A FEW years ago I drove a Ram Rebel 1500 from California to Tuktoyaktuk, a small Inuit settlement on the frozen shores of the Arctic Ocean. For three weeks I relished the sweet timbre of the 5.7-litre HEMI V8 as I navigated more than 11,000km of snow-covered pavement, the desolate Dempster Highway, and the famous Mackenzie River ice road. With heated seats and steering wheel (nice when it’s - 30°C), solid handling, and a phenomenal ABS system (100km/h to zero, no-hands-on-the-wheel, dead-straight full-brake stops … on the ice) I hoped the brand would never change this platform.
At the launch of the refreshed fifth-generation 1500 in Texas, I about fell out of my boots when I cracked the hood and read Twin Turbo on the engine cover. Did Ram turbo the HEMI? Not the case, myV8-loving friends. We’ll get into a host of other upgrades, but the big news is
