Reviewers in America can't get enough of the refreshed 2025 Ram Trucks 1500 series and some of them also say that maybe some of the variants of the BMW M4 are the closest thing to a European muscle car you can get today. But what's the connection between them?
Sure, it will be a while before the 2025 Ram 1500 series comes to market and owners start racing them at the local quarter-mile dragstrip. It will be even longer before they figure out how to increase the outputs of the new powertrain options – the 3.0-liter Hurricane inline-six turbo with standard and high output (420 and 540 hp), as well as the mighty Ramcharger with its EV setup and V6 range extender. But I am sure we will get there in due course.
Meanwhile, the G82 second-generation BMW M4 is up for grabs and racing, complete with its ugly snot – some call that grille a double coffin, for example. Others don't mind the looks and probably welcome both the positive and negative attention, which is perhaps why this particular owner chose white as a body color, which clearly emphasizes the contrasting black contour of the grille. We don't know which version is ready to rumble, but our safe guess is that it's not a limited edition M4 CSL.
Anyway, the good folks over at the racing-focused ImportRace channel on YouTube love a good truck versus sports car showdown at the local quarter-mile dragstrip, and they got double the jeopardy because it's also a chapter from the never-ending America versus Import story. The setting is quite simple – Orlando Speed World Dragway is the racing venue, and in the left lane is the white BMW M4, while the right lane is occupied by a dark and menacing black Ram 1500 allegedly fitted with a turbo setup.
We are expecting great things from this skirmish because everyone and their mother knows that BMW severely underestimates the power ratings of its engines, so even the base M4 has a lot more than the advertised 473 horsepower under the hood. Meanwhile, the aftermarket realm has had plenty of time to tinker with the best turbo setups for the Big Detroit Three, so although it's a hulking full-size pickup truck on the outside, this Ram 1500 turbo probably has the soul of a sprinter on the inside.
The start of the inaugural race was excellent – the reaction times were almost the same (1.79s versus 1.83s), there were no screeching sounds of wheel slip, and the two seemed to go neck-in-neck for most of the skirmish. Well, it was close, but not close enough, and the electronic scoreboard gave the first win to America thanks to the impressive 11.07s versus 11.37s elapsed times (at 128 mph/206 kph and 123 mph/198 kph for the winner and loser, respectively).
Naturally, the BMW rider called for a rematch, and the confident American was courteous enough to grant one – though, curiously, they didn't switch Orlando's lanes as is traditional with these sorts of things. Never mind that - we were extremely curious to see if the M4 driver could turn the tides and take this battle into overtime for a third pass. However, the bonkers Ram 1500 turbo truck fulfilled the surprise with an even better pass after the two left off with identical 1.84s reaction times – and also dipped into the tens with this stellar 10.94s versus 11.47s victory. Flawless, right?
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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