2024 Ram 2500 Limited on 2040-cars

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Ram Laramie Longhorn becomes the most luxurious Ram around

Dallas, Texas - This year's Texas State Fair was all about the deluxe trucks. Ford introduced its super-plush Limited trim for the Super Duty trucks. Ram did the same with its new Laramie Longhorn Southfork trim level. It's the new top-level luxury option for Ram, and it's available on heavy-duty 2500 and 3500 Rams as well as the light-duty 1500. The Southfork builds upon the flashy Longhorn trim level, which we aren't particularly fond of, mainly due to the tacky leather filigree pattern stickers, the plastic, barbed wire accents, and strange rose gold finish. Those elements are all still present on the Southfork. It does retain good points, like leather everywhere. Ram touts the leather's presence on the fronts, backs, and sides of the seats, as well as on the door panels. Southfork-exclusive features include a new pale ivory leather called Light Frost Beige, which is accented by a dark brown leather. The roof and pillars are also now covered in suede, which certainly upgrades the feel of the interior. There's real walnut and ash wood trim on the steering wheel and elsewhere in the cabin. Since the Southfork is the top of the line Ram trim, it carries a high price. The 1500 model starts at $52,615, and the 2500 starts at $57,015. The trim is only available on crew cab and Mega Cab trucks, but can be had with two-wheel drive or four-wheel drive and with short or long beds. See it for yourself in the image gallery above. Related Video:

NHTSA, IIHS, and 20 automakers to make auto braking standard by 2022

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and virtually every automaker in the US domestic market have announced a pact to make automatic emergency braking standard by 2022. Here's the full rundown of companies involved: BMW, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar Land Rover, Kia, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Volvo (not to mention the brands that fall under each automaker's respective umbrella). Like we reported yesterday, AEB will be as ubiquitous in the future as traction and stability control are today. But the thing to note here is that this is not a governmental mandate. It's truly an agreement between automakers and the government, a fact that NHTSA claims will lead to widespread adoption three years sooner than a formal rule. That fact in itself should prevent up to 28,000 crashes and 12,000 injuries. The agreement will come into effect in two waves. For the majority of vehicles on the road – those with gross vehicle weights below 8,500 pounds – AEB will need to be standard equipment by September 1, 2022. Vehicles between 8,501 and 10,000 pounds will have an extra three years to offer AEB. "It's an exciting time for vehicle safety. By proactively making emergency braking systems standard equipment on their vehicles, these 20 automakers will help prevent thousands of crashes and save lives," said Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx said in an official statement. "It's a win for safety and a win for consumers." Read on for the official press release from NHTSA. Related Video: U.S. DOT and IIHS announce historic commitment of 20 automakers to make automatic emergency braking standard on new vehicles McLEAN, Va. – The U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety announced today a historic commitment by 20 automakers representing more than 99 percent of the U.S. auto market to make automatic emergency braking a standard feature on virtually all new cars no later than NHTSA's 2022 reporting year, which begins Sept 1, 2022. Automakers making the commitment are Audi, BMW, FCA US LLC, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar Land Rover, Kia, Maserati, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi Motors, Nissan, Porsche, Subaru, Tesla Motors Inc., Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo Car USA.

2013 Ram 1500

Enough Is Enough. Finally.
Not long ago, the efforts of an automaker to put a six-cylinder engine into a pickup truck went something like this: take the basic bread-and-butter V8, lop two cylinders off one end of the block and call it a day. The resulting engines were generally pretty rough around the edges, and while they were able to churn out reasonable amounts of torque, they generally weren't good at anything else. Instead of being smooth running, they shook and shimmied; in place of a quiet highway jaunt, they operated well outside their low-rpm comfort zones and sent a corresponding racket throughout the cabin. And, instead of returning significantly superior fuel economy over their V8 counterparts, they guzzled gas and spat noxious vapors out their tailpipes.
In other words, the only reason to choose the base V6 engine over an optional V8 was to save money on the initial purchase, and that usually meant you'd be driving home in a stripped-out machine and would be lucky to have power windows, cruise control and air conditioning.