RAM’s 1500 TRX – an abbreviation for Tyrannosaurus rex – lives up to its moniker, because it’s the biggest, baddest truck on the planet. For pure laugh-out-loud fun, it’s hard to beat a hulking pickup that kicks out more than 700 horses and towers over everything else it encounters on the road. Even Nissan Patrols and Toyota Land Cruisers look puny next to it.
Size does matter
That TRX suffix is hugely significant, as one of the key ingredients it brings is a snarling, screaming 6.2-litre supercharged V8 that thrashes out 712hp and 881Nm. These gobsmacking outputs are sent to all four wheels via an eight-speed automatic box with paddle-shifters; the TRX is the only RAM model with the latter feature.
The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre supercharged V8
Power: 712hp at 6,100rpm
Torque: 881Nm at 4,800rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 19.6 l/100km
Price: Dh380,000
On sale: now
The 1500 TRX is massive in every sense of the word. The behemoth tips the scales at a gargantuan 2,880 kilograms, and measures 5,916 millimetres from bumper to bumper and 2,235mm across the bows.
Even so, the sheer grunt of the supercharged V8 enables it to sprint from standstill to 100 kilometres per hour in 4.5 seconds. Added drama is provided by the banshee howl from the supercharger and thunderous bark from the dual drainpipe exhausts.
Performance potential
Apart from that thumping supercharged V8, the TRX stands clearly apart from other RAM 1500 models via pumped fenders that are flared by 203mm to accommodate its wider track. The wheel arches are filled by 35-inch Goodyear Wrangler all-terrain tyres, wrapped around gloss-black 18-inch cast aluminium wheels.
Peer under those arches and you’ll see the TRX features a bespoke suspension set-up with class-exclusive Bilstein Black Hawk adaptive dampers. RAM’s boffins also comprehensively re-engineered and strengthened the chassis to cope with the TRX’s extreme performance potential.
The TRX isn’t just a hooligan’s delight; there’s utility on offer, too – the big truck has a towing capacity of 3,674kg and a maximum payload of 594kg. There are various drive mode settings you can choose from once you get off the beaten track, and these include Sport, Snow, Custom, Mud/Sand, Baja and Rock, with each of these tailoring the four-wheel-drive system, throttle response, transmission, suspension and steering optimally for the terrain.
Drive experience
The first surprise with the brutal TRX is how comfortable and refined the juggernaut is. The supercharged V8 doesn’t bombard your eardrums when you’re pooling around town or cruising on the motorway, while the cabin is sumptuously trimmed and equipped with every possible mod-con.
Needless to say, the RAM 1500s hulking dimensions earn you plenty of road respect, but its XXL scale counts against it when you need to park the thing in a shopping mall car park or even parallel to the kerb in many instances. A large glasshouse makes for good visibility in traffic, but you’re perched so high that you often can’t see even the roof of a car that’s driving alongside. What’s more, the bonnet slopes downwards towards the front, so from the driver’s seat you can’t see where the nose ends.
Get it out in the dunes, though, and the torque-laden RAM makes easy work of getting over and across whatever stands in its path. The massive grunt of the V8 means you can effortlessly charge up dunes. The knobby Goodyear tyres (325/65R18) also play their part here, clawing into the sand with tenacity, while the Bilstein Black Hawk dampers serve up excellent ride quality.
Sticky situation
However, the TRX’s approach and departure angles (30.4 degrees and 25.0 degrees respectively) are nothing to write home about, and the vehicle’s sheer size counts against it in some situations. Our progress came to a grinding halt when the vehicle beached itself at the front and rear in a narrow V-shaped valley, with the left-rear wheel dangling about a foot off the deck. The TRX was, however, able to drive out under its own steam. All it took was a little bit of digging, engaging the rear axle lock, and then doing some vigorous steering-wheel wriggling while applying judicious doses of throttle.
The RAM 1500 TRX is a classic embodiment of American excess, but for pure rambunctious fun and barroom bragging rights, it dwarfs the opposition.
The specs
Engine: 2-litre 4-cylinder and 3.6-litre 6-cylinder
Power: 220 and 280 horsepower
Torque: 350 and 360Nm
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Price: from Dh136,521 VAT and Dh166,464 VAT
On sale: now
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
UAE%20athletes%20heading%20to%20Paris%202024
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEquestrian%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EAbdullah%20Humaid%20Al%20Muhairi%2C%20Abdullah%20Al%20Marri%2C%20Omar%20Al%20Marzooqi%2C%20Salem%20Al%20Suwaidi%2C%20and%20Ali%20Al%20Karbi%20(four%20to%20be%20selected).%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EJudo%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EMen%3A%20Narmandakh%20Bayanmunkh%20(66kg)%2C%20Nugzari%20Tatalashvili%20(81kg)%2C%20Aram%20Grigorian%20(90kg)%2C%20Dzhafar%20Kostoev%20(100kg)%2C%20Magomedomar%20Magomedomarov%20(%2B100kg)%3B%20women's%20Khorloodoi%20Bishrelt%20(52kg).%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECycling%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3ESafia%20Al%20Sayegh%20(women's%20road%20race).%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESwimming%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EMen%3A%20Yousef%20Rashid%20Al%20Matroushi%20(100m%20freestyle)%3B%20women%3A%20Maha%20Abdullah%20Al%20Shehi%20(200m%20freestyle).%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EAthletics%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EMaryam%20Mohammed%20Al%20Farsi%20(women's%20100%20metres).%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
'Morbius'
Director: Daniel Espinosa
Stars: Jared Leto, Matt Smith, Adria Arjona
Rating: 2/5
How to invest in gold
Investors can tap into the gold price by purchasing physical jewellery, coins and even gold bars, but these need to be stored safely and possibly insured.
