The last time I drove a Ram Rebel, I called it a “big, loud, and dumb, unapologetically truck-flavoured truck” that was a “loud-and-proud rebel without a cause.” Now, after years of shamelessly parading around on bellowing V8 engines that were facilitated by purchasing a ton of expensive EV credits, the beloved Hemi engine is dead. The 2025 Ram 1500 Rebel has been forced to get a haircut and a real job.
The big story here is the new engine. For 2025, the Ram 1500 gains Stellantis’ new 3.0-litre “Hurricaine” straight-six. It’s roughly half as big as the old Hemi, but it replaces that lost displacement with a pair of turbochargers. It’s available in two tunes; this “Standard Output” version puts out 420 horsepower and 469 pound-feet of torque. That’s 25 hp and 59 lb-ft more than the outgoing 5.7L V8, and it’s roughly on par with Ford’s 3.5L EcoBoost V6 and GM’s 6.2L V8—all without any hybridization. Which is possible in the future.
In pursuit of being more grown up, the new engine is much quieter. Unlike the Hemi, it fires up with little fanfare and quickly settles into a smooth, quiet idle. Under most conditions, it conducts itself with quiet dignity, with only a bassy but muted growl if you’re asking the engine to hustle. It feels great, super smooth in operation, shows almost no turbo lag, the start/stop function is miles more slick than before, even without any mild hybrid assistance. There’s also gobs of power everywhere—at one point, I passed a numbskull who stopped in the middle of a lane for a late merge and managed to chirp the back tires on a second-gear kickdown. With the traction control on.
That’s old, rambunctious Ram behaviour. The new truck still feels like a Ram; it drives wonderfully and pulls like an animal. Honestly, if you were deaf, you probably wouldn’t notice much difference—but I’m not deaf. The boisterous backing vocal of the Hemi V8 was a huge draw, but it’s gone. Still, although I didn’t love the High Output version of this engine in the Jeep Grand Wagoneer, but it feels like it belongs here, even if it doesn’t really sound like it. I’m a little surprised Ram didn’t opt for a more aggressive exhaust on this Rebel; beneath all the layers of insulation, I think it sounds pretty good under power.
The rest of the tweaks to Ram 1500 for 2025 are more modest. It gets a very subtle facelift; the grille is a little larger to accommodate the new engine’s cooling needs, and there are new LED lights and wheel designs. Otherwise, it’s pretty much the same truck we already know and love, which is fine, because it was already a pretty excellent truck. There are more tweaks inside the Ram that follow in the same vein of subtlety. They don’t stray from what was already working, but do add up to a smarter truck overall.
First, adaptive cruise control and lane centering are standard on all Ram 1500s. I’m happy to report the system works very well. It’s not quite as well-developed as Ford and GM’s impressive hands-free tech, but I can personally attest to spending a disproportionate amount of time sitting in traffic with this truck, and it handled all that ugliness admirably. Also on the tech front, upper trims get an even larger screen that now stretches to 14.5 inches, but none of the physical controls flanking the screen got lost in the shuffle, which is nice.
The gauge cluster has been swapped for an all-digital display. It’s more or less identical to what’s in the Wagoneer; it’s easy to configure, it looks great, and pairs well with the heads-up display. The rest of the cabin is largely the same—lots of leather, fantastic heated and vented seats, and tons of room. The console-mounted shifter from the Rebel G/T is gone, replaced instead on all trims with a massive, configurable centre console that opens up a slightly ridiculous amount of storage space.
Aside from the dull roar generated by the Goodyear Wrangler mud-terrain tires on this Rebel, this new Ram is very quiet and well-mannered on the road, especially with the optional air suspension. It’s not as opulent as you’d expect from an air setup, but it rides well—a little firm, as Rebels have their shocks tuned a little differently than other models—but still refined, and it can raise and lower itself on the fly. The Ram 1500 was, and still is the best-handling, nicest-feeling half-ton on the road.
The only caveat is the new engine. It’s a shame, because I really think the Hurricane is great. The inherent mechanical smoothness of a straight-six is appealing, and it implies some long-term reliability. This engine has been around for a couple years in the Wagoneer, so it’s not completely unvetted. Unlike seemingly every other new engine rollout in the last few years, there haven’t been any horror stories about them. The Hurricane feels very healthy, has piles of torque, takes next to no time to spool up, all made better by the evergreen, ZF-sourced eight-speed automatic bolted to it. It’ll happily lay 11s in 2WD mode with the traction off—you know what I mean—and when it can hook up in 4WD Auto mode, it’s quick. But its biggest folly is that the Hurricane follows one of the greatest engines of the modern era, and frankly I’m not yet convinced it was a worthwhile venture.
For one, towing capacity has gone down from 12,750 pounds with the old Hemi, to 11,550 here. Realistically, those 800 pounds probably aren’t going to affect anyone, and the Ram 2500 exists for those where towing actually matters—but in the perpetual measuring contest among pickup trucks, it’s a step backward. It’s also a major step back in terms of sound—I know I already harped on this, but the soundtrack is a huge contributor to the sense of enjoyment that accompanies a pickup truck. Not only does the Hurricane not even hold a candle to the old Hemi, it doesn’t even really stand up to Ford’s EcoBoost vocals.
And there’s the kicker. It’s no secret this engine was born out of need for compliance with fuel and emissions regulations. This is the case with just about every boosted, smaller-displacement engine—it might perform better on a test in a controlled environment, but it doesn’t always manifest in reality. I saw an average fuel use of 16.9 L/100 kilometres; granted this was a pretty rough, traffic-filled use case, but it falls well short of both 5.7-equipped Rams we tested. Even the truck’s lifetime average was pegged at 15.8 L/100 km—slightly better, but still short of the “obsolete” Hemi and without the charm and charisma that helped put the Ram on the map.
The 2025 Ram 1500 Rebel is no longer the loud-and-proud “dumb” that I enjoyed so much, but it’s still a Ram. It’s still enjoyable—it’s comfortable, refined, satisfying to helm, and will happily do all the “truck stuff” your heart desires—but I’m thinking maybe a little more than hair got lost when it was forced to grow up and get a haircut. I’ll give Stellantis the benefit of the doubt, though: I’m very curious about the plug-in hybrid Ramcharger, and I’d love to hear one of these with a boisterous exhaust. Until then, I’ll keep grumbling about how fun the Ram used to be with its Hemi-shaped mullet.
