Ram 1500 RHO packs 540 horsepower but sounds more blender than brawler under throttle.
Wildly capable off-road and incredibly refined on-road, it’s a plush beast with serious muscle.
Starting at $116,000 in Canada, it’s not cheap—but luxury and capability rarely are.

When it comes to high-powered trucks, we should thank Dodge—well, Ram now—for kicking off the performance pickup trend decades ago. Think back to the Little Red Express, or the lunacy of the SRT-10 with its Viper V10 engine. That madness eventually culminated in the TRX, a 702-horsepower monster that basically hit the ceiling for internal combustion pickup trucks.

Now, with the TRX having bowed out, meet its successor: the all-new 2025 Ram 1500 RHO. It’s a slightly tamer version of the TRX, but only slightly. Under the hood is a Hurricane High Output 3.0L twin-turbo inline-six that cranks out 540 horsepower and 521 lb-ft of torque. And yet… the one thing missing? Noise. This thing is whisper quiet. It’s honestly the truck’s biggest flaw.

SSTHO

After five days behind the wheel, I couldn’t stop thinking about the engineers at Ram, Dodge, and Jeep—true enthusiasts—who must have put their hearts into this beast, only to end up with something that sounds more like a Dyson than Ram High Output super truck. Yes, it’s fast. 0–100 km/h in 4.6 seconds (0.1 seconds more than the TRX) is no joke. But even a cold start feels like a nonevent. Worse, it’s flatulent and buzzy. Do a quick search on the web (Motor Illustrated’s YT channel comes to mind) for a TRX cold-start or drive-by video. If you know anything about the Hellcat engine, a reminder is unnecessary.

Truthfully, if I owned one, the first mod would be an aftermarket exhaust, no question.

Muscle Luxo Truck

Sound aside, the RHO is a stunner. Wide—six inches wider than a standard 1500—with aggressive styling cues from the TRX: bulging hood, hulking grille, 35-inch Wrangler tires, and enough Mopar accessories to build your own parts catalogue. It’s properly muscular, though the black-on-black look of my tester could’ve used a splash of contrast from decals or stripes.

Inside, it’s all luxury, though. It has massaged, heated, and cooled leather seats, digital gauges, dual screens (a 14.5-inch central touchscreen plus a 10.25-inch screen for the passenger), a heads-up display, and endless cubbies and ports. Fit and finish are stellar. Ram has pioneered the “it feels more like a premium SUV than a truck” concept, especially in the cabin and when cruising.

All-Terrains

As for utility—yes, it’s got it. The Crew Cab is a rolling lounge, even with two car seats in the back. The bed, with a soft tonneau and utility kit, is ready for action. Off-road, I dipped a toe in the mud and, sure enough, got stuck. Only slightly. But that was more about me than the truck. Lock the rear axle, engage four-low, and the RHO sorts itself out quickly.

The standard Blackhawk E2 Bilstein dampers are a real highlight. They absorb punishment like a champ on gnarly roads while keeping the ride smooth. The terrain management system works beautifully too, adjusting damping on the fly and keeping everything planted, whether crawling or flying down a rutted trail. And with 11.8 inches of ground clearance, 14 inches of rear suspension travel, and 32 inches of water fording capability, the RHO can absolutely back up its look. Unless, well, the driver makes a mistake…

It’s a Kinda Bargain Compared to the TRX…

Now, the punchline. The price. Base in the U.S. is just under $70,000. In Canada? A whopping $116,000, or more than $20k more than the first 2021 TRX. My tester? Nearly $130K. That’s a house deposit. Or a well-used 996 911 and a new Camry. As a reminder, the 2024 Ram 1500 TRX Final Edition retailed for $150,270. But if you want a truck that can do nearly everything—haul, cruise, climb, and sprint—and look like a brute doing it, there aren’t many other options. The approximately $110,000 2025 Ford Raptor is the only real rival, and even then, the Ram’s interior is in another league.

Fuel economy? We don’t talk about that here. Okay, fine: I saw about 10 mpg, or somewhere around 23 L/100 km. Painful, but you don’t buy a 540-horsepower truck for its thriftiness.

So, is the Ram 1500 RHO the spiritual successor to the TRX? Yes—just without the bark. It’s a truck that tries to whisper while it punches you in the chest. And honestly? I kind of love that.