Pickup trucks have replaced sedans for many across the country. They have more legroom, more space for stuff, aren’t as subject to things like potholes ruining your day, and buyers get to live– or at least pretend to live– a lifestyle unavailable with a sedan. Luxury pickups, too, have seen exponential growth. Riding in the lap of luxury plus the perceived ability to haul or tow the entire job site’s worth of equipment is how vehicles like the 2025 Ram 1500 Tungsten come to be. Chucking genuine grandeur at a truck to give buyers the option for top-tier comfort and accouterments once found solely on high-end sedans all while retaining actual pickup functionality sure is a strong business proposition, after all.
A lot of equipment; a lot of money
$90,585 is how much that jack-of-all-trades proposition costs here, representing the price of the 2025 Ram 1500 Tungsten driven and photographed for this review. That is an enormous amount of money, and to show for it the Ram Tungsten has 22-inch wheels, a metal VIN-stamped plaque on the center console, a 23-speaker Klipsch stereo, a 14.5-inch touchscreen, 24-way front seats with heating, cooling, and massing functions, and most importantly, the twin-turbocharged Hurricane inline six-cylinder engine that makes 540 horsepower and 521 lb-ft of torque. With specs like that and the price tag to match, this truck better be good.
It definitely looks the part, no doubt about that. The Ram styling has evolved for this refresh of the truck’s fifth generation and to most it will be indistinguishable from the pre-refresh model. That’s not a bad thing as it still looks good in the flesh. It’s still an in-your-face design though, so maybe we’ve softened on Ram’s design a bit– or maybe they’ve softened the design a bit.
Step (climb) inside
Yet it’s the interior that Ram hopes buyers find to be the showstopper. And with the huge screens, quilted leather, enormous panoramic sunroof, and flashy stereo, it’s hard to not be in awe. This is a perfect representation of excess for the sake of excess, the stereotypical true American way.
We do have to admit it’s pretty darn nice inside though. The seats are great, the tech is functional (if not a bit overwhelming), and the ride quality is mostly good for a fullsize pickup. Air suspension can only do so much; we have no doubt the near three-ton weight and relatively low-profile tires hamper impact response, and it’s possible that the last Ram rode even better. The extra weight inherent in this refresh doesn’t go unnoticed.
Rock you like a Hurricane
Nor does the extra power. The Hurricane twin-turbocharged inline six-cylinder brings a massive improvement in low-end torque over the 5.7L Hemi V8 it replaces. It’ll never replace the 6.2L Hellcat V8 that lived in the TRX, but the Hurricane is a smooth, eager powerplant that moves the truck with enough ease to make the vehicle’s weight all but vanish on acceleration.
The Hurricane also promises better fuel efficiency, though we couldn’t verify that in our city driving-heavy time with the truck. More testing is needed to see if the Hurricane is capable of pulling better gas mileage than the Hemi despite the new truck’s extra weight.
There’s little need to discuss capability here as we didn’t really use the Ram 1500 Tungsten for truck things, but we suppose that’s how most owners will treat their vehicles as well. Instead, buyers will likely treat this truck as a luxury vehicle, not a hardcore workhorse; there’s exceptions to every rule, of course, yet those who need a truck for truck things probably aren’t going to choose a light-colored interior to dirty up day in and day out, and that’s the Tungsten’s only available interior choice.
When more means more
To sum it up, the Ram 1500 Tungsten is a luxury pickup for people who probably won’t use it as it can and should be used. Yet ignore the over-the-top factor and it’s still a good vehicle, improved from before and still easily and instantly recognizable as a Ram product, albeit one serving as a demonstration in excess. Will buyers still flock to it without the Hemi V8 as part of the package? If they look at the interior or plant a foot on the accelerator, it’s easy to see what will draw in a new round of Ram fans.
Yay
- Hurricane engine has tons of low-end torque
- Supremely comfortable in both the front and back seats
- Bombardment of screens, tech, and stereo to keep everyone entertained
Nay
- Costs an extraordinary amount of money for a 1500-class truck
- Overdone on the front of screen-based functionality
- Throttle tuning could use a little more linearity
The Takeaway
Well-tailored and comfortable in a way that pushes the boundary of what pickup trucks are, the 2025 Ram 1500 Tungsten sets the new bar for fancy trucks in the ongoing battle to push the price and luxury ever higher.