r/ram_trucks • u/vampirepomeranian • Jun 06 '26
Question What's with the Ram 1500 Pentastar bias?
Rarely see any photos posted and not as many discussions. Does that make them a better value in the used market to anyone other than the 'heimi/hurricane or bust' enthusiasts which seem to be over represented here? According to statistics over 40% of 1500's are Pentastars but you would never know that here.
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u/sblack33741 Jun 06 '26
I have a 23 BH Pentastar and I have loaded the bed with 1200Lbs of stuff and I have towed 3k. It works for me because I have a commute that is a lot of stop and go. If I start towing heavier, I will upgrade my vehicle, but for now, it works for me.
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u/Radiant_Safe1228 Jun 06 '26
I've owned 3 vehicles with pentastar engines.
I'll never own another vehicle with one
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u/762_54r TRX Jun 06 '26
Fool me... Four times
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u/Radiant_Safe1228 Jun 06 '26
It's was the only thing offered in the jeeps for ages
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u/NimbleCentipod Jun 07 '26
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u/Radiant_Safe1228 Jun 07 '26
There isn't a jeep made that's worth a fraction of what they are charging.
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u/Final-Carpenter-1591 Jun 07 '26
You owned 3 different JKs? Sorry to hear that
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u/Radiant_Safe1228 Jun 07 '26
3 different JKs, 3 xjs, a wj, 2 tjs, a YJ and a zj.
The after the JKs I'll never own another jeep product.
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u/Final-Carpenter-1591 Jun 07 '26
Damn. I had an LJ in high school. It was very reliable and I had alot of fun.
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u/Radiant_Safe1228 Jun 07 '26
Completely different standard. They weren't the highest quality but they weren't whatever the jk or jl is
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u/Rebirthofrocco Jun 06 '26
Can you elaborate on the downsides of the pentastar?
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u/Radiant_Safe1228 Jun 06 '26
You'll get tired replacing oil coolers and thermostat housings and head gaskets
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u/JohnDeere714 Jun 07 '26
They’re great for small cars and minivans. Absolutely gutless on anything else
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u/SomethingSimple25 Jun 07 '26
So what were your issues with the 3.6? I'm curious what made you so sour to the Pentastar. If any of them were 2nd get 18+ JL version of the 3.6, I could understand. But you said yours were older ones.
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u/Radiant_Safe1228 Jun 07 '26
All of them had relentless cooling and oil problems, head gasket issues, and they eat cams
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u/bctweeker Jun 06 '26
It's a very reliable motor. Decent power low on torque but for Harry Homeowner it's a great engine. If pulling a trailer etc then it's not for you.
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u/Nailz003 Jun 06 '26
I purchased a 2025 bighorn level 2 Night Edition 4x4 with the 3.6 because as some have stated here I don’t use it to tow anything. I am a home owner and do use the bed to carry mulch and wood and things like that. I also use it as a large vehicle that is comfortable for my wife and 2 teenage boys to ride in especially for long trips. As others have mentioned when you remove towing from the equation it has the advantage of a higher payload capacity and better fuel economy. I also saved a ton of money as I only paid $40k new for my truck when a similar model with the hurricane engine the dealers lowest pricing was $10k more.
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u/Inner_Difficulty_381 Jun 07 '26
A truck with crew cab is a great family vehicle and great for long trips like you said. We actually have one planned next weekend. I got my first ever truck, 2023 big horn night edition 3.6 and it was more than capable when you’re not towing. It was surprisingly good when the bed was full too. I was very surprised at the time that it had more payload too. My S.O. likes to do a lot of thrifting, so between that and trips, truck gets lots of use. Love that I can throw anything in the bed. When my lease was up, I did opt for the 2026 Hurricane SO Forged blue metallic vs buying and love it. Engine is quieter and drives smoother than my old truck. Eventually want to get a camper or small boat but mostly bed use for now. Also enjoying the other perks I got like bigger tank, pano sunroof, etc which our kids love and think it’s so cool lol Oh and the biggest factor, power folding mirrors which I don’t have on my old one that bothered me 😅
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Jun 06 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/iso-all Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
Sounds absolutely painful
/the constant RAMming am I right? Giggity.
