2023 Ram 1500

2023 is a carry-over year for the fifth-generation (DT) Ram 1500 that began in 2019. The volume powertrain is still the 5.7L HEMI eTorque, and the TRX's 702 hp tops the range.

This is the peak torque of the volume HEMI eTorque. The eTorque system adds short bursts of extra torque at launch without raising the rated peak.

Instrumented tests of the unchanged DT-generation HEMI eTorque crew cab come in at about 6 seconds. The 2023 powertrain is identical to 2019–2022.

The naturally aspirated HEMI eTorque delivers power smoothly with no turbo lag, and its 48V belt-starter makes stop-start nearly seamless. The V6 eTorque feels strained under load.

The ZF-licensed TorqueFlite 8-speed automatic shifts smoothly and decisively and rarely hunts for gears. It is among the best-sorted gearboxes in the class.

The maximum conventional tow rating is competitive in the half-ton class. It is reached with the HEMI eTorque, a 3.92 axle and the Max Tow package.

Maximum payload across the lineup is mid-pack for a half-ton. Well-optioned 4x4 crew cabs carry noticeably less.

Available towing aids include an integrated trailer brake controller, Trailer Reverse Steering Control, blind-spot monitoring with trailer detection, a 360-degree camera with trailer view, and load-leveling four-corner air suspension. That is nearly a full suite; it lacks only an onboard scale.

Part-time 4WD with a two-speed transfer case is offered on every trim and is standard on the TRX. An on-demand auto-4WD transfer case and an electronic-locking rear axle are available, but the system lacks torque vectoring.

The Rebel (with the Rebel G/T package added for 2023) brings off-road suspension, skid plates and an e-locker. The TRX is a factory desert runner with Bilstein adaptive dampers and 35-inch tires.

2023 was the last year of the EcoDiesel, so the lineup still spans the 3.6L V6 eTorque, 5.7L HEMI with and without eTorque, 3.0L EcoDiesel V6 and the TRX's 6.2L supercharged V8. That gives four distinct engines plus mild hybridization, but no full hybrid, PHEV or EV under this nameplate.

This is the EPA combined rating for the volume HEMI eTorque 4x4. The V6 and the final-year EcoDiesel rate higher.

This is the EPA city rating for the volume configuration, 1 MPG below the 18 MPG the 2022 and 2024 scorecards record for the same engine.

This is the EPA highway rating for the volume configuration.

Range is calculated from the EPA combined rating and the standard crew-cab tank, because EPA publishes no range figure for gas vehicles (range field = 0).

EPA's annual fuel cost for the volume HEMI is high, partly because EPA rates that engine on midgrade fuel.

Fuel requirements are mixed across the range. EPA rates the volume HEMI eTorque on midgrade (89 octane recommended, not required), the V6 runs on regular, the EcoDiesel needs diesel and the TRX wants premium.

NHTSA rates the volume 2023 Ram 1500 Crew Cab 5 stars overall in both RWD and 4WD form, with 4-star frontal and 4-star rollover results. The less common Quad Cab rates 4 stars overall.

The 2023 Crew Cab earned a 2023 Top Safety Pick (not Plus), but only with optional front crash prevention and specific headlights. It rates Good in both small overlap tests, the original moderate overlap, the updated side test, roof strength and head restraints. It rates Poor in the updated moderate overlap test, on rear-passenger head/neck and chest injury measures, so it misses the all-Good bar and lands in the upper part of the mid band.

On the volume Big Horn/Lone Star trim, forward collision warning with AEB, blind-spot monitoring, lane departure warning/prevention and adaptive cruise are all optional (Level 1 Safety Group). They become standard only higher in the range, while the F-150 and Silverado include AEB as standard.

With the optional system, IIHS rates vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention Superior and daytime pedestrian AEB Advanced. Nighttime pedestrian AEB gets No Credit, and none of it is standard on the volume trim.

Blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-path detection is optional on volume trims and standard only on upper ones. It covers the length of a hitched trailer but only alerts, with no steering or braking intervention. Rear automatic braking is a separate option.

LaneSense lane departure warning with lane keep assist is optional on volume trims. It nudges the truck back only after a drift, and the pre-refresh DT 1500 has no continuous lane centering.

Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop & Go is optional on Big Horn/Lone Star and standard higher up. It works in traffic, but there is no lane-centering highway assist to go with it, and owners say the following gaps are too large.

No 2023 Ram 1500 offers hands-free driving. Hands-Free Active Driving Assist arrived only with the 2025 refresh, while rivals already offered BlueCruise (F-150) and Super Cruise (Silverado/Sierra).

