The 2025 Ram RHO Is A TRX-Imposter But A Worthy Ford F-150 Raptor Rival

Back when I reviewed the 2025 Ram 1500 — which had just traded its legendary HEMI V8 for a “Hurricane” turbocharged inline-six — I claimed in my headline that the truck “Is So Good I Don’t Miss The Hemi V8.” I recently drove the hottest version of the Ram 1500 — the Ram RHO, which replaces the Ram TRX as the top-dog Ram — and while I think I do miss the V8 a bit, the RHO is still a hell of a truck.

I’ll quote my previous review to get into why Stellantis chose to ditch the fabled HEMI for the Hurricane:

There are lots of reasons why Ram ditched the V8 for a straight-six. The six is 90 pounds lighter, it’s got some cost-saving opportunities over a V-engine (there’s only one cylinder head, for example), it’s an inherently balanced engine layout, and it’s narrow enough to leave room for a set of turbos to fit between the frame rails. But the overarching theme, and the one that Stellantis came right out of the gate with during the media presentation in Austin earlier this week, is that this engine is all about efficiency.

This doesn’t mean the Hurricane is a wheezy, underpowered dog of an engine. Better Brake Specific Fuel Economy means more power per unit of fuel burned, and that’s a win for fuel misers and performance-drivers alike.

The ‘Problem’ With The RHO Is That The TRX Existed

When I drove the regular Ram 1500, I actually found the Hurricane to feel powerful. The High Output version, at 540 ponies and 521 lb-ft of torque, really accelerated the vehicle well, and though it didn’t sound quite as nice as the Hemi it replaced, for a daily-driven truck that someone is probably spending $50-60 grand on, it seemed like a good option. Obviously, real-world fuel economy and reliability/serviceability will ultimately decide the Hurricane engine’s legacy, but from a drivability standpoint, the Hurricane in a standard Ram 1500 works really well.

In the Ram RHO, the motor works well, too, but the difference is that instead of filling the shoes of a regular Hemi engine, which the Hurricane does just fine, the RHO’s inline-six has to fill the shoes of a Hellcat motor. And that is a much taller job.

Every week or so, I drive to Pasadena to have dinner with my in-laws, and very frequently — right in the middle of our meal — we’ll hear a ridiculously loud sound. “Yup, that’s the neighbor firing up his truck,” my father-in-law says. The first time I heard this, I had to ask what could possibly be so preposterously loud at idle. I mean, all he’d done is turn his truck on. Turns out, his truck is Ram TRX.

The TRX is Americana distilled into pickup truck form — it’s over-the-top, ostentatious, overpowered, loud, flashy, bold, brash, and any other synonym that might describe what is essentially The Rock in vehicular form.

The vehicle has massive presence, with those big 35s, those wide fender flares, that giant grille and that hoodscoop. And then, to perfectly match the visual noise that is stimulating your brain, you hear a whistle and then ROOAAARRR! 702 horsepower worth of internal combustion gets turned into lots of sound, lots of heat, and lots of forward motion in a true symphony of red, white and blue Holyshititude.

Browse the internet and you’ll find people around the world, from every corner of the U.S. to Corsica to Germany to the UK (see above) — all in awe of this absolutely absurd maniacal automotive menace. The TRX, as problematic as it may have been to those focused on environmentalism and pedestrian safety, managed to — in only a few years — cement itself as a true legend. In many ways, it was the most outrageous, most fun, most absurd truck of them all. It was the ultimate. Ram itself called it the “apex predator of the truck world.”

Given all this, it should be clear that the TRX’s shoes are extremely hard to fill, which is why Ram will tell you that the new RHO isn’t really a replacement for the TRX. And while, looking at it, you might laugh given that the two trucks look almost exactly the same, if you look at the price tags, you might start to change your mind like I have.

What Is The Ram RHO?

The RHO (shown above) is, to put it as simply as possible, a Ram TRX with its supercharged, 707 horsepower 6.2-liter beating heart ripped out and replaced with a relatively tiny 3.0-liter inline-six making 540 horsepower. This may sound like a bummer, but here’s the thing: The truck starts at about $72,000, and while that’s about the same price as the 2021 Ram TRX, if you factor in inflation that’s like $15 grand cheaper. Plus, the 2023 Ram TRX cost over $81,000 and the 2024 was even higher.

And yes, you lose the hellcat motor, but you keep the awesome styling and, more importantly, all the suspension goodies that made the Ram TRX such a beast in the dunes.

