2021 Ram 1500 TRX First Drive: Hellcat Power, Super Truck Capabilities
Ram 1500 TRX is even better than expected, flawlessly combining performance, comfort and luxury.
This past week, I traveled to Lake Tahoe, California to test the 2021 Ram 1500 TRX. I went into the event expecting the truck to be good. After all, the current Ram 1500 is excellent and the Hellcat Hemi is one of the best engines in the history of the American auto industry. However, this supercharged half-ton exceeded all of my expectations. The TRX is nothing short of incredible and more importantly, it is substantially better than the Ford F-150 Raptor in every way.
The TRX is literally a super truck, offering stunning off-road performance combined with on-road manners that make it just as comfortable for the daily drive as the rest of the Ram 1500 lineup.
TRX on the Road
My time in the 2021 Ram 1500 TRX began with a two hour on-road drive and frankly, this is where I expected the truck to struggle. Many off-road-ready trucks have a suspension setup that leads to a very rough ride and poor handling. Fortunately, the Bilstein dampers do an amazing job of keeping this high riding truck planted to the road.
On tight, twisty roads, the suspension does a nice job of controlling the weight transfer as I went from left turns to right turns. Mind you, I’m not saying that it handles like the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk, but for a truck that is wearing hardcore off-road tires and weighs more than three tons, the TRX Ram handles far better than I expected.
When we got onto the highway, with long, sweeping curves, I was able to push the TRX beyond 70 miles per hour before hitting the cornering limit of the tires. Really, with a set of tires intended for on-road handling, I expect that it would handle like a proper street truck, but with the factory Goodyear tires, the Ram 1500 TRX handles surprisingly well. Most significantly, it doesn’t handle like many heavy off-road trucks, so anyone who ordered one for a daily driver will almost certainly enjoy the on-road handling.
Also, and more importantly, the Ram TRX ride is unbelievably smooth. Many off-road trucks ride very hard in every condition, with every little bump in the road echoing through the chassis into the cab and steering wheel. On the other hand, the TRX is very smooth, offering just as much road feel as you want, but keeping most of life’s bumps away from the driver.
In short, the 2021 Ram 1500 TRX offers the kind of on-road performance and ride quality that buyers will want for a daily driven pickup.
Speaking of performance, as many people know, the Ram TRX packs 702 horsepower and 650 lb-ft of torque, with that power being sent to all four wheels by means of an 8-speed automatic transmission and an full-time four-wheel-drive system. This drivetrain setup affords the TRX an official 0 to 60 time of 4.5 seconds with an official quarter mile time of 12.9 seconds.
Those numbers are very conservative. In fact, I made several quarter mile test passes and on a surface that appeared to be perfectly flat, I got back to back 12.7-second runs with a 0 to 60 time of 4.3 seconds. I also made a test run on a surface that appeared to have a slightly downhill grade, yet not enough for there to be show a decline on the off-road gauges.
On that run, I recorded a 3.9 0 to 60 time and a quarter mile of 12.3 seconds. That is 0 to 60 in under 4 seconds from a truck that weighs over 6,500 pounds in test form with off-road tires.
When not driven hard, the TRX accelerates as smoothly as the rest of the Ram 1500 lineup, with smooth shifts and the type of power delivery that you want from a daily driver. However, when you put the hammer down, this supercharged Ram offers the insane, violent acceleration that you want from a proper performance truck. It is a beast when you want it to be a beast, but in rush hour traffic, the TRX is smooth and comfortable.
Taking on the Dirt
Our morning drive ended at Wild West Motorsports Park, home of a large off-road race track. There are jumps, moguls and dramatic elevation changes. I’ve never been on a track like that so I didn’t really know what to expect, but when I saw the other drivers getting quite a bit of air off of the jumps, I expected to feel the impact of a 6,500 pound truck slamming down at 55 miles per hour.
As I approached the first jump in Baja drive mode, I hit it at speed, soared through the air and braced for impact. The impact with so smooth that I could barely tell that I had gotten off of the ground.
