Ram Trucks Australia dealers aren’t shedding a tear about the end of the long-running 5.7-litre ‘Hemi’ V8, which has been replaced by Stellantis’ new 3.0-litre ‘Hurricane’ twin-turbo straight six in the facelifted 2025 Ram 1500.
Asked at the launch of Hurricane-powered Ram 1500 whether there’s been any pushback from customers or dealers, Ram Trucks Australia general manager Jeff Barber said: “Not at all.
“We had the dealer event last week, and like when I drove it, like when all of my colleagues drove it – the Hurricane that is – everybody was super impressed. Not one dealer last week made reference to the old Hemi engine.”
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He acknowledged that while some enthusiasts may miss the noise of the V8, performance figures speak louder and the Hurricane six outperforms the V8 it replaces in terms of power, torque, performance and efficiency.
“I couldn’t tell you how many people bought it [the Ram 1500 V8] for the noise. I think they certainly buy it for the performance and the Hurricane engine certainly performs well above what the Hemi does, as you can see in the numbers,” he said.
Ram Trucks Australia has produced 28,495 Hemi V8-powered pickups since 2018 and the Ram 1500 remained Australia’s top-selling US pickup for the seventh consecutive year in 2024.
But the last Ram Trucks Australia pickup powered by the 5.7-litre Hemi V8, which dates back 74 years to 1951, was converted to right-hand drive by Walkinshaw Automotive in December and, while some V8 stock remains in dealer showrooms, the MY25 Ram 1500 becomes available from next month exclusively with six-cylinder power.
Making its Australian debut as part of the mid-life makeover for the fifth-generation DT-series Ram 1500, which was first launched in 2019, the Stellantis group’s new 3.0-litre twin-turbo Hurricane straight-six displaces just over half the capacity of 5.7-litre V8 it replaces but has considerably higher outputs.
With 313kW and 635Nm, the ‘Standard Output’ Hurricane engine in the Laramie Sport is up 22kW (7 per cent) and 79Nm (14 per cent), while the ‘High Output’ version in the Limited produces 403kW and 707Nm – up 38.5 and 27 per cent respectively.
That makes both upgraded Ram 1500s much quicker than their V8 predecessors, which accelerated from 0-100km/h in about 7.5 seconds.
There are no official performance claims for MY25, but independent testing shows SO vehicles can hit 100km/h in about 6.0 seconds and HO vehicles in less than 5.5 seconds.
Despite this, the new Ram 1500 Hurricanes are more frugal. Official fuel consumption figures are yet to be announced, but preliminary data suggests the SO will have a combined figure of 10.9L/100km (making it 12 per cent more efficient), and the HO will consume an average of 11.9L/100km (down 3.4 per cent).
The Laramie Sport SO consumes 91-octane regular unleaded and has a 98-litre petrol tank, and the Limited HO consumes 95-octane premium unleaded and has a 125L fuel capacity.
There are no changes to the towing capacities of either dual-cab 4×4 pickup, at 4500kg for the Laramie Sport and 4200kg for the Limited (both with 70mm tow ball), but the lighter engine increases payload by 113kg in the Laramie Sport (now 863kg), and by 81kg in the Limited (782kg).
Both Hurricane engine variants are matched to an eight-speed torque converter automatic transmission and four-wheel drive via a dual-range transfer case, but while the SO has an on-demand 4×4 system, the Limited gets a full-time system, as well as air suspension and larger 22-inch alloy wheels with Pirelli Scorpion tyres at all four corners.
As well as being lighter than the Hemi V8 (SO: 195kg; HO: 200kg, V8: 254kg), Ram says the Hurricane is the strongest engine it has ever produced. It shares less than five per cent of its components with other Stellantis engines and incorporates a cross-bolted steel block, forged steel crankshaft and a pair of low-inertia, high-flow turbochargers.
And in bad news for aftermarket tuners, the SO comes with a single fuel pump and 22psi of boost pressure, while the HO has two fuel pumps and 26psi of boost, plus different fuelling and ignition calibration.
