New Ram Rebel 3.0 Hurricane VS 2016 Tundra OR

So I have the new Ram Rebel with the 3.0 Hurricane motor for probably a week as a rental. My wife’s 2024 Ford Maverick has a problem with connectivity and needs a new modem. The dealer is a two hour drive away so they were kind enough to rent a vehicle for me to get home and leave the Maverick there. The only vehicle they had available was a 2025 Ram Rebel with the 3.0 Hurricane motor. All the reviews I read were that it was a game changer. I’m not impressed. I expected something more substantial than my 5.7l motor but I really couldn’t tell that much of a difference. Maybe a touch more at higher rpm’s but nothing to write home about. I thought maybe the truck had the old 5.7l Hemi engine and had to check when I got home. Interior was very nice with a mind boggling amount of tech but the seats were not as comfortable as my Tundra leather seats. Looking at the payload numbers it surprised me to see 1600lbs for the Ram and 1300lbs for the Tundra but the Tundra’s axle ratings are higher and the overall GVWR is higher on the Tundra but it’s very close. On the way home with the Rebel I was cruising about 70mph and notice a black bear to my left that decided to spring across the road in front of the truck. I stood on the brakes and I wasn’t impressed. Just missed the bear. My Tundra brakes are much better and I’m thinking that the four piston calipers give it an advantage.

MPG on the way home was 21 for the Rebel. The same road and the same speed I see about 18-19mpg for the Tundra.

2025 Ram Rebel


2016 Tundra OR


Rebel specs



Tundra specs

 

I had a Rebel rental in OK and really liked the interior and feel of the truck. I wouldn’t own one though because of their reliability reputation. Plenty of videos of major quality issues and electrical problems.

 

Yes it does drive well. Lots of soft touch areas unlike the Tundra. I was testing the lane keep assist on the way home and I let the truck drive itself by keeping my hand off the wheel. I guess the truck thought I was falling asleep because it jerks the wheel hard enough to shake the truck to wake you up. Scared the crap out of me.

 

That's interesting. I've been told the Hurricane isn the next best thing to sliced bread and honestly, I was hoping the new tundra had a turbo straight six in it but around 4.0L. I'm still very partial to my 5.7 but I would have thought the turbo Hurricane would have scooted right along past it based on what automotive press has said about it - a few of which are somewhat credible.

Brakes, though... that was one of the BIG reasons I bought my tundra to begin with - exceptional factory brakes, compared to the mediocre or downright abysmal factory brakes on most every other vehicle I've owned.

 

I was expecting a lot more considering the hype over the Hurricane motor and the 80K price tag for the truck. I forgot to mention that the engine sound is not even close to the 5.7l under full throttle. The Hurricane motor sounds about the same as my wife’s hybrid Maverick.

 

Hook to an 8k trailer and I guarantee that the Hurricane would out preform the 5.7 in the same way a 3.5 Ecoboost does.

Drive one with the HO and it will would be embarrassing for the Tundra...lol.

Also, the Hurricane is a second faster 0-60 than the 5.7 Tundra, which is pretty noticeable.

 

If the real world numbers are 1 second faster to 60, I’m sorry but I’m not feeling it. As far as towing, I would rather have a NA 5.7l towing than a boosted 3.0l twin turbo any day. The 5.7l would be a less stressed motor so I would question the Hurricane’s durability.

 

Lol... the 3.0 is not stressed in anyway. It's literally built to be a truck motor and tow. The only way our 5.7s can make more power is to turn more RPMs, the Hurricane simply uses more boost and makes more TQ.

FWIW: my 5.7 struggles towing at times when my ecoboost never did. It's not even a comparison when you add a 6% grade and a 4k in altitude.

 

One of the supervisors at work got one of these hurricanes engine, in January 2025 he was on his way to Manitoba, he was pulling over for a piss but pulled too much to the right and got stuck, as he’s trying to get himself out the engine shut off and couldn’t get it started and never could. To this day it’s still at the dealership in Indian Head, Saskatchewan figuring out what’s wrong with it.


On a side note @Ruggybuggy have you dried checking the engine oil on that thing yet?

 

LOL, yeah I looked for the dipstick to see that you read the level in the instrument cluster. Small world, the Rebel rental is from Steinbach MB.

 

Unless your buying a 3/4 or 1 ton there is no reason to buy a different truck IMO.

