Black Ram a workhorse with style
There it sat, looking like the late Johnny Cash: black-on- black- on-black.
The pearlized paint job was stellar, the grill and bumpers were body coloured, as were the oversized 20- inch wheels. Sinister looking to say the least. Only the grey cloth upholstery broke from the Man in Black theme. With its bold Ram grill, it also presented an imposing facade that had left- lane bandits scurrying like roaches.
The 2015 Ram 1500 Express has a regular cab, rear- wheel drive and a six- foot- four box. It’s also very different in that it is not priced in the rarefied air of some trucks I have tested. Yes, there are almost $ 7,000 in options, but even then my tester retails for $ 35,370; in truckdom that’s a steal for a nicely equipped full- sized pickup.
All the usual power toys, air conditioning and a much- needed rear- view camera, along with a simplified version of Ram’s Uconnect system with a fiveinch screen, are in place. Sitting between the riders is the mother of all centre armrests; when raised it allows a third passenger to sit on the 40/ 20/ 40 bench seat.
The storage compartment is large enough to hold my laptop computer, a DSLR camera and an iPad, with room to spare. And there are handy storage bins behind the front seats, along with coat/ grocery bag hooks.
In other words, more utility than I was expecting in a regular-cab format.
Accessing the cab did prove to be somewhat of an exercise. The 20- inch wheels sure put a large gap between the pavement and the driver’s seat. The wimpy may opt for side rails to ease the hike, but that would kill the look.
The box, with a smart sprayed-in bedliner ($ 550), has the right dimensions. While it is only six feet long with the tailgate up, dropping it allowed a 4x8 sheet of drywall to be carried in the bed without a fuss. It also delivers a solid 730- kg payload.
The only contentious part was the threepiece soft tonneau cover. While it did finish off the look very nicely, it was a pain to remove. Yes, it was only a couple of clips on each of the three segments, but it was a cumbersome chore at best and it did not fit inside behind the seat when it was removed, so it consumed valuable box space. I would save the $ 450.
The tester arrived with Ram’s brawny 5.7- litre V- 8 Hemi. It churns out 395 horsepower and 410 pound- feet of torque, and does so in an effortless manner while adding a deep bass rumble to the drive. It is a superb engine, regardless of manufacturer. One of the pluses was the Hemi’s Multi- Displacement System ( MDS). When the loads are light the system shuts down four of the engine’s eight cylinders, which has a dramatic effect on fuel consumption. Unlike many such systems, it kicked in on a fairly regular basis, which helps to explain the respectable 15.8 L/ 100 km average fuel consumption during the test. Not exactly a fuel miser, but one of the better averages I have attained on a truck test.
The power was relayed to the rear wheels through a six- speed automatic transmission. While it has a manual mode, the Mickey Mouse shifter- mounted rocker switch rendered it redundant. In fact, I occasionally switched gears by mistake — I would tape the darned thing up and be done with it.
One thing I did learn to like was the tow/ haul mode. While it is designed to help when towing a trailer, it works equally well as a sport mode; engaging it stretched out the shift points, which added more immediacy to the drive. In the end it was my setting of choice in all environments except the city.
There is one important powertrain comment: the available eight- speed automatic transmission should be standard across the board. It shaves 1.4 and 1.1 L/ 100 km off the city/ highway consumption numbers respectively, which is a worthwhile saving.
What a difference time can make. I once owned a similar regular- cab pickup truck that, at the time, was the bane of my life; its only concession to comfort was that the heater worked occasionally. Driving the Ram 1500 Express was the antithesis of that pile of junk. Yes, the Ram’s basic thrust is still all about being a utilitarian workhorse, but it managed to deliver on the fun side of life equally well.