=Secret Hot Rod? The 2015 Ram 1500 R/T Hemi + Truck Comparsion =
#1
10-17-2014, 06:37 AM
=Secret Hot Rod? The 2015 Ram 1500 R/T Hemi + Truck Comparsion =
Secret Hot Rod? The 2015 Ram 1500 R/T Hemi
Hi Member's, Do you like it ? Do you want one ? Why ?
What do you want > Instead ? Post & let us know `OK
Neither li'l nor red, but the express part is there.
By Mike Sutton 2014 / Photos by Michael Simari
The pickup boom of the 1990s and early 2000s brought an explosion of model configurations and trims, as more people began using these once-workhorses as everyday vehicles. Of course, the most dichotomous new species was the sport truck. Pickups focused on performance had existed before—see Express, Li’l Red—but such exercises in silliness peaked when Dodge stuffed the Viper’s 500-hp V10 into the Ram’s engine bay and created the monstrous SRT10—with a manual transmission no less. It set the (still-standing) top-speed record for production trucks at nearly 155 mph.
While refinement, towing capability, and off-road prowess have since taken precedence over outright speed, Chrysler will still sell you a quick, cool truck. The 2015 Ram 1500 R/T, for example, comes awfully close to hitting the performance marks of its wilder predecessors yet also delivers a level of refinement those bruisers lacked.
RELATED: The 2014 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon X is freakishly capable
Michael SimariReady To Run
Based on the mid-level Sport trim, the 2015 R/T looks like a proper sport truck and is available only in rear-wheel-drive, standard-cab form with a six-foot, four-inch box. The lone engine choice is the 395-hp, 5.7-liter Hemi V8; it backs up to an 8HP70 eight-speed automatic that spins a 3.92:1 rear-axle ratio. At 5106 pounds, it’s not light—for example, the standard chrome 22-inch wheels wrapped in 285/45-series all-season Goodyears weigh about 90 pounds each. But the Hemi’s 410 lb-ft of torque and the quick-thinking, many-geared ’box win the day when you mash the go pedal.
The truck returned an impressive 5.4-second dash to 60 mph, with the quarter-mile passing in 14.1 at 99 mph. Both figures are at the strong end for current production pickups and just 0.5-second behind the mighty SRT10. Alas, the R/T is no top-speed champ, with its governor dropping anchor at 106 mph. Stopping prowess from 70 mph (189 feet) and lateral grip on the skidpad (0.76 g) are modest at best, yet the truck maintains a sure-footed and balanced feel, thanks to the multiple-link and coil-spring rear suspension and a respectable 54/46-percent weight distribution front to rear.
Despite its purposeful stance, the R/T’s suspension setup is the same as that of normal Ram 1500 models. As a result, overall ride quality remains carlike despite the short wheelbase, and the truck boasts payload and towing capacities of 1380 and 5050 pounds. As expected of a large, heavy thing with a big Hemi engine, our observed fuel economy was a meager 15 mpg. That puts it in line with most of the V8 pickups we’ve evaluated.
RELATED: Is the 2014 Lingenfelter Chevy Reaper a 550-hp Raptor slayer?
Michael SimariLuxury Creep
The standard-cab R/T is a small, tidy package for a full-sizer, which is appreciated in parking lots, but our test truck’s bucket seats limited occupancy to just two. There is, however, space for a couple of overnight bags behind the seats, and you can add two locking storage bins if you choose the $1295 RamBox bedside compartments.
Ram doesn’t break out the R/T as a stand-alone thing, but Sport models automatically become R/Ts when configured with the V-8, rear-drive, the standard cab, and the short bed. Pricing for such a setup starts at $36,225 and includes the R/T’s vented hood, big wheels, and monochromatic styling, as well as a dizzying array of amenities compared with sport trucks of yore: a limited-slip diff, a 26-gallon fuel tank, keyless entry, front and side-curtain airbags, a rearview camera, 8.4-inch touch-screen infotainment, a heated steering wheel, a seven-inch digital cluster display, a rotary gear selector, a full-length center console, power-adjustable pedals, power and heated exterior mirrors, and more.
