The folks at the Ram Trucks brand recently hosted a first drive event for the 2025 Ram 1500 RHO at Holly Oaks Off-Road Park in Michigan and I was one of the people fortunate enough to be invited. Over the past few weeks, I have spent time in a Ram 1500 Rebel with the standard output Hurricane I6, a a Ram 1500 Limited with the high output Hurricane I6 and my new Ram 1500 Big Horn with the standard output Hurricane I6, so I was really looking forward to driving the RHO – which represents the first real performance application of the twin turbocharged I6 engine platform. I obviously like the engine platform enough to add one to my personal fleet and I am impressed with how well the Hurricane engines motivate the Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer, so I had high hopes for the RHO and the RHO did not disappoint.

Now, I understand that some people are going to fixate on the fact that the supercharged V8-powered TRX is gone, so no matter how great the RHO is, they are going to dislike this new I6-powered sport truck. As far as I can tell, having logged hundreds of hard miles on- and off-road with both the TRX and the RHO, the only knock against the RHO is that it doesn’t have as much power as the TRX. If you are looking to go straight-line racing in a truck, whether on a paved track or in dirt/sand, the RHO obviously isn’t quite as quick as the TRX. If drag racing is your key focus, then you should be shopping for a TRX. For everyone else, the RHO is a fantastic addition to the 2025 Ram 1500 lineup and one that buyers are going to enjoy.

Hurricane Power

The 2025 Ram 1500 RHO shares many mechanical aspects with the Ram 1500 TRX, with the key difference being the high output 3.0-liter twin turbocharged inline-six engine, which delivers 540 horsepower and 521 lb-ft of torque. That is the same peak power rating as the other Ram 1500 models with the high output Hurricane, but thanks to the package-specific intake setup and exhaust system, the RHO makes more power than other models at other points in the powerband. When you combine the added power at less-than-peak power levels with the specially tuned transmission, the RHO felt noticeably quicker than the Limited model I had a few weeks earlier. The RHO also feels stronger when climbing in and out of the throttle at lower and mid-range speeds, which is aided by how aggressively the transmission shifts and holds gears in Sport mode when being driven hard.

In terms of real world numbers, the Ram 1500 RHO gets up to 118 in a hurry (the same electronically limited top speed as the TRX) and with just a couple quick pulls on Michigan country roads, I was able to record a 0-60 time of 4.8 seconds. I am sure that with some practice and more focus on the surface, the RHO would get to 60 more quickly than that (the official 0-60 time is 4.6 seconds), but for an off-road sport truck, a 0-60 time anywhere in the 4-second range is pretty solid. The Ford F-150 Raptor accelerates to 60 in the low-to-mid-5-second range.

On those hard pulls, the 8-speed transmission pops from gear to gear very quickly with minimal RPM drop during shifts, so once the boost hits, the Hurricane high output engine pushes you back in the seat and keeps you there until you lift – or until you hit 118. As a reminder, the top speed is limited based on a federal regulation relating to the top speed rating of the tires. Once aftermarket companies get to tuning the Hurricane engines and removing the speed limiter, these trucks are going to go much faster than 118. They will also make way more than 540 horsepower without any major component changes, but that is for another discussion – today we are focusing on the RHO in factory form.

The bottom line here is that the Ram 1500 RHO is the first application of the new Hurricane engine platform in a performance setting and it does a great job of making this new off-road truck a ton of fun to drive on the open road. While the peak power ratings arent higher than other models, the added power at other points in the powerband coupled with the aggressive transmission characteristics makes this the most exciting Hurricane-powered vehicle to hit the street thus far.

RHO Driving Dynamics On- and Off-Road

The 2025 Ram 1500 RHO features an adaptive Bilstein suspension system that makes it remarkably capable in every off-road setting, but more importantly for most buyers, it provides a pretty comfortable ride on paved roads. Interested buyers should keep in mind that this is a purpose-built off-road truck, so it rides higher than other Ram 1500 pickups and the ride is stiffer than other models, so this isn’t the ideal truck for those who want to blast through the twisties on paved roads, but anyone who is shopping for an off-road truck is not likely to expect it to handle like a road racer. That being said, it handles normal driving just fine thanks to the high tech suspension system, providing a smooth quiet ride even on Michigan’s rough roads.

The Ram 1500 RHO handles as well as any other truck in normal driving on public roads and thanks in part to the beefy off-road tires, the ride quality is actually a little better than some premium trim level trucks with lower profile tires.

While the Ram RHO is not the best-handling truck on paved roads, it is very likely the best-handling truck on unpaved surfaces – just like the TRX was during its reign as the king of the modern performance pickup. The Ram Trucks team created a course within the Holly Oaks ORV facility that allowed us to push the RHO to its limits and to experience the newest performance pickup in a variety of off-road situations. Holly Oaks is part of an old rock quarry, so there are lots of tight trails with big hills to climb, and the footing is constantly changing between loose sand, gravel, packed dirt (when it is dry) and large rocks.

Regardless of the surface, the Ram 1500 RHO had no issue digging in and blasting along the tight trails. When the loose sand and packed dirt turned into rougher, rocky sections, the suspension system allowed the truck to eat up the impact, allowing me to keep powering forward without any loss of control. At no point during off-road testing did I ever think “this truck is ok, but it needs more power” – the output was plenty for the off-road park and anyone who has done much off-roading understands that in many situations, there isn’t enough room to make use of all of the available power. However, the Hurricane is a bit lighter than the supercharged Hemi in the TRX, and that leads to a bit less weight over the front wheels. Less weight up front allows the RHO to hit turns in deep sand and dirt more aggressively, with less understeer when braking and turning through the tightest turns.

Less weight over the nose also allows the Ram 1500 RHO to rotate less when in the air, so the Ram folks set up three jumps that allowed us to get big air. We did some jumping with the TRX at that media first drive events years ago, but with the RHO, we were jumping further and getting more hang time – pushing the truck’s suspension setup towards its limits. These three jumps were made in close succession, so after the first two jumps, we had to collect the truck and immediately prepare for the next jump. If we got crossed up during the first two jumps, there could have been disastrous consequences, but the RHO handled the big jumps and the hard landings like it was nothing – preventing the truck from bouncing on the landing and allowing us to easily cruise to the next jump. I even made a mistake on one run and hit one of the jumps a bit too spicy, so I overshot the landing area and hit down pretty hard, but the truck was still perfectly in control on that bigger-than-planning jump.

If you are shopping for a new truck and off-road abilities are a key concern, the 2025 Ram 1500 RHO is likely to check all of the key boxes. While it is hard to quantify an advantage in an off-road setting, the RHO will go anywhere or cover any terrain that you can handle with any other production vehicle, but it will do it a bit quicker thanks to the advantage in power.