The 2026 Ram 1500 Brings Back Hemi V8 Power

[00:05] Hemi. Yes, that's right. In today's world of electric vehicles and smaller engines and turbos and fuel economy regulations, Ram has brought back the regulations, Ram has brought back the Hemi V8 for its full-size pickup truck.

[00:19] And today, I'm going to review the new Hemi-powered Ram 1500 and show you all Hemi-powered Ram 1500 and show you all of its quirks and features.

[00:32] annual cross-country road trip coming up. And before I take off on any trip, I like to make absolutely sure my vehicle is ready for the road. You might have a things from AutoZone that'll help you get moving. And the great thing is,

[00:46] AutoZone is everywhere, which means wherever the road takes you, the parts you need are right there. Number one, Fix Finder. If you've got a dash light on, start with a free Fix Finder scan at AutoZone. It reads your dashboard

[00:59] and prints out a report telling you exactly what's going on. An AutoZoner can point you to the right part or even refer you to a local shop. Fast, easy, totally free. Number two, fluids. Top everything off and don't forget the easy

[01:14] to overlook ones: windshield wiper fluid, brake fluid, and coolant. You can order it all on autozone.com and pick it up the same day. Number three, oil. Always, always, always check it. Look at the level and the color on the dipstick.

[01:27] If it's due, don't wait. Ask an AutoZoner to help you grab the right oil and filter for your engine. Number four, the essentials: tires, lights, and battery. I always check my tire pressure before leaving. I make sure every light

[01:40] at it. For the battery, look for corrosion and get it tested. AutoZone does that for free. And number five, brakes and belts. Squealing or whining during braking? Time for a replacement. Duralast brakes have a 100% noise-free

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[02:10] Take care of your car now and it'll take care of you on the road. And if you need a part or a pit stop, AutoZone's got you covered wherever the trip takes you. covered wherever the trip takes you. Now, let's ride. All right, time for the

[02:22] quirks and features of the new Hemi Ram. Starting in the most important place, under the hood, where the Hemi V8 has made a comeback. It went away after the '24 model year. It was replaced by the new Hurricane six-cylinder engine that's

[02:37] in a lot of new Jeep, Chrysler, Ram vehicles, but the V8 is back for '26. And adding the V8 back to this truck was actually a lot more work than you might expect because in the intervening year, the truck got a completely new

[02:52] electrical system that the Hemi wasn't designed to work with. And so, they had the Hemi to get it to work, and that included new cold weather testing that had to be done in New Zealand rather than the usual Michigan because the

[03:08] timeline for releasing the Hemi Ram, the winter had already passed in Michigan weather testing. So, they couldn't just drive up to the northern part of the state, they had to ship these trucks to New Zealand sure they were ready to go.

[03:22] Now, the great irony about the return of the V8 is that the new six-cylinder that they were going to replace it with is actually more powerful than the V8. The Hurricane six-cylinder made 420 horsepower in its regular form and 540

[03:38] horsepower in its high output form, whereas the Hemi V8 makes right around 400 horsepower. So, you don't get a really big benefit for power. And for six-cylinder would send this truck from zero to 60 in about four and a half

[03:53] seconds. With the Hemi it does zero to 60 in about six. The Hurricane six cylinder is also just a great engine. It's smooth and powerful. It's got good potent power at every level of the rev range. It's really nice. And of course

[04:07] fuel economy is about the same as the V8 and maybe a little bit better. So it's and maybe a little bit better. So it's more efficient and more powerful. But it doesn't sound as good and people wanted the V8 and they wanted the V8 sound. And

[04:21] to that point, if you get a RAM with the Hemi V8 now, the formerly optional GT performance exhaust has become standard for the 26 model year to really help you

[04:33] hear that V8 grumble. Let's take a listen.

[04:52] there's a V8 back in this truck, you get this little fender badge that shows an this little fender badge that shows an image of a ram and its body is a V8. Really driving it home this thing has got a Hemi. Ironically, despite all that

[05:05] V8 imagery, the return of the V8, the big exhaust now standard, this V8 also has a mild hybrid system attached to it. It's called eTorque. You can see it's badged under the hood. It's also badged on the side of the hood on the outside

[05:20] assistance to this powertrain even though it's a big old school V8. You still can't get away from the modern electrification of stuff. Now, one other thing worth pointing out is whether you get the V8 or the Hurricane six

[05:36] cylinder, you're down on towing capacity in the RAM compared to rivals. Both of these engines max out around 11,500 lb whereas Ford and General Motors trucks can approach or exceed 13,000 lbs in towing capacity with their top engines

