Why The Ram RHO Is Actually A Better Off-Road Truck Than The TRX

Sometimes, when automakers do things, it backfires on them in ways even they hadn’t expected. When Ram launched the Hellcat-powered TRX, it wasn’t seen as a direct competitor to the almighty Ford F-150 Raptor. It was just way too powerful, way over the top, and, to be fair, a little dumb to even be taken seriously. Yes, Ford does offer the V-8-powered Raptor R with more than 700 horsepower, but when I drove that thing, it still felt more serious and buttoned down than the cartoonish TRX.

Base Trim Engine

3.0-liter Hurricane H/O SST

Base Trim Transmission

8-speed automatic

Base Trim Drivetrain

Four-Wheel Drive

Base Trim Horsepower

540 hp

Base Trim Torque

521 lb-ft

Anyway, when Ram launched the RHO with less power and two fewer cylinders, the Internet went crazy. But not in a good way. The RHO was immediately booed as being the weak alternative, with some folks even deeming the truck too woke. And now, Ram has not only confirmed that HEMI power is returning to the 1500 lineup, but it has also confirmed that the TRX is coming back. So, what about the poor-old Hurricane-powered RHO? Is it any good? I spent a full week with one and, honestly, it’s a much better machine than what the old TRX could have ever dreamt of being.

The Ram 1500 RHO Had Very Big Shoes To Fill

Ram

I think the biggest challenge for the Ram RHO was that it had to follow up on one of the most bombastic off-road truck acts the auto industry has ever seen. Nobody really needed to drive around desert dunes in a Ram powered by a Hellcat engine, but its sheer existence in the truck realm created a precedent that, sadly, the RHO simply couldn’t top.

I was also guilty of blaming Ram for failing with the RHO. I remember being very vocal about how its 540-horsepower, twin-turbocharged inline six-cylinder engine felt weak next to the TRX’s 702 horsepower, to say nothing of the ungodly exhaust note that spewed out of the TRX’s massive twin exhaust. In its place, the poor little RHO could only muster an exhaust note that sort of sounded like a Nissan GT-R, but simply couldn’t replicate the raucous Ram had gotten everyone accustomed to in the off-road truck spectrum.

Politics And Public Image Made It Harder To Sell

Ram

There’s another important element to underline about the Ram RHO’s demise, or anything at Stellantis sold during the Carlos Tavares years. Ram, like Dodge, had banked hard on its HEMI V-8 engines. It was, for a time, the only automaker left that dared stick to big displacement internal combustion to promote silly, but oh-so charming performance-minded vehicles. And this addiction to noise, fuel, and excessive amounts of horsepower and torque became the centerpiece for the entire brand.

As the auto industry moved towards cleaner, more electrified powerplants, with Ford even banking harder on its EcoBoost, hybrid PowerBoost, and even all-electric F-150 Lightning models, Ram and Dodge moved further in the opposite direction. Inevitably, that lured consumers who rejected electric vehicles (EVs) or anything deemed too woke for them to want to dish out serious money on them. And as EVs became increasingly politically-driven and, somehow, big, brash, gas-powered vehicles slowly became the symbol of certain right-leaning Americans, Ram and Dodge became victims of their own success. Their customers had become addicted to V-8 engines and wanted nothing else.

Stellantis Should Have Done Like Ford And Kept Its V-8s

Ram

Under Tavares’ rule, Stellantis was trying to be smarter, cleaner, more efficient, and more in line with what the rest of the world was doing. The problem was that it hadn’t prepared its core base before doing this, something Ford and GM did with much more finesse. Yes, GM is banking hard on EVs right now, but it still sells V-8-powered vehicles like the Corvette and the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing. It’s also been pushing the Corvette’s performance to levels nobody envisioned.

It’s the same story at Ford. While the all-electric Mach-E came with a lot of controversy, Ford kept the regular V-8-powered Mustang in the lineup, released an even meaner Dark Horse model, and even pushed the gas-powered Mustang envelope to new heights with the GTD. The all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning exists, yes, but you can still get your Ford truck with a wide range of gas-powered engines, including the 5.0-liter V-8. In other words, Ford and GM adapted to change, while remaining loyal to their core base of enthusiasts.

How To Lose Momentum 101, Featuring Stellantis

Ram

That’s where Stellantis failed. It didn’t ease electrification and smaller displacement engines into its lineup like its main American rivals did. It downright shoved them down the throats of consumers, deleting all the legacy stuff in the process. Three key models I would associate with this misstep include:

• Dodge Hornet
• Dodge Charger Daytona EV
• Ram 1500 RHO

If Ram still offered the HEMI engine and, even, limited runs of the Hellcat in the new Charger and Ram 1500, would the Daytona and the RHO have been so ill-received? I think not. Rather, these models would have catered to a new demographic, while the core base would remain content with the legacy products still on sale.

Why The Ram RHO Is A Better Truck Than The TRX In Every Possible Way

This is all too bad, because the engineering behind the Ram 1500 RHO is actually smarter and better sorted out than the TRX’s. It’s also leaner and more efficient, which is the kind of stuff you actually want when pushing something like this through the dunes.

For instance, the 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder engine, which is mostly made of aluminum, is 150 pounds lighter than the Hellcat’s iron-block, supercharged 6.2-liter V-8. This has also helped lower the truck’s overall curb weight by 366 pounds. Such a mechanical transformation had a significant impact on the RHO’s weight distribution, which forced Ram to rethink its entire suspension geometry and tuning. Since the entire truck was engineered around a lighter, more efficient powertrain, it’s immediately a more focused machine in every way.

2025 Ram 1500 RHO Technical Specifications

Unfortunately, I don’t have access to dunes in my part of the world, and automakers rarely authorize off-road use with their press units. So I mostly drove the RHO on the road. But it’s a much more refined machine, one that still puts down a serious 4.8-second 0-60 MPH time (according to Car & Driver’s testing data) and still comes across as a seriously badass-looking rig. Its Bilstein adaptive dampers do miracles on beaten roads, and the truck simply feels less frantic, better pieced together, and more buttoned down. In other words, the RHO feels like the dune-jumping truck Ram should have sold in the first place, and it’s a lot more locked-in on its mission of taking the Ford F-150 Raptor straight on.

There May Still Be Hope For The Misunderstood RHO

Ram

Sadly, the one reason it’s not yet being taken seriously by hardcore Mopar fans, and why it could go down in history as a one-hit wonder, is that the TRX existed. So, if Ram is indeed bringing that monster back, I do think the RHO still deserves a place in the Ram 1500’s lineup, at least to go head-on against Ford’s EcoBoost-powered Raptor. Here’s to hoping Ram has learned from that valuable mistake and won’t do it again.