As with many vehicles, the more spy shots (and leaks) get put out into the web, the more the anticipation grows for the company in question to “get on with it” and just reveal the darn thing. Ram is no stranger to this and neither is the new 1500. To which, they’ve finally given us the mercy of seeing their new (beautiful) baby.
The team(s) behind the knew Ram understood they couldn’t just make the new truck marginally better. They had to blow the competition out of the park. No, out of this planet. Seeing as there’s a lot to cover, why don’t we start with the chassis.
Thanks to usage lighter materials (and smarter use of existing ones), the new 1500 is 225 pounds lighter than the outgoing model. Seems like the new 1500 has been on a diet. Add to this with the new 1500 having 98 percent high-strength steel (you know, to improve durability), with the added benefit of improving handling, rigidity, and weight (there’s the smarter use of materials I was talking about).
For those of you interested in maximum payload towing. Ram increased the number to 2,300 pounds (of maximum payload towing). Then went own to increase the maximum trailer towing to 12,750 pounds.
Ah, the black art of aerodynamics. How you work in mysterious ways. There’s nothing mysterious about what I’m going to say though. Ram improved the aerodynamics of the new 1500, giving it a drag coefficient of .357. By comparison, the Gen V Viper has a drag coefficient of .369. In all fairness to the Viper, it needs that downforce(cough drag cough). The Ram is just big, haha. Nonetheless, that’s really rather impressive for the engineers and designers at Ram to get the new 1500 to be aerodynamically slippier than the 5th gen Viper. They’ve been able to achieve this by using active grille shutters, air dams, and air suspension.
Speaking of the suspension, they’ve given the 1500 all-new Frequency Response Dampening (FRD for short). Why? For improved ride and handling of course.
All of this wouldn’t be as cool if the truck had no brakes, however. Thankfully (and rather obviously), it does. They’re not carry over from the previous truck though, they (like everything else) have been improved. The brakes come in at a pretty hefty 14.9 inches big and included is an all-new electronic parking brake.
Switching over to the 4×4 Off-road Package, it (the package) includes a one-inch lift, electronic locking rear axle, tuned shocks and hill-descent control. For all your off-roading needs.
Have I wet your appetite? Good, because we’re moving onto powertrain next.
Thanks to the mild-hybrid system (known as eTorque), the team behind the new 1500 have managed to make the 3.6 liter Pentastar V6 and HEMI V8 more efficient. eTorque (in essence) combines the belt-driven motor generator unit with a 48-volt battery pack that has the capability to use stop/start technology to its advantage. As well as short-term torque assist and regenerative braking. Not only does this system increase efficiency, it increases power as well. For the V6 it adds 90 lb-ft. For the HEMI that number jumps to 130 lb-ft.
Add to this the updated TorqueFlite 8-speed transmission (which increases efficiency) and you have a well thought out upgrade to the powertrain.
Pleasantly, the upgrades don’t stop there. As the infotainment has also got a (highly) welcome upgrade. They’ve added a 12-inch screen which can be split in half. For example, the top half has the climate controls on the screen and the bottom half has the GPS. Don’t fear, if you don’t want such a big screen (I simply don’t need one) then rejoice in the fact that the familiar (but improved) 8.4-inch screen is still available.
I could go on. But I won’t as the press-release is very long and it would drag this on for eternity. So for now, I’ll let you decide if you want to read more here: http://media.fcanorthamerica.com/newsrelease.do?id=18755&mid=70