Ram 1500 RHO First Drive: 8 Days, 2,000 Miles, Dirt Trails. How Did this Powerful Pickup Truck Do?
You could almost hear the collective groans around the country when Ram discontinued its powerful Ram 1500 TRX, a 702-horsepower, V8 engine-motivated beast. Fear not, the truckmaker said. The Ram 1500 RHO sport performance truck is coming.
And it’s finally here: the RHO is powered by a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter 6-cylinder Hurricane engine producing 540 HP and better fuel economy. A desert runner better designed for fast treks across dirt and sand, it also has a smaller price tag than the TRX.
This story is 100% human researched and written based on actual first-person knowledge, extensive experience and expertise on the subject of cars and trucks. No AI was used.
This Takes Confidence: Ram 1500 RHO’s First Drive is an Off-Road Rally
My friend and teammate Jill Ciminillo and I were the first journalists in the world to drive the brand new Ram 1500 RHO. Ram trusted us to take the truck on a nearly 2,000-mile adventure through California and Nevada for our third Rebelle Rally together, and the truck passed the test with flying colors.
Off-roading in some of the most beautiful places in America, the RHO was an absolute champ, with the chops and niceties to not just survive but thrive in the desert. Here’s what happened.
Read: 2025 Ram 1500 First Drive: There’s a Hurricane Under the Hood!
Rebelle Rally May Be the Ultimate Test—of the Truck and Of Teammates
The Rebelle Rally is the longest off-road navigational rally in the United States, and it happens to be just for women. Starting with a practice day, called Prologue, the teams are each handed at list of checkpoints to chase for up to 10.5 hours per day. Green checkpoints are mandatory; they’re marked with green flags and tend to be easier to spot. Blue flags are also denoted with a flag or pole, and they’re often hidden. Black checkpoints are unmarked, and teams must use their navigation skills to drive to the exact spot—typically within 25 to 50 meters—to hit the bullseye. If you use your satellite tracker to click on the wrong spot outside of the geofence, you get a 10 point “wide miss” deduction.
To make it more authentic and challenging, our phones are sealed and our vehicle’s GPS is disabled. As the driver I have to rely on Jill, the navigator. She starts each day of the Rally retrieving our team’s checkpoints (at 5 AM!). Using a plotter, map rulers, and erasable pens, she identifies our checkpoints on a series of topographical maps and potential routes. Meanwhile, I pack up our tent, sleeping bags and sleeping mats, fill up our water bottles for the day, and compute the math on our timed segments.
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Competing in a True 4WD Ram 1500 RHO is a Game Changer
This year was the ninth annual rally, attracting a total of 65 teams of two in the field. Seven of those were in the crossover class and 58 in the 4×4 class. For the past two years, Jill and I competed in the X-Cross (crossover) class in a Hyundai Santa Cruz. The course is slightly different in the X-Cross segment, as there are some checkpoints that would be extremely difficult with the limited ground clearance of a smaller crossover.
In the Ram 1500 RHO, though, no segment of the course was off limits. It was exhilarating exploring terrain we couldn’t tackle before, and the Ram’s beefy Bilstein shocks kept us comfortable even on the rockiest, most uneven trails. Our massive 35-inch Goodyear tires cushioned the ride even further, along with a well-made chassis that absorbed the bumps and dips. Our truck was one of the biggest in the rally, a 6200-pound beast with big mirrors I’d fold in quickly when threading through a canyon or tree-lined route.
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What I loved about the 2025 Ram 1500 RHO
The RHO is undoubtedly a capable truck, and it’s gorgeous, too. Ever since Ram redesigned its 1500 for model year 2019, this pickup has been a hit; the RHO is no exception. Aside from its sheer muscle, the truck comes with nine drive modes, including Mud/Sand, Rock, Baja, Valet, Auto, Tow, Snow, Sport and Custom.
We used the Mud/Sand mode quite a bit in the Imperial Sand Dunes, also known as Glamis Sand Dunes, some of the largest sand dunes in the world. We used Sport mode on smoother routes, and Baja mode on wide-open trails.
Your body takes a beating in the process of traveling nearly 2,000 miles. Fortunately, our seats were very comfortable, and Jill and I appreciated the heated seats on chilly desert days. The luxurious massaging seats were more than welcome when we needed stress relief.
