The versatile 2026 Ram 1500 lives at the heart of the truck brand’s lineup, offering excellence as everything from a no-frills work pickup to an off-road ripper or high-tech luxury cruiser.

After a significant update for 2025, the Ram 1500 won MotorTrend’s Truck of the Year award. Now, the Hemi V-8 returns as an available powertrain option with Ram’s eTorque mild hybrid assistance.

Rivals to the Ram 1500 include the Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado 1500, and GMC Sierra 1500.

What’s New

• Available 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 engine with eTorque mild hybrid assistance. The 3.6-liter V-6 and two versions of the fantastic Hurricane turbo I-6 remain available.
• A fender-mounted “Symbol of Protest Badge” for all Hemi models
• Value-focused Express trim with black exterior accents and a choice of five colors
• A Black Express package for Quad and Crew 4WD models

What We Think

Hat trick, threepeat, call it what you want—the Ram 1500 has now won MotorTrend’s Truck of the Year award three times, first in 2019, then again in 2021, and now for 2025. It’s a great full-size pickup truck no matter how it’s built.

Engine options expand for the 2026 model year with the glorious return of Ram’s Hemi V-8 engine. This time, the eight-cylinder powerplant is paired with an eTorque mild hybrid assist system that improves responsiveness and efficiency, Ram says.

Ram’s powerful and refinedHurricane I-6 engine is still available. The straight six may not sound as sweet as the V-8, but it has plenty of work-ready capability. Skip the overworked base V-6, though.

Overall, the Ram 1500 exhibits superb ride comfort and responsive steering, but brake pedal feel could be tightened up.

In higher-end configurations the Ram 1500’s cabin dazzles, packed with digital displays and luxurious finishes that make it a great place to spend time. The truck comes with plenty of useful driver-assist features, but Ram still has work to do to make its hands-free driving system as good as similar systems are in the competition from Chevy, GMC, and Ford.

MotorTrend Tested

The big change for 2025 was new availability of the Hurricane 3.0-liter twin-turbo I-6 engine. In Standard Output (SO) tune it makes 420 hp and 469 lb-ft of torque, good for a 0–60 mph time of 4.8-5.2 seconds in MotorTrend testing of three different trims.

The Hurricane is also offered in High Output (HO) tune, elevating its output to 540 hp and 521 lb-ft of torque. That reduces the 0–60 mph time to 4.4-4.6 seconds in our testing of two trims. Remember that this is a heavy full-size truck and you’ll understand why we like both versions of this refined and quick engine so much.

The standard engine is a 3.6-liter V-6 with a mild hybrid system. It produces 305 hp and 271 lb-ft of torque. In MotorTrend testing, this engine enabled a 0–60 mph time of 8.1 seconds.

The 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 returns with eTorque mild hybrid assistance, slotting between the V-6 and Hurricane SO in output, with 395 hp and 410 lb-ft of torque.

Ram’s eTorque system uses a belt-driven motor generator unit in place of a traditional engine-mounted alternator. The motor generator unit works with a 48-volt battery pack to assist engine start/stop. It also improves overall powertrain responsiveness, refinement and efficiency.

Ram equips the Hemi V-8 with cylinder deactivation, a sport exhaust, and a large 33-gallon fuel tank.

Regardless of engine choice, every gas-fueled 2026 Ram 1500 uses an eight-speed automatic transmission. Depending on configuration, 4WD is standard or optional; the truck is RWD otherwise.

Engine Availability by Trim

Legend:

✔ = Standard

O = Optional

– = Not available

MPGs and Range

Fuel economy for the entry-level V-6 is estimated at 19–20/24–26 mpg city/highway depending on configuration. Driving range varies from 483 to 529 miles.

Expect a rating of 17–18/24–25 mpg city/highway from 2026 Ram 1500 trucks equipped with the Hurricane SO. Driving range is as high as 546 miles and as low as 437 miles with this engine.

Fuel economy drops to 14–15/16–21 mpg for the HO tune. The EPA rates the Hurricane HO’s range at 495 miles when equipped in the high-performance Ram 1500 RHO. Other trims equipped with the Hurricane HO should be capable of driving as far as 561 miles thanks to a 33-gallon gas tank instead of the standard 26-gallon tank on lower trims.

We suspect the newly revived Hemi V-8 will return the poorest fuel economy of the 2026 Ram 1500’s four engines, even with cylinder deactivation and mild hybrid assistance. Still, range should be comparable to other 2026 Ram 1500 variants due to the 33-gallon fuel tank paired with all V-8 trucks.

Safety and Self-Driving Features

Every 2026 Ram 1500 comes equipped with driver-assist and active safety features such as front automatic emergency braking, lane-keep assist, adaptive cruise control, front and rear parking sensors, and trailer sway control.

Optional or included depending on trim are road sign recognition, emergency evasive steering assist, intersection collision avoidance, blind-spot monitoring, and rear cross-traffic alert.

Ram’s Active Driving Assist and Hands-Free Driving Assist are optional semi-autonomous driving technologies. These use a variety of vehicle sensors to enable a higher level of driver assistance.

