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The future's electric — but the present is peak gasoline. Burn some rubber! Do donuts!

I vividly remember the year 1993 as a teenager looking forward to getting my driver’s license, longingly staring into Pontiac dealerships at every opportunity for a chance to see the brand-new fourth-generation Firebird and Trans Am. Back then, 275 horsepower, courtesy of GMÂ’s LT1 5.7-liter V8 engine, was breathtaking. A few years later, when Ram Air induction systems freed up enough fresh air to boost power over 300 ponies, I figured we were right back where my fatherÂ’s generation left off when the seminal muscle car era ended around the year 1974. It couldn't get any better than that. I was wrong. Horsepower continued climbing, prices remained within reach of the average new-car buyer looking for cheap performance, and a whole new level of muscular magnitude continued widening eyes of automotive enthusiasts all across the United States. It was all ushered in by cheap gasoline prices. And as much as petrolheads bemoan the coming wave of electric vehicles, perhaps instead now would be a good time for critics to sit back and enjoy the current and likely final wave of internal combustion. Today, itÂ’s easier than ever to park an overpowered rear-wheel-drive super coupe or sedan in your driveway. Your nearest Chevy dealership will happily sell you a Camaro with as much as 650 horsepower. Not enough? Take a gander at the Ford showroom and youÂ’ll find a herd of Mustangs up to 760 ponies. Or if nothing but the most powerful will do, waltz on over to the truly combustion-obsessed sales team of a Dodge dealer and relish in the glory of a 797-hp Charger or 807-hp Challenger. Want some more luxury to go with your overgrown stable of horses? Try Cadillac, where you'll find a 668-horsepower CT5-V Blackwing. You could instead choose to wrap that huffin' and chuggin' V8 in an SUV. Or go really off the rails and buy a Ram TRX or Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 392 and hit the dunes after a quick stop at the drag strip. Go pump some gas. Burn a little rubber. Do donuts! There is nothing but your pocketbook keeping you from buying the V8-powered car of your dreams. Yes, just about every major automaker in the world has halted development of future internal combustion engines in favor of gaining expertise in batteries and electric motors. No, that doesnÂ’t mean that gasoline is going extinct. There are going to be gas stations dotting American cities and highways for the rest of our lifetimes.

2020 Ram 1500 4x4 Suspension Deep Dive

What is taking everyone so long? That’s what I continually ask myself each time yet another all-new full-size pickup comes out with leaf spring rear suspension. Meanwhile, this 2020 Ram 1500 pickup represents a dozen years since coil spring rear suspension debuted when its prior generation was still being called a Dodge Ram 1500. Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota and Nissan introduced full redesigns of their pickups well after Ram proved that coil springs were the way to go, and yet leaf springs persist with the competition. IÂ’m not just popping off, here. In the 1990s I used to specialize in pickup truck suspension tuning for the Toyota Technical Center. Leaf springs are crude and loaded with compromises, but thatÂ’s all that truck design engineers ever gave us to work with. I was instantly all-in on RamÂ’s move to rear coils after the first few miles of driving a 2009 Ram 1500 pickup. Empty-bed ride comfort and handling were on another level, but it could still tow and haul. In fact, towing stability proved to be frankly incredible on the normally-treacherous downhill leg of my winding tow test grade. I fully expected everyone would copy it immediately. But they didnÂ’t. Others may have doubted the payload aspects. Ram never did. It soon doubled down and put coils under the back of its 2014 2500-series trucks. IÂ’ve developed other theories that seek to explain why no one followed their lead, but theyÂ’re not worth dredging up because I think the dominoes will soon begin to fall. Spy photos suggest that the next Toyota Tundra will switch to coils, and there are rumors that the Ford Raptor is going that way. ThatÂ’s not much of a stretch because the Ranger Raptor (only available outside the U.S.) already has coil spring rear suspension. WhatÂ’s the big deal? LetÂ’s take a look at the underside of a 2020 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4, the second iteration of the Ram 1500 to employ coil spring rear suspension.   As it has for some time, the front end of the Ram 1500 rides on double wishbone suspension. The truck employs a high-mount upper wishbone (yellow arrow) that positions the upper ball joint up behind the tire sidewall instead of inside the wheelÂ’s barrel. This layout offers improved steering geometry and reduced stress in the upper ball joint, the upper control arm and its mounting points.   Coil-over spring/shock assemblies (green) come standard on all 2019+ (fifth-generation) Ram 1500 pickups whether they have four-wheel drive or not.

Ram's 700 mini-truck blends Fiat genes with 1500 styling cues

Ram's on-again, off-again sub-1500 pickup is allegedly on its way to production, but we haven't seen it yet. In the meantime, the company's Mexican division introduced a trucklet named 700 built on a unibody architecture. The 700's positioning suggests it picks up where the Dakota left off, but it's a completely different breed of truck. And, while its unibody bones are reminiscent of the Honda Ridgeline, it's a much smaller model that's essentially a badge-engineered version of the Fiat Strada. No, not the hatchback briefly sold in the United States from 1979 to 1982; we're talking about the little, economy car-derived pickup sold in dozens of global markets. Think of the 700 as the Dodge Rampage's distant heir. Visually, its front end borrows a handful of styling cues from the 1500, including an upright grille characterized by a bold Ram emblem and mesh inserts. Called SLT, the base model wears a decidedly downmarket look with black plastic bumpers and steel wheels covered by plastic hubcaps. The mid-range Big Horn blurs the line between a commercial vehicle and a crossover with a practical cargo box, while the range-topping Laramie variant is aimed at motorists who want an outdoorsy daily driver. Ram offers two- and four-door models, though only the SLT is available in the former configuration. The 700 boasts a usable 1,653-pound payload and an 880-pound towing capacity. Power comes from a 1.4-liter four-cylinder engine that sends 84 horsepower to the front wheels via a five-speed manual transmission. Buyers can pay extra for a turbocharged, 1.3-liter four that delivers 98 horsepower. It doesn't appear that four-wheel drive is available, and there's no automatic transmission on the menu. Small and cheap doesn't necessarily mean basic. The 700 can be equipped with a seven-inch touchscreen with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay compatibility, a rear-view camera, and electronic driving aids such as ABS brakes and traction control, plus LED headlights. Laramie models also benefit from partial leather upholstery. Ram will release the 2021 700 in the Mexican market this month, but we're not expecting the model to find its way north to the U.S. Drivers who want a small, unibody truck will need to wait until Ford releases the Maverick, which will ride on the same basic platform as the Escape and the Bronco Sport. It's tentatively due out in 2021 as a 2022 model.