Ram’s New V8 SRT TRX Is $26K Of Pure Nonsense Over The RHO, And Worth Every Penny | Review

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There are loads of the reason why the brand new 2027 Ram TRX shouldn’t exist. It prices $99,995 earlier than vacation spot and $102,790 after charges, weighs almost three tons, and drinks gasoline at a price that might put a smile on any oil government’s face. It’s large enough that discovering a parking spot can really feel like working by means of a puzzle, and it lands at a second when the trade appears fixated on effectivity, electrification, and shrinking every part in sight. None of that reads just like the résumé of a automotive with a future.

Then there’s the issue inside Ram’s personal showroom. The firm already sells the superb RHO, a truck whose 540-horsepower 3.0-liter twin-turbo inline-six covers a lot of the TRX’s off-road floor for roughly $26,200 much less. So right here’s the query that adopted me all through my time behind the wheel: can a 777-horsepower (579-kW) supercharged V8 pickup nonetheless justify its existence in 2026, or is the TRX merely a wonderful relic from a special period?

Quick Facts

To discover out, we flew to South Bend, Indiana, to expertise it in individual. Our time with it featured 0-60 sprints, loads of metropolis and freeway driving, and a go to to a really particular web site. Redbud Motocross has hosted off-road races because the Seventies. Today, it’s seen as one of the vital extremely regarded motocross tracks on the earth. It served as our off-road check mattress for the TRX. Suffice it to say, we put this outdated new dinosaur by means of its paces. 

Styling: Completely Over The Top, And Better Because Of It

Photos Stephen Rivers / Carscoops

The reply definitely doesn’t reveal itself by wanting on the truck.

If something, the TRX doubles down on every part that made its predecessor memorable. Massive fender flares stretch over 35-inch tires. The hood appears prefer it belongs on a bit of heavy equipment. The grille and consumption system proudly promote the truck’s intentions lengthy earlier than the engine ever begins.

Ram says the revised cold-air induction system was essential to assist the total 777-hp (579-kW) output of the supercharged V8. Whether most homeowners will ever use all of that energy is debatable, however there’s no denying the visible drama it creates. Then there’s the brand new dinosaur badge on the tailgate.

According to Ram engineers, the emblem went by means of a number of rounds of revisions, with groups debating every part from the form of the jaw to the variety of seen enamel. That sounds ridiculous till you notice your entire truck is ridiculous. The badge isn’t refined. Neither is the truck. This turns into an ongoing theme. 

Interior: Luxury Truck, Performance Truck, And Off-Roader All At Once

The cabin is the place the TRX begins to justify its price ticket. Real carbon fiber trim seems all through the inside. Leather, suede, and pink stitching cowl almost each floor drivers and passengers recurrently contact. The entrance seats are heated, ventilated, and geared up with therapeutic massage features. Rear passengers get heating and air flow too, whereas even the fold-down heart armrest receives a suede protecting.

Read: Ram CEO Says TRX Is Fun, But RHO Does Something Way Better

Aluminum paddle shifters sit behind the steering wheel, they usually’re higher than they was. For no matter purpose, Stellantis has lengthy put in half of a paddle shifter, the higher part, in a lot of its automobiles. Now, the paddle extends down and leaves a little bit notch within the center so customers can entry buttons on the again of the wheel as nicely. It’s a marked enchancment.  

Photos Stephen Rivers / Carscoops

Technology is equally spectacular. A 14.5-inch Uconnect 5 infotainment show dominates the dashboard, joined by a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster and a 10-inch head-up show. Hands-free Active Driving Assist is accessible, whereas bodily controls stay plentiful. That’s value celebrating as a result of Ram resisted the temptation to bury every part contained in the touchscreen.

Climate controls stay buttons. Drive modes stay buttons. Auxiliary switches stay buttons. The infotainment system sometimes feels a little bit slower than anticipated for a flagship automobile costing greater than six figures, however that’s one of many few real complaints value mentioning. Another is that for many who need it, a entrance passenger display screen isn’t on the menu. That stated, I’ve by no means seen somebody use it constantly to start with. 

Otherwise, the cabin efficiently walks a tough line. It feels luxurious with out changing into delicate and rugged with out feeling low-cost.

Driving Impressions: Happily Overstimulated 

The very first thing that strikes you isn’t the acceleration. It’s the sound.  At low speeds, the two.4-liter twin-screw supercharger is sort of comically loud. Rolling by means of a neighborhood at 15 mph appears like an occasion as a result of the TRX always reminds you that there’s one thing uncommon occurring beneath the hood.

