Six-Cylinder Ram 1500 RHO Offers More Power Per Buck Of Any Off-Road Sport Truck
Ram added yet another sport truck to its off-road line up, but the 2025 Ram 1500 RHO, nicknamed “rhino,” is definitely more than just an eight-inch-wider Ram Rebel with a more powerful inline-6 engine. It’s a truck that’s been developed specifically for the serious off-road wanderer, and it serves as a replacement for the now-dead V8 TRX.
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Now, I know you’re thinking, “But Jalopnik, isn’t Ram’s lineup already lousy with powerful sport trucks?” and you’d be right! But as of right now, none of them come with the Hurricane High Output turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-6 engine good for 540 horsepower and 521 pound-feet of torque. This beefy truck is more of a sibling of the Ram 1500 Classic Warlock and Ram 1500 Rebel, and with pricing at $69,995, it tops the off-road line up. That’s $129.60 per pony.
Of course, anyone in the market for a Rebel right now knows its nearly impossible to get one close to its starting price of $64,490, and that’s with an inline-six that only makes 420 hp and 469 lb-ft.
Photo: Ram
The RHO can tow 8,380 pounds with a max payload of 1,520 pounds. With 32 inches of water fording, this truck is pretty close to serving as a temporary boat, and with 11.8 inches of ground clearance, the RHO sits over two inches higher than the rest of the lineup thanks to absolutely beastly 35-inch tires. The RHO will do 0-to-60 mph in 4.6 seconds and 0-to-100 mph in 11.7 seconds, and you get a top speed of 118 mph. Do you need that in an off-roading truck? Probably not! But you’re getting it. You also get the regular bevy of drive modes, with a special Baja mode for tearing up sand dunes at speed.
And there there’s that big hood duct all lit up like you could land a plane on it during a thick fog. You can’t miss it. This isn’t just for show; the vent scoops up air to aid in the combustion process, with a high-capacity radial air filter keeping all that fresh air fresh. The see-through RAM badge and airy grille are also meant to keep the engine breathing at max capacity. It’s an easy clean conical filter that owners can knock the dust and rocks out of during a sojourn off road. When that air finishes its journey through the engine and comes out the tailpipe of the RHO, it will have a distinct growl thanks to a “Sport Tune” low-restriction system with true dual pipes.
Photo: Ram
The truck also comes with some true off-roading tech that makes the rhino so much more than a parking lot queen. High-strength aluminum is used throughout the guts of the RHO, making for a lighter, more efficient and stronger vehicle. You can especially see the use of this material in the independent front suspension system, especially in the front upper and lower control arms inspired by desert off-road racers. Bilstein Black Hawk e2 adaptive performance shock keeps your ride nice and loose whether on rocks, sand or the daily commute, with plenty of travel. The rear axle gets 14 inches of space to play with — 40 percent more than any other 1500 — but without sacrificing cargo space.
Inside you’ll find sporty seats meant to hug driver and passenger alike like their fathers never could. The requisite screens are there of course: a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster in front of the driver, a 14.5-inch display in the middle running Uconnect 5 and another 10.25-inch screen for the passenger who can scroll through apps and the internet while riding shotgun. Ram boast that is a best-in-class amount of screens. Not entirely sure that more screens = better car, but the RHO also comes with “redundant” HVAC buttons, so at least you can heat up and cool down without navigating menus and touching screens. Not only that, The RHO comes with a full-color heads-up display, and it also gets all of the driver-assistance features you could ever want (if you even want them) with features like lane centering and adaptive cruise control.
Orders opened Thursday for the U.S. market and you can expect tires to meet the road in the third quarter of this year, but you’ll likely have to get in line to get a hold of one.
