The Ram 1500 is MotorTrend's 2025 Truck of the Year!

With 18 entrants, Motor Trend's 2025 Truck of the Year competition was as diverse as it was telling of the industry at large. Eight of the crew were completely electrified, with ranges rivaling their gasoline and diesel counterparts. And of the 10 trucks left with internal combustion engines, not a single one of them brought a V8 under the hood. But an all-wheel drive cargo van brought off-road chops with it. Apocalypse Ready and Bulletproof were introduced into the segment as new features. Long-awaited major updates came to two popular midsize trucks. Standout features like a midgate that offer complete access between the bed and the cab, a 48-volt four-wheel steer-by-wire system, and upgraded computer architecture made each competitor stand out. And while the 2025 Ram 1500 might seem like the most traditional truck, maybe even the safe choice with the polarizing examples we've had, it stood out to our judges against our six judging criteria. To clinch the title of Motor Trend's 2025 Truck of the Year. The 2025 Ram 1500 lineup offers an outstanding variety of trucks. We have the Warlock, a tradesman-based off-road ready backroad bomber that's also budget-friendly. The RHO, Ram's newest Baja truck that's new and improved compared to the TRX despite not being Hellcat powered. And here we have our Tungsten, the newest luxury flagship model slated above the Limited and Limited Long. Taking a look at the front fascia here, we can see perhaps Ram's biggest innovation into the design of pickup trucks. If you'll notice, there's no lines here, there's no gap. One of the biggest innovations Ram has made to the design of a Tungsten is this one-piece front fascia, typical of what you might see on a car. They've taken the lines, we've got a smooth, complete face that flows all the way back to the wheel arch moldings, all the way down to the chin splitter, and we get a nice clean look that we haven't seen in a truck before. But it also gives Ram the ability to make the truck look more aggressive. It gives it a nicer stance without having to raise the hood line. What we're seeing in trucks today are hoods that are growing taller and taller, and they're destroying the sight line through the windshield for the driver in the cabin. But by keeping the hood line low and by stretching the fascia downward, we get that nice big grill that everyone likes to see in their modern pickup trucks. And this grill is different than the rest of the lineup. Each truck in the Ram lineup has a unique personality. For instance, the Tungsten here, we've got a flat edge that flows all the way across. We've got a nice big oval, and you'll see on off-road trucks like the RHO, we've got a little bit of a feature that comes up here, which is stretched out from previous models to also make the grill look taller. And on our Tradesman, on our Wardlock, and the other trims, we'll see a little bit of differentiation here and there. So each truck stands out, and you can see it as soon as you walk up to it. And continuing advancement in design, the Ram Tungsten offers next-level opulence, and Ram has long set the standard. We've seen some of their trucks fall behind over the years, but with this generation, Ram definitely takes the claim of the most luxurious truck out there again. With stitching across the seats, the dash, the steering wheel, the door handles, all over the truck, you'll find intricate carbon fiber weaving and ornamental elements, like the Tungsten center console badge, with intricate engraving that looks miles deep, and the VIN of each truck personalizing the ornamental centerpiece. And on top of those visual cues, we have massaging seats, heated and ventilating seats. We have an incredible stereo that will blow the most astute audiophile out of the water. And on top of all of that, we've got enough screens in this thing to rival the biggest movie theater. But they're all functional. They won't overwhelm you like some of the massive tablets we've seen in other vehicles. Now, it is a truck, so you're going to see some big screens in there, but Ram puts them to use in ways that its other competing trucks did not do as well. So often we find that when manufacturers are trying to reinvent trucks or introduce new features, we lose the old ones that customers love. But as new as this truck is, so much of it still feels so familiar. And on top of quiet, comfortable cabins, no matter what trim you're driving in, the road feel is fantastic. Here in this Tungsten, we have air springs at all four corners. The truck lowers at highway speeds for better aerodynamics, but it also eats up a lot of the body roll you typically find with a truck. And because we don't have a heavy V8, the Hurricane is about 50 pounds less than the outgoing 5.7 liter. We have a more nimble and more responsive front end. The steering ratio, some of our judges felt it could be a little bit tighter, but it's very responsive and the front end tracks. Even on the trucks with steel springs, like the Warlock we sampled in our competition, the ride from that truck is absolutely incredible. And at its price point and its intended function, which is basically a work truck with a suspension lift and added off-road capability, it's just as home on the road and with a trailer. The headline grabbing engine swap news. No more V8s. Sent waves through the truck community, but it really needs to give the Hurricane straight six a chance. Since its introduction, we've demonstrated that the new more powerful and technologically advanced engine outperforms its hemi predecessor. Hurricane equipped trucks are quicker. The high output version widens that gap even further. The RHL might be slower than the mighty TRX, but not by much. And it's a better driving and better jumping truck because the Hurricane is nearly 150 pounds lighter, restoring some of the lost payload we get from that