Need help Deciding between 1500 Outdoorsman vs 2500 Powerwagon

I'm finally about to pull the trigger on a new truck after my previous Ram took a nosedive into a Pontiac G8.

I've narrowed it down to two trucks: a 1500 Hemi Outdoorsman and a Tradesman Powerwagon. Built both on the ' build and price section ' on Rams website and with the options I want the outdoorsman comes to 44.2k while the wagon comes to 45.5k, with similar options between the two as I can get em, with slight differences.

I'll have to special order whichever one I decide, and with a fleet discount I should get either one for 1% less than dealer invoice.

I hunt and fish quite a bit, and sling mud whenever I get the chance. My main hangup is the fuel economy difference between the 5.7 Hemi with the 8spd and 3.92 gears and the 6.4 6spd with 4.10s. Hemi is quoted at 20ish hwy, but I see nothing about the 6.4. I can swallow a 3 mpg drop to gain the off road performance, but is the best the wagon does is 13-15 hwy, that's a lot of fuel to think about. One pro with the wagon is that I wouldn't be tempted to lift it like I would with the lower 1500.

Any input would be great, thank tall in advance!

Get the powerwagon, you get alot of bang for your buck. some would say you may never need the winch or lockers. but i say it's better to have them and not need it than need it and not have it.

Yeah any mpg penalty is negated by the sheer awesomeness and effectiveness of a powerwagon.

Ghost270 said:

I'm finally about to pull the trigger on a new truck after my previous Ram took a nosedive into a Pontiac G8.

I've narrowed it down to two trucks: a 1500 Hemi Outdoorsman and a Tradesman Powerwagon. Built both on the ' build and price section ' on Rams website and with the options I want the outdoorsman comes to 44.2k while the wagon comes to 45.5k, with similar options between the two as I can get em, with slight differences.

I'll have to special order whichever one I decide, and with a fleet discount I should get either one for 1% less than dealer invoice.

I hunt and fish quite a bit, and sling mud whenever I get the chance. My main hangup is the fuel economy difference between the 5.7 Hemi with the 8spd and 3.92 gears and the 6.4 6spd with 4.10s. Hemi is quoted at 20ish hwy, but I see nothing about the 6.4. I can swallow a 3 mpg drop to gain the off road performance, but is the best the wagon does is 13-15 hwy, that's a lot of fuel to think about. One pro with the wagon is that I wouldn't be tempted to lift it like I would with the lower 1500.

Any input would be great, thank tall in advance!

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do you tow haul or work teh bed of yoru truck very often?

If so, 2500.
If not, 1500.

Buy the truck that fits yoru needs. EIther oen will get aroudn about teh same

I had a '14 1500 with 5.7, 8 spd, and 3.92s. It also was leveled with 35s. Nice truck and would average around 17 mpg day to day with 19 ish on the highway.

I now have a '15 PW. No lift or mods but 35s have been added. I've only got about 4k miles now but I'm lucky to be averaging 12.5 mpg or so. Highway doesn't really see any better. Long stretches of 55 mph will see about 13.5 though.

As a dd, the 1500 was nicer to drive because of the ride and fuel economy and it felt much lighter ( it is). However, it's also not built near as tough with limited choices for traction aides. If you put a bigger bumper and a winch on it you'd have trouble with the front sagging. And it has electric steering which I question it's durability long term especially if offloaded.

For me, I also needed the greater capacity in payload and towing too so I had to decide regular 2500 or PW. Obviously I went PW because the cost was cheaper than adding parts later and you don't see any real penalties in mpg vs a standard 2500.

On your case, the fuel economy is a big drop and if you aren't going to offroad much more than light I'd go 1500.

oz97tj said:

I had a '14 1500 with 5.7, 8 spd, and 3.92s. It also was leveled with 35s. Nice truck and would average around 17 mpg day to day with 19 ish on the highway.

I now have a '15 PW. No lift or mods but 35s have been added. I've only got about 4k miles now but I'm lucky to be averaging 12.5 mpg or so. Highway doesn't really see any better. Long stretches of 55 mph will see about 13.5 though.