[05:52] in their 1500 level trucks. So, what else is new for 2026 with a RAM 1500? Well, not much, actually. But, I haven't reviewed this body style RAM, a regular

[06:04] reviewed this body style RAM, a regular RAM 1500 since this truck came out 7 years ago. So, I figured the return of the Hemi, it's time to get back behind the wheel. And there's a lot to talk about. Starting on the outside with some

[06:16] interesting quirks and features. For one thing, I love the RAM Box, which is this little cargo compartment built on the outside of the bed, accessible on the sides of the truck. They call it RAM Box. It's locking, so you can lock it

[06:31] closed. And when you open it up, you discover it's actually a decent sized storage compartment in here where you can store smaller, more fragile items in the bed, or you might want to keep them locked and protected. You can do

[06:44] that here. Like the trunk of a car. The RAM Box includes this little yellow button that turns on a light, so you can have access to lighting to see what's inside your RAM Box if you're searching for something. And you get a RAM Box on

[06:59] both sides, driver and passenger side. Over on the driver side, the RAM Box also includes a household style power outlet, so you can power stuff, plug it in inside the RAM Box, and that is a pretty cool solution. There's even a

[07:13] little emergency inside trunk release. So, if someone tries to kidnap you and put you in the RAM Box, you have a little way to get out. Of course, that's to comply with government regulations. It's not likely you could actually be

[07:26] kidnapped in the RAM Box because there's only 8 and 1/2 cubic feet between both RAM Boxes combined. Although, that figure isn't really so bad. A Toyota figure isn't really so bad. A Toyota Camry's full-size trunk is about 15

[07:39] cubic feet. So, this gives you about half of a mid-size sedan's trunk, which is pretty good when you consider this truck also has a full bed where you can store a lot more stuff if you want. And speaking of the bed, accessing is pretty

[07:53] easy thanks to these side steps that are extendable. This is pretty cool. You can flip these things and push them out and they lock in place and it makes it this is a way cleaner solution than General Motors, which actually has

[08:07] stick your foot to climb in. Makes it easy, but it doesn't really look so good and this kind of solves both problems. You get the bed climber, but without the bumper cutouts. Speaking of retractable steps, you also have power retractable

[08:22] you can see it's just normal on the side, but you walk up and unlock it and the running boards automatically extend out to allow you a place to step in Once you get inside and start going, the running boards retract back into the

[08:37] truck to kind of preserve that cleaner look, which is a neat idea. Now, with that said, all these folding out things, one item this truck doesn't have is a split tailgate like in General Motors trucks where the tailgate can do all

[08:50] sorts of stuff like you pop only a part of it open to carry wood or fold it down that. You just get a regular old tailgate here, although it is power operated, which is nice to see. And speaking of the tailgate, you will

[09:05] notice on the back you have the word RAM printed out in the largest possible printed out in the largest possible lettering ever to exist. In fact, RAM is a lot of different places. The tailgate is the biggest, but also up front the

[09:19] grill has a huge RAM printed on it and various places throughout the side. I think they've done this to really try to drive home the point that this truck is now called the RAM and not the Dodge RAM. Although in my experience,

[09:32] everybody still calls it the Dodge RAM even though that hasn't actually been even though that hasn't actually been its name in 15 years. Since the 2010 model year, this truck has been referred to as the RAM, separate from Dodge, but

[09:46] people just aren't really getting it, and so they're making RAM bigger and bigger on the outside to really kind of force you to get with the program. Finally, as for general exterior observations, I got to say this is an

[09:59] the RAM, I still feel is the market that even with new models from all its rivals, Toyota, General Motors, Ford, I think this truck looks great. It's very nice. It has sort of a

[10:12] muscular, brawny look, but still kind of a nice, upscale look. It's overall a really nice, clean design in the RAM, and it still looks good even though it's now been on the market for quite a while. Another cool, quirky RAM exterior

[10:25] feature, this truck has air suspension, which means you can raise or lower the ride to various different levels. If you want to make it easier to get in, you off-road capable, you can raise it. That's not all that uncommon, although

[10:38] kind of rare on full-size trucks, but the cool party trick is that you can lower it using the key. You push this button here, and the air suspension will actually drop the truck down if it's in high mode to the lowest mode to make it

[10:52] easier to load in items. So, if you're driving along in high mode, and you go of mulch into the truck, you don't have to get in, press the button, wait for it. Instead, you just push the key, it drops down, and then it's easier to lift

