Shifting house was a workout too big for any one-tonne ute … yet this baby barely raised a sweat.

Base Price:  $104,990 (as tested: $109,990)
Powertrain and performance:  5.7-litre eight-cylinder 16-valve petrol engine. 291kW/5500rpm, 556Nm/3950rpm. Rear-wheel drive. Fuel consumption 12.2L/100km (claim), 14.2L/100km (road test).
Vital statistics: Length 5833mm, height 1917mm, width 2080mm, wheelbase 3569mm. Cargo deck volume 1.4 cubic metres. Wheels: 20-inch alloys with 275/60 R20 Hankook Dynapro HT tyres.
We Like:  Heavy-duty towing and load-carrying competence, well-designed deck, comfortable ride.

We don’t like: Lack of a decent diesel, dated interior design, slightly awkward egress, no overhead grab handles.

FROM one side of the North Island to the other, starting and finishing pretty much in the middle – quite a road trip, basically an entire day on the move, with quite a few twists.

Helping relations effect a house move from the remote beach community of Herbertville back to their home town, Whanganui, with a start and finish near Palmerston North and the first leg in the opposite direction (to Whanganui, to get the trailer and three brothers-in-law helping with the lifting) meant tackling challenging country roads - narrow, winding, demanding on the best of days. Just a touch more with that sizeable trailer in tow. 

To add to the fun, it was raining and there was intensive logging going on in the most challenging section of the drive, Dannevirke out to the east coast. 

Meeting big semis loaded with pine trunks, avoiding slips, threading across debris from a huge pine felled right across the route just as we hit the logging site … that was all part of the day’s activity.

How’d it go? No sweat. A big job demanded a big vehicle and, on that scale, we went right to the top, beyond the usual world of ute-dom.

Adopting a smaller body than the 2500s and 3500s that have been offered until now as part of factory-approved right-hand drive conversions gives the 1500 rights to be called the smallest member of the RAM family. 

But in everyday measurement, it’s a big thing. Much bigger than any ‘regular’ traydeck. So much so that really it’s a utility in design only. 

Still, if I was a distributor selling in the one-tonne sector, I’d be keeping an eye on this fella, at least in the new Express format used on this drive.

When RAM originally added the 1500 to the local market family, it offered in Quad Cab format with proposition it would more appeal to folk who’d been holding onto their V8-engined Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon performance utes until something better came along. 

No doubt it has done just that. A 5.7-litre HEMI V8 very much plays to that particular taste for semi-prestige with performance-added expectations and size versus sizzle tastes.

Yet even with that set-up, it remained challenging to understand how a RAM could pose a direct threat to even the highest-end offers in the one-tonne ute sector.

Conceivably, that conundrum is best addressed by what’s on test, by the Express in a Crew Cab (basically, bigger cabin, slightly smaller deck) provision. Regardless that the price gap has widened – this one costs $10k more than the Quad Cab – going to a body layout favoured by most Laramie buyers, but with more of a blue collar imprint, is a smart move.

It’s basically a budget Laramie; giving nothing away on the performance and ability side but toning down on specification elements that elevate it as a stronger workhorse choice. 

For all that, it doesn’t really leave lifestyle in the garage. And despite being in another dimension for size and slurp, it could well present as a possible alternate to the most expensive variants of the in-crowd favourite Ford Ranger in Raptor spec and Volkswagen Amarok V6 in Aventura trim, not least if you draw conclusion that the caravan or boat you want to haul is potentially just a bit too large for those one-tonners to cope with.

There’s just the one challenge: Fuel choice. America’s finest doesn’t come with diesel in this format. The one positive about the 1500 being petrol-wed is that, as much as it enjoys a drink, it doesn’t seem to quaff as heartily as the larger models. I saw an overall average economy of 14.2 litres per 100km. That’s nothing spectacular by diesel standards, but in my mind was really something of a victory, as it’s just two litres’ shy of the official average.

