The 2027 Ram Power Wagon Finally Adds A Diesel, But It Loses Other Things: Driven
The new Power Wagon has the looks and the power under the hood, but off-road shoppers might want a bit more.
The lack of a diesel engine option for the Ram Power Wagon has long felt like a missed opportunity. You have a one-ton truck geared up for adventure, but not ready to handle the sort of hauling we’ve come to expect from a heavy-duty 2500 pickup. Ram has finally rectified the issue… but a few compromises had to be made.
For 2027, Ram lets you order up a Power Wagon with the mighty 6.7-liter Cummins turbodiesel inline-six-cylinder engine. When you do that, however, you lose a pair of fairly important pieces to the Power Wagon puzzle. There’s no longer room for a winch with the factory front bumper, and those neat Articulink front control arms go away as well.
Is the Power Wagon with the diesel still a proper Power Wagon, or has it become more of a Ram Rebel Plus? I spent a few days with the truck to figure that out.
The Cummins Diesel Delivers All The Torque
The 6.7-liter diesel mill presents as a bit of a monster. You have nearly seven liters of displacement for six pistons, and the entire package weighs around 1,000 pounds. Total output is rated at 430 horsepower and an absolutely mammoth 1,075 pound-feet of torque.
There’s a beefy eight-speed gearbox sending power out to all four wheels, and this setup can handle hauling up to 19,630 pounds or a payload of 2,930 pounds.
This drivetrain delivers the power wonderfully, too. The truck feels downright spry when you’re cruising around town. It feels like it could rip off a 0-60 mph run in the high fives, even though in reality it’s more likely in the mid-six-second range.
But driving fast is not the mission of the Power Wagon, regardless of which engine you bolt under the hood. When you see the Power Wagon script down the side of the bed of the truck, you can be sure there’s a proper suspension setup and off-road gear bolted in place.
Ram fits the truck with beefy coil-sprung axles, front and rear. Bilstein shocks handle the bouncy bits of the trail. You have electronic locking differentials in both axles, and the front end gets an electronically disconnecting sway bar for increased articulation.
All of the underbody bits are protected thanks to a full complement of skid plates, even covering the necessary diesel exhaust fluid tank.
Packaging Compromises
But I did mention a few compromises, and it relates to the packaging requirements of that diesel engine.
Because of the room taken up by the mill, there’s no space for the usually standard winch that sits in the front bumper of the gas-powered Power Wagons. You also lose the trick Articulink front-control-arm setup, which gives the gas-powered version greater front-axle freedom without sacrificing on-road comfort.
Ram fits the diesel Power Wagon with 20-inch wheels instead of the smaller-diameter 17-inch units. Still, the diesel version does get a nearly 34-inch tire. All told, however, the off-road dynamics suffer compared to the gas version of the truck.
Because of the room taken up by the mill, there’s no space for the usually standard winch that sits in the front bumper of the gas-powered Power Wagons.
You lose an inch of ground clearance, 14.2 inches for the gas truck versus 13.2 inches on the diesel Power Wagon. Departure angles remain equal at 26 degrees, but breakover and approach angles are worse by 0.6 and 3.4 degrees, respectively.
It seems the diesel-fed Power Wagon represents a compromise in the lineup. You get tremendous towing capability and still have strong off-road ability, but you’re definitely losing some of the features that Power Wagon owners typically enjoy.
The good news is that the interior remains best in class for the truck segment. A 12-inch center screen comes standard, but the optional 14.4-inch screen is part of the Level 2 Equipment Group and works well with Uconnect 5.
Check the box for that upgrade, and you also get dual wireless chargers, leather trim, heated and ventilated front seats, power-folding and telescoping side mirrors, and the audio system bumps up from a nine-speaker Alpine setup to a 17-speaker Harman Kardon system.
The Steering Feel Is Way Too Light
Once you put that mondo mill in the nose, you’re also putting a serious amount of weight over the front end. As a result, Ram has tuned the steering to be extremely light and yet also quite lazy.
The laziness can be a boon when you’re towing and don’t want to overcook either slow or high-speed maneuvers with a massive trailer or fifth wheel behind you. The lightness can be a nice feature when you’re trying to navigate your local Whole Foods parking lot. But put the two together and the resulting handling feel leaves a bit to be desired.
A truck like this needs a hefty tiller so you have a sense of what you’re controlling, and that’s not the case here, unfortunately.
The lightness can be a nice feature when you’re trying to navigate your local Whole Foods parking lot. But put the two together and the resulting handling feel leaves a bit to be desired.
The suspension and tire package deliver a comfortable on-road driving experience. But the steering weight feels out of place on a one-ton pickup. Everything else, however, feels rather nicely sorted.
The 14.2-inch front and 14.1-inch rear brakes haul in speed without any drama, the beefed-up eight-speed Torqueflite gearbox dispatches shifts smoothly and at low rpm, and the truck doesn’t bounce around regardless of whether you’ve got a heavy load on the back or are cruising around unladen.
The Diesel Is Seriously Expensive
If you can overlook the missing Power Wagon features, your final obstacle to diesel glory is cost. A gas V8 Power Wagon starts just over $76,000. Click the button to spec the Cummins diesel, and you instantly add $12,995 to the bottom line.
The version you see here? It sits at $103,395.
Six figures, as tested, is quite a hefty ask for something that feels like either a Rebel with extra features or a Power Wagon missing some options. There’s absolutely no denying the fact that the diesel engine is an awesome upgrade for this truck. But it’s a shame that Ram had to shed some items to make it happen… and then ask you to pay an incredible amount of money for the resulting truck.
Verdict: Good Truck, OK Power Wagon
The diesel Power Wagon certainly fills a hole in the heavy-duty section of the Ram lineup. Still, it’s a bit disappointing that fairly important compromises have to be made. I think both could be solved in the aftermarket, especially the front bumper’s winch compatibility. But when you’re shelling out this much for a rig like this one, you shouldn’t need to leave things off the table.
The truck is definitely a beast, though. There’s no doubt about that. And it certainly looks the part. The Cummins-powered Power Wagon exudes tough truck style. It’s just a shame it feels 95 percent finished.
Competition
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