The pickup truck as luxury experience
That Ram got a Hemi in it? Well no, actually
However long combustion power sticks around for, you’re going to want to drive a car with an inline-six in it before the lights go out. The design is an inherently perfectly balanced rotating assembly, with each firing event balanced by the pistons mirroring each other front to back. The only way to improve on the smoothness is by doubling it to make a V12. There’s also plenty of room to add turbocharging, and by the way an inline-six also tends to sound far nicer than a V6.
Think of the Ram’s new Hurricane I6 not as two fewer cylinders, but rather having the sort of engine you get in the best BMWs. In this higher-power application it produces 540 hp and 521 lb-ft of torque. That’s a big ranch under the hood.
Muscle without the thunder
With that kind of power on tap, the Ram 1500 is extremely quick – like Mustang GT quick – but certainly not a corner carver. With a supple air suspension at four corners, it really does ride and perform in the way you used to get out of an old V8 AMG. The Mercedes had the better soundtrack, and of course even an old executive sedan handles better than a pickup, but in terms of effortless speed, the Ram delivers a thoroughly un-truck-like drive.
Particularly on the highway, you’re going to want to keep an eye on the speedometer. With this much power and the suspension firming up to iron out any sway, the Ram Tungsten can lull the driver into thinking they’re going slower than you actually are. Particularly for a road trip through mountainous areas, power for passing and comfort for cruising make this pickup ideal for the long haul. Official mileage figures are 15.7 L/100 km city, and 11.5 L/100 km on the highway. That highway mileage is particularly good for a full-size truck with this kind of power, and observed mileage in mixed use did indeed beat the city rating.
It’s incredible to think that a vehicle design that used to beat you up over the miles has been polished to this level. Then again, the competition in the full-sized pickup market is as vicious as it gets. These are high-margin machines, and Ford, GM, and Ram loosen the purse strings when it comes to spending R&D dollars, and it shows here.
The last thing to touch on in terms of performance is of course workload related, because while the buyer of a Tungsten is unlikely to throw a load of rebar in the back, they might well want to tow a jetboat. With a towing capacity of 11,580 pounds (5,253 kilograms), the Hurricane-equipped Ram is theoretically slightly down versus the prior Hemi-powered versions, but turbocharged torque makes peak numbers something of a moot point. Having said that, a previous towing test showed a few teething issues with the towing technology package.
Maximum payload is 2,300 lbs (1,043 kg), and this Tungsten was equipped with a power rear tailgate, bed divider, and two lockable cargo boxes mounted on each side of the bed. With the tonneau cover in place, it’ll haul as much cargo as you want up to the cabin.
Main house at the Yellowstone
Experiencing the interior of the Ram 1500 Tungsten is like walking into one of those high-dollar houses in Whistler that look like a log cabin on the outside and The Four Seasons lobby on the inside. There’s not a truck-like thing about it apart from the passenger space and the belt-buckle-ish Titanium badge on the center armrest.
If this was a Ford product, it’d have to be badged as a Lincoln. Everything you touch underlines the feeling of being in a luxury product, the bright and clear 14.5” central touchscreen is like something you’d find in a Mercedes-Benz, and there’s near-endless storage. The infotainment is also straightforward to use, helped out by an array of physical buttons.
Perhaps most surprising is the stereo, a Klipsch Reference stereo. Klipsch is a pretty well-known player in high-end home audio, and most recently partnered with Infiniti to design the audio system for the 2025 Infiniti QX80. Here, the 23-speaker system is stunningly powerful and accurate, the exact kind of audio system you would expect from a luxury product.
Final Thoughts
The growl of a Hemi V8 in a Ram pickup will be missed, but the power delivery of the Hurricane inline-six just underlines the thoroughly modern evolution of this truck. It’s got the pace, ride, and quality feel of a luxury SUV. It’s muscular but reserved, all the amenities without any badge snobbery. It has far more capability than most owners will ever unlock, but none of the drawbacks you’d expect from a truck, other than it taking up most of any parking space.
In short, the Ram 1500 Tungsten is a luxury vehicle. We might still not think of pickup trucks as fitting into that category, but with this tester’s after-options $111,053 MSRP, clearly their buyers do. The question isn’t so much how Ram can justify this pricetag – the experience delivers – but just how much higher the price ceiling for luxury pickups really is.
Sign up for our newsletter Blind-Spot Monitor and follow our social channels on X, Tiktok and LinkedIn to stay up to date on the latest automotive news, reviews, car culture, and vehicle shopping advice.