Old Truck, Hot Package

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

You’ve probably just read about the Performance Appearance Package foisted on the doomed Chrysler 300. Now that your heart rate has returned to a resting level, here’s another Fiat Chrysler options bundle for your consideration: the Ram 1500 Classic’s Sub Zero Package.

The first new Ram grab bag offered to customers in what seems like eight minutes, ticking the box for Sub Zero prepares customers for a season literally no one wants to think about in mid-June.

One assumes the Ram 1500 Classic Express Night Edition excitement has subsided at FCA Canada, prompting the need for a new bit of tinsel to throw over the brand’s older-generation full-sizer. Yes, this is a Canada-only package.

Starting right away, $1,495 adds a host of wintry goodies to the Classic’s Tradesman, ST, and Express trim levels. Included is a heated front bench seat that seems tailor-made to boost the country’s flagging birth rate, a heated leather-wrapped steering wheel, 115V power outlet, remote start (to prevent cracked dental fillings while shivering behind the wheel in your driveway on cold mornings), and a bunch of things that have nothing to do with cold weather.

Of that category, expect SiriusXM satellite radio (a 1-year subscription), a Uconnect 3 infotainment system with 5-inch touchscreen, 10-way power driver’s seat with lumbar adjustment, an overhead console, and a security alarm.

With the 1500 Classic serving as the more affordable alternative to the new-for-2019 1500 line, targeted packages like this help Ram milk a little more cash out of its long-paid-off old-gen pickup. It’s also a bundle of features certain customers, especially Canadians, might indeed desire if allowed to add equipment a la carte.

Content levels vary wildly between the U.S. and Canada on most models, with heated seats understandably serving as a noteworthy standard perk. (This writer missed out on that luxury by choosing GM over Hyundai in his last vehicle purchase.)

The package comes with a caveat, however — one must choose a quad or crew cab model that sends power to all four wheels. Bargain basement Classic buyers can forget about enjoying a roasted rump.

The Sub Zero package is on sale now; exactly how long the Classic itself will linger in the Ram lineup is TBD.

[Image: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • Bumpy ii Bumpy ii on Jun 14, 2019

    To be a true Sub Zero package, it needs a special ice blue paint option.

  • PM300 PM300 on Jun 14, 2019

    Some of these jokes gave me a good chuckle this morning. When I picked up my new body style Ram in May, the dealer wasn't pushing these classics. I saw one on the lot in a bright orange color but did not inquire about it. My cousin just picked up a classic for a lot less than I did though and it's still a lot of truck for money. Quad cab, Hemi, 4x4, and some black out package. Looks cool but is fairly bare bones inside (5 inch screen, nothing heated, etc.). Good for FCA for squeezing every last penny out of the platform.

  • Ronin It's one thing to stay tried and true to loyal past customers; you'll ensure a stream of revenue from your installed base- maybe every several years or so.It's another to attract net-new customers, who are dazzled by so many other attractive offerings that have more cargo capacity than that high-floored 4-Runner bed, and are not so scrunched in scrunchy front seats.Like with the FJ Cruiser: don't bother to update it, thereby saving money while explaining customers like it that way, all the way into oblivion. Not recognizing some customers like to actually have right rear visibility in their SUVs.
  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
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