The RHO has essentially the same “unique, robust, long-travel suspension system with adaptive damping” as the TRX, with forged aluminum upper and lower control arms “with special attention to caster and camber angles during suspension cycling.” You can see that above; those control arms are longer than the ones on the regular Ram 1500, with each pair of upper/lower control arms adding three inches of track width per side.

In the rear, there are five-links and some coils connected the frame to a Dana 60 full-floating solid axle with a locking differential. Interestingly the axle uses what Ram calls “an axle hop damper” to control the axle during high speeds on rough surfaces, ultimately to improve grip. Here you can see that Bilstein 4600-series damper on the top of the axle center-section:

Underneath, there are lots of skidplates spanning from all the way in the front, where the steel bumper and steel engine/cooling system skidplate protect the nose…

…to the middle, where the transmission and transfer case get some ribbed steel protection…

…to the rear, where the fuel tank sits above a steel ribbed sheet:

As for the shocks themselves, they include oil and nitrogen-filled remote reservoirs. The rear reservoirs are located on the outboard side of the frame just aft of the Dana 60 axle. you can see it at the top right of this image:

Ram has some TRX images that show it a bit more clearly:

Up front, you can see the remote reservoir is tucked under that front skidplate (you can see the braided steel line from the shock entering that that area in the photo below):

Here are a few clearer image, again borrowed from the TRX:

Ram has all sorts of information on these “Black Hawk e2” shocks. I’ll paste some of it below in case you’re curious:

Bilstein Black Hawk e2 adaptive performance shocks use precision-machined, single-piece construction comprised of rigid aluminum to reduce and dissipate heat and continuously adjust damping forces for optimal body control and terrain isolation. The adaptive performance shocks feature robust corrosion protection, with a durable finish and directional-machined cooling fins aligned with airflow for more effective cooling.

Dual Electronic Proportional Valves continuously adjust damping forces for precise, independent control of compression and rebound damping. A nitrogen-charged remote reservoir uses a hot-formed, zero-leak tube closure to ensure maximum durability during extreme on- and off-road events.

A pressure-activated Triple Rod seal has been field-tested for long-lasting durability against contamination and leaks. Ram 1500 RHO uses stainless-steel braided high-pressure hose to combat corrosion and abrasion while being able to resist up to 5,800 PSI. A high-strength, lightweight rock shield defends the piston rod against incoming rubble with a custom molded escape path for debris.

The Bilstein Black Hawk e2 adaptive performance shocks have been tuned to demonstrate optimum balance between on-road handling and class-leading off-road capability. Ride comfort, body roll control and handling are significantly improved with the proprietary Ram Active Terrain Dynamics suspension management system, new shock tuning, hard points and body mount strategy.

In addition to an enhanced urethane jounce bumper, the internals of the Bilstein adaptive performance shock feature an internal three-stage progressive hydraulic Jounce Control (Jounce Cut-off) to provide bottom-out control during the most extreme compression events. All drive modes can reach peak compression damping for the most extreme events.

It’s also worth noting that the hood is still functional, with vents outboard and a central intake taking air into the motor; there are also baffles at the back of the hood to let out any water that enters the intake:

The short of it, though, is that — like the TRX — the RHO takes a standard Ram frame, beefs it up, and adds a ridiculously badass suspension that not only gives you loads of wheel travel (the rear travel is up 40% over a standard Ram 1500, per Ram) but also added strength. Unlike the TRX, the RHO doesn’t add any additional power.

What’s It Like To Drive?

The event took place in the desert at Joshua Tree National Park southeast of LA. Ram put us up in luxury Airstream trailers (it was quite cool), and the next morning we picked from a lineup of Ram RHOs.

Hopping into the cab, you’re greeted by humongous screens — there’s a 14.5-inch infotainment screen in the middle of the dash, there’s a 12.3-inch instrument cluster, and even a 10.25-inch passenger screen. Plus there’s a head-up display. All this fits in a huge interior filled with nice quality materials and just enough physical switches (volume, HVAC, four-wheel drive modes) to avoid driving you mad.

The second row is gargantuan and could easily fit three adults across — it’s a huge and nice truck.

Once I got acquainted with my machine, we journalists all hit the road towards the wide open desert. On the highway, the truck rode quite well considering it’s got 35-inch all-terrain tires. Yes, this is an off-road focused suspension, but it shrugs off any expansion joints or potholes you can throw at it, and generally floats down the road quietly and comfortably. But what about the acceleration?

