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The 2025 Ram 1500 Tungsten is the S-Class of pickup trucks
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Its high-output turbo-6 is exceedingly powerful
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The 2025 Ram 1500 Tungsten carries a luxury price at $89,070
Anyone looking for the nicest full-size pickup truck money can buy should just head to their local Ram showroom.
The 2025 Ram 1500 sports a redesign that sees the return of the range-topping Tungsten trim. And it didn’t take nearly all of the two weeks and nearly 1,700 miles of life spent with it to have no doubt this is the cream of the crop.
With a leather- and speaker-lined cabin, all the latest technology, and a ridiculously responsive turbo-6, the Tungsten sets the refinement bar for Ford, GM, and Toyota.
2025 Ram 1500 Tungsten
Ram 1500 drops Hemi V-8, gains Hurricane turbo-6
The V-8 in the Ram 1500 is dead. RIP.
Every 2025 Ram 1500 is powered by a 6-cylinder engine paired with an inoffensive 8-speed automatic transmission. Base trucks still have the tried and true 3.6-liter V-6 with 305 hp and 269 lb-ft of torque, but most trucks are going to have a new Hurricane turbo-6. In standard output form the 3.0-liter turbo-6 cranks out 420 hp and 469 lb-ft of torque. That’s nice.
My top-trim Tungsten tester had the high-output version of this engine that cranks boost to 28 psi. Output checks in at a vigorous 540 hp and 521 lb-ft of torque. That’s 145 hp and 110 lb-ft of torque more than the outgoing 5.7-liter V-8. It’s also the most powerful engine money can buy in a light-duty pickup outside of a Raptor R with its supercharged 5.2-liter V-8 engine, but that’s an entirely different animal. While the Tundra’s hybrid turbo-6 powertrain has more torque at 583 lb-ft, it’s down on ponies with only 437 horses.
On a cold start, the turbo-6 sounds uninspiring and frankly a bit weak compared to the deeper burble of the 3.5-liter turbo-6 found in the upper-trim Ford F-150s, with their dual exhaust, but it’s fine. Certainly no V-8. And while I might have missed the throatier V-8 under hard acceleration, the power of this turbo-6 is intoxicating and borderline overkill. There’s so much power and throttle tip-in can be touchy, so a progressive foot is needed to be smooth. Off the line the rear tires could be melted if you turn off all the traction systems. Mash the throttle while going around the corner and it’s not hard to light up the tires. Drift luxury truck anyone?
The engine might be up on power but it’s also thirstier. EPA fuel economy ratings check in at 15 mpg city, 21 highway, 17 combined. That’s notably worse than the outgoing V-8’s ratings of 18 mpg city, 22 highway, 19 combined with 4WD. Over multiple road trips spanning 200 to 300 miles a piece I saw an average of 16.0 to 20.1 mpg based on varying conditions. Not great. Turbos spool and drink gas.
2025 Ram 1500 Tungsten
2025 Ram 1500 Tungsten
2025 Ram 1500 Tungsten
2025 Ram 1500 Tungsten
Ram 1500 delivers luxury-liner interior
Open the door to Ram 1500 Tungsten and it’s hard to believe this is a pickup truck. Most of the cabin’s covered in thick leather or soft-touch materials. The door uppers, seats, dashboard, steering wheel, and even the grab handles all feature beautiful accent stitching. GM, Ford, and Toyota should be taking notes.
That beautiful interior is blue and white, or Indigo and Sea Salt in Ram speak. It’s gorgeous. But, white in a truck is a horrid decision, which was made clear when I got back into the truck with grease-covered hands after sliding a hitch in the truck’s receiver. “Now what?” I thought to myself.
The 24-way power adjustable front massaging, cooled, and heated seats are wide like those in the F-150, but firmer. The knobs for the volume and tuning of the radio both operate with a smoothness as if they were greased with Vaseline, and I appreciated the redundant hard buttons for the climate control system next to the 14.4-inch touchscreen. Notably the 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster does not have a boost gauge like in the Ford F-150 and Toyota Tundra. This simple omission is inexcusable in a pickup truck. Like most head-up displays, the Ram’s color unit was washed out as soon as I slid on my polarized sunglasses, but when not wearing those it was crisp. There’s also a new 10.3-inch front passenger screen that my father and wife both asked, “what the heck do I do with this?” Netflix and ride, I suppose? The 23-speaker Klipsch audio system with 1,375 watts of power and 24 channels is easily the best sound system I’ve heard in a truck. It even places speakers in the front seatbacks.
2025 Ram 1500 Tungsten
Ram 1500 aims for low-key class
While the GMC Sierra Denali features a front end that intimidates and compensates, the Ram 1500 Tungsten looks downright approachable. The grille and headlight designs project width, not height. I’m 5-foot-10, and the front end doesn’t come up to the top of my chest like the Sierra’s does. The Ram just looks like a truck, not a rolling brick that was chiseled, and the tasteful bits of chrome don’t scream, “look at how much money I spent!”
The 22-inch wheels on the Tungsten look nice, but they degrade the ride. The 20-inchers on the Limited look nice, have more tire sidewall, and simply ride better on the street.
Like a luxury vehicle, the Tungsten’s standard four-corner air suspension can lower when the truck’s put into park, and that makes getting in and out easier, even with the automatically deploying side steps. That air suspension can also self-level the truck, which means unlike an F-150, the Ram isn’t oversprung in the rear to compensate for heavy loads. This means the truck doesn’t sit with a rake (the front end lower than the rear like an F-150), and it rides better thanks to still having coil rear springs rather than leaf springs.
Stellantis Hands-Free Active Driver Assist
Ram 1500 goes hands-free
The Ram 1500 is the second Stellantis vehicle—the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Grand Cherokee L were the first—to be available with the automaker’s Hands-Free Active Driver Assist system.
That Level 2 driver-assist system allows drivers to take their hands off the steering wheel and relinquish steering, brake, and throttle applications to the truck on mapped divided highways. It works as advertised most of the time. But it’s an entire step behind GM’s Super Cruise in terms of refinement and capability despite arriving seven years after the General’s system.
2025 Ram 1500 Tungsten
Ram 1500 comes with a luxury price tag
The Ram 1500 Tungsten is a luxury truck right down to the bill. Out the door the 2025 Ram 1500 Tungsten costs $89,070 including a hefty $1,995 destination fee.
My tester cost more. The Billet Silver paint, Bed Utility Group, and Trailer-Tow Group added $1,435 to the bottom line making this a $90,505 pickup truck. A similarly equipped Ford F-150 Platinum would check in at just over $89,000 and a GMC Sierra 1500 Ultimate Denali would ring in at just over $85,000.
Somehow Ram went from being the value in luxury trucks to topping the price spectrum. If you want the best, it comes with a price. The Mercedes-Benz S-Class isn’t a value either, but it sets the benchmark for others. In much the same way, the Ram 1500 Tungsten feels like the Mercedes S-Class of trucks.
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