Upon touching down, there was no bouncing, even when hitting the mogul-type bumps immediately after a jump. The Ram 1500 TRX dampers flawlessly absorb the impact of the initial jump, so there is no rebound bouncing.
These are the kinds of jumps that cause lesser trucks to break their frames or deploy the air bags, but time after time, the TRX took to the skies and landed nice and smooth.
While the 2021 Ram 1500 TRX handled the off-road race course with ease, the reality of the situation is that most owners won’t spend any time on off-road race tracks, but they will do some off-roading. Fortunately, the facility had a three-mile off-road trail that allowed us to push the TRX to its limits in a more typical setting.
We blasted along dirt paths, climbed steep hills and covered rocky sections without any issue. In most cases, the supercharged Ram 1500 barely broke a sweat, even when we were driving very hard in the dirt and rocks.
After the trail, we hit a section set aside for rock crawling, which the Ram 1500 TRX also does very well. When set to the Rock drive mode, the tires gripped the large, jagged rocks and allowed me to climb to the top of the steep hill without so much as an uncomfortable slide. I have done rock crawling testing and off-road trail testing in many vehicles, but none performed as well as the TRX.
The last testing station at the off-road facility was essentially dirt drag racing. We were launching the 2021 Ram 1500 TRX on packed dirt and stone, using launch control. Amazingly, my TRX test truck rocketed to 60 in just 4.3 seconds, hitting an eighth mile time of 8.1 seconds.
That is just as fast on the low end as some of my on-road acceleration tests while being a touch slower in the eighth mile. Both of those numbers are blistering fast for a factory stock truck that weighs more than three tons, but to do it in dirt is astonishing.
It should be noted that Ram also provided us with a Ford F-150 Raptor for some on-road and light off-road testing. Frankly, the comparison is nothing shy of laughable. Of course, with only 450 horsepower, the Raptor is considerably slower, but the TRX advantage goes well beyond power.
The Raptor is rougher on and off-road, transferring every little bump through the chassis to the driver, leading to a far less comfortable truck for the daily drive. The Raptor constantly reminds you that the suspension was built to shine off-road, but in turn, it compromises ride quality in every situation. With the TRX, there is no compromise in any driving setting.
Premium Ram Luxury
So the 2021 Ram 1500 TRX performs perfectly on- and off-road while also providing impressive ride quality, but this is more than just a fast truck. It is chock full of high end interior bits, creating a luxury-like atmosphere. My test truck was fitted with the TR2 equipment group, which adds things like the leather and suede trim throughout the cabin, the digital rearview mirror and the heads up display.
The deep bolstered seats keep you in place, but they are also comfortable for a two hour drive. The digital rearview mirror takes some getting used to, but it offers a much better look at what is going on behind the truck with incredible picture quality. The heads up display is also very well done, providing details like the vehicle speed, speed limit, gear selection and more.
Of course, the 12-inch UConnect screen is standard in all TRX models, and it is a total masterpiece. From the massive navigation screen to the Performance Pages metrics to the radio display, this huge screen makes everything easy to read and easy to change on the fly. When coupled with the Harman Kardon speaker system, there is very little left to want from this truck’s interior, even when compared to premium European exotics.
The Final Word
The 2021 Ram 1500 TRX performs very well on the road while offering excellent ride quality. It is practically unstoppable off-road, offering superior performance to any other truck on the market today. Most trucks that perform this well and ride this well on paved roads compromise off-road abilities.
Most trucks that perform as well as the TRX off-road compromise on-road qualities and no trucks on the market offer the level of interior comfort of the TRX.
The 2021 Ram 1500 TRX is the total package, serving as a great daily driver, a fun performance truck on the road and an incredible machine off-road with a luxury-level interior layout. It is truly the best performance truck on the market today and possibly, the best performance truck ever.
Photos for Dodge Forum by Patrick Rall
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