The RamBox compartments were the priciest option on our test truck. Also included was the $665 Trailer Tow and Brake package (wider trailering mirrors, Class IV hitch, and an integrated trailer-brake controller), a $500 tri-fold tonneau cover, the $495 Convenience package (automatic high beams, proximity entry and start, and rain-sensing wipers), a $475 spray-in bedliner, and a $350 remote start and upgraded security bundle. A $195 single-disc CD player in the console, a $140 rear sliding rear window, and a $90 engine-block heater finished things off for a final tally of $40,430. That’s steep for a smallish truck that could prove a handful in wintry conditions, but the overall execution is slick and menacing.
RELATED: Toyota's Raptor-fighting TRD Pro Series
Michael SimariBecause It’s Fun
The Ram R/T doesn’t have any direct competitors, as Ford’s F-150 Tremor died in the transition to the all-new aluminum 2015 F-150. The Tremor’s turbocharged EcoBoost V6 lacked the R/T’s V8 rumble, enough of a sin for us to choose the Ram, but it was also slower, more expensive, and less fun to wheel. GMC’s 420-hp Sierra 1500 Denali crew cab 4x4 runs neck-and-neck with the R/T up to 100 mph, but a ginormous $55,000 luxo-truck isn’t anyone’s idea of a hot rod.
Sporty pickups are cool in ways that defy common sense. Yet although it’s noticeably more agile and fun to drive than the larger, crew-cab behemoths that dominate the light-truck market, the R/T is still a workaday pickup and its sportiness mostly a veneer. Now it’s time for Ram to go all the way, leveraging Chrysler’s new supercharged, 707-hp Hellcat V8 to elevate the top-speed record for pickups.
Hi Member's, Do you like it ? Do you want one ? Why ?
What do you want > Instead ? Post & let us know `OK
Neither li'l nor red, but the express part is there.
By Mike Sutton 2014 / Photos by Michael Simari
The pickup boom of the 1990s and early 2000s brought an explosion of model configurations and trims, as more people began using these once-workhorses as everyday vehicles. Of course, the most dichotomous new species was the sport truck. Pickups focused on performance had existed before—see Express, Li’l Red—but such exercises in silliness peaked when Dodge stuffed the Viper’s 500-hp V10 into the Ram’s engine bay and created the monstrous SRT10—with a manual transmission no less. It set the (still-standing) top-speed record for production trucks at nearly 155 mph.
While refinement, towing capability, and off-road prowess have since taken precedence over outright speed, Chrysler will still sell you a quick, cool truck. The 2015 Ram 1500 R/T, for example, comes awfully close to hitting the performance marks of its wilder predecessors yet also delivers a level of refinement those bruisers lacked.
RELATED: The 2014 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon X is freakishly capable
Michael SimariReady To RunBased on the mid-level Sport trim, the 2015 R/T looks like a proper sport truck and is available only in rear-wheel-drive, standard-cab form with a six-foot, four-inch box. The lone engine choice is the 395-hp, 5.7-liter Hemi V8; it backs up to an 8HP70 eight-speed automatic that spins a 3.92:1 rear-axle ratio. At 5106 pounds, it’s not light—for example, the standard chrome 22-inch wheels wrapped in 285/45-series all-season Goodyears weigh about 90 pounds each. But the Hemi’s 410 lb-ft of torque and the quick-thinking, many-geared ’box win the day when you mash the go pedal.
The truck returned an impressive 5.4-second dash to 60 mph, with the quarter-mile passing in 14.1 at 99 mph. Both figures are at the strong end for current production pickups and just 0.5-second behind the mighty SRT10. Alas, the R/T is no top-speed champ, with its governor dropping anchor at 106 mph. Stopping prowess from 70 mph (189 feet) and lateral grip on the skidpad (0.76 g) are modest at best, yet the truck maintains a sure-footed and balanced feel, thanks to the multiple-link and coil-spring rear suspension and a respectable 54/46-percent weight distribution front to rear.
Despite its purposeful stance, the R/T’s suspension setup is the same as that of normal Ram 1500 models. As a result, overall ride quality remains carlike despite the short wheelbase, and the truck boasts payload and towing capacities of 1380 and 5050 pounds. As expected of a large, heavy thing with a big Hemi engine, our observed fuel economy was a meager 15 mpg. That puts it in line with most of the V8 pickups we’ve evaluated.