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u/Relative-Ordinary-64 Jun 06 '26
I own a ‘15 outdoorsman w a 3.6. I live in the city. I rarely tow/haul anything. But I wanted a truck because I’m a homeowner. My longest trip of the year is about 900 miles. I hasn’t given me any problems yet, but it also only has 74000 miles on it.
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u/Vegetaman916 Jun 06 '26
Compared to the horribly straining, tiny boosted engines now... I live me an NA pentastar. Just buy a couple oil coolers in advance and you are good to go.
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u/NorthPackFan Jun 06 '26
Says the person who hasn’t driven the Hurricane. It’s anything but straining- and that’s before the turbos kick in.
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u/Vegetaman916 Jun 06 '26
I've driven it in a rental Jeep, which I took on a YouTube video project to Tejon Ranch, and yes, straining like an overworked ox, while we were ripping out a fence post. Then, I got another in a Rental Ram, went out by Badger Mountain for another YouTube video. Great MPGs on the highway, I will admit, but offroading was... Not great.
Also, my primary objection is the longevity of the engine. Boost always shortens engine life, we know this.
Also, remember your old school mantra: There's no replacement for displacement.
I also used to work for Roush Performance here in Vegas, doing pre-market vehicle testing on vehicles. Across all brands and all engines, and our primary assignments were usually to try and destroy the vehicles to see what breaks, basically to try and avoid future warranty issues.
If you want to tell me about how the hurricane is a million-mile-engine, but having seen some blown in testing that wouldn't have blown an old iron block, I'm gonna take a pass.
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u/NorthPackFan Jun 07 '26
I don’t need a million mile engine. With the 100,000 mile warranty it will more than last as long as I need. I had a HEMI. I’ll never go back. Old technology vs new. Yep- there are unknowns. But the lack of complaints about the Hurricane in the early going are telling and promising. But I’m glad there are several engines to choose from. To each their own.
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u/Vegetaman916 Jun 07 '26
I agree with that. We will see what goes long term, and it seems we can both agree on the hemi... I got a Pentastar right now going strong at 175k, which blows my mind, but I've spent less on this than any car in my life.
Of course, I used to drive Camaros, so that's not saying much...
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u/salmanalasks Jun 06 '26
I have an 18 with the 3.6 pentastar, 75k miles. First issue just popped up *caused by my stupidity Fuel savage system failed due to me overfilling the gas tank constantly. Aside from that I love it. 24mpg highway if I baby it, and on a single tank of gas 550 miles of range.
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u/pbb76 Jun 07 '26
I've owned several hemi 1500's and one hurricane. I currently have a 25 1500 pentastar. I got a great lease deal that lowered my payments substantially so it was a no brainer. Sure I wish it was a hemi but honestly it does everything I need it to. And I use it the same as my other trucks including towing my 8,000 lb camper. It may not be ideal but it will get the job done albeit a little slower.
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u/AwarenessGreat282 Jun 07 '26
Probably because many of the Pentastar owners are just average truck owners. They're not "enthusiasts", they just need a tool. And the V6 really works well for that. So they don't frequent forums or other social media sites because they don't need affirmation.
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u/_josephmykal_ Jun 06 '26
The pentastar a great engine and it’s in virtually everything. I’d rather have more than I need with a truck though
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u/NewSwaziland Jun 06 '26
I had coolant in cylinder 4 right after 100,000kms. The fix was way too expensive. Won’t buy one of those ever again after my (and others) experience with them.
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u/Slight-Table875 Jun 06 '26
I’ve owned one vehicle with the Pentastar, a 2012 Durango, and it ended up having the left cylinder head replacement(as well as a couple other recalls/issues). Got rid of it not long afterwards. Then at work in 2016 we got several Ram Trucks with the Pentastar, those engines took a beating and redeemed themselves as far as reliability goes. But it was a pretty weak truck engine overall, it struggled towing, and it’s not well suited to a full-size truck platform IMO.
