THE JOHNNY CASH OF PICKUPS
Black-on-black Ram is tough and fun
There it sat, looking like the late Johnny Cash: black-on-black-on-black.
The pearlized paint job was stellar, the grille 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 grille, it also presented an imposing facade.
The 2015 Ram 1500 Express has a regular cab, rear-wheel drive and a six-foot-four box. It’s also not priced in rarefied air. Yes, there are almost $7,000 in options, but even then my tester retails for $35,370. In the truck world, that’s a steal.
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 five-inch 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.
Accessing the cab was 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.
The box, with a smart sprayed-in bedliner ($550), has the right dimensions. While it’s 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 three-piece soft tonneau cover. While it did finish off the look nicely, it was a pain to remove.
It was a cumbersome chore and it didn’t fit behind the seat when it was removed, so it consumed valuable box space. I would forget it and save the $450.
The tester arrived with Ram’s brawny 5.7-litre V-8 Hemi. It churns out 395 horsepower and 410 lb.-ft. of torque, and does so in an effortless manner.
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.
The power was relayed to the rear wheels through a six-speed automatic transmission. While it has a manual mode, the shifter-mounted rocker switch rendered it redundant. In fact, I occasion- ally switched gears by mistake.
I did learn to like the tow/haul mode. While it’s 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, a worthwhile saving.
The Ram’s significant advantage is its suspension. With double wishbones up front and a five-link design in back, it managed to deliver the towing capacity demanded of a truck (4,164 kilograms in this case) without sacrificing the ride comfort when the box is empty and the truck is trailer-less. I was impressed by the manner in which it handled a gnarly piece of tarmac, and this comes from a non-truck person.
Likewise, the feel and feedback afforded by the steering proved to be precise, and so was the manner in which the 1500 Express held its line. The P275/60R20 tires certainly helped the cause.
The limited-slip rear differential ($525) then helped to quell the tail-happy nature that’s a common pickup-truck trait. If things do go awry, the Ram has a full complement of electronic helpers, including trailer-sway control.
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.
Overview: The Johnny Cash of the truck world Pros: Powertrain civility, utility, overall comfort Cons: Manual mode, tonneau cover, needs the eight-speed transmission Value for money: Excellent What I would change: Make the eight-speed transmission standard on all Ram variants, and ditch the manual mode How I would spec it: Do without the $450 soft tonneau cover