off-road suspension too. Now, another engineering advance is Active Driving Assist. It's Volantis' hands-free answer to GM Super Cruise and Ford Blue Cruise. It's currently available on about 125,000 miles, well-marked divided highway, and it worked reasonably well on our Michigan road system where we conducted our testing. We like the green cluster surround light that indicates that the system is working, and although it's not perfect, we still slate it just behind Super Cruise and Blue Cruise as it rolls out and works towards greater coverage. We hope to see updates like automatic lane changes in the future, but for now, Active Driving Assist is a solid start that can be built on and really brings the Ram brand into the modern world. In addition to the passenger screen, we have two wireless phone chargers available, and you can pair two phones. You can't run them simultaneously, but you can easily and quickly switch between two different pair of phones, including one paired with Android Auto and one paired with Apple CarPlay. Now, down here on our center console, this new trailer reverse steering aid is really going to help Ram start chipping away at Ford's towing supremacy. It calibrates itself without the need for programming and stickers. It allows the driver to steer the in reverse with this knob, and it even has a push-to-center function that straightens out the truck and keeps it steady once the driver finds the position they want the trailer in. When there is stuff to haul, the 2025 Ram 1500 is rated to carry between 1,190 and 1,940 pounds of whatever you can fit in the bed. We loaded a half ton in our Warlock, and we're impressed that it rode even more smoothly and still handled fine. There's still a Ram box option providing side storage compartments, a box divider, and storage inside the floors of the truck. That's available as roughly a $1,000 package on a five-foot, seven-inch bed from the Bighorn all the way up. Tailgate options include power release, power down and up, and a side hinged barn door or drop-down capable multi-function tailgate. A retractable corner bed step makes it easier to access the bed and climb aboard, where you'll find the usual fixed and adjustable tie downs. Off-roading has long been a Ram strength, and for 2025, there's a limited slip or electronically locking rear differential, standard or optional, on every model. The Ram Classics Warlock package of blacked-out trim and popular options now joins the main 1500 lineup with a one-inch suspension lift, Bilstein shocks, skid plates, and a locking rear axle. For anyone paying attention, that's mostly the equipment that we found on the Rebel. For 2025, you can get a 10th Anniversary Edition Rebel X. But of course, it's the RHO that really shines off-road, and we definitely dug its banshee whale and improved steering feel relative to the TRX. The updated tuning to the Bilstein shocks gave the RHO the ability to eat huge hits without bottoming out, and many of our judges noted how much lighter, wheelier, and rear torque biased the RHO felt. And when we got the opportunity to jump it, we did, and it was absolutely incredible. The in-air attitude of the RHO is now monitored, adjusting compression on the front and rear shocks based on whether you're front down or rear down. Another upgrade from the TRX, which set the shocks to full compression, now you get adjustable compression based on what the truck's doing in the air, giving you smoother landings, letting you get more jumps out of the equipment you have under the truck. Swapping V8s for twin-turbo straight-sixes definitely seemed like an efficiency play, but the fuel economy improvement is probably modest on mainstream trucks. Highway economy is only up by about 9%, but in the city, rear-drive models are equivalent, but 4x4s measure about 6% worse, so combined ratings kind of actually change very little. But more importantly, the base straight-six turbo bests the equivalent Chevy Silverado 5.3-liter V8 by 12% to 17%, and Ford's 3.5 EcoBoost found in the F-150 and the 5-liter V8 by just slightly slimmer margins. And we can't forget about the mild hybrid 3.6-liter Pentastar eTorque V6 that still anchors the Ram 1500 lineup. Safety might be Ram's weakest category, but that still says a lot when the rest of the categories are so strong. The IIHS hasn't tested the 2025 model yet, but NHTSA has awarded 4 stars for frontal and rollover crash survivability and 5 stars for side impact, with overall rankings of 5 stars for crew cabs and 4 stars for quad cabs. Although those ratings are good, Chevy and Ford both earn a 5th star in frontal crashworthiness and 5 stars for overall on all tested variants. The 2025 Ram 1500 lineup truly offers something for every person purpose with a 10-model lineup, and that's before we consider the upcoming Battery Electric Rev and Extended Range Electric Ram Charger. By now we've tested several models in the lineup and we're continually impressed by the distinct personality and purpose that each truck has, with the Warlock unexpectedly rising to the top as a judge favorite, easily considered the best value per dollar in the entire competition. Even the $89,000 Tungsten here feels worth the money because of its quiet cabin, its refined ride, its impressive roster of equipment, and its quality workmanship and materials. And despite a $50,000 price walk through the lineup from the tradesman all the way up to the Tungsten, each truck feels worth the money and has a distinct purpose for everyone out there. Now after a week of testing and an additional week with the judges who hauled payloads, they towed trailers, they went off-roading, they found that every other truck in the field fell short against its competitive segment in at least one of our six judging criteria, but the Ram 1500 rose above all of them especially compared to its competitors to claim the 2025 Motor Trend Truck of the Year.