebound controls the mass so it doesn’t buck back up. This TRX was born to fly. 

With Ram owner Stellantis calling time on Hemi-powered monsters, this will be the last T. rex with teeth. But we wouldn’t bet on its extinction as this dinosaur will likely evolve into an electric monstrosity if the likes of the reborn Hummer, Rivian and F-150 Lightning are anything to go by.