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Tested! The 2025 Ram 1500 RHO Loses the TRX's Bark but Keeps Its Bite
Ram’s off-road champ is very mindful and demurer.Jason GondermanWriterMotorTrend StaffPhotographerOct 28, 2024
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Pros
- Not lacking for power
- Interior comes packed with features
- Fabulous off-road hardware suite
Cons
- Missing that supercharger snarl
- Lacks a true 2WD mode
- Hardly more economical than the TRX
Thankfully, this news didn’t mean Ram was getting out of the performance off-road pickup game entirely. Enter the new 2025 Ram 1500 RHO, a near-doppelgänger of the extinct TRX except for two important points: a lower cost of entry and two fewer cylinders.
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That Thing Got a Hemi? Well, No
The biggest change from the Ram TRX to the RHO is found under the hood. Instead of a supercharged 6.2-liter Hemi V-8, the RHO packs a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter high-output inline six-cylinder engine. While the new mill’s 540 hp and 520 lb-ft of torque fall short of the TRX’s 702 hp and 650 lb-ft, the RHO is no slouch.In our straight-line acceleration testing, the Ram RHO ran to 60 mph in just 4.6 seconds. It raced through the quarter mile in 13.2. Those are reasonably close to the TRX’s 3.9 and 12.5-second track times, despite the RHO’s 162-hp (and 2.8 pound/hp) disadvantage. And it's still a full second quicker than the closest competitor. Ford’s 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6 Raptor will go from 0 to 60 in 5.6 seconds. The quickest six-cylinder pickup we’ve ever tested, the 2025 Ram 1500 Tungsten, is 678 pounds lighter than RHO and just 0.2 second quicker.
Braking was always a strong suit of the Ram TRX, and those traits carry over to the RHO. From 60 mph, the hefty 6,638-pound truck slowed to a stop in 126 feet. The outgoing TRX took 129 feet, while the lighter Tungsten model Ram, which rides on street tires, took 133 feet to do the same. Ford’s Raptor needs a whopping 148 feet to get slowed from 60 mph. We found in testing that the RHO’s brake pedal offers a nice medium-to-long stroke that’s easy to modulate without being overly boosted, which is beneficial for a performance off-road truck.
On-pavement handling was never a particular high point of the TRX driving experience. In previous testing, the TRX completed our figure-eight course in 28.4 seconds at an average of 0.61 g. The Ram RHO fared no better as it put down a 28.6-second lap at an average of 0.62 g. These figures are also, unsurprisingly, right in line with the most recent F-150 Raptor we tested (28.4 at 0.58 g). A propensity to understeer is the RHO’s greatest nemesis, along with the large tires, long-travel suspension, and generally being shaped like a woodshed.
The biggest benefit of the downsized engine, on paper at least, is its improvement in fuel economy. TRX’s blown V-8 had a thirst to the tune of 10/14/12 mpg city/highway/combined. RHO improves upon that slightly with EPA figures of 14/16/15 mpg city/highway/combined. With 33 gallons of premium fuel on board, the slight improvement adds up to nearly 100 miles of added range.
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A More Dignified Experience
The Ram TRX brought with it a bit of a wild-child vibe. It was packed with fire and fury and wanted everyone to know it. Part of the allure of the TRX was the visceral experience it brought to the table. The exhaust note from the Hellcat engine rattled every window within earshot on startup. The supercharger whine was earsplittingly, unavoidably loud. And at full song, people knew there was a TRX coming from a mile away. With the new 2025 Ram RHO you don’t get any of that. And we’re surprisingly OK with it.Ram has fitted the RHO with a new performance dual-exhaust system with 5-inch black-painted tips. This exhaust offers a flow-activated valve that opens at wide-open throttle to minimize back pressure and maximize sound. The result is a very distinct exhaust note when driving full out, one that almost mimics that of a premium European sports car. You know the sound. It’s strange at first coming from a half-ton pickup, but we quickly adapted and found ourselves yearning for more. At idle and cruising speeds, the truck is as quiet as a lamb, a stark departure from its predecessor.
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High-Tech and High-Class
Ram’s new RHO is built on the company’s new sixth-generation platform that underpins all its refreshed 2025 1500 pickups. With that comes the latest high-tech and comfort features.Ram’s RHO is packed with more than 50 inches of digital displays, which is divided between four different areas. The instrument cluster measures 12.3 inches and is customizable with nearly two dozen bits of available information. A 10-inch head-up display is also standard and offers insight into speed, rpm, gear selection, navigation data, and more. Passengers can take advantage of a new 10.3-inch screen located above the glove box that can display off-road camera views, navigation information, or play media through the provided HDMI port. All of this is punctuated by Ram’s vertically oriented 14.5-inch infotainment screen.
Providing the tunes is Ram’s premium 19-speaker audio system from Harman Kardon. Leather-trimmed massaging bucket seats are included. Rear-seat passengers aren’t left in the cold, either, as the RHO has Ram’s class-exclusive reclining rear seats that are also heated and cooled. Hands-free driving assist is available as well for the first time on a widebody off-road truck. The above is included in a $9,995 option group.
Ram also offers its new digital key feature for RHO, which allows owners with an Apple iPhone or Apple Watch the ability to access and start the truck without accessing the device. There are also more than 100 standard and available safety and security features, which means there’s no compromise stepping into the off-road-focused RHO.
Losing two cylinders resulted in a bit of weight reduction, with the Ram RHO weighing in 62 pounds lighter than the last TRX we tested. This weight reduction, combined with moving more weight behind the front axle, allowed Ram to increase both towing and payload. The RHO is rated with a max of 8,380 pounds of towing (280 more than TRX) and 1,520 pounds of payload (210 more than TRX). Both of these are higher than what Ford’s Raptor offers. It’s worth noting, however, with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 7,800 pounds, our fully loaded tester only offered 1,162 pounds of payload. This is why it’s important to know your numbers, kids.
