Folks might want to hurry if they seek to nab one of the most astonishing full-size pickup trucks on the market right now. Otherwise, the alternative is either lower-powered or from the competition.
One of the most important American brands out there, Dodge, has decided to retire the mighty Hemi V8 from its roster – the L-bodied Challenger and Charger ceased production in December 2023, and the Durango is already getting the first of several 'Last Call' editions, too. Stellantis decided that Ram Trucks should follow suit, and now the facelifted 2025 model year 1500 series doesn't include the iconic powertrain.
Instead, there's the V6 with eTorque, the fresh 3.0-liter Hurricane twin-turbo inline-six with standard and high output variants, the range extended Ramcharger, plus the all-electric Ram 1500 REV. As for the rock-crawling and dune-bashing TRX, that one is also going away and is slated to be replaced with the first-ever Ram 1500 RHO – the teaser campaign has already kicked off ahead of the official release later this year.
Luckily, you can still select a 2024 Ram 1500 TRX if you can afford the inflated MSRP of $96,590, of course. Once you have paid an arm and a leg for it, of course, you're free to do anything with it – including playing over at the local quarter-mile dragstrip. But wait, there is no need to take our word for it. Here, we have an eloquent example from the good folks over at the racing-focused ImportRace channel on YouTube, who are back to their usual venue - Island Dragway - for some feisty truck action.
The 'hero' in the video embedded below is a crimson Ram 1500 TRX out for a 'casual' Friday night at the racetrack's Test & Tune Day. To put everything into the proper perspective, the first skirmish is against a very rare E39 BMW 5 Series Touring station wagon – and the old versus modern brawl doesn't end well for the outsider. Of course, BMW is coming to America with the new generation M5 Touring, and things will look different when it hits the quarter-mile.
Until then, the TRX nailed victory with a spectacular 11.65s versus 14.62s pass. Secondly, the Mopar versus Blue Oval wars got another battle or two in the form of an F-150 versus TRX skirmish. The inaugural round went to the Ram – albeit with a bit of stress because the F-Series was quicker off the line, and the TRX had to recoup the lost distance. In the end, it exerted domination with an 11.77s versus 12.86s pass.
However, the Ram TRX driver continued to struggle with the reaction time, and the rematch saw the Ford F-150 driver tame its pickup truck to a great 0.87 reaction time (versus 11.01) and managed to claim victory even though it finished with a 12.77s ET against the Mopar opponent's 11.74s pass. Cool or not?
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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