Yes, it’s got a HEMI. You may remember Stellantis sought to ditch the iconic V-8 in 2025, and go with the Hurricane 6 and EVs. But fans wanted the HEMI back, so here it is – complete with this “Symbol of Protest” badge on each front fender.
That’s a Ram’s head on a HEMI V-8 engine block, signifying defiance against the now-postponed shift to 6-cylinder engines and EVs, and celebrating customer demand for V-8 power as decreed by Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis.
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But this isn’t your father’s HEMI. Nope – it’s got eTorque – a mild hybrid system said to give some more get-up-and-go, with better fuel efficiency.
Let’s see.
The Ram was a boxy beast when first intro’ed in 1981. Now it enters the seventh year of its fifth-generation (introduced in 2019) with a sleeker look to its slim quad LED headlights with DRL bands, flowing into a large sculpted 6-sided grille with silver crossbars and mesh flanking big “RAM” lettering, under a flatter power dome hood with “1500 E-TORQUE” badges. The big bumper is flush, with slim fog lights, big center intake and tow hooks.
The fenders have edgy, less pronounced (than past gen) flares framing satin alloy and black wheels wearing P285/45R22-inch Pirelli Scorpion rubber. Doors get chrome side spears and window trim over running boards that power down to aid entry. The roofline seems low, while the cargo bed neatly meshes with the cargo bed. Big LED taillights wrap around back corners, a tight fit to the step bumper with integrated trailer hitch over chrome pipes.
The aluminum tailgate gently powers down, a breeze to lift due to assist. The soft cargo cover neatly unclips and folds back to access the box. The fender-tops are wider due to integral Ramboxes for added storage. It has drain plugs so you can ice down sodas. It has deployable steps under the rear bumpers’ corners to aid bed access. The suspension drops Ram for better air flow, and even lower for access. The cleanly-designed shape is clad in a nicely-applied Granite Crystal Metallic paint.
As you stroll up, the running boards deploy with puddle lamps, projecting “RAM” on the ground as the headlights and taillights glow. The air suspension can drop the ride height by two inches to aid cargo or people loading. It’s fairly easy to ascend into this luxurious truck – so much so our 9-year-old grandson said, “Poppa, I know this is a truck – but it’s like a limousine.”
2026 Ram 1500 Limited Crew Cab Interior Features Acres Of Room
There are stitched leather grab handles at the A- and B-pillars, then black leather seats with piping, plus heat, cooling and massage up front. The driver gets memory presets. The dash and doortops have contrasting stitching, while the doors and center armrest get embroidered patterns; with some woodgrain on doors and dash.
Those seats are firm and supportive if a bit flat. The tilt/telescoping steering wheel gets more wood and padded stitched leather, with controls for phone, voice command, gauge display, manual shifting and adaptive cruise, with stereo controls behind.
The gauge display has multiple options, from classic 120-mph speedometer and 7,000-rpm tach, to five info boxes under a digital speedo over a bar tach. It’s framed by light bars that glow green when autonomous drive activates.
There’s a center 14.4‑inch Infotainment Touchscreen flanked by real buttons for climate control, traction and lane-keep systems, even defrosters. It can show a big navigation map with traffic warnings and the like, or split in three with navigation or audio on top, plus apps, climate control or other stuff on the bottom. Main menu (Comfort, Media, Nav, apps, phone and Vehicle) touchscreen buttons are on the bottom, then truck height and parking sensor icons. A rotary transmission selector with rear-/all-wheel-/4-wheel-drive and axle lock buttons is next to it.
The screen was a bit slow to react to some taps, although almost all you need is easy to use on the move. But to activate seat heat/cooling and heated steering wheel, deploy side steps, dim rear-view mirror or activate 360-degree cameras, you had to tap the “Comfort” button on the touchscreen, then use its menu. The 19-speaker Harmon Kardon sound system was superb, with HD Radio. Uconnect offers a 4G Wi-Fi hotspot, with wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay to link smartphone apps into that screen. Its backup camera and parking sensors lets you back up to a trailer via the screen, then drop or raise the suspension to hook the trailer hitch hands-free.
Move right, and a 10.25-inch screen allows the passenger to access audio, or watch video, aided by a strip of USB ports nearby, plus an HDMI input. There are dual cellphone inductive chargers there too. There’s lots of storage space: upper and lower gloveboxes, door map pockets, plus wide center armrest storage with a 115-volt outlet under a cup holder tray.
The rear doors open 90-degrees wide onto a bench seat with tons of head and leg room. Three adults can fit. There are rear air vents, USB and USB-C ports and a 115-volt outlet, and the outboard rear seats have heat and cooling. Seat bottoms split and fold up to reveal an almost flat floor with dual under-floor storage bins. The rear center window powers open.
The 5-ft., 7-inch box’s tailgate powers up and down remotely via the key fob. There’s LED lighting inside; sidewall tracks with movable tie-downs for cargo; a soft vinyl cover that’s easy to remove; and an expandable cargo divider. The RamBoxes atop the rear fenders narrow the cargo bed a bit but there’s still plenty of space, with room for tailgate snacking. There are drain plugs for ice or scrubbing it down, along with a 120-volt plug.
Ram Brings Back 5.7-Liter HEMI, Citing Consumer Sentiment
“Ram will continue to offer the more powerful and more efficient Hurricane Straight Six Turbo,” added Kuniskis in a news release. “But we heard loud and clear from consumers: there is no replacement for the iconic HEMI V-8. At the end of each month, we count sales to customers, not statisticians or ideologues. Data be damned — we raise our flag and let the HEMI ring free again!”
