Dodge Ram

The Dodge Ram is a 2-door regular cab / 2-door extended cab / 4-door crew cab from Dodge, built from 1980, in the age of turbocharging and the first electronic engine management. Under the bonnet: 225 cuin slant-6 I6.

The story

The Ram pickup (marketed as the Dodge Ram until 2010 when Ram Trucks was spun-off from Dodge) is a full-size pickup truck manufactured by Stellantis North America (formerly Chrysler Group LLC and FCA US LLC) and marketed from 2010 onwards under the Ram Trucks brand. The current fifth-generation Ram debuted at the 2018 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, in January of that year.

Previously, Ram was part of the Dodge line of light trucks. The Ram name was introduced in October 1980 for model year 1981, when the Dodge D series pickup trucks and B series vans were rebranded, though the company had used a ram's-head hood ornament on some trucks as early as 1933. Ram trucks have been named Motor Trend magazine's Truck of the Year eight times; the second-generation Ram won the award in 1994, the third-generation Ram heavy-duty won the award in 2003, the fourth-generation Ram Heavy Duty won in 2010 and the fourth-generation Ram 1500 won in 2013 and 2014, and the current fifth-generation Ram pickup became the first truck in history to win the award four times, winning in 2019, 2020, 2021 and most recently, 2025.

What is underneath

Power comes from 225 cuin slant-6 I6; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. It shifts through a 3- or 4-speed Torqueflite automatic / 4- or 5-speed manual. The wheelbase is Regular cab/6.5' bed: / 115 in / Regular cab/8' bed: / 131 in / Club Cab/6.5' bed: / 133 in / Club Cab/8' bed: / 149 in / Crew cab/8' bed: / 165 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.

Its place in the line

Its family tree is legible: it took over from the Dodge D series. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Audi Quattro, the DeLorean Motor Company DeLorean DMC-12, the Mitsubishi Pajero — show what else the money bought that year. Nearby in the Dodge catalogue sit the Dodge 1500 and the 1955 Dodge.

What it costs now

The money question first: $13,200–$20,800 is the typical asking range today, and running it — fuel and maintenance at its age — costs about $5,440–$7,145 a year. Insurance sits around $1,180–$1,730 a year. The figures are class-level estimates from the federal record, with the formula on the methodology page; the model-year pages carry complaints, recalls and repair costs year by year.