WHACKY WHEELS

What do you do when none of the local double cab offerings take your fancy? Flip de la Rosa from Ermelo decided to go large.

I bought this 2013 Dodge Ram 1500 Laramie in the middle of last year, and let me tell you, this is the perfect vehicle for towing. I bought mine from US Trucks. They’re based in Richards Bay. They convert the bakkies from left-hand drive to right-hand drive, register it, and provide after-sales support that includes servicing and parts. The Laramie specification means it comes with a fair amount of bells and whistles, like the UConnect infotainment system with touch screen display, fulllength curtain airbags, hill-start assist, and a pinch protection system on the windows that reverses the mechanism when it senses an arm in the way. It’s also very spacious inside. I have been towing with the Ram only for a few months, but everything I have hitched has been pulled along effortlessly. It has the company’s famous 5.7 ℓ HEMI V8 under the bonnet. The motor produces a massive 295 kW and 552 N.m of torque, and not even my new Jurgens Exclusive or my 24-foot Sensation boat or Cobra Cat 625 deep-sea boat has made the Ram break a sweat. I tow with the cruise control on. The Ram is so heavy you hardly feel what you’re towing, but maybe that’s also down to the suite of electronic safety features it has, like trailer sway control, traction control and stability control. With a powerful petrol V8 you can’t expect thrifty consumption figures, and the Ram is no exception. It drinks between 16 ℓ/100 km and 20 ℓ/100 km. With that in mind, I had a 150 ℓ fuel tank fitted so that I could get decent range. One of my favourite things about the Ram is that, purely by chance, the wheels I got it with are almost exactly the same as those fitted to the Jurgens rangetopper and they complement each other nicely.