2013 Ram 1500 Tradesman/express on 2040-cars

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2022 Ram 1500 adds G/T model to Rebel and Laramie trims

The 2022 Ram 1500 lineup is expanding with a new G/T trim that offers a few small performance upgrades and some items borrowed from the Earth-eating TRX. Don’t get too excited, though, because this package is paired exclusively with the 5.7-liter V8 eTorque engine — no superchargers here. Available with either the Rebel or Laramie trims, the G/T package adds a cat-back exhaust and cold air intake to improve performance. Both are yanked out of the Mopar catalog, so those changes are ones you could actually do yourself. The rest is a touch more exclusive. For starters, Ram includes paddle shifters, a console-mounted gear lever (no turn dial), unique bucket seats with high bolsters and a metal pedal kit. Those are bits you get on the TRX now, so itÂ’s great to see the lower level Rams benefitting from the monster performance truck.  On the tech front, Ram includes its Performance Pages in the infotainment system. Measuring 0-60 mph times and G-forces in a regular Ram pickup seems a little silly, but now you can do both of those things and take advantage of a myriad of other capabilities afforded by those Performance Pages. You can tell the G/T models apart from others by looking for the big G/T decals on the rear fenders. All G/Ts additionally gain a unique “sport performance hood.” Lastly, you get Mopar all-season floor mats. Pricing for the Rebel G/T starts at $57,070, while the Laramie G/T starts at $57,175, both including their $1,695 destination fees. Ram says the G/T models will go on sale in the third quarter of 2021. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

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.

2013 Ram 1500

Enough Is Enough. Finally.
Not long ago, the efforts of an automaker to put a six-cylinder engine into a pickup truck went something like this: take the basic bread-and-butter V8, lop two cylinders off one end of the block and call it a day. The resulting engines were generally pretty rough around the edges, and while they were able to churn out reasonable amounts of torque, they generally weren't good at anything else. Instead of being smooth running, they shook and shimmied; in place of a quiet highway jaunt, they operated well outside their low-rpm comfort zones and sent a corresponding racket throughout the cabin. And, instead of returning significantly superior fuel economy over their V8 counterparts, they guzzled gas and spat noxious vapors out their tailpipes.
In other words, the only reason to choose the base V6 engine over an optional V8 was to save money on the initial purchase, and that usually meant you'd be driving home in a stripped-out machine and would be lucky to have power windows, cruise control and air conditioning.