TRX Gives Ram a Third-straight ‘Motor Trend Truck of the Year’ Title

TRX joins the Ram 1500 lineup and the Ram Heavy Duty lineup, which took the award in 2019 and 2020.

The 2021 Ram 1500 TRX is, without question, the greatest off-road performance truck to ever come to market. It is the most powerful, the quickest and the fastest production truck ever. It is built to endure the most extreme off-road conditions, including catching big air off of jumps. Most importantly, even though it is built to be the greatest performance truck that the world has ever seen, those go-fast capabilities don’t come with any real compromise. The TRX will still haul heavy loads and pull a trailer like an average, slower half-ton truck.

With all of that in mind, it comes as little surprise that this morning, Motor Trend announced that their 2021 Truck of the Year is the 702-horsepower Ram 1500 TRX. This marks an unprecedented third-straight time that the Ram brand has taken home the Motor Trend Truck of the Year award, with the Ram 1500 lineup winning for 2019 and the Ram Heavy Duty lineup claiming the title for 2020. With the Ram 1500 TRX being the 2021 Motor Trend Truck of the Year, Ram becomes the first to win any annual “of the year” award three-straight times.

Motor Trend Truck of the Year

To be eligible for Motor Trend Truck of the Year consideration, the pickup must be new or significantly improved upon from the previous year. There were only five trucks which met that basic criteria for 2021, the Jeep Gladiator, the Ram 1500 TRX, the Ford Super Duty lineup, the Nissan Titan and the Nissan Frontier. Within those models, the Motor Trend team tested multiple versions of the Jeep Gladiator, the Nissan Titan and the Ford Super Duty lineup. The Jeep was tested in Mojave and Sport EcoDiesel forms. The Nissan Titan was tested in SV and XD Platinum form. The Ford Super Duties tested included the F-250 Tremor with the 7.3-liter V8 and the F-350 Limited dually with the 6.7-liter Power Stroke diesel. Since the Ram 1500 TRX and Nissan Frontier really only come in one form, only one of each of those trucks was included in the proceedings.

The award criteria includes intense testing with scores issued in the following categories:

Advancement in Design
Engineering Excellence
Efficiency
Safety
Value
Performance of Intended Function

When the eight truck models listed above were tested by the Motor Trend staff and scored in those six categories, the Ram 1500 TRX was chosen as the 2021 Truck of the Year.

Easy Win for the TRX

Based on the six judging points, the 2021 Motor Trend Truck of the Year contest was really no contest for the Ram 1500 TRX. It is one of the most technologically advanced trucks in the world in a variety of ways, so Advancement in Design and Engineering Excellence were surely big scores for the Hellcat-powered Ram. Also, it has all of the safety bits that are offered on every Ram 1500, so that should have been another high scoring category.

Efficiency was likely the lowest score for the TRX, but it is so good in every other way that the MPGs can be overlooked. Value could be a tough one due to the high price of the TRX, but the Ford F-350 Limited that Motor Trend tested has a price starting north of $87,000, so the Ram wasn’t the most expensive truck in the competition.

As for Performance of Intended Function, if the Ram 1500 TRX didn’t get a perfect score in that category, we can’t imagine what truck would score better. There has never been an off-road performance truck that shines as bright in the dirt as the TRX, so we would call it perfect when it comes to its intended function.

Again, the then-all-new Ram 1500 lineup won for 2019 and the then-all-new Ram Heavy Duty lineup won for 2020, setting the stage for the Ram 1500 TRX to setup the three-peat for 2021.

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Patrick Rall

"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.

"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.

"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.

"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.

"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.

"Being based on Detroit," says Rall, "I never miss the North American International Auto Show, the Woodward Dream Cruise and Roadkill Nights, along with spending plenty of time raising hell on Detroit's Woodward Avenue with the best muscle car crowd in the world.

Rall can be contacted at QuickMirada@Yahoo.com

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