[11:05] stuff into the truck, which is a pretty cool idea. Man, while the exterior of this truck looks nice, frankly, the same is true of the interior. This is a really nice place to be. The cabin of the latest RAM pickup trucks. Then

[11:18] again, it had better be, since this version, the RAM Limited, has a starting price of around $75,000, and then options take it from there. Big money, but it really delivers. This is a nice interior. It's well-laid out, well

[11:32] designed, feels brawny and British with a good high driving position, but you also get some really nice upscale materials like stitched leather and open flat wood. Everything in here looks and feels good, and you really don't see

[11:46] much cheap plastic in this interior. It really is a pretty nice place to be and a nice place to spend time for a full-size pickup truck. It really fits the kind of subtle but luxurious exterior design that this truck has. Of

[11:59] course, one other big benefit of the latest RAM trucks is a giant vertical center screen in the middle of the dashboard, the center control screen, but I want to start the interior quirks not with the screen, but rather with the

[12:12] center console, which is kind of quirky. In the center console, you have these two panels that can open up. One reveals your cup holders, as you can see, the other reveals a coin storage slot. But, in case you don't want them, you can

[12:26] just put them away. Just slide them under this drawer goes away, and your cup holders are gone. A lot of cars let you cover up the cup holders with like a little panel that slides over. Here, you can just put them away completely. You

[12:38] don't want to look at your cup holders? You don't have to ever see them again. Now, also in this area, you can see two separate wireless phone chargers, which is pretty cool, and a wide range of plugs. Some of these plugs, of course,

[12:50] plug into the infotainment, some are charge only, but you have basically every plug you could possibly want in here. And then, there's the center console, which opens in two pieces. There's the upper part, which reveals a

[13:02] small storage area, and then the lower part, which reveals a large storage center console is that on the inside of the lid, you have all sorts of different mathematical and trigonometric equations in case you're out on the job site and

[13:16] you need to remember what sine, cosine, and tangent are. Well, you've got it here on the on the inside of your RAM center console. Now, also in here, another Easter egg, You can see images of historic RAM models from years past

[13:31] are printed down at the bottom of the storage area. And then actually, this little panel flips up, and when it goes into place, it acts as a divider between compartment and the back part, in case

[13:43] you want to keep stuff separate, you can do it with your RAM panel. And other interesting quirks in here, for one, the gear selector. You can see it's actually a rotary dial that moves park, reverse, neutral, drive, can flip it left or

[13:56] right to switch between the different gears. One interesting thing is that if you try to turn the car off with it in drive, it will automatically switch back to park and not just electronically, it will actually move the dial like a ghost

[14:10] is moving it to all the way back over to park. Over the driver's door panel, a have extra cup holders, which is nice, in case you've put your cup holders away, you can access some extra ones in the door panel. You also have this

[14:24] button which turns on your massaging seat, and you can see there are many different massaging seat options including rock climb. If your favorite type of massage is a rock climb massage, you can do that, but you can choose

[14:37] between a bunch of different stuff, again adding luxury to this truck. But showing you the screen, well, let's go through the screen. Absolutely massive, you can see vertically oriented screen,

[14:49] vertical orientation for our smartphones, and so it makes sense here. of different stuff. You can see the home screen on top has several different widgets, your music, your map, your phone, but you can configure those

[15:03] widgets to display basically whatever you want on those top panels. But there's even more room below those widgets to have more information and real benefits of this screen. You can

[15:15] really have everything on here at once. I love how intuitive, how easy this screen is to operate, and of course, how large it is, so it's easy to figure out where everything is. You can see it very clearly. It's really well done, well

[15:27] it also includes Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which not all rivals do. You also have your most used controls remain physical buttons on the sides of the screen. So, your climate controls

[15:42] more over on the passenger side, and then dials for the stereo, for volume and tuning, all those things still physical buttons, so you don't have to go into the screen. Now, as much as I love this screen, there are a couple of

[15:55] drawbacks. For one thing, the camera system, it's great. A million angles, doesn't take up that much of the screen. Part of the benefit of this giant vertical screen is you can use a lot of it, including for a camera system, but

[16:08] for some reason, they just don't, and it only seems to take up about a third of the screen. Also, this screen makes the heated and cooled seats surprisingly annoying to access. It should just be a button on the sides of the screen or on

[16:21] the door panels, but instead, you have to go into this little comfort tab on the screen, and then turn on the heated seats with a separate control, so it's a from whatever you have displayed on the screen. Truthfully, if they're going to