IIHS rates five headlight variants: G, A and M. Only the curve-adaptive LED projectors on Longhorn/Limited/TRX earn Good. The halogen reflectors on the Laramie with the Advanced Safety Group rate Acceptable, and the volume Tradesman/Big Horn/Lone Star halogen setups rate Marginal.

Sightlines are typical of a full-size pickup: the high beltline and tall hood leave a large forward blind zone, though the big side glass and mirrors help. The rear camera is standard, while the 360-degree Surround View camera and digital rearview mirror are optional or upper-trim.

The Crew Cab's roughly 45 in of rear legroom, tall square doors and flat floor make it easy to fit several car seats, including rear-facing ones. IIHS still rates the LATCH hardware Marginal because the lower anchors are hard to use.

The volume Big Horn Crew Cab seats six with the standard 40/20/40 front bench; bucket-seat trims drop to five.

Generous but mid-pack front headroom for a full-size cab, unchanged across the DT generation.

Ram's published front legroom sits below the full-size truck band, though seat travel feels ample in practice; the cab favors the rear seat.

Plenty of second-row headroom for adults in the volume Crew Cab.

The Crew Cab's 45.2 in of rear legroom is a class-leading, limo-like figure.

The volume Crew Cab ships with the short 5'7" box; the 6'4" box is offered on Crew and Quad Cab.

Typical short-box crew-cab bed volume for the class.

Ram claims best-in-class interior storage: in-floor second-row bins (standard on Tradesman, in Big Horn Level 1), under-seat storage, a big center console, plus class-exclusive RamBox and a multifunction tailgate on upper trims; Big Horn Level 2 adds a 400W inverter with 115V outlets.

Reviewers consistently rank the DT Ram's seats and cabin comfort at the top of the class; the Crew Cab rear bench offers available slide-recline, though the volume Big Horn's cloth bench is less adjustable than upper-trim buckets.

The segment-exclusive five-link coil-spring rear (with optional four-corner air on most trims, including Big Horn) gives the class's best unladen ride.

Active noise cancellation, acoustic glass on upper trims and good sealing keep highway wind and road noise low for a full-size truck.

Heated front seats, heated wheel, two-zone auto climate and remote start are a Big Horn Level 2 package; heated/ventilated rear seats and ventilated fronts are Laramie-and-up items, so the volume trim needs packages for key comfort kit.

The 2023 range opens at the Tradesman Quad Cab 4x2. The DT generation has no regular cab, so this entry price runs a little above an F-150 XL or Silverado WT regular cab.

The Big Horn/Lone Star Crew Cab 4x4 is the volume configuration. Mid-2023 price increases and the destination-fee rise put a typically equipped truck in the mid-$50Ks.

Averaging the available projections puts the 2023 Ram 1500 mid-pack among full-size half-tons for maintenance and repair.

Heavy discounting on new Rams and a large inventory overhang through 2023–2024 pulled residuals down. Projections put the truck near half its value after five years, behind the F-150, Silverado and Tundra.

Ram's basic limited warranty is the industry-floor 3 years/36,000 miles, the same as Ford and GM full-size trucks.

The gas 3.6L eTorque V6 and 5.7L HEMI carry 5 years/60,000 miles of powertrain coverage. The EcoDiesel's 5 yr/100,000 mi does not apply to the gas volume trim scored here.

Ram includes no complimentary scheduled maintenance. The only perks are 5 yr/60,000 mi roadside assistance and SiriusXM and Uconnect connected-services trials, slightly behind GM's single included maintenance visit.

$54,500 volume-trim price minus its estimated resale value after 5 years (50% retained, or about $27,250) leaves about $27,250 in depreciation. Add the projected $6,400 in 5-year maintenance and repairs, and owning this vehicle for 5 years costs about $33,650 in total.

2023 is a mid-cycle DT-generation year (2019 start, per Wikipedia/registry), and the volume powertrain is the carry-over 5.7L Hemi with eTorque. J.D. Power rates it Great, and the 2026 Vehicle Dependability Study, which measures MY2023 trucks after three years of ownership, ranked the Ram 1500 the best large light-duty pickup. Consumer Reports keeps recent Ram 1500 years at about average, with complaints about Uconnect/electrical faults and air suspension. With the sources split, it lands at the top of the mid band.

The two sources disagree. J.D. Power named Ram the most-improved mass-market brand in the 2023 IQS and placed it second overall. Consumer Reports keeps Ram in the lower third of brands, citing electrical and software faults common across Stellantis. Averaged, that puts Ram at the low edge of mid-pack.

