How Good Is the 2026 Ram 1500 Hemi V-8’s Gas Mileage?

What Truck Shoppers Need to Know

• With gas prices elevated, the timing for Ram to reintroduce the 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 to the 1500 pickup truck seems unfortunate.
• After 200 miles of mixed suburban and highway driving, the V-8 returned 18.3 mpg — right in line with its EPA combined rating.
• The optional Hurricane twin-turbo six-cylinder may get better gas mileage and make more power, but nothing sounds as good as that Hemi.

Gas prices are through the roof again around the nation, so it might feel like unfortunate timing for Ram to be reintroducing the iconic Hemi V-8 engine to its popular 1500 pickup — but America wanted the Hemi back from the dead, and that’s what America got, timing be damned. Back as an option for most Ram 1500 trim levels, the Hemi makes less power and torque than the Hurricane twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six-cylinder. On top of that, it’s also rated for worse fuel economy, so it’ll cost you at the pump as well as on the dotted line.

Related: He(mi) Is Risen! Ram Resurrects Famed V-8 Option for 2026 1500 Pickups

But we were curious to see just what the Hemi’s real-world fuel economy actually looks like given that it is a modern engine with a mild-hybrid system, cylinder deactivation and auto engine stop-start functionality. So we took a new 2026 1500 Big Horn crew-cab 4×4 with the optional Hemi engine for a drive to see how efficient the V-8 is and if it can match its EPA ratings.

The Ride

The Big Horn is a mid-level trim, nothing too fancy, and a volume leader with cloth seats and without the optional air suspension. But this truck is still equipped with useful features like a tonneau cover, heated front seats and steering wheel, a spray-in bedliner, a multifunction tailgate, RamBox storage areas, lane departure steering assist, parking sensors front and rear, a power-sliding rear window, dual-zone climate control, power-folding mirrors and more. For this configuration, the Hemi engine option costs $2,895 but includes a “GT Performance Exhaust,” so when you fire it up or stomp on the accelerator there’s no mistaking what’s under the hood. The fender badge that Ram calls the “symbol of protest” also indicates that it’s V-8 powered (and Ram still hasn’t said what exactly we’re protesting). The truck’s base price was a sizeable $55,025, including a jaw-dropping $2,595 destination fee; the as-tested price came to $64,970, which is frankly a hefty sum to charge for a vehicle that doesn’t have keyless access on the doors or a 360-degree camera.

The Hemi engine itself is still a formidable mill. It makes 395 horsepower and 410 pounds-feet of torque and teams with an eight-speed automatic transmission driving all four wheels through a selectable four-wheel-drive system that includes an automatic mode. The base engine is still the 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6, but most trims can get an optional twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six-cylinder engine making 420 hp and 469 pounds-feet of torque. That engine is EPA-rated 18/24/20 mpg city/highway/combined with 4WD, or 2 mpg better than the V-8 in city and combined ratings and 4 mpg better on the highway. If you’re feeling really special, you can opt for the high-output version of the 3.0-liter engine that cranks out 540 hp and 521 pounds-feet of torque, but it’s only in the Limited, Limited Longhorn, RHO and Tungsten trims.

Our test truck’s Hemi was resplendent in its bath of rumbling basso sound emanating from the sport exhaust, making it feel and sound like a proper pickup. Our only complaint over the last two years with the 3.0-liter six-cylinder engine was that it made the Ram sound like a German sports sedan, not a proper ‘Murican pick-’em-up truck. The return of the Hemi fixes that issue and still provides the kind of thrust American consumers want from their trucks. But how much was it going to hurt at the pump?

The Route

To test the Ram’s fuel economy, we filled it up at a gas station with the recommended regular unleaded fuel, made sure the tires were filled to proper cold pressures, and headed out on a 205-mile route from Ann Arbor, Mich., to Coldwater, Mich., and back. Using a mix of lower-speed back roads and higher-speed interstates, speeds were kept to within 5 mph of the posted limits, the climate control was activated, the windows were rolled up, and cruise control was employed on the highway portions — just like how most consumers drive. With temperatures in the 50s, no wind to speak of and sunny conditions, we zeroed out the trip odometer and headed out on the road.

The Results

Three hours and 205.3 miles later, the onboard fuel-economy meter told us that we’d achieved 18.3 mpg. Filling the tank back to full took 11.308 gallons, meaning the calculated fuel economy came out to 18.2 mpg, near as matters to the results reported by the truck itself. While this is a bit under the 20 mpg highway rating from the EPA, that test also is generally done at lower speeds, and given that we had some mixed driving in stop-and-go suburban conditions as well as longer highway jaunts, the 18 mpg combined EPA rating is more appropriate for comparison. And it’s here where the Ram 1500 met expectations. Driven normally and without a load, it will achieve its EPA ratings.

The tonneau cover over the bed may or may not have been a factor — testing in the past has been inconclusive. Trucks tend to benefit from a cover, but airflow patterns also tend to create an area of air pressure in the bed that allows moving air to simply flow over the bed without issue when the truck is in motion. The truck’s engine stop-start system didn’t factor much into the results given that not much stopping was done. But it was interesting to watch the V-8’s cylinder-deactivation tech in action: When it’s working and the V-8 becomes a four-cylinder, the timbre of the engine changes subtly and a little “Eco” light pops on in the gauge cluster. The fact that it didn’t really come on all that often also makes me wonder at the usefulness and efficacy of the system and whether it really does much to improve fuel economy.

So, while the fuel economy of the Ram 1500 V-8 isn’t objectively great, it’s not as bad as it could be, and it’s at least delivering what it promises. For fans of the Hemi noise, that is likely enough.

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