Apply a little bit extra throttle and the soundtrack modifications. The supercharger begins to fade into the background because the deep rumble of the V8 takes heart stage. Push more durable nonetheless, and the 2 sounds merge collectively. The result’s extremely partaking.

On the freeway, your entire truck is critically civilized. Ram’s Level 2 hands-free driving help program works nicely, too. It’s simple to neglect that you just’re in one thing with extra energy than two Toyota GR Corollas mixed.

The RHO is a incredible truck. It might even be the extra rational buy. Yet no quantity of goal evaluation can replicate the emotional attraction of a large supercharged V8 inhaling air and turning gasoline into power and emitting an indecorous noise within the course of. That soundtrack issues as a result of it transforms strange driving into one thing memorable.

The efficiency is equally spectacular. During our testing, temperatures approached triple digits. The vans sat in direct daylight for hours between runs. Heat soak was unavoidable. Under these situations, many efficiency automobiles start making excuses.

The TRX merely stored delivering.

Repeated acceleration runs constantly landed within the mid-four-second vary to 60 mph. Our quickest run stopped the clock at 4.31 seconds with rollout. Considering the situations, Ram’s claimed figures (3.5 seconds) appear solely plausible. On a cooler day with a contemporary truck, seeing one thing nearer to the producer’s numbers feels all however assured. It’s value pausing for a second to understand what meaning.

We’re speaking a few pickup truck able to towing 8,100 kilos (3,674 kg) and carrying 1,220 kilos (553 kg) of payload. This isn’t a stripped-down efficiency particular. It’s a full-size truck that occurs to speed up about as shortly as a Lamborghini Diablo SV. Yet the TRX’s biggest accomplishment could also be its sturdiness.

Ram tells Carscoops that it took these vans to a number of the most excessive environments attainable for testing. Those websites included Crandon Raceway in Wisconsin, the Imperial sand dunes in California, and maybe most significantly, Johnson Valley, dwelling to King of the Hammers. The crew says it racked up 1,000 miles there to make sure these vans may deal with heavy abuse. Our expertise appears to point that testing was profitable.

Over roughly 4 hours of testing, a number of vans endured repeated launches, high-speed off-road runs, drifts, jumps, and whoops. Drivers cycled out and in. The vans alternated between exhausting use and quick cooldown intervals. None of them flinched.

The cast aluminum entrance management arms, Dana 60 rear axle, digital locking differential, full-floating axle shafts, and second-generation Bilstein Black Hawk e2 adaptive shocks absorbed punishment that might shortly expose weaknesses in lesser automobiles. Jump after leap, drift after drift, lap after lap, the vans merely stored asking for extra.

The solely challenge encountered all day concerned repeated launch management makes use of. After a number of back-to-back launches, a brake-booster-related smooth code triggered a test engine mild. Importantly, the truck by no means appeared to cut back energy or alter its conduct. Ram technicians reset the code, the sunshine disappeared, and the truck instantly returned to service.

According to at least one engineer, the difficulty was solely associated to the warmth and repeated launches. The mechanical brake booster within the truck was merely overheated briefly. Frankly, after every part we subjected these vans to, that hardly qualifies as a significant criticism.

The Highs And Lows Of Suspension Tuning

Perhaps the strangest facet of the TRX is the way it handles tough roads. Or extra precisely, the way it generally handles them worse than precise jumps. That sounds ridiculous till you expertise it firsthand.

On the off-road course, the suspension appeared virtually magical. Impacts that ought to have unsettled a automobile this huge merely disappeared beneath it. The truck remained composed, predictable, and confidence-inspiring even when speeds climbed. Getting it pointed in the suitable path was solely difficult because of the inconsistent floor we had been on. That’s a feat of engineering all in itself. 

Then I’d return to regular roads and sometimes really feel sharp impacts from cracked pavement or damaged concrete. It’s not uncomfortable. It’s not harsh. It’s merely sudden. Several instances all through the day, the truck absorbed a leap extra gracefully than a broken part of roadway.

Part of that seemingly comes right down to suspension tuning. High-speed impacts permit the delicate Bilstein dampers extra alternative to work by means of their journey, whereas slower-speed highway imperfections can create totally different challenges. Regardless of the reason, the consequence feels unusual. Then once more, context issues. Anyone spending over $100,000 on a TRX understands they’re shopping for an off-road efficiency truck. Slightly additional highway texture isn’t more likely to shock them.

