Ram RHO Undercuts the Hi-Po Off-Road Truck Market

Another one bites the dust. This year is the last for the TRX, Ram’s supercharged, Baja ballistic missile first introduced in 2021. Due to a corporate initiative to cut emissions by 2030, parent company Stellantis is axing all variants of the Hemi. Which is unfortunate, because those V-8s, especially in supercharged form, helped position Dodge, Jeep, and Ram as go-to American performance brands.

Ram is eager to cling to the enthusiast goodwill brought by the TRX, however, despite no longer being able to call on its V-8. That’s were the RHO comes in, Ram’s new top-of-the-line off-roader powered by the high-output version of the Hurricane twin-turbo straight-six.

For these bombastic performance trucks, the numbers are key. The RHO boasts 540 horsepower and 521 lb-ft of torque, all channeled through an eight-speed automatic. These are the same ratings as those of the HO Hurricane available in the 2025 1500. The RHO is good for a 4.6-second sprint to 60 mph and will travel a quarter mile in 13.1 seconds at 105 mph. Pretty bonkers stuff for a nearly 3.5-ton vehicle, but not quite enough to fill the supercharged-Hemi-shaped hole in the lineup. The outgoing TRX had 162 more horsepower, 129 more lb-ft of torque, and will get to 60 about a second faster.

But a lot of the TRX spec sheet remains the same or improves with the RHO. The new truck uses the same 35-inch tires and Bilstein Blackhawk e2 adaptive performance shocks, just tuned differently because the RHO is 150 pounds lighter in the nose. Ground clearance is the same as on the TRX, at 11.8 inches. Towing and payload capacity improve slightly, at 8380 and 1520 pounds, respectively. Also, fuel economy is surely to improve from the TRX’s abysmal 11 mpg combined rating.

As for the styling, the RHO follows the lead of the refreshed 2025 Ram 1500 but with an extra 8 inches of width. The headlights are narrower, the grille is slightly different, and the taillights are redesigned. The interior retains the standard 1500’s 12-inch touchscreen, with an available 14.5-incher, plus an additional 10.25-inch passenger display. An RHO exclusive is red-trimmed upholstery.

Ram is keenly aware of the public’s misgivings about the death of the Hemi, and that this new truck seems like a downgrade. “I want to be absolutely clear that, in no way, shape, or form, we are trying to replace the TRX with an RHO,” said Ram global operations officer Bob Broderdorf.

But here’s the kicker: the price. The Ram RHO starts at $71,990, with destination. To put that into perspective, the final 2024 TRX starts at $98,335. The base EcoBoost V-6 Ford F-150 Raptor is down on performance compared to the RHO and costs about 10 grand more. We’re sure the the RHO-TRX power gap will be closed by the aftermarket in short order. Or Stellantis itself could up the boost pressure and dust off the old nameplate.

Despite the lack of a supercharged V-8, the Ram 1500 RHO represents a bargain in the off-road halo truck space. If you’re looking for a deal on such a truck, orders are open today, April 25, and deliveries will start Q3 2024.

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