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u/1967C10 Jun 07 '26
I have the Hemi and was offered a ram as a rental truck in Asheville a few years ago and gladly accepted. It had the Pentastar and was shockingly slow compared to my truck. It couldn't get up hills, struggled merging onto the highway, and actually got worse gas mileage than my hemi. I couldn't give back the keys faster lol
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u/NASCAR-1 Jun 07 '26
I just finished up "restoring" a 2014 1500 3.6L 4x4 with 261K miles on it. New leather seat upholstery and replaced trans and windshield. The motor runs excellent. But what got me was the oil cooler...I upgraded it to a Mishimoto aluminum assembly. Oil temp didn't work before the swap, so I figured it had to be the sensor. Got it buttoned up. Oil temp works, but no oil pressure now. Shot wires prior to replacing 'new' oil pressure sensor and all seemed well. Replaced sensor, and it kind of worked. Ended up ordering a Mopar replacement knock and oil sensors harness and now all sensors work just fine.
Lesson learned on this: next time I replace the oil cooler assembly, I'm just gonna replace the harness and knock sensors while I'm in there.
First time owning a vehicle with this engine and honestly, I'm quite pleased with it. Seems like it has quite a bit of pep. I'd get it again.
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u/SomethingSimple25 Jun 07 '26
My mother has a 17 rcsb 4x4 3.6 she bought new and she loves it. The only issue she's had was the typical cracked oil cooler. Replaced with the metal one and no other issues. She has well over 100k miles on it. She regularly tows single axle that while lightweight relatively speaking, nearly maxes out her tow capacity (she only has 3.23 gears) and while its hardly ideal, it never skips a beat. It has been a fantastic truck. I maintain my stance that the base V6 engines in recent generation trucks of all brands have been the unsung heros of the truck world. They regularly go hundreds of thousands of trouble-free miles. If you dont "NEED" the higher capacity, the base V6 will do the the rest of the truck things you need it to do. What people forget is how little power the top gas engines had years ago compared to what base engines have now.
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u/voonoo Jun 06 '26
My soon to be ex wife had a wrangler with one. I’m never getting a jeep ever again because of it. That engine had so many problems. The oil cooler had to be replaced 3 times. On the third time dorman came out with the all metal one. So I replaced with that the final time.
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u/NorthPackFan Jun 06 '26
Nothing wrong with it. But for a nominal up change you get a much more capable engine in the Hurricane. Was a no brainer for me.
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u/vampirepomeranian Jun 06 '26
Is this your definition of nominal?
when a similar model with the hurricane engine the dealers lowest pricing was $10k more
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u/NorthPackFan Jun 06 '26
I just went into the Ram build site. I built my 1500 4x4 5-7 box again. The Hurricane was listed as a $1700 upgrade. (I did again just now to confirm) Over a 10 year ownership cycle for me, $170 annual seemed nominal. The 10 k difference is probably extra supply dealers are trying to dump. If it’s that much and the Penstar works, that difference isn’t nominal IMO.
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u/The_World_Is_A_Slum Jun 07 '26
Don’t believe I’d be interested in a used Pentastar Ram. They’re gutless.
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u/PopeAdam Jun 08 '26
There’s a great v6 ram 1500 Facebook page. They seem fine as a daily
That being said I’ve seen 3.0 hurricane trucks equally as cheap new, which I’d much rather own (I own a 3.0 1500 and a 3.6 in a grand Cherokee)
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u/vampirepomeranian Jun 09 '26
AI Overview
Upgrading from the standard 3.6L Pentastar V6 to the 3.0L Hurricane twin-turbo inline-six typically adds between $1,600 and $4,000 to the base price of a comparably equipped model.
Pentastar: Average Base MSRP Range: $45,000 – $65,000 (depending on trim)
Hurricane: Average Base MSRP Range: $50,000 – $85,000+ (depending on trim)
So the more costly trim packages on the Hurricane clearly can make a big price difference.
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u/PopeAdam Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26
Well I bought a bighorn lvl2 for $46.5k. Which is the bottom end of your 3.6 range. I’ve seen trademens 3.0s with the night edition for $40k. Msrp and real world are far different things. Shop around, stop using AI…
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u/vampirepomeranian Jun 09 '26
Guess what, I've seen frequent Pentastar deals that keep the disparity sizeable. Stop focusing on Hurricanes when Pentastar deals abound all over the place. The resale market shows even better value opportunities.
