2027 Ram 2500 Power Wagon Diesel First Drive: It Brings All the Torque

Power Wagon has long been a misnomer for Ram’s big, burly off-roader. The heavy-duty truck born out of World War II might be more sure-footed than a mountain goat, but its gas engines have never been especially powerful. The standard 6.4-liter V-8 that’s motivated the Ram 2500 Power Wagon since 2014 makes 405 hp—hardly a show of force in a 7,400-pound truck.

And then there’s the new optional engine for 2027, which makes an absolute mockery of the Power Wagon name. The turbodiesel inline-six delivers a mere 25-hp bump, which is entirely overshadowed by the additional 646 lb-ft of torque it brings to the table. If the FTC were serious about enforcing truth-in-advertising rules, this thing wouldn’t be called Power Wagon. It’d be the Ram 2500 Torque Monster.

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A 1,075-Lb-Ft Shove

The mighty Cummins engine makes so much grunt—1,075 lb-ft to be exact—that, like all 2500s with this engine, the Power Wagon starts from a stop in second gear. Flatten the accelerator, and it steps off the line with a small breath of lag, a big turbodiesel chuff, and a hard shove. If you use Tow/Haul mode as an ersatz Sport mode to start the trans in first gear, the diesel Power Wagon feels almost spry and light, two things it definitely is not. We haven’t run the numbers on the Power Wagon yet, but we fully expect it to hit 60 mph in less than 7.0 seconds, well ahead of the gas version.

The eight-speed transmission stays busy keeping the engine in the narrow powerband between 1,500 and 3,000 rpm where it’s happiest. Downshifts from cruising speeds can be slow and then sudden, but mostly the oil-burning Power Wagon is surprisingly civilized in the city and on the highway. While fuel economy remains objectively bad, the Cummins should at least stretch the gas Power Wagon’s pathetic real-world range beyond 300 miles.

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Outside of the engines, the gas and diesel Power Wagons drive more similar than different due to the shared attributes that make a Power Wagon a Power Wagon. Riding over a patchwork of Midwestern pavement can fluster the live front and rear axles, and the hydraulically assisted recirculating ball steering is light and vague on center. You tower over traffic with a sense of invincibility that’s only threatened by one thing: parking garages.

Yet for all the compromises inherent in the Power Wagon’s approach to off-roading, the biggest surprise when driving one is how civilized it is. It tracks straight and steady, obediently follows your steering inputs, and is generally more comfortable than you’d expect. It helps that the diesel Power Wagon gets larger 20-inch wheels wrapped in 33-inch Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac all-terrain tires, while the gas version rolls on 17-inch wheels. The shorter sidewalls improve steering response and, more significantly, allowed engineers to effectively double the Power Wagon’s payload and towing capacities to nearly 3,000 and 20,000 pounds, respectively. A reduction in ground clearance from 14.2 to 12.6 inches brings the Power Wagon’s hulking center of gravity slightly closer to Earth, which improves handling and makes ingress and egress marginally easier. (Despite this “improvement,” the Cummins Power Wagon is tall enough that climbing in is more exercise than most Americans get in a typical week.)

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The Cost of On-Road Confidence

Unfortunately, everything that makes the diesel Power Wagon a better truck on the road makes it a worse off-roader in the muck. The engine adds a big chunk of weight over the front axle, and its intercooler takes up the space where the gas-powered version carries its standard winch. The shorter tire sidewalls are a liability off-road, and lower ground clearance increases the odds you’ll put the underbody armor to use. While the diesel retains the disconnecting front anti-roll bar, it doesn’t have the Articulink front suspension that gives the gas truck greater wheel travel. No question, then: If off-road capability is your only concern, the gas 6.4-liter V-8 is still the Power Wagon to get.

Just bear in mind that “worse” is a relative term. The diesel Power Wagon still sits ahead of every other heavy-duty truck when it comes to off-road capability. No other automaker offers a locking front axle or a disconnecting anti-roll bar on a heavy-duty truck, gas or diesel.

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The Power Wagon and the Torque Monster

Given all that, you shouldn’t think of the diesel Power Wagon as a replacement for the gas truck. Instead, consider it a complement with a different purpose. The Power Wagon with the gas V-8 persists as the ultimate heavy-duty off-roader, a hulking rig with more capability than most of us can use. The Cummins diesel will appeal to road warriors who travel with side-by-sides, boats, or campers. Along with the increased towing capacity, the diesel truck now offers an option for fifth-wheel and gooseneck towing. (Ram has, however, backed away from plans to offer self-leveling rear air springs as an option.)

The gas Power Wagon is priced right in line with light-duty off-roaders like the Ram 1500 RHO and the Ford F-150 Raptor, which makes for an interesting value proposition. The diesel, on the other hand, costs a pretty penny. The $12,995 engine upgrade pushes the Power Wagon’s price up to $88,470. That’s for a truck with cloth seats. A fully loaded Cummins Power Wagon like the one we drove rings in at $103,395. If that feels like too much money for a Power Wagon, well, we’ve got a solution: Just tell your friends you bought a Torque Monster.