RELATED: Is the 2014 Lingenfelter Chevy Reaper a 550-hp Raptor slayer?
Michael SimariLuxury CreepThe standard-cab R/T is a small, tidy package for a full-sizer, which is appreciated in parking lots, but our test truck’s bucket seats limited occupancy to just two. There is, however, space for a couple of overnight bags behind the seats, and you can add two locking storage bins if you choose the $1295 RamBox bedside compartments.
Ram doesn’t break out the R/T as a stand-alone thing, but Sport models automatically become R/Ts when configured with the V-8, rear-drive, the standard cab, and the short bed. Pricing for such a setup starts at $36,225 and includes the R/T’s vented hood, big wheels, and monochromatic styling, as well as a dizzying array of amenities compared with sport trucks of yore: a limited-slip diff, a 26-gallon fuel tank, keyless entry, front and side-curtain airbags, a rearview camera, 8.4-inch touch-screen infotainment, a heated steering wheel, a seven-inch digital cluster display, a rotary gear selector, a full-length center console, power-adjustable pedals, power and heated exterior mirrors, and more.
The RamBox compartments were the priciest option on our test truck. Also included was the $665 Trailer Tow and Brake package (wider trailering mirrors, Class IV hitch, and an integrated trailer-brake controller), a $500 tri-fold tonneau cover, the $495 Convenience package (automatic high beams, proximity entry and start, and rain-sensing wipers), a $475 spray-in bedliner, and a $350 remote start and upgraded security bundle. A $195 single-disc CD player in the console, a $140 rear sliding rear window, and a $90 engine-block heater finished things off for a final tally of $40,430. That’s steep for a smallish truck that could prove a handful in wintry conditions, but the overall execution is slick and menacing.
RELATED: Toyota's Raptor-fighting TRD Pro Series
Michael SimariBecause It’s FunThe Ram R/T doesn’t have any direct competitors, as Ford’s F-150 Tremor died in the transition to the all-new aluminum 2015 F-150. The Tremor’s turbocharged EcoBoost V6 lacked the R/T’s V8 rumble, enough of a sin for us to choose the Ram, but it was also slower, more expensive, and less fun to wheel. GMC’s 420-hp Sierra 1500 Denali crew cab 4x4 runs neck-and-neck with the R/T up to 100 mph, but a ginormous $55,000 luxo-truck isn’t anyone’s idea of a hot rod.
Sporty pickups are cool in ways that defy common sense. Yet although it’s noticeably more agile and fun to drive than the larger, crew-cab behemoths that dominate the light-truck market, the R/T is still a workaday pickup and its sportiness mostly a veneer. Now it’s time for Ram to go all the way, leveraging Chrysler’s new supercharged, 707-hp Hellcat V8 to elevate the top-speed record for pickups.
Last edited by Space; 10-17-2014 at 11:16 AM.
#2
10-17-2014, 11:15 AM
6-Pickup Showdown: Which Half-Ton Truck is King?
The newest half-ton trucks not only get the job done, but also deliver better fuel economy than ever before. We spent four days with these big machines to find out which is the best of the beasts.
BY MICHAEL AUSTIN
Pickups just refuse to fade away. While electric vehicles and fuel-efficient compacts get plenty of attention in the news, half-ton trucks quietly remain the biggest sales category in the U.S. automotive market. The popularity of trucks is bolstered by the fact that horsepower, hauling capacity, and creature comforts increase year after year. Modern half-tons not only do things that used to take a heavy-duty pickup, like towing more than 10,000 pounds, but they do so while giving back better fuel economy than ever before.
Since we last reviewed the category four years ago (January 2009), half of the truck models have been redesigned. The newest are the GM twins from Chevrolet and GMC, nearly identical except for the front-end styling. Close behind is the Ram 1500, which launched last year. Joining the Silverado, Sierra, and Ram are the Ford F-150, Nissan Titan, and Toyota Tundra. The Ford was the freshest truck in our previous test and took home top honors. Nissan first offered the Titan back in 2004 and has made few changes since; a new model is expected by 2015. Toyota, meanwhile, barely missed getting the new Tundra into our test—we'll be driving the 2014 model shortly after press time. The 2013 Tundra we tested traces its roots back to 2007.
