It’s amazing what can change in three years. Flash back to 2023, and Ram was getting ready to nix the V8 entirely from its half-ton lineup. Dodge was discontinuing the lairy Charger and Challenger for a new EV-first model, and it felt like the party had finally died at Auburn Hills. Turns out, someone stashed a keg in the basement and now that Carlos Tavares is gone, it’s keg stands for everyone. Welcome to the 2027 Ram 1500 Rumble Bee, the closest thing to a brand new Charger Hellcat you can buy.
While Ram did co-release the Fox Factory Vehicles-built 650-horsepower 1500 Direct Connection street truck back in October, that thing was something of a teaser. This Rumble Bee is anything but; this is Ram going hog-deep into the street truck market with the heart of an absolute beast.
Specifically, the Rumble Bee SRT gets a 6.2-liter Hellcat supercharged V8 boosted to 777 horsepower, same as in the revived TRX. Ram claims zero-to-60 mph in 3.4 seconds, the quarter-mile in 11.6 seconds at 116 MPH, and a top speed of 170 MPH. As far as I can tell, this makes the Rumble Bee SRT the fastest production pickup truck in the world. Boom! Doesn’t that just make you want to teach a bald eagle to chain-smoke Marlboros?
Mind you, even though Ram hasn’t released pricing, the Rumble Bee SRT is going to be expensive. Thank goodness there are two more powertrains to choose from. That’s right, you’ll be able to get the Rumble Bee with either the 395-horsepower 5.7-liter V8 from the regular Ram 1500 or a 470-horsepower 6.4-liter naturally aspirated V8 that you might remember from the Dodge Challenger Scat Pack.
Although the former is more show than go with a claimed zero-to-60 mph time of 6.1 seconds, the 392 model should do the dash in 5.2 seconds. That’s more like it. Oh, and regardless of which engine you choose, you can lock the Rumble Bee in rear-wheel-drive should you wish to turn up to your local sanctioned burnout competition and cord a set of rear tires, or do a burnout before lining up for a four-wheel-drive launch down the drag strip.
If you want to go around corners, you’ll want to step up to the Rumble Bee 392 Scat Pack or the Rumble Bee SRT. Both those trims gain air springs, Bilstein adaptive dampers, a dedicated track mode that allows a little slip, 325-section rear tires, and enormous 16.1-inch front discs clamped by six-piston calipers. Given the sheer mass of the thing and all-season tires, a claimed 0.89g around the skid pad is entirely respectable. Oh, and while an asymmetric limited-slip differential will be available on naturally aspirated models, later on, the 392 Track Pack and SRT trims get a push-button rear locker for truly silly slides.
Now granted, some of you will be disappointed that the new Rumble Bee isn’t a regular cab short-bed special like the last Rumble Bee, which was available in 2004 and 2005. I hear you, but Ram has done some serious work here. It started with a Quad Cab (that’s Ram parlance for extended cab) model then chopped 13 inches out of the frame right behind the B-pillars. The result is a claimed 10 percent reduction in frame flex and the next-closest thing to an RCSB truck out there, an extended cab short (five-foot seven-inch) bed model. From there, Ram added a proper set of overfenders that boost overall width to 88 inches, bolted on a set of 22-inch wheels, and dropped the thing low. On top of that, Rumble Bee 392 Track and SRT models get an actual street truck body kit, with the SRT also gaining 325-section rear tires. If the opening riff to “Kickstart My Heart” didn’t play in your head as soon as you saw this thing, I don’t know what to tell you.
If you’re looking for something sensible in this sea of glorious madness, something that might make this a legitimate business vehicle, you’re in luck. Unlike the endearingly unhinged Ram SRT-10 of the mid-aughts, the new Rumble Bee is still rated to be used as a truck. We’re talking up to 8,890 pounds of towing capacity and up to 1,160 pounds of payload capacity, so you could theoretically tow your Viper to the track in a Rumble Bee SRT. Or pull around lawncare equipment. Or whatever.
Plus, you can pretty much have a Rumble Bee as fancy or as basic as you like. The cheapest trims come with manual cloth seats, whereas loaded examples get a 19-speaker Harman Kardon sound system, suede and leather upholstery, a 14.5-inch infotainment screen, and carbon fiber trim. It seems like Ram’s targeting street truck lovers with all sorts of budgets, which bodes well for actually seeing these things in the wild.
Actually, the first Ram 1500 Rumble Bees you see will be the slow ones. The 5.7-liter V8 model will arrive in showrooms by the end of the year, with the 6.4-liter and Hellcat-powered SRT models coming in the first half of 2027. On first glance, it’s going to be worth the wait. Yeah it’s wasteful, yeah it’s unnecessary, yeah it’s ridiculous and outrageous and probably an indictment of the genre. And you know what? I love it. Street trucks are so back, baby.
Top graphic image: Ram
“Unlike the endearingly unhinged Ram SRT-10 of the mid-aughts, the new Rumble Bee is still rated to be used as a truck.“
The Quad Cab SRT-10 could tow, and people towed their Vipers with them. The above statement is true for the Regular Cab though.
The biggest problem I see is that no one will notice if the owners leave the yellow spoiler protectors on.
As happy as I am that someone is finally giving the street truck a chance again, this feels a little bit half-baked IMO. While the fender flares are appropriately ridiculous for something like this, it still looks visually too high off the ground even with the body kit on the yellow one. Also would have loved to see the hurricane as an engine option since I yearn for an XR6 Falcon Ute, but I guess the muh bee 8 motor crowd prevailed.
Not bad, needs a 4 foot chrome spike sticking out the back. What’s a Rumble Bee without a big ass-stinger?
So this is the extended cab, but with the 5′ bed of the crew cab? Chevrolet did that with the GMT800 back in the day
Hopefully this gets enough traction that we get a few other OEMs making sport trucks again.
Would love to see Toyota make a Tacoma X-Runner again, surely the money they make off of TRD Pros from the off-road larpers would cover the losses from all 20 of them that they’d sell.
The no cab picture only shows a FWD truck which is hilarious
Has anyone figured out why this site takes 3 months to load when you are logged-in? If I log-out, it loads like most other sites. Logged-in it is SLOW.
Ew
I love me a good street truck, but this one looks visually half baked. Why doesn’t the yellow one above have aero-skirting on the sides and back to visually lower the car to the same level as that Thanos chin? Also, the wide body fenders on top of already exaggerated fenders looks like some Autozone type upgrades; at least they’re body colored.
All I want to know is when I can test it? I can’t believe I’m in love with a hideous mustard yellow Ram 1500, but I suspect it goes fast enough to outrun its bad looks.
I await your full review!
It’s missing side skirts which make it look like it’s still riding too high. And the rake makes it look like a regular work truck even though it’s never going to see anything in the bed.
I think the Lobo is probably a better street truck than this thing if you’re not a regular at takeovers
Waste of metal.
Anyone know if they finally upgraded oil pumps in all versions of the hemis to stop lifters/cams from failing?
Your comment about the lack of a regular cab is way better than Tim K’s. Yoiu did a great job! Thank you.
Ready for the comments!
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Thanks, worked flagged my attempt to access mature content. 🙁
LOL! It’s Corbert eating popcorn.
It’s even funnier because I have Google in “Safe” mode.