As a dd, the 1500 was nicer to drive because of the ride and fuel economy and it felt much lighter ( it is). However, it's also not built near as tough with limited choices for traction aides. If you put a bigger bumper and a winch on it you'd have trouble with the front sagging. And it has electric steering which I question it's durability long term especially if offloaded.

For me, I also needed the greater capacity in payload and towing too so I had to decide regular 2500 or PW. Obviously I went PW because the cost was cheaper than adding parts later and you don't see any real penalties in mpg vs a standard 2500.

On your case, the fuel economy is a big drop and if you aren't going to offroad much more than light I'd go 1500.

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Leads me to another question. From what I've seen the towing and payload on a power wagon is only 10,810 lbs and 1480 lbs, respectively. The outdoorsman is rated at 10,00 lbs and 1300ish with the 3.92 rear. So not much different, unless I'm mistaken?

My biggest load I've pulled in a good while is a 7k load of concrete, and really anything 6k and up I have a 5.9 Cummins at my disposal, it just pulls better. So by my reasoning between the two is they have basically the same towing and hauling, only difference is height, 4x4 capability, and about 1k price premium. And fuel economy. I hear wildly varying numbers from single digits to 17 mpg.

Edit: this will be my daily driver, at least until I pick up a motorcycle in bout a yr.

My driving habits: 4 mile commute to work one way, 5 days a week. Random 20 mile jogs to disc golf courses, and when hunting season rolls around its it's a 40 mile jog to the lease. I had an old Z71 back when gas prices were 3.80 a gallon doing 13 mpg all da, every day, so I know the pain. Now that I'm out of college with with real job the pain wouldn't be too bad.

I would be all over the Power Wagon.

Sound like the PWmis what you want and just need a bit of "justification" to pull the trigger. You don't need us to justify it for you. Even with the little bit poorer fuel milage you don't seem like you will put a ton of miles on the truck.

With my 2500 Mega Cab 4x4 6.4 on our family vacation to Montana from Socal I averaged 18.2mpg on the way up and 17.5mpg on the way home at 1200 miles each way. Had about 1000 lbs of people and cargo in the cab and bed.

I seem to be one of the few guys who don't mind the added maneuvers to park the larger 2500 and while still very nice, IMO, I don't mind the little bit more stiffer ride of the 2500.

I have the 6.4 with 4.10. You better be prepared to have a tanker follow you around. I had both setups. The 3.92 on the 8 speed did give me close to 20 highway when i drove like grandma on highways. Put a load behind it and you might as well have an hd truck. I average about 13-14mpg on my 3500 , but its mostly city.

Whats with those figures for the pw anyway. I thought the pw was a 2500 with different suspension (sway bar disconnect)and 33" tires (off road setup), blah blah. So you lose ~1000 pounds payload and 5k tow.cap. over a regular 2500 with 6.4 /4.10? For the price, shouldnt u get a 2500hd and make it more "off roadish"?

Ghost270 said:

Leads me to another question. From what I've seen the towing and payload on a power wagon is only 10,810 lbs and 1480 lbs, respectively. The outdoorsman is rated at 10,00 lbs and 1300ish with the 3.92 rear. So not much different, unless I'm mistaken?

My biggest load I've pulled in a good while is a 7k load of concrete, and really anything 6k and up I have a 5.9 Cummins at my disposal, it just pulls better. So by my reasoning between the two is they have basically the same towing and hauling, only difference is height, 4x4 capability, and about 1k price premium. And fuel economy. I hear wildly varying numbers from single digits to 17 mpg.

Edit: this will be my daily driver, at least until I pick up a motorcycle in bout a yr.

My driving habits: 4 mile commute to work one way, 5 days a week. Random 20 mile jogs to disc golf courses, and when hunting season rolls around its it's a 40 mile jog to the lease. I had an old Z71 back when gas prices were 3.80 a gallon doing 13 mpg all da, every day, so I know the pain. Now that I'm out of college with with real job the pain wouldn't be too bad.

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first off, disclaimer, my 2500 v-10 was a 1999, that put 190K miles on. Not some new 2500 truck.
todays trucks are less substantially built, hence not nearly as tough.

