Ram 1500 pickups are synonymous with big, thumping HEMI V8 engines. Sure, there is a pair of V6s available for drivers who don’t have heavy loads to carry or tow, but for demanding use, you’d choose one of the HEMIs every time… but a rumor floats on the wind of a powerful new V6 option called the “Hurricane.” If the rumors are true, it could debut at a Ram dealer near you as soon as the 2025 model year.
Strictly speaking, the Hurricane isn’t new. The Wagoneer brand (also owned by Ram’s parent corporation, Stellantis) deploys two versions of the inline six-cylinder twin-turbo Hurricane in its Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer models—so we have some sense of what may soon reside under the Ram 1500’s hood. But first, how solid is this rumor?
Whispers in the Wind
Ram apparently leaked specs for a 2025 Ram 1500 equipped with the Hurricane; several sites attribute this discovery to a YouTuber called “Butter Da Insider,” whose real name is elusive. His YouTube channel specializes in Dodge and Ram intel, so it’s natural that he would catch Ram’s mistake. Ram has since taken down the spec sheet, and their reps are offering a terse “no comment” to anybody who asks about it.
The internet has a long memory, though, and a twelve-page PDF—which is allegedly the leaked build sheet—lives on despite Ram’s attempts to kill it. You can find a copy on the “Pickup Truck Talk” website, among other places. Needless to say, a twin-turbo inline-six being promoted alongside legendary HEMI V8s has created quite a buzz among Ram fans. There’s even the scary question (for many of them) of whether the Hurricane might replace the HEMI!
The Eye of the Hurricane
As mentioned earlier, the Hurricane is already available in two flavors from Stellantis’s Wagoneer brand. The two Hurricanes power the Wagoneer, Wagoneer L, Grand Wagoneer, and Grand Wagoneer L in various trims and specifications. This brand still offers V8s in various displacements, but the Hurricane is available as a no-cost upgrade in some models and trim levels and a base engine in others.
In editions of the smaller Wagoneer, which offer the Hurricane as standard or optional equipment, it’s a 3.0L Standard Output Twin-Turbo inline six-cylinder with engine stop/start technology for improved fuel efficiency. Wagoneer’s website is silent about the Standard Output’s horsepower rating, but according to Car and Driver, it produces 420 hp, which is not bad for a base model engine.
Car and Driver achieved a zero-to-sixty run in only 4.7 seconds with this model, and this is despite the fact that the Wagoneer is not a light vehicle. Its power translates to the pavement via an eight-speed 8HP75 automatic transmission with Electronic Range Select (ERS). The Hurricane powers both two-wheel-drive and 4×4 models.
Stepping up to the Grand Wagoneer, we find that the Hurricane is the standard engine in three out of the Grand Wagoneer’s five trim levels, with the top and bottom trims offering a 6.4L V8 instead. In the Grand Wagoneer, the Hurricane is a higher-output twin-turbo six that blasts out a thunderous 510 hp and 500 lb-ft of torque, and its transmissions are the same as they are in the Wagoneer Hurricane. Despite being yet another fast and heavy vehicle, the experts at Car and Driver were able to get all 6,428 lbs of the Hurricane-powered Grand Wagoneer from zero to sixty in only 4.7 seconds—that’s almost frightening for an SUV of that heft!
The Haul of the Squall
Now, we car enthusiasts have long known that twin-turbo inline-sixes can make heavy cars go crazy fast. Back in the 1980s, an intercooled, twin-turbocharged V6 engine powered the Buick Grand National GNX and the 20th Anniversary Pontiac Trans Am GTA to absolutely ludicrous straight-line acceleration, making them two of the quickest cars of their era anywhere on Earth—but anybody who tried to tow even a modest load with either of these would have needed to see a doctor for a psych eval. So, is the Hurricane strictly a high-performance racer, or can it haul stuff as well as it can haul ass?
Our best starting point would be to check the Wagoneer brand’s website for the answer… and here, we find that the Wagoneer can tow 10,000 lbs with the Hurricane inline-six. Incidentally, this is the same towing capacity as the V8-powered Wagoneers. The Grand Wagoneer nearly equals that with a 9,750-lb tow rating—so, apparently, performance and towing can coexist in one turbo six-cylinder vehicle. This is good news for Ram 1500 fans, should their favorite pickup end up with that powerplant.
There’s a Storm Coming…
So, will the Ram 1500 actually end up with the Hurricane as an option? Or even standard? Will the Hurricane augment or replace the HEMI in Ram’s pickup lineup? The alleged leaked specs could give us that answer, which is… it’s hard to say.
The leaked build sheet says it’s for a specific VIN for a Tungsten edition crew cab 4×4. Doing a control-F search for “Hurricane” reveals a 3.0L High-Output Hurricane inline-six. Doing a control-F search for “HEMI” produces no results, even in the optional equipment section. But all that really tells us is that this particular model has the Hurricane, and not whether other builds may have a HEMI.
If the high-output Hurricane in the Tungsten edition of the Ram 1500 is the same as (or similar to) the high-output version of that engine in the Grand Wagoneer, then it will be substantially more powerful than the top-of-the-line 5.7L HEMI that reigns over the Ram 1500’s engine spectrum right now. As seen earlier, the Grand Wagoneer’s Hurricane powerplant produces 510 hp and 500 lb-ft of torque. Meanwhile, the 5.7L HEMI’s numbers are 395 hp and 410 lb-ft of torque, which are noticeably—and, for some, unnervingly—less.
The Grand Wagoneer can tow 9,750 lbs, whereas the HEMI can tow 11,330 lbs. That could be worrisome for people who want a truck that can do the heavy hauling, but the same engine could produce a different maximum tow rating in the Ram 1500 than the Grand Wagoneer. Towing capacity is dependent on a number of factors other than sheer engine grunt, including vehicle weight, gearing ratios, and transmission settings—so, by the time Ram gets done tinkering with it, the Hurricane could possibly equal or exceed the HEMI’s ability to pull a load.
And again, we still don’t know—based on this one leak—whether the HEMI is going away. The Tungsten has been the label for the Ram 1500’s top-of-the-line edition in the past, and it’s reasonable to assume that it will be again in 2025, but from the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer’s engine choices, we can see that V8s can exist harmoniously alongside the Hurricane.
Heck—the priciest Grand Wagoneer, the Series III Obsidian, actually offers a 6.4L V8 as an optional upgrade from the Hurricane. Perhaps some of the higher-end trim levels of the 2025 Ram 1500 will do the same, providing an option for those who prefer eight cylinders of brute force. It seems there might still be an option for the “no replacement for displacement” fans for quite a while yet.
