World's fastest caravan hauler arrives in Oz

The world’s quickest and most powerful pick-up is now on sale in Australia – and perhaps not surprisingly, the 2022 RAM 1500 TRX is also the most expensive.

RAM Trucks Australia has announced a starting price of $199,950 plus on-road costs for the new RAM 1500 TRX flagship, which places the Baja-ready hero truck at the top of the local distributor’s line-up – and the top of the wish-list of thousands of would-be Aussie owners.

While the berserk 523kW/882Nm V8 supercharged pick-up has been available via smaller converters since last year, the development from RAM Australia this month marks the introduction of the TRX in serious numbers, each offered with a factory-backed warranty.

Initially, RAM Trucks Australia has indicated allocation of about 300 TRX hyper-utes locally, with most of the first batch already spoken for.

Officials are confident of ongoing supply for the foreseeable future.

The RAM 1500 TRX imposes a $75,000 premium over the most affordable DT-generation RAM 1500 available in Oz.

Just like that model, it arrives in Australia in left-hand drive form before undergoing a thorough remanufacturing process to right-hand drive by Walkinshaw Automotive Group, the same folks that brought us HSV’s halo models.

However, the TRX offers plenty of standard kit at that price – headlined, of course, by the 6.2-litre supercharged HEMI V8, codenamed Hellcat.

The TRX can officially accelerate from 0-100km/h in 4.5 seconds and onwards to a top speed of 190km/h.

It comes with launch control and eight different driving modes, the latter including Sport, Snow, Custom, Mud/Sand, Baja and Rock that tailor the 4WD system, throttle response, transmission, suspension and steering optimally for the prevailing terrain.

Fuel use is rated at a hefty 19.6L/100km using 98RON premium unleaded, while the fuel tank holds 125 litres – plenty to make visits to the local servo a very expensive outing.

Other headline features on the 2022 RAM 1500 TRX include Bilstein Black Hawk dampers and 35-inch Goodyear Wrangler Territory tyres.

The TRX’s guards are 203mm wider than a regular 1500 to accommodate for a 152mm-wider track, while ride height has been raised by 50mm.

Officially, the TRX’s approach angle is rated at 30.2 degrees, breakover angle at 21.9 degrees and departure angle at 23.5 degrees, together with a minimum ground clearance of 295mm.

Underneath, there’s additional bracing, aluminium parts to offer more rigidity and five separate skid plates. There are also heavy-duty tow hooks front and rear.

Braking is covered by 378mm rotors up front gripped by two-piston sliding callipers, together with 375mm rotors at the rear braced by a single-piston callipers.

Towing capacity has been capped at 3.5 tonnes, together with a payload of up to 767kg and a water wading depth of 812mm.

The TRX is not available with RAM’s novel RamBox system due to its flared guards, which actually liberates tray space to 1711mm long, 1687mm wide and 543mm deep.

That’s big enough to fit a full-size dirt bike diagonally with the tailgate up and is complemented by fixed anchor points and moveable points on rails.

Standard gear on the 2022 RAM 1500 TRX includes 18-inch wheels, adaptive LED headlights, keyless entry (front doors only), keyless start, power mirrors, heated and ventilated front seats, heated steering wheel, dual-zone climate control, leather upholstery with suede and carbon-fibre accents, a flat-bottomed steering wheel and wireless phone charging.

On the infotainment front, the TRX gets a portrait-oriented 12.0-inch centre touch-screen display with sat-nav, wireless Apple CarPlay and wireless Android Auto, and a 19-inch Harman Kardon audio system together with the car-maker’s ubiquitous UConnect software.

There are two USB ports and two USB-C ports up front, matched by the same in the second row.

The flagship offers umpteen performance viewing options via the centre screen, including Performance pages (0-100km/h timer, g-force, gauges, intake temperature, engine performance), Off-road pages (transfer case position, pitch and roll) and forward-facing/rear-facing cameras.

A 7.0-inch TFT display resides in the instrument cluster, flanked by two traditional analogue gauges.

The TRX also comes armed with six airbags, a surround-view camera, trailer sway control, tyre pressure monitoring and a raft of driver aids such as adaptive cruise control, blind spot detection, lane departure warning, lane keep assist and autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian and rear cross path detection.

The two main options are a dual-pane sunroof for $10,000 and metallic paint that adds $950.

The first 100 RAM TRX examples in Australia will be available solely in Granite Crystal grey.

The TRX comes with a tow bar, but other extra-cost accessories include a tow ball mount kit and a soft/tri-fold tonneau cover.

It’s backed by a three-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, while servicing intervals are set every six months/10,000km.

Now you’ve got the facts and figures, check out our review of the angry V8 supercharged beast that is the 2022 RAM 1500 TRX.

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