Eric's Autos: 2025 Ram 1500

Can 3.0 liters -- and six cylinders -- take the place of 5.7 liters and eight cylinders? That's the question asked by the just-updated 2025 Ram 1500 pickup, which is no longer available with the 5.7-liter Hemi V8 -- but is available with a new twin-turbocharged in-line six in two different configurations.

What It Is

The Ram 1500 is a half-ton pickup available in Quad or Crew cab body styles. Quad cabs come standard with a short (5-foot-7) bed; Crew cabs come standard with a long (6-foot-4) bed.

A regular cab (just two doors) Ram is no longer offered.

Prices start at $42,270 for the base Tradesman trim in Quad cab configuration with two-wheel drive.

As before, the Quad cab Ram is also available in two other trims: HFE and Big Horn (which is sold as the Lone Star in Texas). These all come standard with the same 3.6-liter V6 (and "eTorque" mild-hybrid system) that was standard last year.

However, this year you can choose a new engine option -- a 3.0-liter, twin-turbocharged in-line six that makes either 420 horsepower or 540 horsepower. This is the engine that Stellantis -- parent company of Ram, Jeep and Dodge -- will be using in various models that used to offer V8s.

The 420-horsepower version of the Straight Six Turbo is a $2,695 option for Rams that otherwise come standard with the carryover 3.6-liter V6; it's standard in Laramie ($62,025) and Rebel ($66,190) trims -- which are Crew cab only. The High Output 540-horsepower version of the new six is standard in Limited ($77,150) and Longhorn ($77,645) trims as well as the new top-of-the-line Tungsten ($89,150) trim, which is also limited to the Crew cab configuration and comes only with the short bed.

Four-wheel drive is optional with the V6 and the 420-horsepower version of the new six; it is standard with the 540-horsepower version of the six.

What's New for 2025

The Ram loses the previously available Hemi V8 but gets a new inline six, as per above.

In addition, the '25 Ram gets an updated version of the UConnect system found in other Stellantis models that includes a larger 14.5-inch primary touch screen along with a secondary 10.25-inch touch screen for the front-seat passenger, available onboard power inverter, massaging seats, a 23-speaker Klipsch Reference audio system, dual wireless phone chargers (Tungsten trims) and available Level 2+ automated driving capability.

What's Good

-- The new six makes more power than the previously available V8 -- and doesn't burn any more gas than the old V8.

-- Available two-piece (and three-way) tailgate greatly improves access to the bed.

-- This truck rides like a luxury sedan -- even with a pallet of bricks in the bed.

What's Not So Good

-- No more V8.

-- Limited cab configurations -- just two -- and one of them (Quad) limits your trim choices to just three.

-- An eight-foot bed isn't available -- which means this full-size truck has about the same length bed as a midsize truck with a 6-foot bed.

Under the Hood

Quad cab/base trim Rams still come standard with the same 3.6-liter V6 that was standard last year. This engine is paired with a mild-hybrid system called eTorque that cycles the engine off during deceleration, coasting and when the truck isn't moving, with a 48-volt electrical system to power accessories during these times and a belt-drive system to quickly restart the engine when its power is needed.

The Ram's previously optional 5.7-liter V8 has been retired -- because it's no longer "compliant" with the latest federal regulations. Or soon wouldn't be, so it had to go. (This is also why the Challenger and Charger sedan were retired last year; without the V8 these cars were like a hamburger without the hamburger.)

The replacement for displacement is a new 3.0-liter Straight Six Turbo that's about half the displacement -- just 3.0 liters -- but makes more power than the 5.7 Hemi: 420 horsepower versus 395 before. It also makes substantially more torque: 469 foot-pounds (at 3,500 rpm) versus just 410 foot-pounds (at 3,950 rpm) for the departed Hemi V8.

There is also an optional High Output version of this engine that makes even more power: 540 horses and 521 foot-pounds of torque (also at 3,500 rpm). The new six has enough of both to allow you to pull just shy of 12,000 pounds with this rig.

An eight-speed automatic is standard, as before. The last two gears (seventh and eighth) are overdrive gears (0.84 and 0.67 respectively) that reduce engine speed at highway speeds and thereby also decrease fuel consumption at highway speeds.

On the Road

The new inline six pulls harder than the old V8 -- but it doesn't sound like it. There's a muted crescendo rather than the previous bellow. And when you push the button to start the engine, you get the sound of less engine.

But the power is there -- and you can feel it.

Lightly push down on the accelerator and you get immediate and forceful acceleration. The six feels twice its size and makes you forget it's almost twice as small as the V8 you can no longer get.

It is also smooth -- which is something you don't feel.

At the Curb

The fact that the Ram is no longer offered in regular cab/long (8-foot) bed form reflects the fact that half-ton trucks are indeed the replacement for the two-ton luxury sedans you can't get anymore.

Even the fullest-size of the new ones -- models like the current Mercedes S-Class sedan -- are smallish sedans in comparison with what full-size used to mean -- in America -- before the downsizing of Americans sedans (which happened because of pressure to comply with government-imposed "corporate" fuel economy standards that applied to passenger cars but not light trucks ).

A '25 Benz S-Class sedan is a mere 208.2 inches long -- or some 2 feet shorter than a big American roller, such as an early '70s Buick Electra 225 or Cadillac Sedan deVille. The Ram is 228.4 inches long and rides on a 140-inch wheelbase -- versus just 126 inches for the puny-seeming (in comparison) "full-size" Mercedes.

The Ram also seats six versus five and has that bed in back as well as that hitch in back. Which makes it far more practical and useful than any big American sedan ever was.

The Rest

This new six is not just a replacement for displacement; it is an impressive (and appealing) engine in its own right.

But will the same regulatory pressure that effectively forced the retirement of the Hemi V8 also eventually force the retirement of its replacement?

Almost certainly, yes.

The logic is inexorable. If a V8 produces too much CO2, then they will inevitably say a six does too. So this brilliant six may and likely will be around for just a few years before it, too, is retired.

The Bottom Line

Beef is still what's for dinner. But for how much longer is anyone's guess.

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Eric's latest book, "Doomed: Good Cars Gone Wrong!" will be available soon. To find out more about Eric and read his past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.