Join us for an insightful look at the 2025 Ram 1500 RHO, the vehicle stepping into the shoes of the iconic TRX. Host John Rush takes you on a journey through the RHO’s engineering marvel, revealing the nuances of its reduced-cost, revamped engine performance, and lavish interior specifications. Whether you’re a seasoned Ram enthusiast or curious about the latest automotive trends, this episode promises valuable insights into the world of powerful half-ton trucks.
All right, we are back. Drive Radio, KLZ 560. Lines open 303-477-5600. I’ve got time, so I’m going to slip in a car review. This one’s a little different because of the vehicle that it is. And back story, you all know that I own an earlier Ram 1500 TRX. And by the way, great vehicle. Power is phenomenal, and it’s really a one-of-a-kind truck. I know of no other way to explain that particular vehicle than that. So, as most know, that particular truck is no longer available. They’ve replaced it. with the RHO, is what they call it. The Ram 1500 RHO. And I was able to drive that truck for a week. Nice comparison, by the way, to what I already own. Price on this is less than what the TRXs used to be. This truck comes in at about $85,000, which a lot of you are saying, yeah, that’s a lot of money for a half-ton truck. Yes, it is. But it’s not a normal half-ton truck. So the RHO, for all intensive purposes, is… A TRX detuned. And I know Ram is probably going to disagree with me on that, but it is. It’s not the same engine because they’ve gone to the Huracan 6 3-liter twin-turbo engine that produces about 540 horsepower versus the 700-plus that came out of the Hellcat engine in the TRX. You know, the Hemi Hellcat. What I was surprised at… I felt like fuel economy would be a lot better with the three liter inline six than what my TRX is. My TRX is 12 to 14 miles to the gallon, depending upon where you’re driving and so on. This one I averaged around town, and I didn’t drive it super hard. Sometimes I did, sometimes I didn’t, but all in all, just kind of a regular driving experience. Averaged 14 miles to the gallon. So again, I really felt like the TRX would be a lot worse in fuel economy than the RHO, and frankly, there’s not a ton of difference. Again, RHO, nice vehicle. As far as the interior, creature comforts, very nice. In fact, I said all along that it took Ford and GM a while to even catch up to where Ram was with their interiors. Now they all have, and they’re all fairly equal comforts. Ram, of course, is very well known for their center stack and the big screen and all of that and everything. It works very well. And I love the interior of the Ram. It’s a very comfortable truck. All that stuff is great. This one actually happened to have the additional package of, you know, massaging front seats, you know, of course, heated, ventilated, all that kind of stuff. I mean, this one had the entire, you know, 10 grand RHO level one equipment group that was on it, which makes the truck extremely, extremely nice. As a side note, probably one of my bigger complaints. While they look really good and they’re very functional, when it came to the snow and the gunk and the junk that I happened to drive that vehicle this past weekend through the below zero weather and so on, they also catch everything. That’s my complaint with those particular running boards is because of the way they’re mounted in their flat surface and how far they stick out and so on they catch literally all of the road debris and you’re stepping on and off of that as you get in out of the truck so that was the one complaint i have other than that no complaints on the truck it’s not a trx and i’m sorry ram i know that’s the replacement for the trx but it’s not If you want a TRX, you’re going to have to go find a used one and buy a TRX because the RHO is not a TRX. It doesn’t have the same power. It doesn’t have the same low-end grunt. It doesn’t have the same sound. It’s just not the same. Now, they did do dual exhaust and some things like that to make the RHO look very similar to the TRX, and this one had all of the badging and everything on it. And it’s a cool-looking truck. I mean, they do a really good job on how the truck looks and the Baja style and so on. Now, my biggest complaint, even with my own truck, my TRX, and the RHO is very, very similar, is the driving quality of it. And this is something where you have to get behind the wheel and drive it to know exactly what I mean by this. But the driving quality, I’ll just be frank, is not as good as my Chevy ZR2 half-ton. And what I mean by that is because of the way they’ve designed the truck and the suspension, and it’s more of a quote-unquote Baja look and feel, it’s very squishy. So going around corners and bumps and things like that, it’s very squishy and can be even a little squirrely at times. Now, as long as you know all of that and you’re compensating for it, okay, it’s not a problem. You can still drive the truck safely and all that. That’s not an issue. But it doesn’t feel like a lot of other trucks. And it’s been a while since I drove a Raptor, so I can’t tell you an exact comparison because I haven’t driven a Raptor now for several years. But I think the TRX or the RHO is a little squishier than what that truck is. All in all, though, still a great truck. Drives very well. If you really like the look and feel of that and you can’t find a TRX for the price that you want or you just want to go to the most modern and new stuff that they’ve got, this is a 2025 model year. And if you like the fact that it’s got the Huracan 6 with the turbo instead of the old Hemi engine, the Hellcat Hemi with a supercharger, if you want to go this direction, then, of course, go out and look at it. The RHO Crew Cab 4×4, again, very, very nice truck. I’ve got nothing really bad to say about it. And what I talked about with the driving side of it a moment ago is just something that you get used to driving it. But you kind of need to know that going into it because it’s not driving like a regular 1500 Ram would or even some of the other half-ton trucks that they compete with even. It’s a different truck, different feel. because it’s meant to do more things. Of course, the RHO has all of the different modes depending upon what you want to do, whether you’re in that Baja mode and so on and so forth. It is full-time four-wheel drive, but some of the modes disconnect the front and put more power to the back. So if you want to go out and do donuts in the sand and things like that, you can. There’s just things you’ve got to turn on and off accordingly if that’s what you want to happen to do with a truck. So All in all, though, great truck. I’ve got no complaints with it whatsoever. Again, I own a TRX, so I can tell you enough about that particular truck and the pros and cons of, again, the RHO replacement for less money. Keep in mind, though, less horsepower because the engine is not the same. And as long as you’re okay with all of that, go out and test drive one today. I don’t know how many of these are actually in stock. I haven’t looked around at some of the dealers to see because it’s such a special model. I haven’t looked to see what the stock is like around town, but I’m sure you can find one. You can test drive one. See if that’s a particular vehicle that you would like. And as I always say, make sure if you go to your Ram dealer and drive one of these trucks, or by the way, any of the other, you know, 1500 series trucks as well, let them know that John and Richard Rush from Drive Radio sent you as well. This is John Rush from Rush to Reason and Drive Radio. Thank you so much for listening. Check out more of our podcasts at RushToReason.com or Drive-Radio.com.
