Car and Driver who is not known for showing favorable bias to Chrysler products was very impressed with the TRX! I pulled a couple of lines out of the article but it's worth a read: https://www.caranddriver.com/ram/1500-trx

"Ram 1500 TRX breathes fire and has enough suspension travel to jump most castles, we'd argue that giant flying iguanas are, in fact, real. The TRX can slurp up off-road miles faster than most as it's the quickest gas-powered truck we've ever tested: The 702-hp monster flew to 60 mph in just 3.7 seconds. That means that despite its 6800-pound heft, it can beat a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 to the next streetlight".

"Even though the TRX starts just north of $80,000, it's a lot of truck for the money".

"TRX shot to 60 mph in just 3.7 seconds and completed the quarter-mile in 12.3 seconds at 110 mph. That makes it the quickest pickup we've ever tested".

"Along with a reinforced steel frame, it boasts a beefed-up suspension built to bend and bound with more than 13 inches of travel. It rolls on a set of massive 35-inch all-terrain tires mounted on 18-inch wheels that contribute to the truck's 11.8 inches of ground clearance. Ram says the half-ton Hellcat can also ford up to 32 inches of water. Every TRX comes with enough underbody plating to protect a Brink's truck, Bilstein remote-reservoir dampers, an electronic-locking rear differential, and gigantic 15.0-inch front brakes"


"it can still pull a substantial amount. It has a maximum towing capacity of 8100 pounds"

I'd say this IS a truck in my opinion. A super fast and capable truck.

Like many of you, I have pulled trailers with my pick ups for decades. Not any big heavy stuff, just 1/2 ton pick ups pulling 4,000 to 7,000lbs back from St Louis mainly. I don't buy new trucks, only used and have had probably a dozen or so the last few years. And I have to say that the Rams or Dodges or whatever they are calling them are by far and away the best trucks I have ever driven. The 5.7s with the 8 speed trannies especially make short work of those weights. The trucks are extremely comfortable and don't use as much fuel as the earlier models. For those load ranges for me there is absolutely no comparison to the older trucks.

Nostalgia is one thing, but efficiency and comfort is another. The Ram trucks of the last few years are great. The best ever. That's my experience and my opinion. Your mileage may vary.

I'm sure the new trucks are fine, and do their intended jobs very well (and they should given the decades of evolution and technology that are to their advantage). I'm just disappointed in all of the companies that they have turned pickups into expensive monsters when they really don't have to be. For example, put today's technology into a package that looks like and is the same size as a 1975 Dodge pickup, and you'd be there, IMHO.

I mean, does it really need to be the size of 2 football fields? Does it need to weigh 7000 lbs? Does it need to be so high that you have to build ladders into the tailgate just to load the darn thing? Does it need to cost $70K?

Pickups today seem to be more about image and excess (more capacity than most will ever use or need) than just about being a truck... but that's just one man's opinion.

You said it Dave; "Nostalgia is one thing, but efficiency and comfort is another". If you don't have to work the heck out of it than you can get by with the vintage truck. But long hauls pulling trailers, etc. I think it's very understandable to go with a newer Ram/Dodge whatever.

I've owned three Dodge trucks and never bought a new one. I've been looking at used TRX's but the used pricing is more ridiculous than new prices!

New trucks are way too big for me also. Many people don't need really these new quad cab 2500 series trucks unless they have a job that requires it. People buy/lease them for a few years and turn them back in without ever towing anything, or using the bed.

I think people buy big pickups as they are easier to see ahead of people in traffic vs a lower to the ground car, and they hold their value better than the contemporary crop of disposable cars out there.

ANything less than an 8' bed, those trucks are driven by posers.

Because you know everyone's needs?

It's spelled poseur

The vast majority of trucks that I see nowadays have a bed that is approx 6 foot long or shorter.
I've made it 36 years in construction with a short box truck just long enough for a 6 foot ladder. I see trucks with the 5 1/2 foot bed or even those Jeep Gladiator trucks with whatever they have and I smirk....If the bed can't even accommodate a 6 foot ladder, I don't want it.
4 door trucks don't interest me anyway.

Yep I agree completely. The newer trucks are by far so much better for towing then anything before them, I should know.

You know how many 6' ladders I have seen on the roadways in the last 40 years? If you had an 8' bed then it generally will stay in the bed. Driving only 100,000 miles a year in a pickup truck the number one thing I see on the side of the road are gas cans, followed by empty coolers, then mattresses! I even ran over a mattress and the springs wrapped around my driveshaft and beat the crap out of the bottom of my truck...

Jim, you are smarter than this.
A 6 foot ladder stays put in a 6 1/2 foot truck bed. No ladder has ever fallen out of any of my trucks in over 1,000,000 miles of driving.
Mattresses hit the roadway because they were not properly secured. Gas cans as well. Load a truck bed to the side rails with loose cargo and the wind will blow it out.

If only a manufacturer would put out a truck w/a 6.5' bed that extends to 8'.

Hmmm...

Or a collapsible ladder

Thank Goodness someone invented the spray-in bed liner. I used to see the slip-in liners on the side of the interstate on a regular basis.

WOW, ,,, Nice comment, Your needs have nothing to do with my needs Im sure.

I have never had a truck with an 8 ft bed. and Ive had a truck of some sort for the better part of my life

Latest one is a 2012 hemi quad cab with the 6.5 bed. And it pulls a trailer much better than the 2000 Ram 2500 with the 5.9 that I bought new. And almost as well as the last truck I had which was a 1998 Ram 2500 quad cab ( also short bed ) with the gas sucking V10.

I bought a 96 club cab V10 long bed then a 2000 quad cab short bed 5.9 gas, what a mistake that was! Then I got a 2004 quad cab short box 3500 because of the restrictions I had parking my trailer, a long bed would have made it dicey. After that I bought regular cab long beds and have been happy with those decisions. True it is each their own decision, but I can't live without a long bed anymore. I am currently in the process of buying a 2010 quad cab dually because of my situation changing for parking my trailers...