It’s also worth taking note that the 1500 is at least a steady drinker. It knocked back no more when hauling a chunk of household stuff than it had on the first leg, with four-up but a bare deck and empty trailer. Okay, yes, it’s true the rate when it was running with just me aboard and nothing on the hook was hardly any better, but still. 

Still, it reinforces why this model has a 121-litre tank (and why a ‘top up’ cost $90 without making hugely discernible difference to the needle’s position). 

The benefit of having a large capacity V8 comes with its muscularity; you’re sitting behind a unit endowed with massively impressive and schmoozy oomph. Outputs of 291kW of power and 556Nm of torque make it much gruntier than any traditional utes and while it’s pushing significant weight – at 2.6 tonnes, the 1500 is toting around half a tonne more than the smaller diesel-fuelled utes - there’s no sign this powerplant feels any strain; if anything, the 0-100kmh time of about 7.8 seconds signals there’s more in reserve.

The engine’s pull really impresses. The rev span isn’t massive – really, it’s pointless pulling more than 4000rpm, regardless that the pwer peak is higher – but the torque spread is generous. It hardly seemed to lose any significant edge when pointed up hills and, more especially, when put to work on household hauling. It simply kept pulling quietly and confidently under that load (which, admittedly, was light for a vehicle rated to heft 4.5 tonne), for the most part cruising at a relaxed 1700rpm in the tallest of the eight gears and only starting to burble enough to be audible when hitting big ascents. On the flat it was generally operating in an eerily calm manner. 

Speed wasn’t a talent brought to the fore on this trip, of course. Hooking up the trailer meant knocking back to 90 and taking more time to enjoy the view and come to terms with the sheer size of this thing.

Five-point-eight metres long, 1.9 tall and two metres wide with the mirrors folded … that doesn’t sound too bad on paper. And, as said, the other RAMS are appreciably bigger.

Yet, in its own right, this thing feels substantial. It’s not just the width and length. The cabin step up, the high-set seating position, the limo-like cabin dimension … these also speak of it being a Lomu Class rig. Looking out over the bonnet alone delivers a sense of Kenworth kinship and the sense of it being a lane filler was never shaken. One-lane bridges seem barely wide enough and encountering those logging trucks was air-suckingly daunting.

It feels better in country towns than the city proper. I cannot understand why anyone would want one for daily driving in the full urban jungle. For me, there was some surprise discovering it DOES fit into a parallel park (albeit with the right side rubber outside the box) and none whatsoever when discovering angle parks are wide enough for the vehicle proper but less so for door opening room. 

For all that, driving feel is only heavy duty insofar as the turning circle and steering feel is concerned. As much as it needs space to stop and manoeuvre, there’s still more nimbleness here than you’d give it credit, likewise the braking responsiveness is brilliant, even if pedal feel itself is a touch spongey.

Overall, though, the on-road manners are surprisingly tame. Those sizeable 20-inch tyres offer respectable grip and even though ultimately leaning on its front tyres if you wind the pace up too much, the steering is accurate. The ride also benefits from the long wheelbase and a coil-sprung rear axle – quite something in an era when most utes still employ a rugged leaf spring rear-end. Everybody remarked on how composed the RAM is; even big dips and significant potholes are disposed of beautifully.

As good as it is for driving, it is primarily fitted out for toiling. RAM owners who fail to use it to tow big stuff are wasting its talent. Even this ‘baby’ has the same 4.5 tonne braked towing rating as the larger 2500 and gets a heavy duty tow bar. Something this big and heavy – it weighes in at 2505kg at the kerb (3450kg gross vehicle weight) – is perfect for big boats and caravans. It assuredly ain’t going to be pushed by anything on the hook, as some lighter vehicles potentially can be. 

Let’s hope they also use it to heft lots of stuff too, because the deck is so well-sorted; not just in dimension – again, extra-sized at 1712mm long with the tailgate closed, 1270mm wide and 509mm deep – but also detail. Honestly, those one-tonne kings who imagine they’re doing their customers proud by provisioning a plastic liner and a vinyl tonneau need to look to a RAM to see what they should be doing.