The mods to modernize ours or add power are easy bolt ons. Expensive, but cheaper than a depreciating new car.

 

Agree ... Tundra's 5.7 is a dog in those towing conditions.

 

I think with a better geared transmission the Tundra 5.7 would have towed better than it did in the places it struggled. When I would watch TFLs Ike videos the Ram with the Hemi always made the 8 minute timer with the 8 speed better than the Tundras 5.7 did that I remember. Yes these now Twin Turbo 6s will tow at a lower RPM and handle the struggles better than the Tundra V8 but it and most of the other V8s are still in my opinion not horrible. While not confirmed I am reading a lot of confidence the Hemi is coming back too. Apparently Ram 1500 and Dodge customers are not taking the loss of it very well. So I am out of intrigue and curiosity have been paying attention to that. Despite the bigger numbers they yearn for the Hemi.

 

I wish Toyota would have stuck a 10 speed behind the 5.7, it would have made a big difference. When ford stuck one behind the 5.0 it made it muuuch better.

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R9jaOROeYII&pp=ygUaVHVuZHJhIHBlbmR1bHVtIGNvbW1lcmNpYWw=

 

Anytime you boost an engine you’re stressing it more than a NA engine. When you pack more fuel and air into a smaller displacement engine which has performance levels equal or greater to a larger displacement V8 engine you are simply going to wear cylinders more on the thrust side of the cylinders. Put that motor under the stress of pulling a heavy load and at lower rpm’s with increase cylinders pressures and the result will be increased wear.

You are correct that a boosted engine will always perform better than a NA engine at altitude.

 

…but at least you will get there.

 

I musta got a good one, then. No qualms with stock towing ability up 6-10% grades at 6-7k ft with 7-10k+ lbs. Sure it works the truck, but not even close to being a dog. Try doing that with an ‘85 chevy with all the smoggity goodness intact and you will know what a dog is… ha. I also don’t have issues with overheating or intercooler condensation fouling the motor like my 3.5EB friends do pulling 7k lbs at altitude

I don’t run unnecessarily oversized tires to impress kids at the mall, so that helps too I guess. Nor do I use cruise control in the hills to let the truck figure out what I want it to do.

Though, I wouldn’t have minded one bit if Toyota had dropped a turbo straight six like the hurricane in the new tundras, but displacing around 4 liters. I’d most likely be driving one. 7 psi gets you to 5.7 HP levels; 14 psi gets you to raptor R HP levels; 21 psi (which I think is what the EB and Hurricane will push) gets you in to TRx territory. Straight six for more journal bearings and smoother balance, slightly larger displacement than these small v6’s for less stress and more torque. But that’s just wishful thinking…

 

Steinbach!?!? Now that's the first time I've read that word on this forum lol. That's where I live!

 

Lol... once again - they are built to handle the stress.

 

*at any altitude. A bone stock Ecoboost out pulls the 5.7 under any conditions. I've owned and towed with both, as has my father. The 5.7 tows well, the smaller turbocharged motors tow better.

I know you are biased against anything new and not toyota... and you will come up with a litany of excuses to justify the Tundra being better...but you have to give credit where credit due - the new motors do it better

 

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The no dipstick and having to rely on RAM's crap electronics to read the oil level is a hard no for me. There are already reported sensor issues, so you can imagine, it has already caused overfill situations.

 

Looks pretty similar to most modern trucks.

 

The pro boosted v6 crowd says, "this feels so effortless."
The pro v8 crowd says, "this truck will last longer doing the same jobs."

You're both right. At the end of the day, which is more important to you?

Spending some time at the Ram forum cured me of my Power Wagon curiosity in a hurry.

 

I was excited with the ZF transmission and Cummins, but these electrical issues and the Cummins hydraulic lifters have turned me off.

if I had to switch, probably one of the Fugly Ford Superduties. The front end looks so bad though. Would have to get used to throwing up in my mouth each time I hit the parking lot.

 

Two of my buddies have 6.7L F350s. One has the Tremor package. Minimal issues. Their trucks are newer than mine, and they've still been back to the Ford dealer more times than I've been back to Toyota (0, lol).

The Tremor did pretty well off-road with us last weekend. I'm paying attention to the HD market. Safe to say this is my last half ton. Problem is, it's going to last forever

 

Same... I was/am all in on Ram... but lately I am looking at those stupid GM's that i swore off years ago. Hoping the Tundra makes it a non issue for years to come.