Monthly Archives: December 2020

2021 Ram TRX seeks offroad supremacy

Thankful I am this Thanksgiving weekend; I’ve just finished driving and testing the toughest, most powerful half-ton pickup ever – the 2021 Ram TRX. It’s amazing.

A thankful mood, too, for last week’s delivery of the new, midengine Chevy Corvette Stingray Convertible; sitting in my garage for the coming week is the 2021 Volvo XC90 Recharge plug-in hybrid.

They are brief bright spots for me in our endurance of the heartbreaking pandemic, which has hit close to home for more and more of us.

There are no restrictions on reading a newspaper (or online version).  I’ll keep writing, if you’ll keep reading.

Fiat Chrysler built this special model, the Ram 1500 TRX Crew Cab 4X4 to pull away the offroad-capability honors previously bestowed upon the Ford Raptor.

Based on the Ram Rebel, the TRX is 8 inches wider, taller and weighs almost 1,000 pounds more than the Rebel. It outweighs the Raptor by 800 pounds.

A supercharged version of the 6.2-liter, Hemi Hellcat V-8 engine generates 702 horsepower and 650 lb.-ft. of torque, mated to an 8-speed automatic transmission with paddleshifters. The dial-gear selector used  by much of the Ram pickup fleet, is replaced in the TRX with a console shifter. Sport mode tightens steering and stiffens shocks.  Brakes are 15-inch discs.  

From automatic 4-wheel drive, electronic buttons offer switch of drive mode into 4-wheel-high or low range. A launch button provides a flying takeoff from a mashed-throttle start.

I made three offroad runs with the TRX which left the truck’s overall fuel mileage for six days at 9.9 (its EPA estimate is 10/14). I recently drove the 2021 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD with its new 6.6-liter V-8 gas engine; it averaged 12.6, lowest of the year for my tests until TRX showed up.

With all its offroad improvements – reinforced frame, 35-inch Goodyear Wrangler all-terrain tires, Bilstein adaptive dampers with 13 to 14 inches of wheel travel, ground clearance of  11.8 inches – the ride is  smooth and controlled, a credit to Ram’s all-around coil-springs setup.

The ride quality, infotainment/instrument  panel controls and roominess were praised  by friends Ted and Shirley King, who took a ride with Jan and me..

Simply walking up beside T-Rex seems to embolden impressions of the observer. On my first glance, I looked along the door bottoms and thought, “Are those retractable step rails?” “Hell, no, they’re not step rails, you dumb nut,” came a new thought wave from my tougher side, “they’re rock rails like the Jeeps use.” “Well, I can see now, it’s a protective rock rail with a very narrow step rail atop,” was my reasonable tone.

From a base price of $71,690,  the final tally for the truck  came to $87,370 with addition of 19-speaker Harman Kardon  premium sound, adaptive cruise, lane-keep assist, pedestrian/cyclist emergency braking, front and rear park assist, deployable bed-step  and power tailgate release.

Midengine allows restyle of ‘20 Vette

The restyled 2020 Chevy Corvette Stingray convertible. (Bud Wells photo)

Moments after exiting the 2020 Chevy Corvette Stingray, parked beneath a light for a nighttime stop at a restaurant, a young man in a Silverado pulled up beside it, hopped out hurriedly and exclaimed, “Ah, the new Vette, it reminds me of a Ferrari, except it’s better-looking than Ferrari.”

That is high praise, indeed, and along the lines of dozens of comments tossed my way, elicited by the restyled Corvette convertible. To focus on the extreme angular lines, though, is to overlook the major transformation which permitted the radical redesign – a midengine layout after 67 years of front-engine build.

The midengine placement allowed designers to lower the hood, as well as instrument panel and steering wheel. Inspiration came from Formula One racing, hence the reference to Ferrari.

Production stoppages have hampered rollout of the 2020 model, including a worker strike, Covid-19 delays, recalls and a stop-sale order over an issue related to the electronic brake booster.

The new, 495-horsepower, 6.2-liter V-8 engine sits beneath a glass panel in the rear hatch, moving the driver and front passenger forward into some of the space previously occupied by the then-under-hood engine. The engine is mated to an 8-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, another first-ever for the rear-drive Vette.

The C8 Stingray’s low center of gravity and a Z51 performance upgrade provided excellent stability, emphasized by a drive we made to the west on U.S. 34.

I turned northwest from Drake onto County Road 43 to Glen Haven.

On the descent, with use of paddleshifters at the squared-off steering wheel, I locked the shifter in 3rd with revs high and the Vette low and secure into and out of the curves. Some handling capabilities were lessened a bit by removal of summer performance tires in favor of winter-weather shods. The snowflake imprint on the sidewall tells you that of the Michelin Pilot Alpin 245/35R19 tires.

Explaining the new midengine layout for the eighth-generation Corvette, General Motors president Mark Reuss said, “The traditional front-engine vehicle had reached its limits of performance.” Equipped with the Z51 performance package, the Vette will run 0-to-60 in less than 3 seconds.

Among many other benefits are better weight distribution, improved driver position closer to the front axle with race-carlike view of the road, dual trunks (front and rear) for 12.6 cubic feet of space, enough for two sets of golf clubs and luggage.

As in years past, rear vision is limited. Precisely stitched soft leather is an interior highlight for the two-seater.

The 2020 Vette cockpit with “waterfall” of controls.  (Chevrolet)

Most noticeable is a cascade of controls from the dashboard to the seat, separating the driver cockpit from the more tightly quartered passenger.

Pushbuttons for Park, Neutral and Low/Manual and pull toggles for Drive and Reverse make up the electric shifter. With a knob at the center console, the driver may select from modes of tour, weather, eco, sport and track.

Back then. . . . .’78 New Yorker

(Forty-two years ago, in the spring of 1978, I reviewed in The Denver Post the ’78 New Yorker, the last big Chrysler. Excerpts:)

If you get the opportunity, take a drive in the 1978 Chrysler New Yorker. It could be last chance to ride in a really big Chrysler – a company spokesman says next year’s model will be smaller and almost 1,000 pounds lighter.

The New Yorker, one of the oldest and most prestigious model names in the auto industry, offers an outstanding ride on the highway.

The ride and handling in the 4,800-pound four-door hardtop I tested was as good as expected, and I also liked its exceptionally straight and sure braking, comfortable leather seating and an impressive stereo system.

The car had a slight leak from its 26 ½ -gallon gas tank, and occasionally hesitated on acceleration in slow city driving.

Powered by a 440-cubic-inch V-8 with four-barrel carburetor it ran very strong on the highway and averaged 15 miles per gallon on a drive to Colorado Springs and back. Its average in city driving was about 8 mpg, affected some by the leak.

Roger Mauro Chryslerville, 7200 W. Colfax Ave., provided the auto, which had only 22 miles on the odometer.

The New Yorker is less expensive than most large luxury cars in today’s market – the fully equipped model I drove being priced at $10,724. Optional items added to the base price of $7,715 included reclining leather front seats, air conditioning, AM/FM radio with eight-track stereo tape, automatic speed control and white vinyl roof.

The New Yorker is on a wheelbase of 123.9 inches, with overall length of 231 inches. It is 79.5 inches wide and 54.7 inches high. The large trunk is of 22.2 cubic feet capacity. Turning radius for the car is almost 45 feet.