MY2023 DT Ram 1500s are covered by nine NHTSA campaigns, more than the six on MY2024. None involves fire. Two very large campaigns span the generation: an ABS-module software fault that can disable stability control, and misinstalled 2nd-row seat-belt anchors. The others are two separate rear-camera display faults, a clockspring problem that can stop the driver airbag deploying, a turn-signal cancelling fault, a high-pressure fuel pump failure on the EcoDiesel (not the volume engine), and a small transmission-control-unit weld campaign that can cause loss of drive or park. Busy for the segment, with safety-system content, but nothing systemic on the volume powertrain.

The volume engine is the 5.7L Hemi V8 with eTorque. The Hemi is a two-decade-old design that owners routinely run past 200,000 miles, but it has a well-known MDS lifter and camshaft failure pattern. The eTorque system drew a stall recall on 2021–2022 trucks; the 2023 trucks fall outside it. The 3.6L Pentastar and the ZF-derived 8-speed are proven. The 3.0L EcoDiesel offered for 2023 carries a fuel-pump failure recall, which pulls the lineup slightly below 2024.

Reviewers have treated the DT Ram 1500 cabin as the full-size pickup benchmark since the 2019 redesign. Volume Big Horn/Lone Star trims get more soft-touch coverage than an equivalent Silverado or F-150, and the 12-inch Uconnect 5 is offered on mid trims.

The 2023 Ram 1500 was J.D. Power's top-ranked large light-duty pickup for initial quality, so it was assembled consistently when new. Long-term owners and testers still report occasional rattles, trim alignment issues and Uconnect glitches, which keeps it out of the top band.

About 2,300–2,400 CDJR outlets give dense national coverage, including the rural markets where trucks sell. The service experience holds the score down: Stellantis brands sit below the mass-market average in J.D. Power's Customer Service Index, and parts backorders are a recurring complaint.

As one of America's three best-selling vehicles, the Ram 1500 has plentiful Mopar and aftermarket parts, and any independent shop can service the Hemi and Pentastar. Routine maintenance costs about what other full-size trucks cost. Out-of-warranty repairs to the optional air suspension and the eTorque hardware are costly.

The volume Big Horn gets the 8.4-in screen; the signature 12-in portrait unit is optional on Big Horn and up.

Uconnect 5 (in its second model year) is fast, logically laid out and keeps physical climate/volume controls; reviewers rank it among the best in the industry.

Uconnect 5 8.4 and 12-in head units support wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto; the Tradesman's 5-in radio is basic.

Alexa built-in and TomTom-based nav with tow-specific routing exist, but native navigation is a package option on the Big Horn's 8.4 head unit.

Big Horn starts with six speakers and offers the 10-speaker Alpine upgrade; the excellent 900W 19-speaker Harman Kardon is limited to Rebel and above.

New for 2023 Ram offers a frameless 12-in fully digital, reconfigurable cluster, but it rides on upper-trim packages; the volume Big Horn keeps analog gauges with a 3.5-in or 7-in center display.

Uconnect 5 receives over-the-air infotainment/connectivity updates, not whole-vehicle feature updates.

The Ram/Uconnect app covers remote start, lock and vehicle finder, but connected services are subscription-gated after a trial and there is no phone-as-key.

Front USB-A/C plus rear 2.5-amp USB and front/rear 115V outlets fed by a 400W inverter come in Big Horn Level 2; wireless charging is limited to bucket-seat upper-trim packages.

Remote start comes with Big Horn Level 2; proximity keyless entry spreads up the range on higher trims and packages, but there is no phone-as-key.

Rear camera with dynamic gridlines is standard and front/rear ParkSense is a Big Horn option, but the Surround View camera and auto-park are Laramie-and-up Advanced Safety Group items.

For 2023 the HUD is offered in the Advanced Technology Group from Big Horn up, a wider availability than 2022's Limited-only HUD, though it is a stacked-option add.

Huge rear-door openings and 45.2 in of rear legroom make rear-facing seats easy, but IIHS rates LATCH ease of use Marginal and the tall step-in is hard for small kids.

NHTSA 5-star overall and a 2023 IIHS Top Safety Pick (with optional equipment), but the updated moderate-overlap test is Poor for the rear passenger and automatic emergency braking is not standard on the Big Horn volume trim; Rear-seat Reminder Alert is newly standard.