We see “HEMI” atop the 5.7-liter V-8, with 395 hp and 409-lb-ft of torque. Fuel-saving tech includes variable camshaft timing and cylinder deactivation, and a belt-driven motor generator vs. a traditional engine-mounted alternator. That works with a 48-volt battery pack to provide quick engine start/stop, torque addition to the engine crankshaft, and brake energy regeneration for responsiveness and efficiency.
The 2024 5.7-liter HEMI V-8 had the same ponies, and one less lb-ft of torque. The eTorque mild hybrid system stores energy in a compact lithium-ion battery behind the rear seat. That elegant looking eTorque system atop the V-8 is said to enhance shifts, smooth transitions under acceleration and braking, and help reduce noise, vibration and harshness.
It left us with the sweet sound of a HEMI, more so because every 2026 RAM V-8 gets a now-standard performance exhaust. So this HEMI barks to life noticeably, then rumbles sweetly as you drive. Push it, and you hear a well-rounded rumble, although not obnoxious. That said, this HEMI’s output is less than the 3-liter Hurricane inline six’s 420 hp and 469 lb-ft of torque. And while it’s close to the last HEMI I tested, there are differences.
Our tester still uses a precise 8-speed automatic transmission. It’s very responsive, even in AUTO drive mode, and even more so in Sport. You can shift manually via steering wheel buttons, but it was awkward while steering.
In AUTO/rear-wheel-drive mode, our 5,700-mile-old truck rears back and roars to hit 60 mph in 6.2 seconds, while a Sport mode/4-wheel-drive auto launch was quicker, reaching 60 mph in 6 seconds with a bit more mellow bellow. With 500-plus miles of indicated range from a full 33-gallon fuel tank, we saw a high of 16 mpg in our 5,600-mile-old test truck.
For comparison, the last Ram Limited I tested in 2019 hit 60 mph in 5.9 seconds in Sport/four-wheel-drive auto with quick shifts, and at best reached 15 mpg. This 2026 Ram 1500 Limited can tow up to 11,320 lbs. – 1,000 less than that 2019 Ram Limited.
Our Limited had air suspension on independent front suspension with lightweight composite upper control arms, plus five-link rear coil suspension with progressive coil springs. It gave us a comfortably firm and forgiving ride. Passengers (like the grandson) commented on how smooth this pickup felt. The Ram had a bit of bounce over bumpier roads, but rebound was nicely damped. It was fairly nimble, holding its own on somewhat on-road-oriented rubber, with good grip and eager to take an interstate exit ramp without issue. A bump mid-turn didn’t unsettle the suspension or cause tail hop.
Push harder in sharper turns in 4-wheel-drive auto, and we got understeer and a bit of body roll in 4-wheel-drive auto, but no drama. Electric power steering with rack-and-pinion had a direct feel, maybe a bit over-boosted at speed. Its 14.9-inch front/14.8-inch rear disc brakes had a responsive pedal with quick bite, stopping rapidly with some nose dive but no drama. There was a hint of fade after repeated hard stops.
While we did not tempt fate too deep off road, the on-demand four-wheel-drive auto easily handled dirt roads and roaming over dirt piles. We also had low range, with electronic locking differential. That 2019 model easily plowed through deep water-filled potholes on a muddy boat ramp four-wheel-drive, great traction over some fully submerged parts. And even on a deeply rutted sand track, there was no muss or fuss. Click the air suspension to high, and we went from 8.2- to 10.2-inches, easily clearing anything.
I was glad for cameras, sensors and collision warning systems when I parked in tight lots, plus lane-departure, which offered subtle correction if I drifted near a lane line. The Stellantis semi-autonomous driving system is called Hands-Free Actice Driving Assist. It quickly activates when adaptive cruise is on, easily maintaining speed and distance, starting and stopping in traffic as needed. That said, our system sometimes shut off on interstates for no apparent reason, alerting me with vibrant seat bottom buzzers, then resuming like nothing was wrong. It hugged the left side of a lane too tightly. But a tap of the turn signal initiated a safe change.
Rams begin with the Tradesman Quad Cab starting at $41,695; our almost top-rung Limited Crew Cab 4×4 starts at $75,405. That includes all we had but: a $5,460 group with hands-free driving, RamBoxes, digital rear-view mirror, surround-view camera, head-up display and more; $2,095 22-inch wheels and tires; $1,595 dual-pane sunroof; $545 bed steps and cargo tie-downs; $595 electronic locking rear axle, HEMI eTorque engine with stop/start, 48-volt belt starter/generator and Symbol of Protest badges; and $295 paint. Add a few options and our Ram Limited was a heady $88,480.
Bottom line: This may be the sweetest-driving domestic truck-for-all-seasons I’ve tested. It can still work and handle off road, but live luxuriously doing it. And it’s got a HEMI – and so-so mpg.
2026 Ram 1500 Limited Crew Cab Specifications
Vehicle type – full-size 5-passenger crew cab four-wheel-drive pickup
Base price – $75,405 ($88,480 as tested)
Engine type – iron block, 16-valve OHV pushrod V-8
Displacement – 5.7 liter
Horsepower (net) – 395 @ 5,600 rpm
Torque – 410 @ 3,950 rpm
Transmission – 8-speed automatic transmission
Wheelbase – 144.5 inches (5-ft., 7-in. bed)
Overall length – 232.9 inches
Overall width – 82.1 inches
Height – 75.8 inches
Ground clearance – 8.7 inches @ rear axle
Front headroom – 40.9 inches
Front leg room – 40.9 inches
Rear headroom – 39.8 inches
Rear legroom – 45.2 inches
Towing – up to 11,320 lbs.
Payload –53.9-cu.ft. cargo volume
Weight – 5,232 lbs.
Fuel capacity – 33 gallons
Mileage rating – 16 mpg city/20 mpg highway
