2014 Ram 1500 Tradesman/express on 2040-cars

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FCA cuts powertrain warranties to 60k miles

FCA US is cutting back the mileage of its powertrain warranty on some 2016 model year vehicles. Rather than the current five years/100,000 miles of coverage, the new amount is five years/60,000 miles for gasoline-fueled models from Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Ram. In March 2015, General Motors made a similar switch to five-years/60,000-miles of coverage for Chevrolet and GMC, and FCA US seems to be citing this as part of the reason for the shift. "Following changes already made by competitors, FCA US is adjusting powertrain warranty coverage for 2016 model year vehicles to be more consistent with industry practices," the automaker said in a portion of its statement. The bumper-to-bumper warranty for these vehicles is unchanged at three years/36,000 miles. According to Automotive News, Fiat's warranty is remaining at four years/50,000 miles. When it changed the mileage limit, GM also halved the number of free service visits for Chevy, GMC, and Buick to two from the previous four. The automaker claimed that the reason for the adjustments to its coverage was that a long warranty was seldom a reason for customers to buy a vehicle. Related Video: Response to Query: 2016MY Powertrain Warranty Adjustment Following changes already made by competitors, FCA US is adjusting powertrain warranty coverage for 2016 model year vehicles to be more consistent with industry practices. For 2016MY, Chrysler, Jeep®, Dodge and Ram Truck vehicles with gasoline engines will be covered by a 5 year/60,000 mile powertrain warranty. The basic coverage, also known as "bumper to bumper," remains at 3 years/36,000 miles. # # # News Source: FCA US, Automotive News - sub. req.Image Credit: Mark Ralston / AFP / Getty Images Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM Car Buying Maintenance Ownership FCA warranty fca us powertrain

Watch the 702-horsepower Ram 1500 TRX terrorize the Nurburgring

Warning: Video above contains NSFW language. Ram's massive, Hellcat-powered 1500 TRX views performance differently than, say, the 2022 Audi RS3. It was designed for the dunes, not for the track, but that didn't stop a British YouTuber from taking the behemoth to the Nurburgring in Germany to find out what it can do. While the famously challenging track is often open to anyone willing to pay to get in, regardless of whether they're in a Porsche 911 GT2 RS or in a rented Kia Rio, officials have reportedly started turning away folks who show up in massive trucks, so getting the TRX past the gates was a small victory. Once on the track, the supercharged, 6.2-liter V8's prodigious 702-horsepower output quickly pelts the pickup towards its 117-mph speed limiter. Ram conservatively quotes a 0-60 time of 4.5 seconds, and the TRX has no trouble pulling it off. That's great on a drag strip, but on the 'Ring? You need to turn, and sharp handling doesn't appear on the TRX's resume; you may as well ask a Honda Civic Si to blast across the desert at 90 mph. It leans into turns like a fighter jet, but the Hellcat V8 pulls it out of a bend with ease as it completely dwarfs every car it passes — except a first-generation Land Rover Defender, which looks equally out of place. Interestingly, it sounds like the biggest issue the 6,400-pound TRX ran into while lapping the 'Ring was related to its braking system. There's no word on what shape the different parts were in before the run, but the front brakes can be seen smoking — and smelled, according to the man in the camera car — relatively early on in the run. But, here again, this is not the type of situation they were developed to perform in. "My brake pedal is about halfway down the floor at the moment, but it still has some functionality ... a little bit," the driver says at one point. And yet, the overall experience was positive. "This was a great thing to do! I'm really glad I did it," he concluded. As a bonus, the off-road-tuned suspension lets the TRX pass other cars (including a lot of high-end models) by simply moving two wheels from the track to the grass. We've embedded the full, 17-minute-long video above; note that it includes some NSFW language. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

FCA announces the winners of its Design Sketch Battle contest

Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) designers Ralph Gilles and Mark Trostle announced the winner of the first Design Sketch Battle on their respective Instagram accounts. The 24-hour contest invited designers and enthusiasts from all over the world to submit their "wickedest and most outrageous designs for a Ram truck." Participants flooded the company's various social media accounts with creative submissions that did not disappoint. Ralph Gilles, FCA's head of design, selected submissions sent by Paul Piliste, Rezo Lomaia, Michael Stanfel, Morten Rabiee, and Joshua Reese. The sketches he selected all put a decidedly futuristic spin on Ram's design language, and one is a tribute to the original Power Wagon introduced in 1946. They embrace the company's rugged side with oversized wheels and ground clearance measured in feet, not inches. Don't look for street-oriented, low-to-the-ground performance -— like Gilles' own Tomahawk GTR sketch from 1995 — here. We've embedded his winners below. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Mark Trostle, the head of design for Ram and Mopar, published his top picks an hour after Gilles. He selected work by Bryan Johnson, Robin Mathew, Ricky Ryan Goimarac, Jon Sibal, and Sean Smith. His attention gravitated towards futuristic designs, too, but he channeled his inner hot-rodder by choosing what looks like a slammed quad-cab Ram with a front fascia and fender flares from a wide-body Challenger. His fifth pick is one we'd love to see in showrooms: it blends retro-inspired and modern styling cues in a street-oriented high-performance package. His winners are embedded below. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. In the world of Lego, designers can compete for the chance to add their one-off creation to the company's catalog of current and classic cars. We don't know if FCA will give the Design Sketch Battle winners the same distinction. In the meantime, Gilles and Trostle both said they'd post more stand-out designs on Instagram over the weekend. Spoiler alert: Someone Photoshopped a Ram 1500 Rebel grille onto a Tesla Cybertruck. You've been warned. Related Video: