2027 Ram 1500 TRX SRT First Drive Review: Hell Yeah! The Hellcat Is Back

• What's new: The supercharged Ram TRX is back with more power than before.
• Why it matters: Ram's 6.2-liter Hellcat engine makes 777 horsepower, besting the Ford F-150 Raptor R — and pretty much every other off-roader.
• Edmunds says: This $102,590 off-roader is pretty stinkin' fun. Who'd have thought?

Jump around

To properly test the Ram TRX, the company set me up on an off-road course with short whoops, banked turns, lots of loose dirt, and a pair of jumps — one of which could be taken at wide-open throttle so I'd cover about 100 feet in the air.

The TRX's upgraded suspension is what allows it to fly. The TRX uses the same Bilstein Black Hawk E2 adaptive shocks as the Ram 1500 RHO, but the front springs are stiffer to deal with the extra weight of the supercharged V8 engine. I've always been impressed with the RHO's off-road performance, so that's a great place to start.

The TRX has 13 inches of front suspension travel and 14 inches at the rear. What sets the TRX apart from the RHO is an extra bump-stop within the damper itself. This means that, when the suspension's full travel is being used (like during a hard landing), you've got two bump-stops helping to cushion the rebound so you don't bottom out.

With enough determination, you can jump any truck, but the landing is what's more important. Getting up to the right speed to hit the jumps isn't an issue with the supercharged V8 engine, but the way the Ram lands is really impressive. It feels like it's floating down rather than crashing, and the rebound is well controlled, so you immediately get feeling back through the steering and the brakes.

The off-road course was pretty short, so I didn't have a chance to fully wind out the V8 engine. But I can say its low-end responsiveness is impressive. There isn't just more power; it's available sooner in the rev range. The eight-speed automatic transmission is perfectly matched to this engine, and while in its Baja drive mode (one of nine!), it'll happily hold onto gears up to its 6,500-rpm redline.

We'll have to get the TRX SRT out into a different environment to test out its 11.8 inches of ground clearance and see how its 35-inch tires help it crawl. But in any kind of go-fast off-road situation, this truck is an absolute joy.

What about on the street?

Ram says the TRX can accelerate to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds — a figure we look forward to verifying at our test track. If that number holds true, this means the TRX is much quicker than its predecessor (4.2 seconds) and should beat the Ford F-150 Raptor R (4.0 seconds) too.

Big, beefy off-road trucks like the Ram TRX ride better on paved roads than you might expect. The off-road-tuned suspension makes the TRX compliant and comfortable on the road, though there's a good amount of tire noise. Of course, you can just cover that up by digging into the throttle and listening to the pronounced whine of the supercharger. It sounds so good that you'll be tempted to drive with a lead foot all of the time, but that will certainly hurt fuel economy — if you even care about such a thing in a truck like this.

This being a Ram, the TRX's interior is fantastic. Comfortable leather seats have unique TRX badging, and overall material quality is good. The TRX also comes with real carbon-fiber trim and features like heated and ventilated seats (front and rear), massaging front seats and an available panoramic sunroof. We loved the cabin in the Ram 1500 we had in our One-Year Road Test fleet, and this one is no different.

Here's how much it costs

All of this performance and luxury doesn't come cheap. With destination charges, the Ram 1500 TRX SRT starts at $102,590 and climbs from there if you want to add a towing package or the panoramic sunroof. There's also a graphics package being offered, called the Bloodshot Night Edition, with a two-tone paint job that features a gloss-black upper half, a red racing stripe, graphics on the side of the bed, red accents in the carbon-fiber bits, and a glass-encased center console badge. At $9,995, it's a pretty steep addition — one I'd definitely skip. It looks ... bad.

Even fully loaded, the Ram 1500 TRX undercuts its closest rival, the F-150 Raptor R, which starts around $12,000 more. Performance and value? Hell yeah, Hellcat.