

I enter the course at the top of a huge hill. Meanwhile, Baja sets the suspension for maximum travel and control needed for high-speed dirt driving. Setting the TRX's drive mode to Baja lets the 4WD, gearbox, steering, and stability control systems know that it's time for business. The TRX's dampers do a fantastic job of soaking up some huge bumps at speed, jostling me around in the deeply bolstered driver's seat quite a bit, but still feeling nigh unstoppable over a two-track trail. A large display in the gauge cluster is capable of showing just about everything the main screen can, with dead-simple steering wheel controls to cycle through tire pressures, transmission temperatures and a variety of other information, all wrapped in this rugged-looking design that keeps the beefy TRX theme alive.While waiting for my turn on the track, I'm able to explore the rocky grounds surrounding the course, testing the Selec-Speed Control - a sort of off-road cruise control inherited from the Jeep Wrangler - on another low-speed climb up a loose grade. The controls are large and legible, making for easy use with minimal distraction. I like that the screen can show multiple corners of the system at once, whether it's audio, navigation or Sirius-based weather maps.

Ram trx hellcat android#
Standard equipment includes a honkin' 12-inch portrait infotainment display running the automaker's Uconnect system, which boasts Android Auto, Apple CarPlay and Performance Pages, which allow me to pick and choose settings for different parts of the vehicle, in addition to monitoring things like wheel articulation and steering angle. Ram's parent company continues to improve its already-great cabin tech, and the Ram TRX offers some of the newest, flashiest kit on offer. The 12-volt outlet atop the dashboard is a nice little touch for fans of radar detectors, and there are ten USB ports (five USB-A, five USB-C) scattered about the interior, in addition to a wireless device charger just under the infotainment screen. The rear seats are extremely spacious, which helps for hauling things that you don't want in the bed, while door and armrest pockets swallow up everything from purses to tablets and whatever other tchotchkes I bring along. Whether it's for people or for stuff, there is a ton of space in here. The V8 can drone a bit at highway speeds, but people in it for the sound and the fury probably won't care. The only way you'll miss a gap in traffic is by overshooting it. Combine that almost unnatural feeling of speed with the loud supercharger whine and the basso profundo roar coming from the exhaust pipes out back, and it makes for quite the engaging sensory experience. When I jam my right foot into the firewall, the standard four-wheel-drive system pushes me forward with surprising haste - a 4.5-second jaunt to 60 mph isn't quick in the grand scheme of things, but when it's in a crew cab pickup that weighs almost 6,400 pounds, it damn near feels like I'm rewriting mechanical physics. Under the hood is the same 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi V8 as every other Hellcat-based product out there, and in this instance, it's tuned to produce 702 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque.

In fact, it's one of the dumbest and most grin-inducing experiences I've had in months, and it left me wanting more every time.

But it's not like the TRX doesn't shine as a garage queen, either. Both trucks also boast a foot or more of suspension travel front and rear, which matters less on the street than it does in the dirt.Įven though I know this truck is plenty capable, as our own Antuan Goodwin proved by actually jumping the thing, odds are many of them will never see that sort of intense off-road action. Ram's also got the advantage in breakover and departure angles (21.9 and 23.5 degrees, respectively) albeit by a few tenths of a degree, while approach angle is equally matched at 30.2 degrees. The TRX can tow 8,100 pounds, a hundo more than the Raptor can muster, and it'll haul 1,310 pounds in the bed, 110 more than the Ford. When it comes to capability, the Raptor and TRX are pretty evenly matched, but the Ram squeaks ahead by slim margins. Not that my neighbor would dare say anything, because the fat fenders and copious black accents make the truck look like it's ready to beat you up just for looking at it the wrong way. In my quaint, quiet neighborhood, the TRX looms large on my driveway - well, mostly on my driveway, since it's so wide that the passenger-side tires bleed over onto my neighbor's lawn. The Ram is almost 2 inches wider, about 2.5 inches taller and has 0.3 inches more ground clearance than the Blue Oval's Baja big-boy, the F-150 Raptor. Modern pickup trucks already look like they're chiseled from solid blocks of testosterone, yet somehow the TRX manages to amplify that even further.
