We Took Our Hurricane Ram to Drive the Hemi Version. Guess Which One We’d Keep?

It’s always fun to drive a long-term vehicle to the ride-and-drive for a successor model, so that’s exactly what we did when Ram held a big drive event out at its Chelsea, Michigan, proving ground to mark the occasion of the 5.7-liter Hemi V-8’s triumphant return to the Ram 1500 lineup. Would its siren song of fourth-order exhaust music (playing through the formerly Mopar GT exhaust system that’s now standard) entice us? And would sampling its top-level Limited Longhorn stablemate make my well-optioned twin-turbo inline-six-powered Ram 1500 Laramie feel cheap?

V-8 Music—What’s Not to Love?

Sure, all car lovers have a special place in their hearts for the Chris-Craft-like burble of a V-8. Then there’s the fact that the V-8 engine is culturally ingrained in our national psyche as the quintessentially American choice of powertrain for performance cars and work trucks alike. And as V-8s go, “Hemi” may be second only to “Small-Block” in terms of name recognition and icon status.

For 2025 Ram seemingly did the sensible thing, replacing an old V-8 engine with a thoroughly modern, more powerful, and more fuel-efficient “Hurricane Straight Six Turbo,” a 3.0-liter twin-turbo inline-six. It’s objectively better than the Hemi in nearly every way. But customers clamored for the V-8 anyway. And then government/regulatory disincentives to building fuel-inefficient engines disappeared almost overnight. So it’s back! Read our discussion of what it took to make the Hemi work with the new-for-2025 electrical architecture.

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Engine Envy?

Human ears are easily hoodwinked. The 2026 Hemi’s output figures are unchanged from the 2019–2024 version (ditto the gearing). All the fifth-gen Ram Hemis we’ve tested are slower than the lighter, more powerful standard-output SST in our Laramie. But that (now louder) exhaust note can be very convincing of an opposite result in the absence of direct (dragstrip) comparison. At the end of my day at the Chelsea PG, I took a spin in a 2026 Ram 1500 Lone Star Hemi.

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This lower-spec, rear-drive model—the lightest one we were allowed to sample—was more than happy to roast its rear tires in Sport mode (which turns traction control off). Climbing directly into our long-termer, I drove right over to the same deserted stretch of two-lane blacktop, set the transfer case to 2WD, engaged Sport mode, and was disappointed that I couldn’t smoke the tires. My best guess is that by the time those turbos spool up, there’s just no brake pedal pressure sweet spot that will hold the truck with the front brakes while still letting the rears spin. It’s almost as if tire-roasting wasn’t a design criterion.

No Limited Longhorn Envy

I had the chance to drive a couple top-trim models, and while the massaging seats (shared with those on upper-level Jeep Wagoneer models) felt divine, the upgraded trim and open-pore wood on the dash top don’t seem worth the trade-off of losing our light-colored bison and sea-salt color scheme. The only interior color offerings available on Limited models are black or red and black, and all Limited Longhorns come in Bison brown with “filigree”—another dark ambiance I can live without.

A New Option We Totally Dig

If I were sitting down to order this truck today, I’d definitely stick with the more powerful, more efficient, and plenty enthusiastic-sounding Hurricane SST engine in the Laramie trim grade with the same interior. But I’d absolutely have chosen the new Canyon Lake green exterior paint. It’s sort of a light-Army/dark-sage non-metallic green, and it’s super cool. In doing so, I’d have saved the $245 we paid for Delmonico Red (it’s now $295), as Canyon Lake and white are the only free paint options.

2026 Pricing Comparison

For the record, speccing our exact same truck as a 2026 model (including the paint savings) would set us back $82,105—$690 cheaper! The $66,325 base is $350 more but now includes the leather seats we paid $1,295 for. We’d think long and hard about those power running boards, which went up $500 (to $1,495), and we might have saved even more because the multifunction tailgate no longer forces the $945 bed utility group option. We wouldn’t go for the Hemi, but it’s encouraging (and a little surprising) that a like-minded buyer today could arguably get a nicer Laramie than ours for a little less.

For More On Our Long-Term 2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4:

• Arrival: Damage Done, Ready for Fun​
• Update 1: Spring Forestry Ritual​
• Update 2: Accessorizing​