By Eric Peters
For NMA
They say a college BA is what a high school degree used to be. In the same way, a 2500 is what a 1500 used to be – in that most 2500s still come standard with a regular cab, an eight foot bed and a V8 engine, all of which have become harder to find (and are usually optional) in new half-ton trucks.
You can also get a diesel in a truck like the 2025 Ram 2500 – one that touts more than 1,000 ft.-lbs. of torque and that can take you about 18 miles on a gallon of fuel, too.
Just be sure to top off the DEF tank!
What It Is
The Ram 2500 is what 1500 trucks once were – in that it is available in the configurations and with the engines that are becoming unavailable in the latter. It is also a heavier duty truck and so more useful for work than a half-ton truck.
Interestingly, it is not much more expensive – at least to start – than a half ton truck.
The base Ram 2500 Tradesman trim – which comes standard with a big (6.4 liter) V8 engine -as well as a regular cab and an eight foot bed – lists for $45,565 with 2WD and $48,495 with 4WD. The base Ram 1500 Tradesman with 2WD stickers for $40,275 and it is not available with a V8 or a long bed. If ordered with its optional turbocharged inline six, which adds $2,695 to the price, a Ram 1500 only costs about $2,000 less than a Ram 2500 with a V8 – and the long bed you can’t get anymore in a Ram 1500.
The 2500 is also available in Crew cab form – for those who want the extra doors and the additional passenger carrying capacity). This version is also available with either a 6.4 foot bed or an eight-foot bed. There are also more trims available, with the prices starting at $49,185 for the Tradesman with the 6.4 foot bed and topping out at $73,165 for the Limited Longhorn.
There’s also a Mega Cab iteration with an extra large rear area.
It’s available in three trims, Laramie ($78,540), Limited ($90,205) and Limited Longhorn ($90,205). These versions of the 2500 come only with the 6.4 foot bed but all come standard with 4WD. These trims are also available with the Cummins turbo diesel six mentioned earlier, which comes standard with an exhaust brake – just like the big rigs – and the DEF tank, too.
What’s New For 2025
The Ram 2500’s optional Cummins turbodiesel six touts 420 horsepower and 1,075 ft.-lbs. of torque vs. 370 horsepower and 850 ft.-lbs. of torque last year. There’s also a new, heavy-duty eight speed automatic transmission (last year’s Ram with the diesel had a six speed automatic).
On the other hand, the output of the standard 6.4 liter V8 is down 5 – to 405 from 410 previously.
The truck’s styling also gets an update as does the touchscreen interface.
What’s Good
Available in the configurations (and with the engines) that have become hard-to-find (if not impossible-to-find) in a half-ton pickup.
Only slightly more expensive to start than a half-ton.
20,000 lb. towing capacity outclasses any half-ton’s towing capabilities.
What’s Not So Good
Diesel is an expensive option (almost $13k) and limited to a few of the higher-end trims.
Diesel engine comes standard with a Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) tank that must be kept topped off else the truck’s maximum speed is throttled back to just 5 MPH.
It’s hard to get at stuff in the bed because the truck is so high off the ground (and the bed walls are so high).
Under The Hood
Unlike every currently available half-ton truck, the Ram 2500 comes standard with not just a V8 but a bigger one than is available in any new half-ton truck. It displaces 6.4 liters, so it does not need a turbo (or two) to make up for the size it lacks. It touts 405 horsepower and 439 ft.-lbs. of torque. This V8 is also a pushrod (overhead valve) design so it has only one cam and two valves per cylinder rather than at least two cams and as many as four valves per cylinder. The simpler layout generally correlates with fewer down-the-road problems and absolutely correlates with easier-to-fix when problems arise because the engine is easier to get at because of its more compact size relative to SOHC and DOHC V8s.
The touted output of the 6.4 V8 is down slightly – by five horsepower vs. the same engine in last year’s Ram 2500 – but it’s still enough to enable the truck to pull up to 17,750 lbs.
The touted output of the optional Cummins turbo-diesel six – which is even larger, displacing 6.7 liters – is up substantially. It now touts 420 horsepower and 1,075 ft.-lbs. of torque, peaking at just 1,800 RPM. This makes it ideal for pulling a heavy trailer – up to 20,000 lbs. While the government does not require manufacturers of heavy duty trucks – which includes 2500s and up – to publish fuel economy numbers, I averaged about 18 MPG during a weeklong test drive, which is great mileage for a 2500. It’s on par with what you’d get out of a gas-engined half-ton truck that can’t pull nearly as much.
The new eight speed automatic that is standard with the Cummins engine helps up the diesel’s naturally efficiency vs. a gas engine. It has two more gears – and more overdrive gears – which enable the truck to run 70 MPH with the engine turning about 1,800 RPM – exactly the torque peak of the brawny diesel.
The gas V8 engine can be paired with either 2WD or a part-time 4WD system that has driver selectable 2WD High, 4WD High and 4WD Low range options, all push-button selectable. The Cummins diesel comes standard with the same system – plus an exhaust brake that is also push-button-selectable.