[16:35] include the heated and cooled seats into the screen, it should be down here on the bottom in this fixed panel that never changes instead of turning on and off parking sensors, which most people will very rarely use. You can use your

[16:48] your parking sensors, and so, it's kind of a shame that that panel was devoted to that instead of something more commonly used. Also, one other complaint about this screen, as much as I love it, this is silly, but it doesn't have any

[17:01] including games in their screen. Mercedes-Benz has like an air hockey, Ford has a drawing pad. When your screen is this big, it's actually nice to have to pick your kid up at soccer practice or waiting on a job site in your truck,

[17:15] integrated games that can help you occupy some of the time, and I wish they had that as one of the apps in the screen. Regardless, this screen really complaints, and so is the gauge cluster screen, which is one of my very

[17:29] is tremendously configurable. You can do a full-screen map, you can do all sorts of different displays, showing exactly what information you want to see and how you want it presented. It's really well done, a very well-designed gauge screen

[17:42] that provides all of that configurability that some automakers just won't do. You also have a screen for the rearview mirror, which again is fantastic. You just flip this switch and it changes from a mirror to a screen, a

[17:54] camera showing what's behind you, so you don't have to try to look through your vehicle, your passengers to see what's back there. And there's still one more side screen in the passenger side of the dashboard. This is just an entertainment

[18:09] headphones and then watch something or listen to something different from the driver the rest of the car, but they do have their own dedicated screen for that purpose, which obviously adds a little bit of comfort, convenience,

[18:22] entertainment for the passengers, which you might expect at the $75,000 price price point. And next we move on to the backseat, which is absolutely huge. This is a giant vehicle, so you expect a big backseat, and it delivers. There's a lot

[18:37] of space back here, legroom, headroom. You could get three full-size people back here in real comfort, so you have a real full-size interior for full-size amenities back here, which make things even better. For one thing, four

[18:54] of the front center console, and then one more in each door, which means all four cupholders, none of them require that you disturb or fold down the center seat, center armrest, and lose the possibility of a center passenger. So

[19:09] you have access to all those cupholders, and the seats are all in place, which isn't the case in a lot of cars. Now, with that said, you can fold down the center seat if you want, and you get two more cup holders back here, and you get

[19:21] a nice little storage area, as you can see. And on top of the storage area, a little stitched leather armrest to add to your comfort. I'm actually pretty leather armrest in there, considering it's on the back of the middle seat,

[19:34] stay up for most people. You're probably never really going to see that. It's really wasted leather. It adds to the cost, but they do that. This is the Limited model, after all. Beyond all the cup holder situation and the roominess,

[19:48] there's some other nice stuff back here. You can see heated and ventilated seats on both sides, which is pretty cool. And you also get a bunch of different charge ports. You can see two USB-A ports, two USB-C ports, and you also have a

[20:03] household-style charger back here, so you can plug in stuff. Nice to see a household charger both inside the car and in the RamBox on the outside, so there's a lot of plug-in capabilities with your household items. Last

[20:16] interesting trick up the sleeve of the back seat is that you can fold up the back seat bottom, and then you can fold out this little carpeted panel for a there's other stuff you want to keep safe, your RamBox is full, you do have

[20:31] that, and it's something that probably won't get discovered. Then it'll certainly be safe from theft or from the elements, which is a lot better than putting it in the bed. So, those are all the quirks and features of the new Hemi

[20:45] Ram. Now, it's time to get behind the wheel. Let's find out how the V8 truck wheel. Let's find out how the V8 truck drives. All right, driving the Ram 1500 with the Hemi. You know, it's actually kind of funny

[20:59] that this has happened, that the the Hemi has returned to the Ram uh truck, because in all of the vehicles that I have driven over the last decade in the a V8 to a six-cylinder or a six-cylinder to a four-cylinder, I actually think

[21:13] that RAM's transition from the Hemi V8 to the Hurricane six-cylinder was one of the very best I've driven. And it's crazy that the V8 is now back in the truck. The Hurricane six-cylinder is actually a really good powertrain. It's

[21:27] very smooth like a V8. It's very It has a lot of power like a V8. In fact, it has more power than the Hemi V8. Um it doesn't have a lot of delay or lag like some of these turbo four-cylinders that replace six-cylinders. It feels very

[21:41] potent at every part of the rev range like a V8. It just has a lot of real V8 characteristics while also getting more power and either better or the same fuel economy. With that said, the Hemi V8 is also a fantastic engine. Um and it's

[21:57] lineup, you have this sort of duplicative engine situation. You have duplicative engine situation. You have two roughly 400 horsepower engines that get roughly the same fuel economy. Of course, that wasn't RAM's plan, right?

