RAM 1500 TUNGSTEN 2025: PICK UP LIMO
Rugged, bold, daring, adventurous, fearsome… those are words that get paired with trucks. Usually, luxury isn’t one of them. Nor is refined or sophisticated. However, the new RAM 1500 Tungsten seemed to deserve those urbane adjectives – standing next to the Dubai Autodrome pit garages, gleaming in red and having just completed a lap that spelt power and control!
The farmhand and his RAM 1500 have ridden a long way, leaving behind ranches and rocky turf, taking unlikely interest in metro-graphs made of skyscrapers. The tall perspective of urban life certainly charges your vision in the ‘cockpit’ of the Tungsten. There is a striking glint of chrome right from the fully redesigned front fascia to the interior trims and the 22” aluminium wheels. Tungsten is the transporter you can arrive in for your soiree at an arthouse in DIFC – a stimulating conversation starter whose Delmonica Red Pearl Coat paint too, reminds you of wine.
Truckloads of comfort
This steel frame is a cocoon, reverberating with the 1200W energy from a 23-speaker Klipsch Reference Premiere audio system, found only in the Tungsten version of the RAM 1500. Now, if I posted a close-up picture of the interiors, with its Natura perforated leather seats in their speckless hue and texture, I could perhaps get away with passing this off as a luxury saloon. All the cabin materials – leather, carbon fibre, wood, chrome – come across as classy, contemporary and well, luxurious! These are ventilated seats with lumbar massage function, 24-way adjustable to set the headrest, thigh support and back support. The rear seat gets its own temperature control but no surprise there!
There is more than luxury in the world of trucks…
In the pick-up truck universe, if there is anything valued more than luxury, that is a good measure of practical comforts. Like the truck bed power supply, equipped for total picnic fun – two 110v outlets and an available 2 kW inverter for lights or tools or to power a whole backyard pool party. As with any truck, the cargo door can be doled out to serve as a flat table or ‘infinity bench’ – in a RAM 1500 it feels particularly tough with the black spray coating.
Where size matters…
Trucks are often claimed (by Truck-lovers Inc. of course!) to be the benchmark that separates the men from the boys! However, the only place where the 6m long vehicle throws a challenge is perhaps the parking ramps! That said, nowhere else perhaps is thoughtfulness evident too, shining through the camera with so many helpful angles, the electronic parking brake, the sensitive alarms and most of all, the side mirrors. Yes, the RAM 1500 Tungsten fills the standard parking slot like it was made-to-order, but the mirrors fold in so sleekly – like a diving seabird holding close its folded wings! The mirrors also have a curved area that marks the vehicles in the blind zone.
A box of clever stuff!
RAMBOX has become a property by itself – the famous storage box on either side of the truck bed with a lid that not only opens like a wing but is lockable and drainable, too. The COOLBOX on either side of the rear floor is a very innovative cool storage, which can be filled with ice and stacked with cool drinks. When the ice melts, it will drain itself out!
The techy truck
At the centre of the dashboard, a 14.5 inch touchscreen integrates the latest from Stellantis’s U-Connect infotainment platform. A side-screen offers much of all that to the front passenger as well. An HDMI cable can connect the Playstation to this high-res screen, and that could mean you may soon be in a negotiation space with a teen, if you have one at home. Just to flaunt some figures, there is over 50” of combined display space in the Tungsten cabin!
Miss and make up!
The new RAM 1500 Tungsten is driven by the new High Output Hurricane 3.0L I6 engine producing 540 hp and 706 Nm of torque. This twin-turbocharged inline-six engine can take the Tungsten from standstill to 100 kmph in 4.6 sec!
The Hurricane I6 features advanced technology, including a deep-skirt aluminum block, forged crankshaft, and plasma-arc cylinder liners for increased strength and reliability. This new series replaces the 5.7 L V8 HEMI, which one cannot help missing big time, especially for its sound, but there is enough ‘making up room’ under that hood! (The earlier figures were 395 hp and 556 Nm.) Mated to an eight-speed transmission with a refined drive, the fuel figures are also slightly better, as to be expected. My test car came with a remarkably active air suspension set up which allowed for astonishing wheel travel, given that I already had to launch myself to bring down the open hood! (Watch my reel on Instagram/Drivemeonline to have a laugh at my cost!)
The essential 2025 RAM 1500 TUNGSTEN
STARTING FROM AED 339,900, the performance truck is boosted in its purpose with the heavy addition of torque, and as there are two turbos, the power is made available at a greater range of acceleration as well. Overall, the newly introduced Tungsten convincingly adds luxury to the parlance that describes the formidable RAM 1500.
