Taken to extremes

PRAGMATISTS, LOOK AWAY NOW. RAM'S OUTRAGEOUS TRX AND FORD'S RANGER RAPTOR REPRESENT PEAK EXCESS IN THE DUAL-CAB SEGMENT, AND THEIR PROFLIGATE WAYS MAY CAUSE OFFENCE. FOR EVERYONE ELSE, THOUGH, STRAP IN...

- ALEX INWOOD

JEEZ, THAT'S A serious bit of gear!" The booming voice carries across the service station forecourt and as we look up from refuelling the enormous, bright red RAM TRX, we see who it belongs to. Darcy the farmer is tall, with a decent beer belly and a bent nose covered in what looks to be freshly applied Band-Aids.

"Hooooweeee, that's a biggun!" he says and slaps the TRX's tailgate like you would the rump of a horse. "Is this the V8?" Darcy is a Land Cruiser 300 owner and he's drawn towards the RAM like an eight-year-old at a monster truck show. Not once, during our five-minute exchange - "700hp!? Crikey, that's a fair wedge!" - did Darcy cast an eye towards the Ford Ranger Raptor parked at the next bowser. Also sprayed in eye-searingly bright paint, Ford's burly dual-cab is usually the biggest drawcard in the room. Here, it fades into the background.

The RAM TRX has that effect on most things. Officially the world's most powerful pick-up, it packs a 523kW/882Nm supercharged V8, can rocket from 0-100km/h in 4.5 seconds and thanks to its sheer size, pumped-up guards and enormous bonnet, it has the visual subtlety of a punch to the nose.

Like the rest of the RAM range in Australia, the TRX is imported by the Ateco Group in an arrangement that employs more than 300 people and includes the fitment of over 400 specially engineered parts. Converting the TRX to right-hand drive is handled by the Walkinshaw Group - a mob formerly known for its expertise in hotting up Commodores as Holden Special Vehicles - and the quality of the engineering work is top notch. Unsurprisingly, demand is sky high. Despite a long wait list and a hefty $210K price tag, about 270 TRXs have already been delivered to Aussie customers and many more are on their way.