Brash TRX Easter egg leaves no doubt to Ram’s nemesis
Ram put its aim squarely at Ford’s F-150 Raptor with the new, 702-hp Ram TRX. The supercharged desert-runner isn’t on sale yet, but the battle for high-speed off-road supremacy has already begun to heat up. It seems that Ram designers have peppered the TRX with Easter eggs that take some not-so-subtle jabs at Ford’s full-size off-roader.
A YouTube video by user bkhaja89 gives us a peek under the hood of the Hellcat-powered Ram TRX for our first glimpse at the friendly jibe. Popping up the cover for the airbox reveals a sizable Easter egg: molded into the plastic is a monster of a Tyrannosaurus Rex with a limp Velociraptor dangling from its jaws, mirroring the (27-year-old spoilers ahead) climax of Jurassic Park. Like just about every V-8 powered Mopar of late, the message is blunt and effective.
Ford has had the full-size desert-runner market to itself ever since launching the Raptor a decade ago. Its closest competition is the midsize Colorado ZR2, and the bigger, badder F-150 packs nearly 50-percent more power with its 450-hp EcoBoost 3.5-liter V-6. Ram, of course, had to go even bigger when it finally brought its long-travel off-roader to market. The 702-hp TRX packs more than 50 percent more power than the Raptor and Ram doesn’t want anyone to forget it.
Did Ram specifically choose the TRX moniker because T-Rex is a bigger, badder bipedal carnivorous dinosaur than a Velociraptor? It’s possible, and this Easter egg is only throwing gas on the fire. However, Ram also has plausible deniability; way back in 1997 there was a 6×6 Dodge concept truck powered by an 8.0-liter V-10 that was dubbed T-Rex. Ram has some precedent in beating the Blue Oval when it comes to ridiculously named 4x4s. That said, what will the baddest, most powerful Wrangler be called if it has to go up against the Bronco Sasquatch?
This isn’t the first Easter egg in a Mopar vehicle, not by a long shot. Jeep is known for hiding rock-crawling flatfenders all over the Wrangler. There was even a pair of flip flops hidden in the cowl of the JL Wrangler as an homage to long-time Jeep aficionado Rick Péwé.
Look in the Demon, where the back seat would be, and you can see the car launching at a Christmas tree. That’s also molded into a piece of plastic, just like the TRX Easter egg.
We’re sure more of these Easter eggs will turn up once the public gets a chance to poke around the TRX a bit more. They may be hidden in the center console, in the storage bins, or behind fuel filler doors. What’s the over/under on dinosaur Easter eggs in the new TRX? Seventeen and a half, perhaps?