For starters, the deck here is properly lined, with the base and sides of the load area coated in a hardy rubber finish, plus comes with a robust load separator. The test model also featured a tri-folding hardtop deck cover and, most impressive of all, the RamBox side compartment with top-mounted lockable doors. These bundle as a $5000 option that I’d call a must-have. The latter comprises waterproof containers that flow around the wheel arches. They’re terrific and capacious; just one was enough to provide stowage for the blankets, tarpaulins and heavy duty tiedowns I brought along. The one surprise is the relatively low, sub one-tonne payload.

The cabin is also roomy, large enough to accommodate five adults, the two up front split by a deep, broad centre console. There’s no gear lever to get in the way. It’s a dial on the dash. Switches alongside take it from rear-to-four wheel drive, with another control to go from High to Low range. Simple, right?

 Those in the rear get great legroom and comfortable seats. Despite the distance between the front and rear seats, the cabin is quiet enough to entertain conversation A pity, that: My wife’s brothers’ are non-stop talkers, with two specialist subjects: Rugby and extreme politics. It was a l-o-o-o-o-ng day.

RAMs sold here are built in America then remanufactured, as right-hand-drive models, in Australia as the Stateside plant doesn’t do that directly. 

Amazingly, a policy that has always applied with the DS generation line still being sold here has not been reviewed for the replacement DT, which is already in circulation Stateside and which RAM Australia has confirmed it is now tooling up to also convert, the switchover occurring next year and just as well.

The DS has been a winning act – incredibly, the Melbourne operation has converted 5000 of these, which you’d hope would be enough to off-set its investment of over $100 million in tools, equipment, inventory, and stock for the re-engineering process.

The risk with RAM was obvious; its favouritism obviously relies heavily on factors like decent exchange rates and palatable fuel prices. Also, it’s no secret this is an obviously old design, inside and out. In saying that, the Express actually benefits from all the bits that are chromed on the Laramie being body-coloured on the cheaper option. Painted finishes are very much in vogue and the test car being in ‘granite crystal’, a semi-matte metallic dark grey, was a winning touch. 

The DT seems well-placed to keep RAM in touch with its audience. It has the same engine but a revised interior, with a large 12.0-inch touchscreen infotainment display. The new model also grows dimensionally, but sheds some all-important kilos thanks to the use of aluminium for certain body panels. 

The new job means a fresh start for the Aussie workers. They created 400-odd parts to effect the DS’s conversion to right-hand drive; the DT will demand even more, around 600 bits. 

The quality of the Express shows why these ‘Aussiefied’ models are so well received; the redesigned interior parts alone blend beautifully with the original parts from the factory. Sure, there has been some comprise: The aerial is on the driver’s side, the wing mirrors poke awkwardly of their surrounds and some switches and their surrounds are obviously the ‘wrong’ way around. 

But none of the accommodations are so comprised as to be annoying. In a way, they’re easier to accept in the Express given its work-first ambience. On that note, it is quite nicely specced.

Sure, here you eschew leather for more basic cloth trim and the ventilation system is manually-operated, as is the adjustment of the front seats. Still, it gets rear parking sensors, a reversing camera, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone connectivity. 

Safety-wise it needs to sharpen up. Front and side airbag protection is standard in the front and rear seats and it has the stability control and traction control systems that are mandatory for all new vehicles. Its lack of auto emergency braking would exclude it being eligible for the maximum five-star rating … not that it … ahem … has one directly relevant to our market. Right-hand-drive RAMs have not been independent crash tested by the ANCAP regime our taxes part-fund, so no rating.

Conceivably, the only rival of the same size and level of competence for this variant is the Chevrolet Silverado, which despite having a different parentage is almost quite literally a sister ship as it is also subject to right-hand drive conversion in Australia …. at the same facility in Clayton, south-east Melbourne, albeit on a separate line.