It’s time to drive the newly-refreshed 2025 Ram 1500 pickup trucks. Piloting the new twin-turbo Ram 1500 Rebel through Texas mud is a great way to start. The updated 2025 Ram half-ton truck lineup has a selection of new powertrains, new electrical architecture, updated style, and new technologies. It also comes at an increased price. Let’s dig in!
This is a first drive review from an event that Ram held in Austin, Texas this month to introduce the new trucks. Some 2025 updates are obvious, and many others are under the skin. The chassis and suspension layout is largely unchanged. The Ram 1500 (DT-generation) trucks switched to a fully-boxed high-strength steel frame for the 2019 model year. This is a great foundation.
The power choices change. The familiar 5.7L Hemi V8 is gone. The tried-and-true 3.6L Pentastar V6 is back as a base engine for the 2025 model year. It’s combined with a 48-volt mild-hybrid eTorque electric system. The V8 is replaced by two more powerful 3-liter straight-six gasoline engines (standard and a high-output versions).
The new 2025 Ram 1500 Rebel is only available as a crew cab 4×4 truck. It has just one power plant offering at this time. It’s the new standard-output 3.0-liter twin-turbo Hurricane I6 engine with 420 horsepower and 469 lb-ft of torque. The engine is mated to an 8-speed ZF automatic transmission. If you want more power, you will have to select a higher trim level of the new Ram 1500 that comes with an H.O. Hurricane engine. This one is rated at 540 horsepower and 521 lb-ft of torque. Ram says these new turbocharged engines are capable of running on lower octane fuels, but maximum power ratings are stated when using 91+ octane premium fuel.
The new Hurricane engine is a pleasure to drive! When it’s idling, you may not even tell the engine is on. It’s very smooth and quiet from inside the cabin. When accelerating, the power comes on in a linear fashion and there is a lot of it! It’s easy to spin the rear tires if you grab a healthy dose of the accelerator. I did a casual 0-60 mph acceleration in 2WD with a standard-output engine on a dusty stretch of pavement and got a 6.28-second read-out from my Dragy GPS device. We will have to do more standardized 0-60 mph and drag race testing of these new trucks back in Colorado.
The smooth power is a positive, but the lack of the HEMI V8 soundtrack is a bit of a negative. I found the new twin-turbo very quiet from inside the cabin, but it does have bit of a six-cylinder bark on the outside. Ram expects the new twin-turbo engine lineup to be more efficient than the outgoing V8. EPA ratings are not available at the time of this writing. We will stay on top of it and do our own MPG testing.
The new Ram 1500 Rebel can be configured with coil springs or air suspension (as before). Ram uses Bilstein shocks to keep the ride under control. The Rebel still has a selectable rear locking differential, low-range transfer case, and Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac tires.
The latest version of the Rebel Select-speed off-road crawl control system has eight speed settings between 0.6 – 5 mph. This is controlled using the gear range select switch on the steering wheel. I found the off-road cruise control system to be very smooth. The truck is easy to drive no matter if you are using 4-LO or 4-HI. The transmission seems to know your intentions and there is not jerky movement.
Ram took an already very good off-road half-ton pickup truck, added more power and additional high-tech features. The 2025 Ram 1500 Rebel has a starting price in the neighborhood of $65,000 including destination charges. The fully-optioned blue truck I drove had a sticker price of over $82,000.
We will publish more 2025 Ram 1500 video soon (including a first trailer-tow experience). Check out our new 2025 Ram 1500 videos at AllTFL.com.