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A Great Sound System is a MUST, Especially on a Stressful Rally
Our RHO was equipped with the optional high-end 19-speaker audio system from Harman Kardon, which provided us with a USB memory stick filled with some of our favorite upbeat songs to keep us going through the rally. Jill’s a coffee girl but for me, music is my coffee.
I’d pump up one of the jams as we hit the starting line each day, during long transits, and as we pulled back into base camp at the end of the day. Our theme song was “Belong Together” Mark Ambor, and we’d sing it at the top of our lungs when we needed a pick-me-up.
This Sport Truck Sports Lots of Cargo Space
Inside the cabin and the bed of the Ram 1500 RHO we had plenty of storage space. A sturdy tonneau cover kept our things safe in the bed, but it didn’t keep everything we owned from getting covered in silt and dust from the desert.
That’s not all the tonneau cover’s fault; the desert is going to be dusty. eBay Motors partnered with us to help support our mission, providing all the gear we needed, from Bubba Rope recovery supplies to a storage clipboard, tire gauges, lightweight aluminum shovels, Mountain House ready-to-eat meals, and Rhino USA bungee cords.
Interior Storage Is Great Too
Inside the pickup truck’s cabin we tucked things on the rear floor and tried not to use the seat space so things didn’t move around on the trail. We put our spill kit, emergency flares, whip flag, and sealed-up phones under the back seat (if we unsealed our phones we would be disqualified, but it was good to have them in case we hit a true emergency).
Our stopwatches and supplies went in the generous console and door pockets. A BougeRV plug-in cooler from eBay Motors kept our food and drinks cold. And we had plenty of cupholders to keep our Yeti and Stanley water bottles upright.
On the final day of the rally, we left Glamis to travel through Joshua Tree National Park and into the off-highway vehicle area of Johnson Valley. As can happen, the wind started kicking up. We stopped to air up our tires and noticed an ominous-looking crack in one of the front tires. Hoping against hope, we decided to plow ahead and keep our eye on the tire pressure monitoring system.
Just after we clicked on the very last checkpoint of the rally, we and started the 20-kilometer drive back to base camp. I looked down and noticed the pressure dropping on the tire. I watched it drop two psi, then another, then another. I said the words that struck alarm in both of our hearts, as the sun would be going down soon.
“Jill,” I said, “We’re going to have to pull over and change the tire.”
The Real Spirit of Rebelle: Teamwork—Among All Teams
Luckily for us, we had paired up with Team 136, Amber and Tami Jo. Jill and I had met them our rookie year and teamed up on our Glamis dunes day for safety and strategy, and we were so happy to see that they had returned for 2024. Amber and Tami Jo refused to leave us behind to change the tire, and as we started to circle the truck to gather up our supplies and assess the challenge, two other teams approached and stopped to see what we needed.
Driving a sturdy 2001 Land Rover Discovery II they call Bernard, Marie and Hannah were competing in their second year of the rally. Right behind them was Amy and Michelle from team Runnin’ on Neon in a 2022 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 4xe, and both teams jumped in with their knowledge and muscle. Changing our tire was a multi-step process, as we had to first winch down the spare under our truck. Then we needed to jack up the truck and carefully dig out from under the tire.
A Huge Tire Change Takes a Team
Together, the eight of us changed this giant, heavy tire as fast as we could. In the process, I told them that they didn’t have to stay with us if they needed to get to base camp before their closing time to avoid penalties.
“Nope,” Amy said. “We’ve already decided to forfeit the points. We’re staying.”
An Emotional End to a Grueling Race
Once we completed our task and tossed the leaky tire in the bed of our truck, we all cheered. Then all four vehicles rolled through those last 10 miles or so as one cohesive team, crossing the finish line after dark. Emotional and exhausted, I was in tears at the end of the rally and embraced founder Emily Miller fiercely, followed by friends Jenna, Liza, Melissa, and Nena. We did it.
I don’t know if I’ll compete again, as right now all I want to do is rest. I say that every year, and then, when the time rolls around to decide, I find myself thinking about the elation of this rally, and of driving a great truck on one of the most challenging off-raod competitions.
This year I finished knowing something else, too: the Ram 1500 RHO performed like a champion, and I can’t wait to drive it again.
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