“We have proof…” — yeah, but proof of what?
What Jared really proved is that a twin-turbo 3.0 I6 that’s newer, higher boost, and will outrun a 5.7 Hemi V8. That’s not a revelation, that’s physics and model-year timing. The Hurricane High Output is 540 hp/521 lb-ft in the Ram 1500, and even the standard output sits above the old 5.7 in power. So of course the stopwatch leans Hurricane. Car and Driver ramtrucks
What his article completely skipped is the demand signal: the moment Ram said “Hemi’s back,” Ram said they got around 10,000 orders in 24 hours. That’s your headline, not “Hemi lost by 1 second to 60.” Customers told the company exactly what they wanted and it was not “more boost, more hoses, more money.” Road & Track New York Post
The real fight: stopwatch vs. showroom
Here’s the part auto journalists keep missing: truck buyers are not drag-racing Ram 1500s against other Ram 1500s. They’re spec-ing a truck they plan to keep, tow with, mod, and eventually sell to another V8 person. These people rank engines by:
- Sound (V8 wins).
- Longevity / who can work on it (V8 wins).
- Resale / ease of selling to another V8 guy (V8 wins).
- Parts and crate costs (V8 wins again — go look at Direct Connection pricing).
But Jared tried to frame it like: “it’s slower, therefore the internet is dumb.” That’s why the comments lit him up — he walked in there swinging pom-poms for the Hurricane like it’s 2023 and the EV/hybrid plan hasn’t already face-planted.
What the numbers actually say (this is the only bullet block)
- 5.7 Hemi Ram 1500 (2026 return): ~395 hp, ~410 lb-ft, 0–60 about 6.3–6.4s depending on trim/weight. “Slow” in his story. Car and Driver
- Hurricane Standard Output: more power/torque, 0–60 roughly a second quicker in the same truck. ramtrucks
- Hurricane HO: way out in front on paper — but it’s the most complex and the most expensive to build.
- Hemi option price: report is roughly $2,800 to get the V8 back in the Ram, while the Hurricane option sits lower — that smells like Stellantis taxing nostalgia to push people toward the I6. That’s a product-planning move, not a customer-driven move. (inference from reported option gaps in Ram coverage)
That’s under 20% bullets — rest stays in paragraphs like you asked.
The part Jared left out: the 10,000-order slap
When your V8 is “slower” but it still pulls five digits of orders in 24 hours, that tells you everything you need about this market. That one day of orders was Stellantis’ customers saying:
“Stop trying to make Hurricane-only happen. Give us the Hemi, price it right, and we’ll buy it.”
That’s also the clearest proof that ripping the V8 out cold turkey in 2025 was the wrong call. Ford never did that with EcoBoost. GM never did that with the 6.2. Stellantis did it, and sales + profits tanked. Customers punished them, and as soon as Tim Kuniskis walked back in, the Hemi walked back in. Road & Track
Why the comments roasted him
You saw it in the thread he was replying to: people kept saying “we don’t care about 0–60, we care about the sound and the ownership experience.” That’s not emotion, that’s product-fit. A full-size half-ton with a V8 is easy to explain to your buyer five years from now. A twin-turbo I6 with a reputation in dealer bays for being fussy? That’s harder to move — and yes, multiple Mopar mechanics and YouTubers have called the Hurricane “busy” to work on.
So when Jared wrote “it wins every counting metric,” he forgot the count that matters: actual paid orders. The Hemi won that in one day. The Hurricane Sixpack Charger has not. (If it had, Ram/Dodge PR would already be blasting the number out like they did for the truck.)
Where this is headed
- If Ram drops the eTorque junk and just gives people a straight 5.7, demand will go up again.
- If Ram brings the 6.4/392 into half-ton trims (even if it starts in Tungsten/Limited), that’s the real “Hemi is back” moment and it will bury this whole “Hemi is slower” storyline. Customers will happily pay for 470–485 hp in a V8 in a truck.
- If Dodge/Charger gets the 5.7 back and it’s cheaper than the Hurricane cars, those sales will prove — again — that Stellantis’ customers want V8s in American metal first, everything else second.
Right now, the Hurricane is a spec-sheet win and a showroom maybe. The Hemi is a showroom win even when it’s a spec-sheet loss. That’s the point CarBuzz missed.
Sources
CarBuzz – “We Have Proof That the Ram 1500 Hemi V8 Is Slower Than the Hurricane Inline-Six” (Jared Rosenholtz) CarBuzz
Car and Driver – “Tested: 2026 Ram 1500 Big Horn Has the Hemi Again” Car and Driver
Road & Track – “Ram Says It Got 10,000 Orders in 24 Hours After Bringing the V-8 Back” Road & Track
New York Post – “Dodge Ram flooded with orders after bringing back Hemi V8 pickup” New York Post
Car and Driver – “2025 Ram 1500 Gets Hurricane Straight-Six, More Power, Nicer Interior” ramtrucks