What stunned me was how cohesive the chassis feels. Steering isn’t sports-car sharp, nor ought to it’s. It doesn’t really feel numb both. Instead, Ram discovered a steadiness that feels applicable for a truck of this dimension. More importantly, the TRX is predictable.

More: Ram’s New 777 HP Rumble Bee SRT Hits 60 Quicker Than A BMW M3

The entrance finish responds constantly. The rear rotates progressively. Weight transfers happen in ways in which construct confidence relatively than diminish it. Off-road, that interprets right into a truck that’s remarkably simple to float and place exactly the place you need it. The braking deserves reward as nicely.

Within the very first few miles, I seen how simple it was to modulate pedal stress. The brakes reply naturally, making clean stops easy regardless of the truck’s appreciable mass. Even after repeated exhausting laps and aggressive driving, fade by no means grew to become a problem. That’s spectacular as a result of asking almost three tons to repeatedly decelerate isn’t a straightforward activity.

Competition: The RHO Exists, And That’s A Problem

Or a minimum of it must be. The RHO begins at $73,795 earlier than vacation spot and stays one of the vital compelling efficiency vans at present obtainable. It delivers spectacular functionality, glorious dynamics, and a considerably cheaper price tag.

Ram even recalibrated parts of the truck to account for the lighter nostril related to the Hurricane-powered platform in contrast with the outdated V8-equipped TRX. Objectively talking, the 540-hp inline-six RHO makes a powerful argument. If somebody approached me looking for the neatest performance-truck buy, I’d have a tough time ignoring it.

Then the TRX begins, and Ram engineers rightly level out that the engine word is the place the dialog modifications. The RHO is succesful. The TRX is memorable. One appeals to your mind and your checking account (if solely when in comparison with the TRX). The different appeals on to your feelings. For many patrons spending six figures on a specialty truck, that distinction issues greater than spreadsheets ever will.

The Ford F-150 Raptor additionally will get a seat on the desk right here as a result of it’s actually the one different competitors. Notably, the bottom Raptor is extra accurately a rival to the RHO, so the identical arguments towards it and for the TRX apply. The further consideration is that the Raptor prices much more than the RHO. 

Of course, the Raptor R exists, and it’s not possible to disregard. It boasts 720 horsepower (536 kW) and begins at $114,420. Once once more, you’d pay extra for much less energy. There are loads of different particulars that patrons will think about, however most will come down to non-public choice relatively than outright efficiency variations. Even then, the delineation can be slight. 

A Quick Note On Internal Conflict

I’ll admit there’s a small sense of battle that comes with a truck just like the TRX. Vehicles this huge are more and more a part of broader conversations about pedestrian security, and it’s tough to disregard that actuality solely.

I nonetheless consider folks must be free to drive what they need, however I’d be mendacity if I stated that thought by no means crossed my thoughts whereas piloting almost three tons of supercharged pickup down the highway. While I loved this pickup, I couldn’t justify proudly owning it until my private day by day way of life required an precise truck.

The actuality is {that a} mistake (which all of us inevitably make at instances) in one thing this huge is more likely to have larger penalties than it might in a smaller automobile.

Verdict: The Answer To The Question

So let’s return to the query from the start. Can a 777-horsepower supercharged V8 pickup nonetheless justify its existence in 2026? If the reply relies on logic, in all probability not. And that’s true for a myriad of causes. The RHO exists and is wildly succesful. Fuel is dear. Parking areas aren’t getting bigger. And in truth, the world doesn’t want one other six-figure efficiency truck.

But that’s additionally the incorrect solution to consider the TRX. The finest automobiles aren’t all the time those that take advantage of sense. Sometimes they’re those that make us really feel one thing. To that finish, and a minimum of in my eyes, Ram couldn’t have picked a greater title for this automobile. 

Do you bear in mind the primary time you noticed the T-Rex in Jurassic Park? Do you bear in mind the way it made you are feeling? I do. I used to be 5 years outdated. Even now, a long time later, I can bear in mind the sense of awe it impressed. Truth be instructed, dinosaurs nonetheless stir those self same feelings in me immediately. Nobody wants dinosaurs. Nobody wants a 777-horsepower (579kW) supercharged pickup both.

But each remind us that generally marvel is purpose sufficient. I believe the TRX could have an identical impact on its homeowners, whether or not they’re climbing behind the wheel for the primary time or the thousandth. That’s finally why it succeeds. Not as a result of it’s sensible, environment friendly, or wise, however as a result of it makes you are feeling one thing each time you drive it.

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