On The Road
This truck feels like one – which is a very different feeling than the one you get driving a current half-ton truck. The latter have become – effectively – the big sedans many people used to like to drive but which are no longer available, chiefly on account of federal CAFE (fuel economy) regs that created downsizing pressure, beginning back in the mid-1970s. By 2010, there were only two large, rear-drive, V8-powered Americans sedans left – the Ford Crown Vic and the Dodge Charger (three if you count the Chrysler version of the Charger, the 300 sedan).
Both are gone now.
That’s why 1500s have become so popular, arguably.
And it explains, arguably, why most new half-tons cone standard with four-door cabs and small beds (some don’t even offer a two-door cab or an eight foot bed). The bed is mostly for the dog and groceries now. Today’s 1500s ride more comfortably than a ’79 Cadillac Sedan deVille.
People who still need a truck like they used to make them now buy trucks in the 2500 and up class. Part of the lure is that they are still in fact trucks – meaning, useful for real work – but also that they have the extra-beefy feel of a truck. Even with light-effort power steering, it’s still a handful – and that’s exactly what most people who are looking for a truck want. Just the same as people who bought say a Dodge Viper back in the day didn’t care that it wasn’t as athletic (much less as refined) as a Corvette. The attraction was the same that Don Corleone felt towards Luca Brasi.
Or – to put it in reverse – what Rocky must have felt the first time he saw Ivan Drago.
The Cummins diesel does require periodic topping off with Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) which is a component of the emissions system – and if you let the tank run empty, the truck’s computer brain will limit the speed you can drive to no faster than 5 MPH. On the upside, you get a warning in the main gauge cluster this is impending, telling you how many miles you can still drive at normal speeds before you run out of DEF (and the speed gets limited to 5 MPH, tops). Also, the DEF is easy to find; most auto parts stores and Wal-Marts stock it and it only takes a few minutes to pour the stuff into the DEF tank (there’s a separate fill hole right next to the diesel fuel fill hole).
On the downside, the DEF isn’t free – about $16 for 2.5 gallons and the Ram’s tank holds about 5 gallons – and having to by the stuff every 8,000 miles or so (which is apparently about how many miles you can drive on a full DEF tank) adds to the operating costs of owning the diesel engine, which detracts from the economic argument for buying one. The DEF also typically comes in unwieldy 2.5 gallons boxes – like cheap wine – that makes it awkward to add the stuff and likely you’ll spill some of it, probably on yourself. This detracts from the ownership experience.
The good news – and I can tell you this because I am a journalist – is that the DEF system can be deleted. It’s not legal to do so – but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong to do so.
Another thing: This truck does not come standard with Lane Keep Assistance “technology,” so the steering wheel doesn’t pull contrary to where you want to steer. There’s no ASS – automatic stop-start “technology,” either. Because heavy duty trucks aren’t – yet – subject to the same degree of compliance pressure that has imposed these features on half-ton truck buyers.
At The Curb
This truck is still available with – comes standard with – a two-door regular cab and an eight foot bed, which makes it useful for the work people used to buy half-ton trucks for. As a counterpoint, the current Ram 1500 comes only with four doors and short beds, making it very useful for carrying people and a muddy dog in the bed.
The downside – depending on your point-of-view – is that this truck’s a behemoth, both lengthwise and otherwise. The regular cab/eight foot iteration is 232 inches long and stands 78 inches tall – 13 of those inches being how high the body stands off the ground. You wont need to “lift” this truck – unless you just like the look of being able to drive over things that happen to be in the way.
But you will want the running boards. They’ll help you bridge the gap between the road and the cab.
And if you do want more lift – the Power Wagon iteration offers it, plus an electronically disconnecting front sway bar end link to allow for greater wheel articulation off-roading and electric-locking front and rear diffs.
A Crew Cab with the eight foot bed is even longer – 260.8 inches – and just as tall. This is a big truck – and some like it exactly that way. The Mega Cab is even bigger – in terms of room inside, for the backseat passengers – but it’s sightly less long (249.9 inches) because Ram does not offer this iteration with a bed longer than 6 feet, 4 inches. But that’s still a longer bed than the arguably silly vestigial five-foot beds that come standard with several half-ton, four-door cab trucks – and the rear of the Mega Cab is so huge you could sublet it.
The only problem with all this bigness – all this tallness – is that it’s not easy to get at whatever you put in the bed. The combination of being so high up and very tall bedwalls means that unless you are extremely tall – as in 6 ft 5 or taller – you will likely end up having to climb – literally – up into the bed to get whatever’s in there out.
The Rest
In addition to the DEF stuff, another detraction – as regards the diesel – is that it is very expensive to buy and you have to buy one of the more expensive trims before you can buy it. The combined cost can push the price of a Ram 2500 so equipped well above $70,000 and that negates any savings on fuel costs. The main reason to buy the diesel, then, is that it is so immensely powerful that it seems to be hardly working, even when you’re pulling a very heavy load. And while you won’t be saving money you will be saving time – because the diesel’s range is tremendous. With the standard 31 gallon tank filled up, you can drive without stopping for around 600 miles.
Assuming you topped off the DEF tank.
The Bottom Line
They do still make trucks like they used to. Just not the half-tons.
