When Fiat Chrysler set out to develop the Ram TRX, the engineers in Detroit knew exactly what they wanted from the off-road truck. Most notably, the men and women behind the most powerful half-ton pickup on sale today wanted to topple the F-150 Raptor.
The Hellcat V8 may be a gas-guzzling mill rated at 12 miles to the gallon on the combined driving cycle, but then again, eight cylinders and a blower translate to a better soundtrack than six cylinders and a couple of boosty snails. As far as off-road credentials are concerned, FCA has bettered the Blue Oval in more than one way.
11.8 inches (300 mm) versus 11.5 inches (292 mm) of ground clearance opens the list, along with 21.9 versus 21.8 degrees for the breakover angle and 23.5 versus 23 degrees for the departure angle. Even in terms of towing capacity, Ram wanted to prove the TRX is the better truck at 8,100 pounds (3,674 kg) compared to 8,000 pounds (3,628 kg) for the F-150 Raptor. Be that as it may, we shouldn't forget that the newcomer wouldn’t have happened if the Blue Oval didn’t roll out the first generation of the Raptor more than a decade ago.
What comes as a pleasant surprise for TRX enthusiasts is that driving in the snow and ice won’t pose a problem in such a torquey and heavy truck. The 35-inch tires are more than adequate for the freezing weather of Colorado in November, according to The Fast Lane.
The Hellcat-engined pickup offers a snow driving mode for this type of weather and road conditions, which makes the throttle feel numb in order to prevent wheel spin. When it’s not snowing, Andre Smirnov reports that snow mode will get you “more fuel efficiency because the throttle mapping doesn’t give you full power right away.”
Make no mistake about it; the Goodyear Wrangler Territory A/Ts that come standard on the TRX are arguably the best all-purpose tires to have on a Hellcat-engined vehicle in the snow and ice. By comparison, the 700-plus-horsepower Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat and Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk feature Pirelli all-season shoes.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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