Is the Ram 2500 a Good Pickup Truck?
- A revised Cummins turbo-diesel six-cylinder engine with 1,075 pounds-feet of torque makes the refreshed 2025 Ram 2500 heavy-duty pickup one of the slickest-driving HD trucks on the market — even if it’ll set you back more than $12,000 over the standard V-8.
How Does the Ram 2500 Compare With Other Pickup Trucks?
- The 2025 model year brings some good quality-of-life updates to the heavy-duty Ram, but the Ford F-Series Super Duty remains the torque and max-towing king. Still, the Ram Power Wagon and diesel-powered Ram Rebel are among the best do-it-all off-road pickups, even when compared with the Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD ZR2 and Ford F-250 Tremor.
Chances are, you’ve already made up your mind about the 2025 Ram 2500. Or maybe your mind didn’t need makin’ —– you just knew. I’ve yet to meet a heavy-duty truck owner who wasn’t staunchly loyal to their brand, rarely (if ever at all) swapping teams because they preferred the outgoing truck over the new one.
And if you genuinely use said HD truck as intended, you also already know if this is the truck for you based on its payload ratings, towing capacity and price. Here you go: For the 2500, max towing is 20,000 pounds, max payload is 4,420 pounds, and the base price is $47,660, including destination. Naturally, these ratings are achieved with different 2500 configurations, but you know if it’s at least worth your time.
Related: Updated 2025 Ram HD Starts at $47,560 for 2500, $48,565 for 3500
At Ram’s invitation, I traveled to the Nevada desert to drive the Ram 2500 on- and off-road as well as tow with the big pickup. (Cars.com pays for its own lodging and travel expenses when attending manufacturer-sponsored events.) With 2025 being a refresh year for Ram’s HD line, the biggest news is the updated Cummins diesel powertrain, now solely offered in “high-output” configuration instead of the prior iteration’s two-tier output setup.
How Powerful Is the Ram’s New Cummins Diesel Engine?
The revised turbo-diesel 6.7-liter inline-six engine is quite the stump puller. Cummins reworked the block, cylinder head, glow plugs and turbo; it also added bigger valves, a higher-pressure fueling system and a new intake manifold for a stunning 430 horsepower and 1,075 pounds-feet of torque. All of this hippo-tenderizing twist is manhandled by a new eight-speed automatic transmission, which replaces the prior six-speed automatic.
Ram says all of this in symphony results in a diesel truck that’s quieter and more efficient than ever before, if and only if you can swallow the Cummins’ whopping $12,595 buy-in, which is in the ballpark of what optional diesel engines from Ford and Chevy run. For those who don’t need or want this giga-six, the familiar 6.4-liter Hemi gas V-8 remains the standard engine and makes 405 hp and 429 pounds-feet of torque.
I snagged seat time in both Laramie and Rebel trim levels with the new Cummins diesel, both completely unladen. From the program’s base camp in Laughlin, Nev., I pointed the roadbound Laramie up and over the Union Pass, Arizona’s now-legendary steep-grade mountain highway pass that is used for SAE International’s towing standard.
Which Ram 2500 Engine Is Best?
It’s almost immediately clear that the Cummins is the powertrain to get. A 0-60 mph time of just under 7 seconds means the 2500 out-drags most SUVs and minivans and can also menace stuff like the Subaru BRZ sports car between lights. Crucially, the shocking torque makes this hefty truck far more responsive in a straight line than its size, appearance and purpose would suggest.
Surprising straight-line performance is nothing new for the over-torqued HD segment, but this H.O. Cummins is a peach. Power never, ever seems to drop off, and attaining supra-legal cruising speeds is both satisfying and dangerously easy. Once in motion, the unladen diesel Laramie rode well for an HD truck; it’s still a bit rough around the edges in both ride quality and body control, but just as you don’t source a Porsche 911 GT3 RS for silent, silky chauffeur services, don’t look to an HD truck if you want the cushiness of a light-duty pickup.
How Does the Ram 2500 Tow?
Towing time. The same-spec 2500 Laramie was hitched to a flat trailer carrying a Dodge Ram SRT-10 (the Viper-powered truck!), a combo good for around 8,500 pounds that, in the meaty grips of the Cummins, felt more like a few bags of Lay’s Classic chips in the bed. Alright, not that carefree, but the 1,075 pounds-feet of torque made short, short work of pulling the lovely Viper truck over the Davis Dam grade. Ride quality was expectedly improved with the additional weight of the trailer, and the Ram’s myriad accoutrement of cameras and tow settings meant this greenhorn hauler would’ve had no qualms draggin’ the Viper truck cross-country if need be.
The standard gas V-8 is unchanged, and while it’s still as buttery as before, it doesn’t have the same refinement and towing capability of the diesel, and it feels a bit more strained and worked. I absolutely don’t think picking the Hemi is a mistake — it’s certainly a solid financial play — but I also cannot stress just how lovely the Cummins is for towing and day-to-day driving.
Screen Updates
Other than some slight aesthetic tweaks to the exterior — including standard LED headlights — we’ve got new interior displays to shorten those workdays. An 8.4-inch Uconnect 5 touchscreen infotainment system is now standard, up from the 2024 truck’s tiny 5-inch screen. The optional 12-inch vertically oriented touchscreen has been revised for better readability.
Want even more screen real estate? A new 14.5-inch touchscreen is the top-line infotainment display, and the Ram also offers a 12.3-inch digital driver display and a 10.25-inch passenger display for music and navigation functions, as well as phone projection via HDMI cable. At least on the mid-to-top trims, the cabin is a nice place to wick away the worksite commute, but even then, you’re still unable to get a telescoping steering wheel — you’ll have to make do with just tilt.
More From Cars.com:
- 2025 Ram Heavy Duty Up Close: Refreshed Humongous Hauler
- 2025 Ram 2500 and 3500 Heavy Duty Pack More Tech and Capability
- Pickup Truck Buying Guide: How Much Truck Do You Need?
- Refreshed 2025 Ram 1500 Runs Away With Full-Size Pickup Challenge Win
- Shop for a 2025 Ram 2500 Near You
Can You Get the Cummins in a Ram Power Wagon?
Speaking of egregiously missing options, the eternally-badass Power Wagon is still exclusively available with the gas V-8. Those who want the Cummins in a more dirt-flavored configuration must settle for the (still aggro) 2500 Rebel, which gets goodies like all-terrain tires and an electronic locking rear differential but leaves the Power Wagon’s locking front differential and disconnecting front stabilizer bar out of the equation.
I’m a diesel dude, so I picked the Rebel for our brief foray into the wilds of the Arizona desert. Even without the Power Wagon’s impressive articulation, the Rebel subjugated the terrain with unstoppable momentum and pure brute force. As it was a guided 4×4 tour, we took it fairly easy and stayed well below the Rebel’s limits. Still, it’s always fun to stick a wheel in the air and to drive an off-road truck that merely needs to be pointed in the right direction to billy-goat its way over rockfalls, mud slides and sand dunes.
Goodness, all this yapping for you to have likely already made your decision when you saw “Ram” in the headline. You’re gonna buy what you’re gonna buy, but I highly recommend the Cummins — who doesn’t want four figures’ worth of torque?
Related Video:
We cannot generate a video preview.
Cars.com’s Editorial department is your source for automotive news and reviews. In line with Cars.com’s long-standing ethics policy, editors and reviewers don’t accept gifts or free trips from automakers. The Editorial department is independent of Cars.com’s advertising, sales and sponsored content departments.