A cheaper and more straightforward way to benefit from gold price growth is to buy an exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Most advisers suggest sticking to “physical” ETFs. These hold actual gold bullion, bars and coins in a vault on investors’ behalf. Others do not hold gold but use derivatives to track the price instead, adding an extra layer of risk. The two biggest physical gold ETFs are SPDR Gold Trust and iShares Gold Trust.
Another way to invest in gold’s success is to buy gold mining stocks, but Mr Gravier says this brings added risks and can be more volatile. “They have a serious downside potential should the price consolidate.”
Mr Kyprianou says gold and gold miners are two different asset classes. “One is a commodity and the other is a company stock, which means they behave differently.”
Mining companies are a business, susceptible to other market forces, such as worker availability, health and safety, strikes, debt levels, and so on. “These have nothing to do with gold at all. It means that some companies will survive, others won’t.”
By contrast, when gold is mined, it just sits in a vault. “It doesn’t even rust, which means it retains its value,” Mr Kyprianou says.
You may already have exposure to gold miners in your portfolio, say, through an international ETF or actively managed mutual fund.
You could spread this risk with an actively managed fund that invests in a spread of gold miners, with the best known being BlackRock Gold & General. It is up an incredible 55 per cent over the past year, and 240 per cent over five years. As always, past performance is no guide to the future.
Hidden killer
Sepsis arises when the body tries to fight an infection but damages its own tissue and organs in the process.
The World Health Organisation estimates it affects about 30 million people each year and that about six million die.
Of those about three million are newborns and 1.2 are young children.
Patients with septic shock must often have limbs amputated if clots in their limbs prevent blood flow, causing the limbs to die.
Campaigners say the condition is often diagnosed far too late by medical professionals and that many patients wait too long to seek treatment, confusing the symptoms with flu.
The biog
Name: Abeer Al Bah
Born: 1972
Husband: Emirati lawyer Salem Bin Sahoo, since 1992
Children: Soud, born 1993, lawyer; Obaid, born 1994, deceased; four other boys and one girl, three months old
Education: BA in Elementary Education, worked for five years in a Dubai school
Volunteers offer workers a lifeline
Community volunteers have swung into action delivering food packages and toiletries to the men.
When provisions are distributed, the men line up in long queues for packets of rice, flour, sugar, salt, pulses, milk, biscuits, shaving kits, soap and telecom cards.
Volunteers from St Mary’s Catholic Church said some workers came to the church to pray for their families and ask for assistance.
Boxes packed with essential food items were distributed to workers in the Dubai Investments Park and Ras Al Khaimah camps last week. Workers at the Sonapur camp asked for Dh1,600 towards their gas bill.
“Especially in this year of tolerance we consider ourselves privileged to be able to lend a helping hand to our needy brothers in the Actco camp," Father Lennie Connully, parish priest of St Mary’s.
Workers spoke of their helplessness, seeing children’s marriages cancelled because of lack of money going home. Others told of their misery of being unable to return home when a parent died.
“More than daily food, they are worried about not sending money home for their family,” said Kusum Dutta, a volunteer who works with the Indian consulate.
The specs
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Power: 272hp at 6,400rpm
Torque: 331Nm from 5,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.7L/100km
On sale: now
Price: Dh149,000
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Results
5.30pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Turf) 1,600m; Winner: Al Battar, Mickael Barzalona (jockey), Salem bin Ghadayer (trainer).
6.05pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Dirt) 1,200m; Winner: Good Fighter, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
6.40pm: Handicap Dh185,000 (T) 1,200m; Winner: Way Of Wisdom, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar.
7.15pm: Handicap Dh170,000 (D) 2,200m; Winner: Immortalised, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar.
7.50pm: Handicap Dh185,000 (T) 2,000m; Winner: Franz Kafka, James Doyle, Simon Crisford.
8.25pm: Handicap Dh185,000 (D) 1,200m; Winner: Mayadeen, Connor Beasley, Doug Watson.
9pm: Handicap Dh185,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Chiefdom, Mickael Barzalona, Salem bin Ghadayer
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
More on Palestine-Israeli relations
The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre supercharged V8
Power: 712hp at 6,100rpm
Torque: 881Nm at 4,800rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 19.6 l/100km
Price: Dh380,000
On sale: now
