The 2022 Ram 1500 TRX Is the Apex Predator of Trucks

The world doesn’t need the Ram 1500 TRX. With 702 hp from a 6.2-liter supercharged V-8, enough suspension travel to clear a Prius, and the fuel efficiency of the space shuttle, it’s American excess at its finest. But we’re glad it's around for one simple reason: Driving the TRX makes you feel legitimately unstoppable.

There are few street-legal vehicles that make us feel more invincible than the TRX. Speed bumps? Potholes? Massive puddles? Curbs? All irrelevant. Things that would disable anything else on the road if struck at speed are simply shrugged off, translated as a simple “thud." That’s thanks to all the upgrades underneath the skin. Peek beyond the tough-guy widebody fenders and you’ll find a totally different frame versus the standard 1500, with thicker high-strength steel and boxed side rails for absorbing jumps. The shocks, adaptive Black Hawk e2 units from Bilstein, allow for 13 inches of travel front and rear. It doesn’t take long for our minds to start racing—where couldn’t we take this truck?

Well, if you live in a densely populated area, the answer presents itself quickly. At 19.4 feet long, 7.3 feet wide, and 6.7 feet tall, it takes a solid hour of driving to acclimate yourself to just how enormous the TRX really is, even if you’re used to driving big pickups. It’s a truly gigantic automobile that dwarfs G-Wagens, Escalades, and F-150s. The size means you’ll be doing a lot of mirror-checking and rely on the car’s surround-view cameras and blind-spot sensors. Once you settle into the dimensions, though, you’ll be squeezing through lanes and bullying smaller cars out of the way like a natural.

Being in the New York tri-state area, we didn’t have many dunes or mud pits to test out the TRX’s eight drive modes. But we did have a snowstorm and plenty of flooded roads to conquer. Thanks to 11.8 inches of ground clearance and a set of 35-inch Goodyear Wrangler all-terrains measuring LT325/65R-18, the truck made light work of everything we threw at it. Not once did the TRX complain no matter what we drove it through (or over). Snow, salt, water, ice, gravel, dirt, broken pavement, you name it. We never even got close to the limits.

While 3.7 seconds to 60 mph might not sound quick in today’s world of sub-two-second hypercars, it feels otherworldly in something this large and this tall. The TRX, with its easy-to-use launch control and full-time 4WD system, leaps off the line in a blind rage, the tires pleading for help as they scrap for grip. Before you know it you’ve crossed the 70-mph barrier thanks to the quick-shifting eight-speed automatic, well on your way to the 118-mph electronic governor. The trippy sensation of tall acceleration dies off once you hit 80, a consequence of the 6866-pound curb weight and brick-like aerodynamics. But it’s still an exceptionally fun experience that’ll leave you and your passengers full of joy.

A clear and present whine from the supercharger penetrates the cabin no matter the engine’s rpm, turning into a full-blown V-8 roar as you approach the truck’s 5700-rpm redline. It’s a welcome cacophony of noise in a world where downsizing, turbocharging, and electrification is the norm. Unsurprisingly, our fuel mileage suffered greatly as a result. We managed an average of 10.2 mpg over roughly 400 miles of mixed city and highway driving, according to the car’s onboard computer. This truck is the antithesis of efficiency, and has no shame about it.