top of page
Smoke
GTBlog.PNG
Search
  • Writer's pictureCory Fourniquet
    • Jun 23, 2023
    • 4 min read

2022 Ram 1500 TRX: Off-Road Beast

I have a new favorite vehicle to test off-road and it goes by the name of Ram TRX.

Picture by 1offads.com

I have sampled the TRX at least three times before, but those times were on courses set up for journalists to test certain aspects of the vehicle design versus its competition. Out here at Barnwell Mountain, we had all the trails at our disposal meant to torture a variety of vehicles both stock and purpose-built. Weather and time are the designers of many of the trails I tested the TRX on and it owned them all.


I am a Chevy guy through and through and that Silverado ZR2 Bison was my favorite off-road rig, but this 2022 Ram 1500 TRX had me smiling from ear to ear the entire time we had it thus dethroning the Bison. From testing its 702 horsepower on the road to bringing it to Barnwell Mountain for some good fun off-road, this thing is a blast!!!


There is something in my caveman brain that just loves the roar of the HEMI V8 and the sound of that banshee whine coming from the MASSIVE supercharger under the hood that the ZR2 Bison was just lacking. Not to mention the suspension upgrades on this TRX that make it sit 8 inches wider than a normal 1500 and which give it a massive 13+ inches of suspension travel.


I will say though, the ZR2 Bison was much easier to catch air than this TRX was. Again, thanks in part to that long-travel suspension Ram employed with the Bilstein remote-reservoir dampers, I really tested my mental limits when trying to jump this TRX over the same small hill the ZR2 Bison did. The issue here was not that the truck didn’t have the chops, it was more my brain telling me to consider the landing and what comes AFTER the jump.


As reported in our on-road test of this beast, the TRX’s suspension absolutely soaks up everything. Whereas the ZR2 Bison’s DSSV Multimatic shocks were good, the TRX was that much better. The Bison was more jittery both on and off the road, the TRX was butter smooth, like taking my Cadillac to Barnwell.


The increased height and ground clearance, paired with all the underbody protection and improved front bumper with steel bash plate meant that I was not concerned about tearing this truck up over any obstacle I drove it over. It walked over everything. The 702 horsepower and 650 lb-ft of torque certainly helped there as well. There really was no situation in my day out at Barnwell that this felt overmatched. (Though there are trails I could have taken it that are too much for a stock vehicle of any nature.)


The downside of this big truck was just that, it is BIG. Perhaps my favorite trail in the park is Linda Gail, and this TRX is just too big to venture down the entire trail without causing some serious trail rash on this beautiful Hydro Blue Pearl paint. Get this Dino out into the open and open the throttle and the sounds and speed will make you forget all the trails you can’t find down and make you want to just zip around in the dirt.


Sadly, this TRX is always in 4WD, therefore there was little tail-out fun in the Ram, but its increased ride height and the rocky terrain also had me questioning how much I really wanted to try. The main competitor to this, the Ford F-150 Raptor R does not have this limitation, it will be fun to test in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for that coverage.


Ram has made quite the off-road machine. For the time being it has been my favorite vehicle I have tested here in East Texas. Will the impending test of its rival dethrone the T-Rex? Or will the blue beast remain the best?


2022 Ram 1500 TRX Specs:

  • 6.2L Supercharged HEMI® V8 Engine

  • 702 Horsepower

  • 650 lb-ft of Torque

  • 8-Speed High-torque-capacity TorqueFlite 8HP95 Automatic Transmission

  • Full Time 4 Wheel Drive

  • Full-time Active Transfer Case

  • 8 Inches of Increased Width

  • Launch Control

  • 4.5 second 0-60 mph Acceleration

  • 10.5 second 0-100 mph Acceleration

  • 12.9 second 1/4 mile at 108 mph

  • 118 mph Top Speed

  • Forged Aluminum Front Upper and Lower Control Arms with Active Damping inspired by Desert Racers

  • Five-link Coil Rear Suspension

  • 2.6-inch Bilstein Black Hawk e2 Adaptive Performance Shocks

  • More than 13 inches of Wheel Travel Front and Rear

  • Approach Angle: 30.2º

  • Breakover Angle: 21.9º

  • Departure Angle: 23.5º

  • Ground Clearance: 11.8 inches

  • 15-inch Front Disc Brakes

  • 18-inch Black Aluminum Wheels

  • 325/65/R18 Goodyear Wrangler Territory All-Terrain 35-inch tires

    • Developed Exclusively for Ram TRX

  • Dual Rear Exit Exhaust

  • Seating for 5

  • Heated and Ventilated Front Seats

  • Heated and Ventilated Outboard Rear Seats

  • Leather Seats with Suede Inserts

  • Leather and Suede-wrapped Heated Steering Wheel

  • 9.2-inch LCD Digital Rearview Mirror

  • Analogue Gauge Cluster with Digital Center Display

  • 12-inch Infotainment Screen with Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto

  • 19-speaker Harman Kardon® Premium Sound System

  • Dual-zone Automatic Climate Control

  • LED Headlights

  • LED Taillights

  • Damped Tailgate

  • Proximity Key with Push Button Start

  • EPA Fuel Economy 10/14/12 (city/hwy/cmb)

  • Starting Price: $78,790

  • Price As Tested: $98,780


Pictures by 1 Off Productions.


34 views0 comments

Comments

bottom of page