[22:10] other, but it didn't really work out that way. And so you now you have two choices on which to get. Which would I get? Well, if I could stretch for the 540 horsepower version of the Hurricane, I would get that. But if I was choosing

[22:23] between the ones that most people will be choosing between, the 400-ish horsepower ones, honestly, I would probably choose the one that I feel is a better deal at the dealership. Um whichever one is cheaper, whichever one

[22:35] is more available in the color you want, whatever. They're pretty similar. If you really want the sound, you get the V8. If you want kind of a smoother, quieter experience, you know, less more environmentally efficient, um you get

[22:48] the six-cylinder. But neither are dramatically different from a performance and driving experience point of view. Um and and I think that speaks to just how good the six-cylinder is. They did such a good job with the

[23:00] anything to the V8. And now you can kind of choose between both. But beyond the powertrains, what else do I like about the RAM? In a word, everything. Uh well, with one big exception in a second. But I just really generally like this truck.

[23:14] I did the RHO about a year ago, but a regular RAM haven't been inside it in years. And I got to say I'm back in it and I am reminded of why I like this truck so much. Um I love the way it drives. I think it is surprisingly

[23:28] smooth and comfortable, more so than its rivals. I love the interior. I think the great. I think everything in here looks nice and feels nice on a level that is far exceeding what you get from Chevy. You know, Ford Ford also and and and

[23:42] truck either, but Ford kind of goes more down the tech side of things. Chevy just nice in this and Chevy doesn't have the technology that this truck has. This rivals have gotten a little more powerful, a little more capable in terms

[23:58] of towing and payload um because every rival is newer than this truck. But this truck does a great job of punching above its age because it's just a really good, its age because it's just a really good, well-designed vehicle except for one big

[24:12] thing that would scare me about buying this truck, the thing that would put me off from owning this truck, is I just don't know if I can trust it. I think it's a better truck than a Silverado. The interior, the tech, the materials,

[24:25] the drive, everything. But I'm not sure it'll actually get you >> [laughter] >> I I I think that's why people buy reliability. In the last 10 years they've become really reliable, solid

[24:38] trucks. And they're not as good, but goodness, one of the components of goodness is being able to go places trustingly. And Chrysler, Stellantis, trustingly. And Chrysler, Stellantis, RAM, it's just we're not sure. Uh I have

[24:52] buyback. If you look at all the stories about these trucks online, they are not positive. There's a lot of bad stuff out there about reliability. And as good as this truck is and as nice as this truck is, it makes me nervous. It would make

[25:05] me nervous to own this truck. If you test drive one of these, you will you best or maybe the second best full-size truck until you start looking at the reliability scores. So, from a general

[25:17] perspective, it is a great truck, great everything, materials, drive, experience, everything about it, tech is just fantastic, but if you can't trust really? And I think a lot of people come to that conclusion and end up with a

[25:30] great. I think the six-cylinder is great also. I think this truck is great. Little worried about reliability, but still a very capable, strong truck, good contender in this segment if you're willing to roll the dice uh

[25:43] and and maybe help you get uh you get a good one. Um but a lot a lot to like about this truck in general. And so, [clears throat] that's the new 2026 Ram [clears throat] that's the new 2026 Ram 1500 with a Hemi V8. I still think this

[25:57] is one of the very best trucks on sale, quite possibly the very best truck with great materials and technology and styling and the driving experience, styling and the driving experience, although I am perpetually skeptical of

[26:10] Chrysler and Stellantis reliability. Still, this is a good truck, and if you get a good one, you got a great Hemi V8 under the hood, too. Although, the six-cylinder really is a great engine as well. Anyway, now it's time to give the

[26:25] well. Anyway, now it's time to give the Ram a Doug score. 100, which puts the new Ram here against some other full-size trucks. I actually

[26:37] haven't reviewed a regular gas-powered light-duty full-size new truck in ages, mainly because not much has changed in the truck world in the past few years. Indeed, the updated Ram earns only a point more than its 2019 counterpart

[26:49] based solely on the cool factor of the Hemi V8 reemergence. It's still a great truck with nice styling and great tech, and as usually the sticking point remains potential concerns with reliability from Ram's parent company

[27:02] reliability from Ram's parent company Stellantis.