With a lot more practice, or with a more experienced driver behind the wheel, I’m certain we could’ve gotten even better times out of the TRX. The TRX’s adjustable settings - transmission, steering, stability control and the shift paddles - were all in Sport, save for the suspension, which I left in Street.Īnd here’s the thing: I’m an amateur at this. Simply brake-torquing to around 2,500 rpm and letting it go cut four-tenths of a second off both the factory 0-60 and quarter-mile times. That run didn’t even use launch control, either, as I wasn’t having the best success getting a clean launch while using it. Our 0-60 mph time doesn’t include a 1-foot rollout calculation (basically a running start) versus the drag strip’s quarter-mile time that does.
In just three tries, I had Ram beat: 4.1 seconds from 0-60 mph and a 12.55-second quarter-mile time at just a hair under 107 mph. With that advice in hand, I pulled up to the line to give it my best shot.
No Contra code of settings and button presses and burnouts to get the best out of the big truck.
I asked Ram for advice on how to wring the best times from the TRX, and the answers were remarkably straightforward: Keep the tire pressure at the 38 pounds per square inch recommended on the sticker in the doorjamb and set the launch control to 2,200 rpm. But with Ram claiming a 0-60 mph time of 4.5 seconds on the way to a 12.9-second quarter-mile sprint at 108 mph, the TRX is quick, and not just “quick for a pickup truck.” But just how quick is the TRX? Best Practices Sure, the TRX has knobby 35-inch all-terrain tires, off-road suspension and all sorts of other bits to make it go fast once the pavement ends. Well, when you’ve got a 702-horsepower, 650-pounds-feet-of-torque, Hellcat-derived supercharged 6.2-liter V-8 under the hood, it’s not really that crazy. Related: 20 TRX Review: Thoroughly Entertaining A big off-road pickup? A drag strip? That makes sense, right? Bilstein also developed new 2.5-inch adaptive shocks for the TRX that can handle everything from regular on-road driving to 100-mph desert jaunts.The 20 TRX is probably the craziest factory off-road pickup truck you can buy right now, so when we got our hands on one, we did what anyone with that opportunity would do: We took it to a drag strip. The suspension gets a thorough overhaul too, with a Dana 60 solid axle and a new five-link setup out the back, and an independent front axle with new forged aluminum control arms.
There's a "Baja" mode that calibrates the four-wheel drive system, stability control, and engine and transmission maps for ripping through the desert. Make no mistake-Ram is chasing after the Ford Raptor with the TRX, so it's all about high-speed running. It's fed by the grille and the hood scoop, and breathes through massive filters so it gets a clean supply even during high-speed desert running. The airbox is new, too, and it actually sits above the engine so it won't be affected by heavy vibrations under load. The engine is largely the same as what you'd find in a Challenger Hellcat, but Ram engineers fit the 6.2-liter with a new oil pan and a new alternator, mounted higher up to increase wading depth to 32 inches.
Even the big Ram badge at the front is hollowed out to improve airflow to the engine. It's actually eight inches wider in total, thanks to new composite fenders that shroud 35-inch Goodyear Wrangler tires measuring 325 mm wide.
The TRX sits two inches taller, and on a six-inch wider track than a standard 1500. For starters, the frame is new, with thicker high-strength steel than the standard unit. The TRX features a ton of changes over a standard Ram 1500 to make it a desert-ready beast. But this isn't just a case of Ram engineers simply fitting a big engine in a 1500.