Aside from the leisurely road trips that we've taken in our long-term test '09 Dodge Ram Laramie 4WD, we've made sure to put it to work just as much. Recently, we've been busy with tech stories that have required us to load up our in-house trailer and hit the road.
As we all know, towing through busy city streets is a pain that no truck can magically cure, but upon hitting the open stretches through the California/Arizona desert on the I-10, our Hemi-equipped Ram turned the majority of the 400-mile trudge into a veritable joyride.
Even though we were limited to California-mandated crawling speeds on the highway, things changed upon crossing the border into the Grand Canyon State. With 390 hp and 407 lb-ft of torque on tap from the 5.7L V-8, leaving slower traffic behind was a breeze. In fact, we almost forgot we were towing after thirty minutes on the open highway.
With the Ram's 9,100-pound maximum tow capacity, and its Trailer Sway Control (TSC) system, which recognizes a swaying trailer and corrects its travel by applying individual wheel brakes and reducing engine output, it's no wonder we stopped noticing the load behind us.
At the time of writing, our Ram tester has roughly 20,000 clicks on the odometer, and thus far we've towed a matching '09 Dodge Ram 1500, '00 Chevy S-10, and '85 GMC Jimmy—all without a hiccup from our Dodge. Looking ahead, we are hoping to weigh it down and push it even further since we know it can handle it. So far, we have nothing but great things to say about our long-term loaner, and when the next big job presents itself, we know for sure that the Dodge will be there to carry and pull like a regular thoroughbred.