There’s a strong argument that pickup trucks are the premier luxury vehicles in the United States these days. They’ve moved on from pure utility vehicles to refined displays of affluence with certain trims on the F-150, RAM 1500, and Silverado pushing into six figures and featuring the kinds of quality materials you’d expect to see in a high-end SUV, or a
I recently visited Texas and immersed myself in a bit of the old “Cowboy Culture.” Between the horse riding, hat fitting, rodeo watching, and excessive amount of steak I tried out a truck that was designed to capture that culture.
The Ram 1500 Longhorn is a celebration of Texas. It’s a mass of hand stitched full-grain leather, reclaimed barn wood, and brass. There’s also a slot you can keep a rifle or shotgun in, but that’s available across the RAM 1500 range.
Texas is where the majority of RAMs are sold, it’s central to the pickup truck market. Both in practical terms, due to the number of ranches, rigs, and backroads on offer and culturally. The Longhorn is a tribute to that. But it’s also an example of what the pickup truck has become. A unique high-end vehicle, and a truly premium option.
It’s a hunting lodge on wheels
There is a precedent for this. Luxury doesn’t always mean light and delicate. The gentry has long held a love for all things rural. Queen Elizabeth II had a deep attachment to her Barbour jacket. Across the Atlantic, Old Money New Yorkers built hunting lodges and retreats along the Hudson. An ideal escape when the city becomes a bit too much.
And the Ram 1500 Longhorn is very much that, albeit with a Texas twist. Think of standard luxury, your premium leathers, almost invisible stitching, lacquered wood, and these days carbon fiber, as the city. It’s modern, it’s polished, it’s refined.
The Longhorn offers the anthesis to that. It’s high quality, but rugged. Visually and texturally, it’s not artificial in any way. It’s very real and very good for the soul.
It’s also distinctly luxury as none of it serves any practical purpose. If you just need “a truck to do truck things in” you’ll want an easily cleaned plastic interior, with cheap and durable upholstery. Not a $90,000 premium cabin with a beautiful brass RAM logo you’ll have to polish every now and then.
The artisan touches take the Longhorn’s interior to the next level
I mentioned reclaimed barn wood earlier, and that’s the highlight of the fascia for me. It fits in with the rest of the interior, while providing that rustic edge and contrasting texture you need to really make the leather around it pop. The “Longhorn” logo is branded into it too, yet another Texas touch.
There are other little nods to the Ranch dotted around the vehicle. The floor mats feature a barbed wire design, the seat backs are designed to look like saddle bags (complete with belt buckles), and the brightwork looks like it was hammered out on an anvil by hand.
It shows a staggering amount of attention to detail. It makes your truck a talking point, and if you’re dropping $80,000 or more on a vehicle you may as well buy something worth talking about.
The downside is, you may have to take your personality into consideration. It is very cowboy, and very Texas. To the point where you have to be into that entire vibe to some degree to pull it off. If you’re pretty much the opposite of all of that, pulling up in a “cowboy truck” may cause people a fair bit of confusion.
It’s still a pickup truck, underneath it all
While the artisan edge the RAM 1500 Longhorn brings to the table is worth talking about, it’s still a highly capable pickup truck underneath it all. You have a Hurricane high-output I-6 engine under the hood which is capable of producing up to 540 horsepower. A towing capacity of over 11,000 pounds. All wheel drive. A 6 foot 4 inch bed on the extended version which can handle a 2,360 pound payload.
In short, you can tow a large boat or trailer with it, fill the bed with hay bails or dirt bikes, and get more practical use out of the RAM than 99% of vehicles can provide. All while maintaining that unique luxury edge within the cabin.
