Stellantis North America has a habit of shoehorning the 6.2-liter HEMI supercharged gasoline V8 under the hood of just about everything with wheels. As such, it roars from inside muscle cars, family SUVs, and (formerly) workhorse pickup trucks. But the company formerly known as FCA was into mixing and matching large displacement engines with interesting packages long before.
The guys over at The Fast Lane Car/Truck have a habit of playing with just about every wheeled contraption they can get their hands on. It really doesn’t matter if it’s old or new; it just needs a steering wheel, an engine, and four wheels – they’ll come up with an idea of what to do with them.
Naturally, off-roading enthusiasts will be more inclined to look at what’s going on with the truck side of things. And they won’t be disappointed, whether it’s classic or modern pickup action they’re after. Sometimes it’s both, actually. It was precisely the case with the latest encounter of the old vs. new variety that sees the outlet’s $77k 2021 Ram TRX (it’s not even fully optioned, they say) go against a beat-down 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 Sport Off-Road.
There’s no need to explain why they bought an example of the former. It’s not only the most high-performance off-road truck out there at the moment, but also a must-have if you’re into social media shenanigans.
Meanwhile, the old and worn-down, dirt-cheap 1500 (they say it cost them just $5k) was acquired for TFL’s upcoming “To Hell and Back” series that will see a trio of granny pickup trucks (a Ford, Chevy, and this very Ram) attempt to survive an adventurous journey to Hell’s Revenge in Moab, Utah.
Because it’s only natural to assume not all of these oldies will actually come back in one piece to Colorado (TFL’s base), they are involved in all sorts of activities beforehand. On this occasion, it’s not just a static comparison as from the 2:17 mark, it’s time for the first leg of the journey which involves both an mpg loop as well as a zero to 60 mph (96 kph) battle from the 6:10 mark.
It’s quite entertaining to see how technology progressed during the past two decades, and we feel the win is quite well deserved of the TRX, given the setup. For example, no one would expect high mileage from both, yet the TRX delivers (see the final results from the 8:55 mark). The gap isn’t large, unlike the one seen on the timed acceleration test where the TRX shows the difference in hp (702 vs 245 hp) and, above all, technology.
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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