Ram's 1500 now offers buyers a genuine choice between two full-size truck engines, and the numbers clearly favor the Hurricane inline-six. The 5.7-liter Hemi V8 produces 395 horsepower and 410 pound-feet of torque. The Hurricane six makes 420 horsepower and 469 pound-feet. On pa the older engine loses every comparison.
In practice, the gap is less decisive. The Hemi V8 reaches 60 miles per hour in about 6.7 seconds. The Hurricane inline-six gets there in about 5.9 seconds. That 0.8-second difference is real but not dramatic in a truck that weighs well over two tons loaded.
The V8's equalizer is its mild-hybrid setup, a feature Ram did not carry over to the Hurricane inline-six. The hybrid assist engages immediately off the line, adding low-end shove that makes the 395-horsepower figure feel stronger than the spec sheet suggests. At highway speeds—merging, overtaking—the electrified torque fills in where a naturally aspirated engine would otherwise lag.
The eight-speed automatic pairs cleanly with the V8. Shifts are seamless enough that the transmission rarely announces itself, which matters on long-haul drives. Ram fitted the Hemi with a G/T sport exhaust as standard equipment on all Hemi models, and the result is the engine's most persuasive selling point: it rumbles and burbles and roars in a register closely related to the outgoing Charger Scat Pack.
That sound is not an accident. The third-generation Hemi V8—the architecture underpinning the current 5.7-liter—was a direct contributor to the muscle-car resurgence of the 2000s and 2010s. It powered a generation of Dodge Chargers and Challengers and trained buyers to associate that exhaust note with performance. Truck buyers who grew up with those cars hear the same engine when they open the Ram's hood.
The Hemi's history with the Ram nameplate is long. The first Ram 1500 debuted with a V8 in 1994 under the Dodge umbrella. When Stellantis carved Ram into its own brand in 2010, the Hemi carried over without interruption. That continuity ended in the early 2020s when leadership pushed downsizing and electrification hard enough to pull the V8 from the lineup entirely.
For roughly a year, Ram 1500 buyers had no V8 option. The Hurricane inline-six was the answer to every powertrain question. CEO Tim Kuniskis reversed that decision and brought the Hemi back, a move that acknowledged what Ram's own sales data and customer feedback were showing: truck buyers, especially those with muscle-car backgrounds, were not ready to give up the V8.
The ride quality on the 1500 impresses regardless of engine choice. Driving across Florida's varied road surfaces, the suspension absorbs broken pavement without transmitting harshness into the cabin. The Limited trim adds enough sound deadening to keep road, tire and wind noise suppressed. Buyers who want a softer ride can step down to 18- or 20-inch wheels from the larger standard fitment.
The Hurricane inline-six is objectively the better engine by every measurable standard: more horsepower, more torque, quicker acceleration and better fuel efficiency. It is also smoother and more refined in character. A buyer optimizing for capability and running cost should take the six without hesitation.
But the Hemi V8's return addresses something the spec sheet cannot capture. Ram buyers waited specifically for the V8's reintroduction before purchasing—John Reed held off buying until the Hemi came back. That behavior is a direct signal that the engine's emotional appeal drives purchase decisions in ways that raw horsepower comparisons do not.
For Stellantis, the math is straightforward: the Hemi V8 is older technology, more expensive to develop further and less efficient than the Hurricane. But pulling it from the lineup cost the company sales among a buyer segment with strong brand loyalty that trades trucks on a regular cycle. Kuniskis's decision to restore it was a revenue call as much as an engineering one.
The 5.7-liter Hemi in the 2026 Ram 1500 is not the fastest option in the half-ton segment. Chevrolet's 6.2-liter V8 in the Silverado outpowers it on both horsepower and torque. The Ram's Hurricane six outpowers it within the same showroom. What the Hemi delivers instead is a specific sensory experience—the exhaust sound, the mild-hybrid torque hit, the muscle-car lineage—that a measurable portion of the truck-buying public will pay a premium to have.
