The Ram 1500 RHO Is Here To Show Deserts Who’s Boss

Are you a sand dune that’s somehow become sentient and started reading this article? If so, all we can say is ‘good luck’. That’s because Ram, the truck and commercial offshoot of Dodge, has just unveiled its latest dedicated off-road performance truck, the 1500 RHO, and it looks like it’ll make mincemeat of whatever obstacles its driver cares to throw it at.

Picking up where the now-discontinued, Hellcat-powered Ram 1500 TRX left off, the RHO doesn’t get quite as extreme a powertrain. It’s Stellantis’ new 3.0-litre, twin-turbo ‘Hurricane’ straight-six, as also seen in combustion variants of the new Dodge Charger. Here, it’s in ‘High Output’ 540bhp form. That also means 521lb ft of torque, sent to all four wheels through an eight-speed automatic.

The result is a 2.8-tonne truck that’ll nevertheless hit 60mph in 4.6 seconds, and top out at 118mph, a speed it’s limited to thanks to its beefy off-road tyres.

Because off-roading is what the RHO’s really about. It gets an all-round set of adaptive Bilstein Black Hawk e2 shocks, which feature nitrogen-charged remote reservoirs for greater travel. The tyres, meanwhile, are all-terrain Goodyear Wranglers, a ridiculous 35 inches in diameter. All of this is largely as it was on the old, 702bhp TRX, although the lighter engine leads to a weight reduction of around 68kg.

Elsewhere, there’s a Dana 60 rear axle with an electronically locking diff. While it’s full-time four-wheel drive, up to 75 per cent of the torque can be sent to the rear wheels for the express purpose of sending great roostertails of sand up into the air. Wheel travel is increased by 40 per cent over a workaday Ram 1500, and ground clearance is a healthy 300mm.

The inside is largely similar to the rest of the updated Ram range, but the RHO gets a model-specific configurable head-up display.

In the States, the RHO starts at $71,990 – around £57,500. That’s about $8000 (approx. £6400) less than a basic Ford F-150 Raptor, despite the Ram boasting nearly 100 more brake horsepower than its biggest competitor. By the time a few inevitably make their way to the UK through Dodge and Ram’s small network of importers, expect import fees and exclusivity to drive that number up significantly.