Rough Rider
Dodge's Ram 2500 with Hemi engine is a tough, old -school tow vehicle ideal for trailering.
March 1, 2004
Back in the day, Dodge's Hemi engine
ruled the streets prowled by muscle cars. "Hemi" is short for "hemispherical combustion chamber,"
an engine design that was flat-out revolutionary when it debuted in the 1950s and continued to be
about as good as it got for high-output, high-performance, at a time when a Dodge Charger with a
427 Hemi was the stuff of dreams. Pumping out 1 hp per cubic inch without a supercharger, the Hemi
was all that and more.
Then came the bad years. The Hemi's high output and performance came at a high price in terms of fuel economy, and the oil crisis of the early '70s essentially killed muscle cars and the engines that drove them. Then Dodge itself fell on hard times and didn't really rediscover its stride until the introduction of the first Ram pickup in 1994.
Since '94, though, Dodge has been on a roll, building some of the best and most influential trucks on the road. And the reintroduction of the Hemi in the heavy-duty Rams is the next step in Dodge's efforts to maintain what many people see as the company's lead in truck design and construction.
The Ram 2500 4X4 SLT is an
archetypal tow vehicle. No extras, no niceties, nothing designed to make the truck more palatable
for the suburban types. Passengers weaned on cars and luxury SUVs may find the Ram 2500 ride almost
unbearably rough, the seats unnaturally stiff and the overall riding experience less than
fulfilling. Passengers who spend their time using trucks to haul loads and go where roads don't, on
the other hand, will see nothing lacking in the ride or the Spartan interior. Face it: You don't
buy a heavy-duty pickup to go road-tripping or to run the kids to and from school. You buy a
heavy-duty pickup to do heavy duty. If it does anything else, that's a plus.
Of course, the biggest bonus is the Hemi that sits behind the oversized and unmistakable Dodge grille. Stomp the accelerator and you feel the full force of the engine, 345 hp and 375 feet-pounds of torque from a 5.7L V8. It's enough to get you from a dead stop to highway speed faster than you'd expect in a heavy-duty truck, with all the towing capacity you could ask for. In a nod to old-school Hemi fans, Dodge has left the exhaust nice and loud. It doesn't do much for the performance, but the sound does turn heads, and sometimes that's enough.
The handling of the Ram 2500 may be a little jittery for some people. The suspension is very, very stiff, so if you're driving with an empty bed on a rough, twisty road, it can feel almost as if the rear end is trying to skate out from under you. Experienced pickup drivers probably won't notice, but novices may get a little antsy. There's really no danger of losing the back end unless you're really getting crazy, and that stiffness pays dividends when you hook up a trailer, at which time the Ram 2500's ride becomes a thing of beauty. That load gives the Hemi a chance to show what it's capable of, too, and it's impressive.
To be fair, the Ram 2500 does come with a couple of other engine options - an 8.0L Magnum V10 and an all-new, high-output Cummins Turbo Diesel. If you really need maximum torque, the Turbo Diesel is a monster, delivering 555 feet-pounds at 1400 rpm, which is awesome. The vast majority of buyers, though, should opt for the Hemi, getting excellent performance with not-too-horrible fuel economy (the BW test truck, priced at $32,375, averages about 12.5 mpg over the course of 500 miles; the EPA doesn't give fuel economy estimates for heavy-duty trucks). And you get the bragging rights that come with a Hemi under the hood, something nobody's had for a long, long time.
Then came the bad years. The Hemi's high output and performance came at a high price in terms of fuel economy, and the oil crisis of the early '70s essentially killed muscle cars and the engines that drove them. Then Dodge itself fell on hard times and didn't really rediscover its stride until the introduction of the first Ram pickup in 1994.
Since '94, though, Dodge has been on a roll, building some of the best and most influential trucks on the road. And the reintroduction of the Hemi in the heavy-duty Rams is the next step in Dodge's efforts to maintain what many people see as the company's lead in truck design and construction.
The Ram 2500 4X4 SLT is an
archetypal tow vehicle. No extras, no niceties, nothing designed to make the truck more palatable
for the suburban types. Passengers weaned on cars and luxury SUVs may find the Ram 2500 ride almost
unbearably rough, the seats unnaturally stiff and the overall riding experience less than
fulfilling. Passengers who spend their time using trucks to haul loads and go where roads don't, on
the other hand, will see nothing lacking in the ride or the Spartan interior. Face it: You don't
buy a heavy-duty pickup to go road-tripping or to run the kids to and from school. You buy a
heavy-duty pickup to do heavy duty. If it does anything else, that's a plus.
Of course, the biggest bonus is the Hemi that sits behind the oversized and unmistakable Dodge grille. Stomp the accelerator and you feel the full force of the engine, 345 hp and 375 feet-pounds of torque from a 5.7L V8. It's enough to get you from a dead stop to highway speed faster than you'd expect in a heavy-duty truck, with all the towing capacity you could ask for. In a nod to old-school Hemi fans, Dodge has left the exhaust nice and loud. It doesn't do much for the performance, but the sound does turn heads, and sometimes that's enough.
The handling of the Ram 2500 may be a little jittery for some people. The suspension is very, very stiff, so if you're driving with an empty bed on a rough, twisty road, it can feel almost as if the rear end is trying to skate out from under you. Experienced pickup drivers probably won't notice, but novices may get a little antsy. There's really no danger of losing the back end unless you're really getting crazy, and that stiffness pays dividends when you hook up a trailer, at which time the Ram 2500's ride becomes a thing of beauty. That load gives the Hemi a chance to show what it's capable of, too, and it's impressive.
To be fair, the Ram 2500 does come with a couple of other engine options - an 8.0L Magnum V10 and an all-new, high-output Cummins Turbo Diesel. If you really need maximum torque, the Turbo Diesel is a monster, delivering 555 feet-pounds at 1400 rpm, which is awesome. The vast majority of buyers, though, should opt for the Hemi, getting excellent performance with not-too-horrible fuel economy (the BW test truck, priced at $32,375, averages about 12.5 mpg over the course of 500 miles; the EPA doesn't give fuel economy estimates for heavy-duty trucks). And you get the bragging rights that come with a Hemi under the hood, something nobody's had for a long, long time.
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