Well, at first, I have to say I wasn’t very impressed with the truck’s transient response time:

And indeed, it took a moment for the transmission to downshift, the motor to jump above 4,000 RPM, and for those twin turbos to hit. But when they did, that motor revved like mad up to 6,400 RPM before its eight-speed automatic snapped off a lightning quick shift to reset the needle back to 4,000, shoving the 6,000+ pound truck forward a lot more violently than I expected:

Once we got off the road, the Ram’s suspension soaked up the desert floor’s washboard surface with aplomb, rewarding deeper and deeper dips of the accelerator pedal up until I found myself driving at highway speeds off-road.

Once we got to our meeting spot in the middle of nowhere, we had a bit of dust on our trucks, and it was then that I really stood back in awe of how badass this truck looks:

The first little adventure I took the truck on was a rock-crawling course.

The truth is that the Ram RHO, and the TRX before, weren’t built to be hard-core rock crawlers. They’re just too damn big at almost 20 feet long, well over seven feet wide, and with a 12-foot wheelbase. But the Ram makes the most of those dimensional limitations thanks to a locking rear diff; tons of underbody protection; and good, big tires that help give the lifted truck 11.8-inches of ground clearance, a 31-degree approach angle, 25.2-degree departure angle, and a 21.8-degree breakover angle. Those are actually not bad numbers for a truck this big, and with the nice and crisp front and rear-facing cameras, I found the truck to be surprisingly maneuverable on the boulders out in the desert.

The real excitement, though, happened on the dunes.

The RAM TRX’s suspension lets you hammer your way up steep sand-dunes, with your foot shoved so hard against the floorboard you’re wondering when the seatback will give out. The turbos whine and the engine screams, spinning those four 35-inch tires and catapulting the Ram uphill, shooting sand into what seems like an enormous cloud.

My first few runs were a bit weak, in part because I found that, when I let off the throttle, the time it took the vehicle to build that power back up again was enough to slow me down way more than I wanted. The result was I didn’t gear nearly high enough up the dune.

But when I stayed on it — pedal jammed — those 540 horses absolutely got the job done, and if I’m honest, didn’t sound too bad doing it. Listen to the video above, and you hear that this Hurricane doesn’t sound terrible at all, and even at idle it has a nice burble. Compared to a TRX it sounds like a churchmouse, but that’s the case for lots of sporty machines.

From the dunes, we headed out to the flats to rip 0-100 mph runs in the middle of the nowhere using launch mode. My drive partner Freddy and I couldn’t figure out how to use the launch mode, but even without it, the RHO ripped. Zero to 60 mph takes 4.6 seconds, which — per Ram — is only a tenth slower than the TRX. (TFL did an RHO vs TRX drag race; you can watch that here).

And that’s pretty much how the press event concluded. We were just romping on that gas pedal in the middle of the desert, launching 6,000 pound trucks with 540 horsepower inline-sixes until we chickened out in triple-digit speeds.

The Ram RHO Is Great When You Consider How Much It Costs

I haven’t driven the Ram TRX, but I’ve piloted plenty of hellcat-powered vehicles, so I know what I’m missing. And the big things are: Sound and response-time. The overall acceleration is higher with the TRX, sure, but when you drive the RHO and you’re in boost spinning 5,000 RPMs and you’re launching out of the hole, you don’t really miss the actual rate of change of velocity as much as you miss the instantaneousness of it all, and the drama. That small 3.0-liter Hurricane needs boost and of course it also needs revs, and sometimes — especially when you’re on dunes — you want that now.

But honestly, I don’t remember this RHO being any worse than the Ford F-150 Raptor on that front. They both don’t sound amazing, and they both have small displacement motors underhood that need those Inconel snails to make power. The beauty is that the RHO costs $9,000 less. Yes, that’s right, the 540 horsepower RHO starts at about $72 grand after delivery fees and the 450 horsepower F-150 starts at about $80,000.

I’m not going to go through both trucks’ specs and compare which gets which features standard, but the point is that the RHO gives you a desert-crushing beast for a lot less money than pretty much anything comparable in the full-size segment. It rides well on-road, it’s got a nice interior, it looks absurdly badass on the outside, it’s a better rock crawler than you’d guess, and in the wide open desert it decimates.

So it may lose some credit for appearing to have a Hellcat other under the hood when it really has something much less potent, but 540 horsepower ain’t bad, the suspension is awesome, and it’s not only cheaper than the TRX but it’s cheaper than its competition from Ford. That all makes it a hell of a truck.

Of course, I’d still spend the $15 grand on the TRX.