Class-leading rear space, available reclining/heated/ventilated rear seats, a superb ride and a quiet cabin make it a strong family tourer; luggage rides in an open bed unless covered or in RamBox.

Smooth eTorque stop-start, a compliant ride and light steering make it relaxed in traffic; sheer size is the main fatigue factor.

19 MPG combined for the volume 5.7L HEMI 4x4 (21 with the V6) on midgrade fuel is typical of gas full-size trucks — expensive to commute in.

A full-size, 144.6-in-wheelbase crew cab with a 46.2-ft turning circle; Surround View is not offered on Big Horn, only front/rear ParkSense.

Up to 12,750 lb towing and 2,300 lb payload with the HEMI, plus a 12,560-lb EcoDiesel option in its final year, cover most work; trails F-150/Silverado maximum tow figures.

Proven HEMI and Pentastar powertrains in the fifth year of the DT platform, but the comfort-tuned coil rear and eTorque/air-suspension complexity are less fleet-proven than leaf-spring rivals.

RamBox, relocatable anchor points, adjustable tie-downs, a multifunction tailgate with step and a 400W inverter with 115V outlets help, but there is no Pro Power-style high-output generator.

Segment-best ride and a quiet cabin make a fine tourer; range is ~440–490 mi on the 23/26-gal tanks (627 with the optional 33-gal), adaptive cruise is package-gated and there is no hands-free assist.

4x4 with strong towing for campers and boats; Rebel (with the new G/T package) and TRX add real off-road hardware, while the volume Big Horn 4x4 offers an Off-road Group and Back Country package.

An open 53.9 cu ft bed swallows bulky gear, supplemented by in-floor cabin bins and RamBox, though luggage is weather-exposed without a cover.

The coil-sprung rear and good body control make it composed for a full-size truck, though it never hides its 5,000+ lb mass.

Electric steering (16.3:1, 3.1 turns lock-to-lock) is light and predictable but offers little feedback.

Four-wheel discs give predictable stops, with stopping distances typical of a heavy full-size pickup.

eTorque makes engine stop/start nearly seamless and fills in low-end torque; the 8-speed TorqueFlite shifts smoothly.

The HEMI's V8 burble is pleasant and well isolated at cruise, with active noise cancellation keeping cylinder-deactivation drone down.

Average turning circle for a short-box crew-cab full-size truck.

A commanding, adjustable driving position with power-adjustable pedals in Big Horn Level 1 and logically placed physical controls; the rotary shifter frees console space.

The HEMI V8 sound adds character, but the volume Big Horn is a comfort-first cruiser; the 702-hp TRX is the enthusiast outlier.

The Tradesman is a spartan work trim (small Uconnect screen, steel wheels, vinyl floor available). The volume Big Horn adds the 8.4-inch Uconnect 4 with CarPlay/Android Auto, LED lighting and the 3.6L eTorque mild hybrid, which is competitive with an F-150 XLT or Silverado LT.

A Big Horn Crew Cab with the HEMI V8 still available delivers the class's best ride and cabin. Widespread 10%-off and cash offers through 2023 brought transaction prices well under sticker, but sticker prices rose sharply over the year and weak resale offsets part of the value.

Tradesman, HFE, Big Horn/Lone Star, Laramie, Rebel, Limited, Limited Longhorn and the TRX span from about $38k to over $90k. Engines include the eTorque V6, HEMI V8 (with or without eTorque), 3.0L EcoDiesel and supercharged 6.2L, in Quad/Crew cab, two box lengths and 4x2/4x4. The only gap is the lack of a regular cab, which the Ram 1500 Classic covers.

Ram is the third-best-selling full-size pickup line and a top-five US nameplate. Pickup sales slipped 5% in 2023 while Ford and GM grew, so Ram lost share.

Ram has strong aspirational equity (Limited, TRX), a loyal HEMI following and the segment's most praised interiors. Below-average brand reliability rankings and residuals trailing Ford, GM and Toyota pull it back.

Ram carried the deepest full-size truck inventory in 2023 and leaned on incentives. Public 10%-off-MSRP offers, cash back and low-APR financing were common, and buyers could easily negotiate below sticker.

2023 is the fifth year of the fifth-generation (DT) Ram 1500 that began with MY2019, so it is mid-cycle and still class-competitive. The major 2025 refresh (Hurricane I6, larger screens, HEMI dropped) was already announced, which ages a 2023 purchase.

The 2023 Ram 1500 made Car and Driver's 10Best for the fifth consecutive year. Reviewers consistently rate its ride and interior best in class, though reliability ratings remain middling.