#RamTRX

“That sounds fun,” Spenser from roadside assistance thought to himself as he read the message from his dispatcher. “Four-wheel drive required.”

At least that’s how he’d related it to me when he arrived with his 4×4 midsize pickup and six-ton winch. Perhaps I imagined it in a delusion spurred by mild dehydration and hunger. You see, I was stuck.

Driving a capable vehicle like the 2021 Ram TRX will give you incredible confidence in the abilities of the vehicle and in your own driving. Unfortunately, when you finally run out of talent and road, you might find yourself well beyond the reach of your typical roadside wrecker service.

When the 2021 Ram 1500 TRX launched last fall, the usual suspects on auto-journalist Twitter started complaining that the truck offered more power than anyone really needed, at a terrible cost to the environment, since a truck like this would suck down fuel at a distressing rate.

These folks had a point, though they seemed to ignore that the TRX is likely to sell in such small numbers that it’s unlikely these trucks will add much fuel to the climate-change fire.

Arguments about possible contribution to the destruction of our planet aside, there really is no logical reason to buy a TRX. You buy a 702-horsepower dune-jumper because you want one and can afford it. That’s pretty much it.

For many years, the Ford Raptor has lived without any competition. Sure, there are trucks out there that claim to be “Raptor killers,” but none have competed head-on with Dearborn’s flying aluminum monster. That is, until now. The 2021 Ram TRX is not only legitimate competition for the Raptor, it beats the Raptor in a lot of ways that matter.

So you just bought your 2021 Ram 1500 TRX. You’ve got a supercharged 6.2-liter V8 from the Hellcat underhood, making 702 horsepower. You’re ready to take on the desert, if not the world.

Yet, you have no frickin’ clue what a certain infotainment-system setting does. You’re stumped. You’ve dove into the owner’s manual and the dry prose has you flummoxed and the index is no help. What’s a truck owner to do?

Fiat Chrysler pulled the wraps off its latest supercharged creation on Monday, revealing a full-size pickup the automaker dubs the “apex predator of the truck world.”

Fear FCA’s baby.

As Ram’s answer to the Ford F-150 Raptor, the TRX dons a wider track, extra suspension travel, and tosses the model’s naturally aspirated engines for a mill that’s more familiar to the Dodge crowd.

With the current Ford F-150 having been with us since 2015, the manufacturer has to start getting serious about its replacement. However, before the fourteenth generation of the F-Series arrives, Ford needs to make sure the public hasn’t tuned out on the current model. Automakers frequently release special edition models late in a product’s lifespan to do just that. While the F-150 doesn’t need much help, what with being America’s best-selling automobile for decades, it will get the same treatment.

However, unlike the bevy of appearance packages that are currently clogging up the industry, Ford is rumored to have something more meaningful planned for the full-sized pickup. Rather than simply updating the graphics or incorporating a new suspension setup, Ford apparently wants to wedge the 5.2-liter supercharged V8 from the Shelby GT500 into the Raptor — thereby giving it a proper sendoff.