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HEMI® Power Is Back Where It Belongs

HEMI® Power Is Back Where It Belongs​

Ram Team Talks About the Return of the 5.7-Liter HEMI V8 in the Ram 1500​


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There are few names in the truck world that carry as much weight as HEMI®. For the past two decades, it’s been the badge of honor under the hood of Dodge and Ram vehicles, the soundtrack of muscle and muscle trucks alike. After being discontinued in 2024, fans weren’t sure if they’d ever hear that unmistakable rumble in a half-ton Ram again. But this week at Chelsea Proving Grounds in Michigan, I had the chance to see firsthand what it took to bring the 5.7-liter (345 cubic-inch) HEMI V8 back to the 2026 Ram 1500 lineup.

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HEMI® Power Is Back Where It Belongs

Discover how HEMI® Power is back where it belongs, reviving the muscle truck experience with enhanced efficiency.
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Before Sergio stepped into Auburn Hills, the Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen both offered a Hemi Hybrid option. There was even a Ram 1500 Hemi Hybrid that was killed in the crib. A few hunderd of this last item was built as a PHEV for a joint FCA/DOE research program. Sergio received a lot of contempt for killing the Hemi hybrids, but the entire thing was a money pit. GM was price gouging Chrysler Corporation on the transmission while the battery supply was on shaky ground.

Today the legacy Chrysler Corporation brands use ZF 8-speed transmissions built either in Gray Court, SC or in-house at Kokomo. The battery situation is also very different today despite China playing with the lithium supply chain.

I think Jeep should offer a Hemi hybrid on the three row Grand Cherokee and on the shorter Wagoneer as well. Like the hybrids offered before FCA was formed, these should be high voltage without the plugging in.

The Ram 1500 pickups should replace the torque converter with a 48V electric motor to compliment the BSG, thus completing the mild hybrid system that ZF intended.
 
more is less. more sound- less horsepower, More gas - Less efficient, More Cylinders - less torque. More tricking - less reliable

Hemi should have been allowed to be phased out naturally, but the Hurricane as least deserved the same amount of market as this relaunched received, it is a cluster all around. Hopefully the markup will pay for itself... while the real issue in not the powertrain but lack of value model to drive cashflow and fleet sales.
 
Disagree 110% More gas? No. The tiny turbo motors are NOTORIOUS for drinking gas like they are sponsored by OPEC, especially while towing. Less reliable? No. Hemi has been around since we first got to see it in 2002 with very few problems. The valvetrain issues started after FCA began to spec inappropriate viscosities to appease the EPA. The cracked manifolds are easily replaced with aftermarket stainless units. Otherwise the engine has proven to be rock solid. Can not say the same for either of the tiny displacement turbo engines.

And like we've said numerous times, given the choice between a 400 HP V8 and a 450 HP overly complex I-6TT, I would go V8 six days a week and twice on Sunday and buyers have voiced the same with their dollars.

Heck, they even managed to screw up the world class ZF 8 speed when they hooked it up to the Hurricane. That was the best transmission in any pickup truck in the world, and now there are threads and threads and threads of problems with it behind the little 3.0.

What they should have done is leave the Hemi alone and never remove it from the trucks to begin with.
 
patfromigh said:
Before Sergio stepped into Auburn Hills, the Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen both offered a Hemi Hybrid option. There was even a Ram 1500 Hemi Hybrid that was killed in the crib. A few hunderd of this last item was built as a PHEV for a joint FCA/DOE research program. Sergio received a lot of contempt for killing the Hemi hybrids, but the entire thing was a money pit. GM was price gouging Chrysler Corporation on the transmission while the battery supply was on shaky ground.

Today the legacy Chrysler Corporation brands use ZF 8-speed transmissions built either in Gray Court, SC or in-house at Kokomo. The battery situation is also very different today despite China playing with the lithium supply chain.

I think Jeep should offer a Hemi hybrid on the three row Grand Cherokee and on the shorter Wagoneer as well. Like the hybrids offered before FCA was formed, these should be high voltage without the plugging in.

The Ram 1500 pickups should replace the torque converter with a 48V electric motor to compliment the BSG, thus completing the mild hybrid system that ZF intended.
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Correct, that hybrid system was a joint venture by GM, Chrysler, and BMW
 
TripleT said:
more is less. more sound- less horsepower, More gas - Less efficient, More Cylinders - less torque. More tricking - less reliable
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And you think a high boost turbocharged engine with plastic parts will be reliable?
 
Mopar392 said:
And you think a high boost turbocharged engine with plastic parts will be reliable?
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yes eventually.... what is your problem with plastic... Just like metal they sometimes have processing issues. But reinforced nylons and delrins when processed properly do not have the same fatigue profile as very brittle aluminum or magnesium, or ductile steel or the corrosion and oxidation issues. And save a lot of weight

Are you here pretending the HEMI has been a reliable engine, that any of the OEM V8 have been reliable. Outside the Mopar community the Hemi is a running joke.

And yes high pressure Turbo can be reliable when in the straight six as the free geometry on either side. Dodge/Ram has offered a high boast Turbo 6s for 35 years and have proven very durable.

I really hate these discussion because I am a true Mopar fan, and I loved my Hemi's even with the ticking and even with failed water pumps. They were good soldiers. But these discussions to attack ANYTHING new to justify STAGNATION is just untenable and ungrounded. Hemi were well marketed and should have been allowed to retire slowly with honor, I have said that but logically the reasons to offer them are nothing beyond nostalgia.

Meanwhile I can't run and get a coffee without getting blasted by a Cummins and it swirling whistle.... and here we act like a tuning culture won't grow up around the new powerplant if it got one bit of marketing.
 
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