2025 Ram 1500 Big Horn: My Newest Long-Term Test Vehicle

Since I first drove the new Ram 1500 with the Hurricane twin turbocharged inline-six, I have been impressed with the capability of this new engine family. My 2006 Ram 1500 with a 5.7L Hemi is getting quite tired, with upwards of 140,000 hard miles, so my wife and I decided to add a new Hurricane-powered pickup to our fleet. Of course, in addition to serving as a work truck around our horse farm, this new Ram 1500 will serve as a long-term review truck here at Stellpower.

Details on the Truck

Our new truck is a Flame Red 2025 Ram 1500 Crew Cab Big Horn Night Edition with the Big Horn Level 2 popular equipment group. Key interior features are the 12-inch infotainment screen, the 7-inch driver information screen and the 9-speed sound system with a subwoofer. It is powered by the standard output 3.0-liter Hurricane I6, delivering 420 horsepower and 469 lb-ft of torque with help from an 8-speed automatic transmission and four-wheel-drive.

This is a mid-price truck, with an MSRP of just under $62,000, not including the Ram drop-in bedliner and the front-and-rear mud mats inside.

Getting Right to Work

Shortly after getting my 2025 Ram 1500, I made a trip to Pennsylvania, which allowed me to complete the break-in mileage and get a baseline fuel economy number for a long highway drive. I was in a bit of a hurry on that drive, so I was cruising around 85 mph, but I still got right around 22 miles per gallon over the course of a 500 mile highway drive. I made the same trip in a Ram 1500 Limited with the High Output Hurricane a few weeks earlier, but cruising at the speed limit, and my standard output engine cruising at 85ish was about 2mpg better than the high output model cruising around 70. While in Pennsylvania, I made a handful of hard pulls and spent a few days hauling some weight in the bed, so my fuel economy dropped a bit, but I still averaged just under 20mpg over the course of that 700-mile trip.

On the long highway drive, I got a great feel for the interior tech, including the adaptive cruise control with lane keep assist, the infotainment system and how UConnect5 works so seamlessly with the Android Auto system on my phone. The interior is markedly quieter than my 2006 Ram and the seats are more comfortable for a long drive that I have made many times with my Hemi-powered truck. For those wondering, my tuned rear-drive Hemi truck gets about 18mpg on the highway, so the Hurricane packs lots more power, yet still gets much better fuel economy in a much heavier truck.

After returning from my trip to Pennsylvania, my 2025 Ram 1500 was ready for some real work, starting with a quick trip with our two-horse trailer to pick up a new horse. The Hurricane effortlessly moved that ~3500lb load, but a few days later, it was time for a bit more weight in the form of a 2008 Dodge Charger Pursuit on an open trailer. At ~7,000 pounds, the Hurricane had to put in some effort to pull that load, so I found myself climbing into a throttle a bit more than I might with my Hemi when pulling out from a stop, but through the mid-range, the Hurricane seems to move the weight more easily than my ‘06 1500.

Finally, I hauled my own 1972 Dodge Demon 340 to a friend’s for winter storage, and with this classic weighing less than the Charger, it was an easier job for the Hurricane.

In each of these towing exercises, I found that my new 2025 Ram 1500 cornered and rode beautifully with the added weight out back. My truck is not equipped with the integrated trailer brake controller (it was on national backorder last I heard), so I was stopping all of that weight just using the truck’s braking system. I always drive like I am pulling livestock, so I brake gently, leave plenty of space between other vehicles and generally practice driving habits that will all-but-prevent hard, sudden stops, so I didn’t stress the braking system, but under all of the normal driving situations with the three different loads, the truck’s brakes performed flawlessly.

The First Look

My new Ram 1500 rolled over 1,400 miles this morning and so far, I am loving it. It is quicker than my tuned 2006 Ram 1500 with the 5.7L Hemi and gets better mileage (19.3 since new, even with all of the towing), the interior is comfortable, the 9-speaker sound system sounds pretty great for a “not big name” speaker setup and I absolutely love the look of the truck inside and out. There is no sport trim level for the 2025 Ram 1500 right now, but the Big Horn package with the Night Edition certainly creates a sport-truck-like look, with all of the black trim against the bright red paint.

I will continue to provide updates on my 2025 Ram 1500 from time to time, but so far, this truck is everything that we had wanted when we began looking to replace our 2006 1500. Of course, the biggest test will be the test of time, as in 140,000 hard miles, my 2006 Ram 1500 has never required any major repairs. I have replaced the brakes, shocks, tires and fluids many times over the years, along with replacing the rear differential seal and the serpentine belt tensioner, but those are the only items that have changed since my Hemi truck rolled off of the line almost 20 years ago. We will also continued to use that truck until it runs into major issues, allowing me to further compare the two distinctly different drivetrains in the coming months.