2025 Ram 1500 Limited Review: Towing Test

The power boost is welcome. The tech glitches, not so much.

Benjamin Hunting | 

Nov 14, 2024 | 5 min read

Benjamin Hunting

Ram is erasing V8 engines from its half-ton pickup truck lineup, beginning with the 2025 Ram 1500. Gone is the vaunted Hemi, a marketing gold mine and heritage touchpoint, and in its place is a twin-turbocharged, straight-six engine that first appeared in the full-size Jeep SUV family.

That decision represents a sea change for the 2025 Ram 1500, and loyal customers will be curious about its impact on traditional truck activities such as towing and hauling.

With that in mind, I hitched up my father's track car to a 2025 Ram 1500 Limited and hit the highway for 500 miles of trailering through New Hampshire's White Mountains to find out whether trading two cylinders for a pair of turbochargers is a deal worth making.

Benjamin Hunting

The Hurricane Blows Away the Hemi

The Ram 1500's luxury-oriented Limited trim has the High Output (HO) version of the Hurricane as standard equipment. The twin-turbo 3.0-liter inline-six-cylinder engine produces 540 horsepower and 521 pound-feet of torque, a considerable step up from the 420 horsepower and 469 lb-ft found in the base Hurricane. But that's also plenty more than the previous 5.7-liter Hemi V8 in last year's Limited, which made 395 horsepower and 410 lb-ft of torque.

Every ounce of that extra power is evident in the Ram 1500 driving experience. The inline-six is remarkably responsive at all speeds. This is one of the few trucks that had spun its rear tires unexpectedly when launching up a highway on-ramp. Nothing changes once a load enters the picture, as the Hurricane HO effortlessly shrugged off 6,500 pounds of race car and steel-framed trailer when hauling up Interstate Highway 93's steep grades.

Last year's Ram 1500 was no slouch when it came to towing, with a maximum rating of 12,750 pounds when equipped with the V8. That's better than the 2025 Ram 1500's 11,580 pounds of maximum capacity. After pulling a trailer with each engine one year apart, however, it's clear that the power advantage goes to the Hurricane over the Hemi.

Benjamin Hunting

Suspension Woes Made for Uncomfortable Towing

Despite the Ram 1500 Limited's impressive engine, the overall towing experience was problematic. Unlike its Ford and General Motors rivals, the Ram employs a rear suspension with steel coil springs instead of leaf springs. On the Limited trim, air springs replace the coils, inflating and deflating to adjust the vehicle's ride height.

During the first leg of the towing trip, the Ram's rear end felt squirmy and unsettled, especially when dealing with rutted or patched pavement. Even on smoother highways, I was continually aware of the trailer's presence and effect on the suspension.

At first, I attributed the sensation to the trailer's heavier tongue weight since the Ford Mustang secured to it sat forward, so its doors would clear the fenders. I towed the same load with my father's Ford F-150 without noticing similar suspension issues, so this didn't make much sense to me — until we arrived at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Benjamin Hunting

I discovered the air suspension ride-height controller refused to drop the truck's rear end, which I had done when initially hitching up. Each time I tried, I kept seeing a "Selected ride height not permitted due to payload" message on the dashboard, and the adjustment disabled icon glowed orange on the dashboard.

This problem persisted even after disconnecting the trailer from the truck, causing a pronounced rake — meaning the rear was visibly higher than the front — from the boosted rear air shocks. A round of online reading revealed that the air suspension had gone into "protection mode," which no reset procedures (or fuse pulling) would resolve.

When I reconnected the trailer 24 hours later, the issue persisted. This time, the Ram's rear end sat much lower than the day before, and I was concerned that this would have an even more significant negative impact on the Ram's towing.

Surprisingly, the opposite was true. The wiggly trailer feel was gone on the return trip, suggesting that what I had encountered the day before resulted from an air suspension malfunction rather than a characteristic of the pickup's platform. Even more puzzling was that five minutes after dropping the trailer for the second time, the system reset itself on the ride home.

Overall, this experience raised concerns about first-year hiccups with the 2025 Ram 1500's towing platform.

Benjamin Hunting

Software Bugs Abound During My Test

Ghosts in the machine were also on display in other towing-related areas. My vehicle featured the Towing Technology package, and while its trailer brake controller worked well, I didn't have the same luck with the trailer reverse-steering control.

This small dial on the center stack translates left-right twists into automated steering inputs for those lacking confidence in spinning the wheel while backing up a trailer. The first time I tried it out, it worked as designed, but a day later, activating the system caused the button to flash at me while the gauge cluster showed what appeared to be a calibration message.

Then there was the trailer length auto-detection display on the dash. It bounced back and forth between 20 and 30 feet, resetting with each ignition cycle — and sometimes in the middle of driving. The actual rig was somewhere in the middle of those two numbers.

I had similarly intermittent issues with the trailer light test feature, accessed through the infotainment screen. On Friday, it wouldn't activate at all, but it worked fine Saturday.

Benjamin Hunting

Towing Issue Could Be First-Year Hiccups

There's no question that the 2025 Ram 1500 Limited's twin-turbo six-cylinder engine represents a substantial improvement over the now-departed V8 when towing. Unfortunately, my experience with the suspension and towing-related software and support features was not as rosy. Hopefully, these bugs will shake out over the new pickup's first year on the market.

Ram provided the vehicle for this 2025 1500 review.

Benjamin Hunting

Benjamin Hunting is a writer and podcast host who contributes to a number of newspapers, automotive magazines, and online publications. More than a decade into his career, he enjoys keeping the shiny side up during track days and always has one too many classic vehicle projects partially disassembled in his garage at any given time. Remember, if it's not leaking, it's probably empty.