This time around we teamed up with PickupTrucks.com, the truck-obsessed arm of online shopping portal Cars.com, to help manage the massive task of testing all six half-tons currently on the market. From our base of operations in Ann Arbor, Mich., we spent four days and hundreds of miles driving both unladen and hauling trailers loaded with 8500 pounds of lead and steel. We recorded straight-line performance, peeked into every nook and cranny of the interiors, and even drove each truck through an autocross course. The results of the companion piece on the PickupTrucks website include test data too expansive to list here, so our star ratings are based on the subjective portion of the test.
In order to get similar equipment levels and mechanical trim, our test required a four-door crew-cab body style with four-wheel drive and a maximum price of $45,000. Five of the trucks came stuffed with V-8s under the hood. The outlier was the Ford F-150, equipped with a twin-turbo V-6 packing enough power and torque to make us forget about the missing two cylinders. In a similar bucking of conventional truck wisdom, the Ram sits on an optional adjustable air suspension at all four corners instead of the traditional front-coil, rear-leaf-spring setup found on the rest of the field.
Looking at the group from oldest to youngest, it's clear that trucks are getting faster, more comfortable, and more efficient, but, interestingly, not lighter (at least not yet). And while these trucks might be cushy on the inside, they can still get the job done. Read on to see which one handled the workload best.
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The newest half-ton trucks not only get the job done, but also deliver better fuel economy than ever before. We spent four days with these big machines to find out which is the best of the beasts.
BY MICHAEL AUSTIN
- 1 of 7
- Next
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Pickups just refuse to fade away. While electric vehicles and fuel-efficient compacts get plenty of attention in the news, half-ton trucks quietly remain the biggest sales category in the U.S. automotive market. The popularity of trucks is bolstered by the fact that horsepower, hauling capacity, and creature comforts increase year after year. Modern half-tons not only do things that used to take a heavy-duty pickup, like towing more than 10,000 pounds, but they do so while giving back better fuel economy than ever before.
Since we last reviewed the category four years ago (January 2009), half of the truck models have been redesigned. The newest are the GM twins from Chevrolet and GMC, nearly identical except for the front-end styling. Close behind is the Ram 1500, which launched last year. Joining the Silverado, Sierra, and Ram are the Ford F-150, Nissan Titan, and Toyota Tundra. The Ford was the freshest truck in our previous test and took home top honors. Nissan first offered the Titan back in 2004 and has made few changes since; a new model is expected by 2015. Toyota, meanwhile, barely missed getting the new Tundra into our test—we'll be driving the 2014 model shortly after press time. The 2013 Tundra we tested traces its roots back to 2007.
This time around we teamed up with PickupTrucks.com, the truck-obsessed arm of online shopping portal Cars.com, to help manage the massive task of testing all six half-tons currently on the market. From our base of operations in Ann Arbor, Mich., we spent four days and hundreds of miles driving both unladen and hauling trailers loaded with 8500 pounds of lead and steel. We recorded straight-line performance, peeked into every nook and cranny of the interiors, and even drove each truck through an autocross course. The results of the companion piece on the PickupTrucks website include test data too expansive to list here, so our star ratings are based on the subjective portion of the test.
In order to get similar equipment levels and mechanical trim, our test required a four-door crew-cab body style with four-wheel drive and a maximum price of $45,000. Five of the trucks came stuffed with V-8s under the hood. The outlier was the Ford F-150, equipped with a twin-turbo V-6 packing enough power and torque to make us forget about the missing two cylinders. In a similar bucking of conventional truck wisdom, the Ram sits on an optional adjustable air suspension at all four corners instead of the traditional front-coil, rear-leaf-spring setup found on the rest of the field.
Looking at the group from oldest to youngest, it's clear that trucks are getting faster, more comfortable, and more efficient, but, interestingly, not lighter (at least not yet). And while these trucks might be cushy on the inside, they can still get the job done. Read on to see which one handled the workload best.
- 1 of 7
2014 Chevrolet Silverado
2013 Ford F-150
2014 GMC Sierra
2013 Nissan Titan
2013 Ram 1500 SLT
- Next
Return to Gallery
Return to Slideshow
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Last edited by Space; 10-17-2014 at 11:18 AM.
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