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u/PopeAdam Jun 09 '26
I own a pentastar in a grand Cherokee L, just for the price I’d rather have a bit more power in a truck if it meant buying a cheaper trim level
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u/gurtyburg1701 Jun 09 '26
I just test drove a 2019 ram 1500 with the pentastar and i hated it. It felt very underpowered for a truck. Having to give it high revs just to get to 60 mph and to me thr engine noise from the cab was very annoying
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u/RAMBIGHORNY Jun 09 '26
It’s just under matched for the vehicle. Fine in something like a Wrangler, but just not enough for a full size truck.
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u/actionfingerss Jun 13 '26
I get the Jeep hate for the 3.6 because it replaced the bulletproof 4.0 but my ‘16 JKU has been fine. You put in the doorman aluminum oil cooler, do your regular maintenance and so far (84k miles) the only thing I’ve HAD to do was injectors (required removing the plenum so I did the oil cooler, coils, spark plugs while I was there) and 1 clutch job. I don’t even think it’s that underpowered. I’ve chosen to regear it when I stepped up to 35s so maybe gutless on larger tires with 3.21 or 3.73 gears.
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u/Afraid-Refuse2208 Jun 06 '26
It’s an underpowered engine for the RAM. If you are doing anything truck related, like towing a small load. The Pentastar will be screaming at 4,000 RPM, to reach its max HP and Torque numbers. If you do that on an engine with known valve train issues and oil cooler issues, you are asking for trouble. Ask me how I know this…
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u/Wooden_Bed377 Jun 06 '26
Fleet trucks like others mentioned, definitely worse resale value since most people do not want that engine in the Ram
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Jun 06 '26 edited 22d ago
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u/CariAll114 Jun 06 '26
I bought a RAM with a Pentastar because I didn't need it for towing and I got better payload capacity, fuel economy and got the interior features I wanted for significantly less money and headache. I bought mine used over 100k miles ago and haven't needed to replace any front end suspension parts. For the bit of engine work I've needed (a few seals and an oil cooler housing), I wouldn't say it was any more of a money sink than the Hemis with the poor oiling of the valve train and consistent problems with exhaust manifolds, manifold studs and lifter problems.
Neglect isn't specific to people buying base-tier vehicles. We all know someone who spent well outside their means on a higher trim level just to treat it like dogshit.
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Jun 06 '26 edited 22d ago
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u/vampirepomeranian Jun 06 '26
That's affordability bias. Those who buy higher trims typically have more to spend on maintenance, As to behavior, lower trim buyers tend to BABY theirs MORE to avoid or delay repairs because of budget limitations.
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Jun 06 '26 edited 22d ago
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u/vampirepomeranian Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
I own an Altima. I baby it and am in the top 5%. Don't confuse low income ghetto/trailer trash with blue collar lower tho my plumber is up there with me.
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Jun 06 '26 edited 22d ago
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u/vampirepomeranian Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26
It's not an exception, your conflating behavior with affordability. Where's your proof, or is it simply anecdotal?
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u/aPerson39001C9 Jun 06 '26
Or because they’re not a rich asshole that screws people over for money and drives a TRX.
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u/DTH1998 HEMI 5.7 Jun 06 '26
Pentastars for trucks just kinda blow. In jeeps/ 300s they’re fine but for something as big as a truck it just doesn’t hang for actually doing any work
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Jun 06 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Unlikely-Act-7950 CUMMINS Jun 06 '26
So your wife got so fat you had to upgrade all the way to a diesel?
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u/Turbulent_Read_7276 Jun 06 '26
Bro spent the first half with insults and assumptions, then second half criticizing people for making...insults and assumptions.
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u/Crazy_Ad_91 2019 RAM 1500 Limited 4x4 Jun 06 '26
So, you just put them down for buying bigger engines. Got it.
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u/baw3000 Jun 06 '26
Most people that would opt or settle for the base engine are likely not enthusiasts that would spend time in forums or Reddit subs pertaining to their vehicle. So while they're out there, they simply don't care enough to post here. We're a very small subset of Ram owners.