Test Drove a 2025 Ram 1500 - My Impressions vs Tundra

Had time to kill yesterday and stopped by the local Ram dealer to check out the 2025 1500’s.

I’ve been curious about the new twin turbo inline six powertrains, in particular the High Output variant with a purported 540 hp and 521ft/lb of torque.

The dealer had a Limited Longhorn with the HO motor, but unfortunately could not find the keys LOL. So I was relegated to test driving a Laramie with the Standard Output motor, purportedly with 420 hp and 469 ft/lb of torque.

Impressions as follows:

Engine - smooth and quiet, almost to a fault. Somehow feels like the motor belongs in a luxury sedan versus a truck. Seat of the pants - my ’24 Platinum non hybrid has better initial pull, torque feel like it kicks in sooner. Some lag off the line in the RAM, less in the Tundra. Top end, the Ram might have a small edge. Overall, I prefer the motor in the Tundra. The HO motor is likely a different story.

Drivetrain - transmission seemed fine. Auto 4WD is nice.

Exterior Fit/Finish - paint very uneven, orange peel in places and not in others. Not to Tundra standards.

Ram Boxes - A real cool feature for some, drawback for others. I personally really like them, but they greatly reduce the width of usable space in the bed which would be a huge negative for some. They come standard on Limited trim and can't be deleted from what I understand.

Interior - I must admit Ram did a great job here, particularly in the Limited trim. High quality materials, nice quilted leather. Some of the switchgear felt cheap. Laminated glass all around means a very quiet interior with minimal road and wind noise. Fit and finish inside is very nice. Clearly plusher than the Platinum Tundra.

Tech - Passenger display between the glove boxes for watching video, etc.. Don’t care for the portrait oriented screen, but the image quality was great as was the display for the instrument cluster. Also, virtually all functions are controlled through the screen as opposed to functional buttons and switches. Lots of storage. Twin wireless phone chargers plus plenty of easily accessible USB’s. HDMI for passenger screen, 120V outlet. All very nice. Lariat I drive had no HUD, and I don’t believe the Limited did either which is strange.

Seats/Ergonomics - seats were OK, somewhat firm, and seat bottom somewhat shallow. I prefer the Tundra Platinum seats, which I find to be some of the most comfortable of any vehicle I’ve owned. Also - an under appreciated feature in the Tundra - the width of the ‘shelf’ at the top of the door insert to rest your forearm while driving. Visibility in the Ram is good.

Ride - the Ram rides very nicely. Nicely controlled body movements. Steering firm and fairly precise. Turning radius seems better than Tundra. The Lariat I drove did not have the air adjustable suspension in the Limited, which would likely be even nicer.

Pricing - Ram is strange, their MSRP’s are through the roof, Limited’s starting in the high $70’s and going to high $80’s, but they’ll knock $12-15k off without batting an eye. They are dealing now. Trim to trim versus Tundra is about a wash I believe.

Overall, still very happy with my Tundra, but there are some aspects of the Ram that are compelling. Having said all this, RAM reliability and the dealership experience would be a completely different thing.

 

Ram is making such deals because they cant sell the trucks. The quality and reliability has gone so far south the average person realizes it. While at the same time the price point has gone considerably north.

They pulled their tradesman line, which was the lowest price point truck they had, in favor of upmodeled versions, its failing miserably.