In our experience it’s not quite as good as General Motors’ Super Cruise or Ford’s Blue Cruise, but still useful. One shortcoming of Ram’s system is that it doesn’t work when a trailer is connected, unlike Super Cruise.

Interior Room

Although the 2026 Ram 1500 provides a decent amount of front-seat legroom, the Crew Cab’s second-row legroom measurement is class-leading.

Bed, Towing, and Hauling

The Ram 1500 is offered with truck beds measuring 67 or 76 inches in length. The shorter bed has 53.9 cubic feet of capacity, while the longer bed has 61.5 cubic feet.

Towing tops out at 11,550 pounds in certain configurations with the Standard Output Hurricane I-6 engine. That twin-turbo straight-six is slightly more capable than the Hemi V-8, which is rated at a maximum of 11,470 pounds. The High Output Hurricane engine enables up to 9,920 pounds of towing. With the base V-6 engine, maximum towing is 8,110 pounds.

Maximum payload for the 2026 Ram 1500 is 2,370 pounds, achieved in some models with the V-6 engine. With the Standard Output I-6, maximum payload is 1,980 pounds, and with the High Output engine it’s 1,520 pounds. The Hemi V-8 caps out at 1,750 pounds.

Technology

Infotainment

Base models of the 2026 Ram 1500 are equipped with an 8.4-inch infotainment touchscreen, with 12.0- and 14.5-inch touchscreens optional or included higher up in the range. The small 3.5-inch gauge cluster display in entry level models grows to 7.0 inches or becomes a 12.0-inch all-digital display on higher-end models. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard regardless.

A digital rearview mirror, head-up display, and 10.3-inch touchscreen ahead of the front passenger are also available. Several USB ports are distributed through the cabin, and dual wireless charging pads are optional. Phone-as-key functionality is offered.

Sound System

A six-speaker audio system is standard. A nine-speaker system is added higher up in the range. Spend even more and the following become available: A 19-speaker Harman Kardon and amazing 23-speaker Klipsch premium audio systems.

Available Upgrades

An available 360-degree camera also allows for various focused views on the front, rear, and sides of the Ram 1500.

Value

Recommended Trim: The New 1500 Express

Returning after a few years, the 2026 Ram 1500 Express bundles a bunch of popular features for a starting price of under $50,000. Buyers have the choice of a standard 3.6-liter V-6 mild-hybrid, Hemi V-8, or Standard Output Hurricane 3.0-liter turbo inline-six powertrain.

Upgrades include:

• Black bezel-surround LED headlights
• Body-colored front and rear bumpers
• 20-inch wheels
• Adaptive cruise control
• A laser-etched interior trim pieces

Ram offers the following monochromatic paint choices:Diamond Black, Bright White, Granite Crystal, Forged Blue, and Hydro Blue.

Ram also offers a Black Express package for Quad and Crew 4WD models with a Sport hood, black badging and 20-inch wheels, LED fog lights, running boards, black cloth bucket seats, and a 7.0-inch driver display.

Electric Ram Trucks: The 1500 Ramcharger and 1500 REV

As truck makers experiment with electrification, Ram is taking a two-pronged approach with the 1500 Ramcharger and 1500 REV.

The 1500 Ramcharger is a plug-in hybrid, though not a conventional one, producing 663 hp and 615 lb-ft with a pair of electric motors and a 92 kWh battery pack that delivers 150 miles of range.

However, the 1500 Ramcharger also has something no electric car does: an engine. Its 3.6-liter V-6 works only as gas-powered generator to recharge the battery, and range is as long as 690 miles.

Ram will also build an all-electric truck called the 1500 REV. Previewed by the striking Revolution concept, it looks similar to the gas-powered Ram, but like the 1500 Ramcharger it is built on an all-new, dedicated EV platform called STLA-Frame.

A dual-motor AWD powertrain will give the 1500 REV more than 600 hp and 600 lb-ft of torque. Driving range is still to be determined; the standard 168-kWh battery with approximately 350 miles of range is still planned but the whopping 229 kWh battery intended to deliver 500 miles of range may be canceled.

Ram 1500 RHO: Better Than TRX?

The legendary Ram 1500 TRX is gone—for now—but the Ram 1500 RHO is here to functionally replace it. Aside from a less exciting engine sound and slightly slower acceleration, the RHO seems at least as good as the TRX.

The I-6 powered truck clearly has better handling than its V-8 predecessor thanks to having less engine weight on its front wheels. Otherwise, it’s still plenty quick, looks totally tough, and is a complete beast off-road.

Although the TRX may return as a flagship model, the RHO remains a worthy alternative within the Ram 1500 lineup.

What’s the Ram 1500 Tungsten?

Ram now offers Tungsten as the highest luxury-focused trim level in the 1500 truck lineup. The Ram 1500 Tungsten costs approximately $90,000 to start, but substantiates that high price with features like 24-way adjustable front seats, heated and ventilated rear seats, a 23-speaker Klipsch audio system, some 50 inches of combined screen space, dual wireless charging pads, power running boards, and hands-free driving technology.

The 1500 Tungsten looks the part, too, wearing an exclusive one-piece front bumper, 22-inch wheels, and an interior full of colorful stitched leather, metallic details, and carbon fiber trim.