A Day With Ram: Towing Equipment, Talking Luxury and Finding a Favourite Engine

Eleven pickups and a converted ProMaster gathered in Uxbridge offered a look at how many different jobs a Ram can do.

• With a TRX and an RHO waiting to leave the ground, towing a piece of construction equipment might sound like the less exciting part of a Ram event. Yet hauling a Kubota turned out to be one of our favourite experiences of the day.
• There was something satisfying about putting a pickup to work. A trailer, a substantial piece of equipment and a route with climbs, descents and tight corners gave us something more meaningful to do than admire towing figures on a presentation slide.
• Ram brought 11 pickups and a converted ProMaster to the property of Slabtown Cider Company in Uxbridge, Ontario. Surrounded by autumn colours, the lineup covered everything from relatively straightforward transportation to luxury trucks, heavy-duty workhorses and off-road machines.
• It was an opportunity to explore that range through road driving, towing and off-road exercises. The airborne portion deserves its own story. First, there was work to do.

The Hurricane Made Its Case Before We Arrived

Our Ram experience began on the drive from Montreal to the Toronto area in a Ram 1500 Black Express equipped with the standard-output Hurricane engine.

Over that journey, including traffic, we recorded an average of 11.5 L/100 km. That is an observation from this particular trip, rather than a controlled fuel-economy comparison, but it gave us useful time with the truck before reaching the event.

The engine left the stronger impression. The Hurricane has become our favourite engine in the Ram 1500 because of how smoothly and comfortably it goes about its business. Its refinement suits a truck that may spend as much time covering highway kilometres as carrying equipment.

We still appreciate the V8’s sound and character. There is an appeal to that familiar rumble that a specification sheet cannot explain. But after spending several hours with the inline-six, we found ourselves less concerned about what was missing from the soundtrack.

The Hurricane simply made a convincing travelling companion.

A Kubota, a Trailer and a Reason to Own a Truck

At the towing station, we drove a Ram 2500 with the 6.4-litre V8, pulling a trailer loaded with a Kubota skid-steer loader.

This was the exercise that best connected the event to the work these trucks are bought to do. Moving equipment between jobs, hauling supplies and handling a loaded trailer are the tasks that make a heavy-duty pickup’s size and capability worthwhile.

The course included uphill and downhill sections along with tight corners. It gave us a chance to think about the whole combination, including where the trailer was tracking and what we could see around it.

The camera-based rearview mirror was particularly useful. Improved rearward visibility makes a meaningful difference when towing, and this was a feature we appreciated while concentrating on the route.

Reversing wasn’t on the programme, perhaps because Ram wanted its trailers returned in their original shape.

The towing exercise also helped separate our engine preferences by application. The Hurricane won us over in the 1500, while the 6.7-litre Cummins diesel remains the engine we would lean towards in a 2500. The truck we used for the Kubota exercise, however, was the gasoline V8.

Tungsten: Impressive, but More Than We Need

The Tungsten showed how far Ram is willing to take pickup luxury.

Its cabin was undeniably appealing. For buyers who need a pickup and want an indulgent interior, it makes sense to offer both in the same vehicle. Choosing a truck should not automatically mean giving up comfort.

For us, though, the Tungsten went further than we would choose. At that level of luxury, we started thinking about a Jeep Wagoneer and whether an SUV would better suit what we wanted from the vehicle.

That is a matter of preference, rather than a criticism of the execution. We were more drawn to the RHO and Power Wagon. Their equipment and personalities felt closer to the reasons we would want a truck in the first place.

The contrast was one of the useful parts of having so many versions together. A shared badge does not mean they are all aimed at the same buyer.

A ProMaster With a Different Job

The ProMaster on display illustrated another kind of usefulness.

Converted by Creative Carriage, the TTC Wheel-Trans vehicle featured an accessible passenger layout and a wheelchair lift. It showed how a commercial van can become specialized transportation serving a very different purpose from the pickups surrounding it.

We briefly considered whether it could take the assembled journalists over the jump together. Fortunately for everyone’s continued employment, it remained a static display.

The Trucks That Made the Most Sense to Us

A day with this many vehicles could easily become a blur of trim names and equipment lists. What stayed with us were the experiences that gave those differences a purpose.

The Black Express showed why we now favour the Hurricane for a Ram 1500. The loaded 2500 reminded us how satisfying it is to use a truck for work. The Tungsten demonstrated the luxury available, even if our own tastes leaned elsewhere.

The Kubota might not have been the fastest thing on the property, but towing it was one of the day’s highlights.

Then we handed back the keys and went to find the trucks that were allowed to fly.