Now that I’ve had my 2020 Ram 2500 Laramie Longhorn for a year and covered 10,000 miles I thought it’s time for a quick review of the truck, and how it met, exceeded, or didn’t meet my expectations. Overall the bottom line is I really want to like the truck, but there are enough negatives that I can’t say I would recommend that someone buy one.
So let’s start with the positives:
Exterior – the truck looks awesome. Easily the best looking 2020 truck out there. Much better than the Ford or GMC options (and let’s not get started on Chevy). The Delmonico red really pops, and overall it’s a clean look. I love the grille that comes with the Longhorn over the cheese grater on the Limited. I also like just having a simple tail gate without all the add ons that the GMC has, or all the bumper bed steps on the other trucks. The hidden bed step just works, and keeps everything looking clean. The self retracting running boards are great – having the non retracting version, I couldn’t do without the self retracting ones.
Interior – of course this is where the Ram shines over the other brands. The infotainment screen is huge, clear and for the most part works pretty well. I like how you can split the screen in two, and have navigation on the top, and media on the bottom or however you want to configure it – there is a ton of configurations so you can set it up however you want. I really like how the center storage console is set up – it works very well. Lots of USB charging ports etc. Cup holders work well, and are well placed. There is leather everywhere including the dash. The seat heaters and ventilators seem to work well, although the seat ventilators on full are pretty noisy. The megacab is a killer option. The center seat is a full sized seat, and the storage behind the rear seats is great when you have a full load of passengers to store laptops bags, coats etc.
Drivetrain – I have the 6.7L Cummins diesel – this thing pulls like a freight train. Going up and down mountain passes, it doesn’t miss a beat. You really can forget that you’re hauling. The towing tech works very well – blind spot detection with the trailer on is great. The exhaust brake makes going downhill a complete non event.
Negatives
Exterior – right after I picked up the truck and was driving it home I passed an 18 wheeler going the opposite direction – the hood vibrated and flapped up and down so much I thought it was going to fly off. With other reports of it filling with water, the hood appears to be a poor design. Paint quality is not great – I had the truck ceramic coated, and hand wash it only, and it seems to pick up swirls in the paint too easily. I also managed somehow to get a small dent on the side of the truck bed – no idea how that happened.
Interior – this is probably where I ended up being the most disappointed. The lack of adjustment of the steering wheel in and out is sorely missed. You can adjust the pedals, but my right knee seems to keep banging against the 4 wheel drive selector which seems to stick out. Speaking of the steering wheel, the power steering is way over assisted on the freeway. There’s really not much feel of the road at all. I drove an F250 back to back with the Ram, and it was much better. A little heavier and much less likely to veer off line than the Ram. The other really disappointing thing with the interior is how uncomfortable the seats are for anything longer than about a ½ hour drive. They are basically the equivalent of a bench seat. No thigh support, and you can’t adjust seat bottom up at the front enough to give you that support. My butt keeps falling asleep and I have to keep shifting around on long trips. The seat leather also seems to pick up dirt and becomes discolored pretty quickly at the side where you’re getting in and out of the truck. One negative about the infotainment set up is all the seat heater/ventilation and steering wheel heater is controlled through the touch screen – some buttons would be nice.
Drivetrain – I was one of the lucky ones to have the CP4 failure. The Ram dealership where it was repaired seemed to treat it like it was no big deal. Now I don’t feel like I can trust the truck to get me home. I use a fuel additive on every fill up so hopefully it won’t fail again. The transmission seems to work well enough, however shifting from drive to reverse and back seems really clunky – the truck shudders and lurches every time.
So overall I think the 2500 Ram truck is currently still the better truck than the competition (CP4 failure not withstanding which seems to have been resolved in the 2021s). However if Ford comes out with an F250 with a much improved interior (something along the lines of their F150 interior) then I’d have to really consider making the switch since the steering and comfort is just that much better than in the Ram.
So let’s start with the positives:
Exterior – the truck looks awesome. Easily the best looking 2020 truck out there. Much better than the Ford or GMC options (and let’s not get started on Chevy). The Delmonico red really pops, and overall it’s a clean look. I love the grille that comes with the Longhorn over the cheese grater on the Limited. I also like just having a simple tail gate without all the add ons that the GMC has, or all the bumper bed steps on the other trucks. The hidden bed step just works, and keeps everything looking clean. The self retracting running boards are great – having the non retracting version, I couldn’t do without the self retracting ones.
Interior – of course this is where the Ram shines over the other brands. The infotainment screen is huge, clear and for the most part works pretty well. I like how you can split the screen in two, and have navigation on the top, and media on the bottom or however you want to configure it – there is a ton of configurations so you can set it up however you want. I really like how the center storage console is set up – it works very well. Lots of USB charging ports etc. Cup holders work well, and are well placed. There is leather everywhere including the dash. The seat heaters and ventilators seem to work well, although the seat ventilators on full are pretty noisy. The megacab is a killer option. The center seat is a full sized seat, and the storage behind the rear seats is great when you have a full load of passengers to store laptops bags, coats etc.
Drivetrain – I have the 6.7L Cummins diesel – this thing pulls like a freight train. Going up and down mountain passes, it doesn’t miss a beat. You really can forget that you’re hauling. The towing tech works very well – blind spot detection with the trailer on is great. The exhaust brake makes going downhill a complete non event.
Negatives
Exterior – right after I picked up the truck and was driving it home I passed an 18 wheeler going the opposite direction – the hood vibrated and flapped up and down so much I thought it was going to fly off. With other reports of it filling with water, the hood appears to be a poor design. Paint quality is not great – I had the truck ceramic coated, and hand wash it only, and it seems to pick up swirls in the paint too easily. I also managed somehow to get a small dent on the side of the truck bed – no idea how that happened.
Interior – this is probably where I ended up being the most disappointed. The lack of adjustment of the steering wheel in and out is sorely missed. You can adjust the pedals, but my right knee seems to keep banging against the 4 wheel drive selector which seems to stick out. Speaking of the steering wheel, the power steering is way over assisted on the freeway. There’s really not much feel of the road at all. I drove an F250 back to back with the Ram, and it was much better. A little heavier and much less likely to veer off line than the Ram. The other really disappointing thing with the interior is how uncomfortable the seats are for anything longer than about a ½ hour drive. They are basically the equivalent of a bench seat. No thigh support, and you can’t adjust seat bottom up at the front enough to give you that support. My butt keeps falling asleep and I have to keep shifting around on long trips. The seat leather also seems to pick up dirt and becomes discolored pretty quickly at the side where you’re getting in and out of the truck. One negative about the infotainment set up is all the seat heater/ventilation and steering wheel heater is controlled through the touch screen – some buttons would be nice.
Drivetrain – I was one of the lucky ones to have the CP4 failure. The Ram dealership where it was repaired seemed to treat it like it was no big deal. Now I don’t feel like I can trust the truck to get me home. I use a fuel additive on every fill up so hopefully it won’t fail again. The transmission seems to work well enough, however shifting from drive to reverse and back seems really clunky – the truck shudders and lurches every time.
So overall I think the 2500 Ram truck is currently still the better truck than the competition (CP4 failure not withstanding which seems to have been resolved in the 2021s). However if Ford comes out with an F250 with a much improved interior (something along the lines of their F150 interior) then I’d have to really consider making the switch since the steering and comfort is just that much better than in the Ram.
