I have owned my 2025 Ram 1500 Big Horn with the Hurricane I6 engine for almost two years and it has been great. Earlier this year, the folks from Ram recently sent me a new Hemi-powered half-ton for testing, and knowing that I have my own Big Horn, they sent me a V8 truck that was nearly identical to mine. This allowed me to test the Hemi and Hurricane engines side-by-side in trucks that had only cosmetic differences, and while the two perform very similarly – they each have their own advantages.
Here is a look at how these two Ram trucks compare to each other in real world testing.
The Two Big Horn Rams
First off, here is a quick rundown on the two Ram 1500 pickups being compared here. My red truck is a 2025 with four-wheel-drive, the Big Horn Level 2 package with black cloth interior, the Night Edition package and the 3.0-liter Hurricane I6 engine. The silver truck is a 2026 with four-wheel-drive, the Big Horn Level 2 package with grey cloth interior and the 5.7-liter Hemi V8 engine. In short, the key difference between these two trucks is where the silver test truck has chrome exteior trim and grey interior, my truck has black trim and a black interior. The interior components were identical to each other, so they had different paint colors, different interior colors, different trim colors and different engines.
The Hemi Sounds Incredible
All of the new Ram 1500 pickups with the 5.7-liter Hemi are equipped with the GT exhaust system and I believe that it is the best sounding factory exhaust system on a non-performance-focused truck on the market today. Sure, trucks like the Raptor R or TRX might sound better, but for a a volume engine that is offered across multiple trim levels, the latest 5.7-liter Hemi exhaust note is fantastic. The people who wanted the Hemi back were largely focused on the exhaust sound and the Ram team made sure that those people don’t have to upgrade to an aftermarket system to hear the V8 roar. Startup, idle, cruising and wide-open throttle – it sounds incredible in every situation
The Hurricane doesn’t sound incredible. In fact, my Ram 1500 doesn’t make much noise at all. The dual exhaust with black tips looks cool, but the stock exhaust on my truck is whisper quiet and I am happy with that. I use my truck to tow a horse trailer and I like not having the steady exhaust noise. My Hemi truck was also very quiet, so I am accustomed to having a quiet truck.
The bottom line here is that there is really no dispute that the Ram 1500 Big Horn with the Hemi sounds a whole lot better than the Big Horn with the Hurricane.
The Hurricane is Much Quicker
The Hurricane engine in my 2025 Ram 1500 offers 420 horsepower and 469 lb-ft of torque. The Hemi engine in the silver 2026 Ram 1500 offers 395 horsepower and 410 lb-ft of torque, so the twin turbocharged I6 has a fair advantage in power and a dramatic advantage in torque. Considering that these trucks weigh nearly the same amount and have the same transmission and gears, the advantages in horsepower and torque make the Hurricane-powered truck a whole lot quicker in every situation.
When launching both trucks from a stop, the Hemi has a slight advantage with the initial torque hit that comes with a naturally aspirated engine. The Hurricane is not particularly laggy, but like any turbocharged engine, the initial torque hit at the point of launch is not as hard as it is with an NA V8. However, that brief advantage in torque at the wheels isn’t enough for the V8 truck to get ahead in side-by-side testing. When launching side-by-side, the trucks are essentially even until the boost of the Hurricane engine peaks, at which point it quickly pulls away from the Hemi-powered truck.
Where the Hurricane-powered Ram 1500 really shined brighter than the Hemi was when cruising at speed. With the Hurricane, you can roll into the throttle at highway speeds – say 50 miles-per-hour – and it will quickly accelerate up to much higher speeds. On the other hand, when cruising at speed with the Hemi, if you want to quickly build speed, you have to apply enough throttle to force a downshift. The boosted I6 offers far more useful power without having to downshift in almost every situation, so the Hurricane truck feels much quicker when accelerating when you are already moving.
I Call Towing a Draw
As mentioned above, when I am towing these days, I am almost always towing horses. Since I have live cargo, I do not conduct any hard acceleration or braking tests with my standard trailer. Rather than seeing how quickly the trucks accelerate with the extra weight, I take note of how much throttle I have to apply to pull out from a stop light or when speeding up to merge into highway traffic. In those situations, I would say that these two Ram 1500 pickups performed equally well. The initial low-end torque of the Hemi gets the weight moving a touch more quickly, but it isn’t like the Hurricane labors on the low end. Through the mid-range, the Hurricane has a slight advantage, similar to the cruising speed advantage mentioned above, but again, when towing live animals, this advantage is so subtle that is really doesn’t matter.
Both of these Ram 1500 Big Horns pull my 5,500-pound horse trailer pretty easily. The Hurricane has more power, but in situations where acceleration speed really doesn’t matter, the power advantage doesn’t come into play.
The Hurricane Offers More Bang for the Buck
Based on current pricing for the 2026 model year, adding the Hurricane I6 engine to the Ram 1500 Big Horn costs $1,695 while adding the Hemi costs $2,895. This means that it costs $1,200 more to get the Hemi with a sweeter exhaust note, 25 less horsepower and 59 lb-ft less torque, giving the Hurricane-powered pickups a clear advantage in bang for the buck. I love how the Hemi sounds and if it sounded that great AND had the advantage in horsepower and torque, it would seem like a no-brainer to go with the Hemi for an extra $1,200. However, I am far more concerned with horsepower and torque than I am with exhaust note, making the Hurricane the better choice for my uses.
