Recently, another site came out with criticism that the 2025 Ram 1500’s high output Hurricane six will require premium fuel. This was their second headline; originally they didn’t mention that it was only the high output engine requiring premium. This was followed by predictable comments from readers of gloom, doom, and the inferiority of new engines.
There are only two problems with this. First, the 2025 Ram 1500’s high output Hurricane is already well known, because it is in the Jeep Wagoneer, and it requires premium fuel there, too. It’s not exactly news, any more than it was news in 2023 that the Hellcat V8 took premium.
Second, while observers at a Mopar forum were quick to condemn the twin-turbo straight six for requiring premium, while the 5.7 Hemi only took midgrade fuel, the comparison makes no sense. The standard output Hurricane doesn’t require premium. Indeed, EPA tests for the Jeep Wagoneer with this twin-turbo straight-six used regular fuel. Despite that, the standard Hurricane produces 420 horsepower and 469 lb-ft of torque, easily exceeding the 5.7 Hemi, while getting 10% better economy. That sounds like a win.
To clarify, the Hurricane requires 91 octane fuel—as the 392 Hemi does.
These comments, though criticize the High Output version, which produces 510 hp, which is well above the 6.4 liter V8 Hemi’s already impressive 485 hp. Torque is rated at 500 lb-ft, also above the Hemi. The 6.4 Hemi, also known as the 392, was not available on Ram 1500s. It, too, required premium fuel.
Fuel economy ratings for the 2025 Ram 1500 are not yet available, but the 2023 Jeep Wagoneer was sold with both the 5.7 and 3.0 standard output engines; the two wheel drive standard length Wagoneer was rated at 16 city, 22 highway with the Hemi (taking midgrade), and 17 city, 24 highway with the more powerful straight six (taking regular). Considering that many more of these will be sold than the high output engines, and that buyers will both get a discount at the pump and substantially better mileage—that 1 mpg city adds up faster for most people than the 2 mpg highway—it seems like an improvement. The new engine has more power, takes cheaper gas, and drinks less of it—and it’s got a traditionally sturdy inline format, the kind that made the original Power Wagon famous.
Perhaps Ram should be given a chance to prove its new engine before criticism is hurled out.
