Ram’s Revived Hemi V8 Will Set You Back $2,895

After two years and quite a bit of consternation, everything seems to be turning up Millhouse in the Mopar world. The resistance has spoken: The 5.7-liter Hemi is returning, and it has made its first appearance right where we expected it would—not in a new Dodge performance sedan or coupe, but in the Ram 1500. It’s 2025, folks; trucks lead the way.

But surely there’s a catch, right? After all, the Ram’s standard- and high-output (HO) Hurricane I6 engines produce more than enough power and torque to do the sort of Truck Stuff™ people like Joel Feder would normally expect from a V8. They were engineered to fill the same role the Hemi vacated when it was smudged from future product plans by former Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares. On paper, this renders the Hemi functionally redundant, and redundancies are corporate accountants’ worst nightmares. The necessary mandate, of course, is cash, and in this case, you’re looking at close to three grand for the luxury of adding two cylinders (and a rudimentary hybrid system) to your 2026 Ram 1500.

Nominally, the Hemi upgrade costs just $1,200, but in practice there’s an extra step: that price tag assumes you’ve already ticked the option for the standard-output (SO) Hurricane I6, which will set you back $1,695. You have to combine the two to get the true upgrade cost: $2,895. And it’s the same cost from the Tradesman on up to the Big Horn and Lone Star. The Laramie and Rebel get the SO Hurricane as standard equipment, so you’re only on the hook for the Hemi’s upgrade cost. Note that the Rebel can’t be configured this way just yet; Ram says it will arrive later in the model year.

If you opt for the Limited or Longhorn, where the HO Hurricane is standard, you can opt for the Hemi at no charge. If you want the RHO or Tungsten, the Hemi is off the menu entirely—for now, anyway.

Without full pricing details for the 2026 Ram 1500 lineup, it’s hard to judge this cost of entry against the competition’s. Ford will sell you a barebones F-150 with the 5.0-liter Coyote V8 (and not much else) for $41,000 almost on the dot; the cheapest 5.3-liter Chevy will run you a few grand more.

Assuming Ram doesn’t hike the Tradesman’s base price at all for the new model year, the cheapest Hemi you could buy would set you back just a hair over $45,000. But while Ram hasn’t shared its 2026 pricing strategy just yet, CEO Tim Kuniskis all but told us that the $40,000 half-ton pickup is dead. The outgoing 2025 Ram 1500 Tradesman starts at $40,275 before destination. Take from that what you will.

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