Reason I said BEast about my old pickup.

thaat said, the 2500 will still have heavier springs, suspension brakes adn everything else that makes the truck different than a 1500. no, payloads adn towing might not bge that different but the ability to handle that wweight and the ability to handle the maxxed out wieght, is going to be better with a 2500.

Neither is terrific. disc brakes tells you all need to know about the trucks towing ability. Disc brakes stop quicker but, after repeated,constant usag,e the fail quicker too. Drum brakes heat up faster and get rid of that heat slower but bascially will nto fail until the drum shoes melts off the truck adn you will other issues long before that happens.

Bottom line, if towing, even though the numbers arae nto much different, the real world "ability" and how comfortable the driver will fell handling those weights, is alot different between a 1500 & 2500.

my rule of thumb is never tow more than 75%, of max rating, with a 5-15% hitch weight for the towed vehicle (prefer 7% hitch weight but each his own).

Tranny and oil coolers, along with larger capacity radiators, if weight is above 10K lbs.

AS for ride, I am having a vbery hard time getting used to teh 1500 4x4 ride. I think my old 2500 was a better ride. didnt feel those lines in new pavement, at al. never, ever got a squishy feeling diriving over that kind of stuff.

Luck to you, whichever way you go.

PS
AS another mentioned, towing with a 5.7l 3:92 1500 4x4, I drop to 11mpg. does nto matter what I tow. LIttle tiny stuff or the 20ft lund. Imagine if I towed 8K plus would drop even farther.
again, not so different what I woudl expect form a 2500 either, would expect about a 2mpg difference b etween the 1500 5.7 nd the 2500 6.4, they simply are not that disparate motors. nro is wieght of vehicle that much different.

THough I highly doubt ti would be the 8.5-9mpg of my old pickup. Of course, that truck got that same milage with teh boat or little trailers, HOWEVER< when it dropped, it dropped down to 6-7mpg with heavy trailers. 10K plus.

The Outdoorsman 1500 won't give you those towing and payload numbers. Those numbers are based off no options regular cab 2x4. As the options add up, those number go down.

My 1500 was a Laramie crew cab with lots of options including sun roof and Ram boxes. My towing capacity was under 8000lbs. The payload was only like 7 or 800 ish. It wasn't great.

The Power Wagon is like you said but those are basically it because besides a few options they only come as a crew cab 4x4. I believe they are also derated a bit because the stock tires are d load range vs e on normal 2500s. I'm sure the taller stance has a play in it too.

Either way, one dirt bike in the back on my 1500 had it sagging pretty bad. Two dirt bikes, a week of camping gear and 4 people in my PW doesn't even make the rear squat a tiny bit.

cc rider said:

I have the 6.4 with 4.10. You better be prepared to have a tanker follow you around. I had both setups. The 3.92 on the 8 speed did give me close to 20 highway when i drove like grandma on highways. Put a load behind it and you might as well have an hd truck. I average about 13-14mpg on my 3500 , but its mostly city.

Whats with those figures for the pw anyway. I thought the pw was a 2500 with different suspension (sway bar disconnect)and 33" tires (off road setup), blah blah. So you lose ~1000 pounds payload and 5k tow.cap. over a regular 2500 with 6.4 /4.10? For the price, shouldnt u get a 2500hd and make it more "off roadish"?

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Again those number are based on a 2x4 no option regular cab. If you compare a 6.4 crew cab 4x4 2500 with similar options to a PW you do lose some but it's not as bad as it seems. Not to mention the Power Wagon has a few hundred pounds of winch and mount up front and extra weight front the lockers and skid plates as well. That extra weight also brings down its capacities but it still exceeds even a stripped down 1500. Compare a similarly equipped 4x4 1500 and the PW has far greater towing and payload.

Don't sell the new 2500s short , I'll bet it beats that old v-10 in every way you can think of , 6.4 hemi should be as strong or stronger , frame stiffer and stronger fully boxed , suspension solid and better , 5 link in back 3 link up front , it's stiff but handles very well

Alright, alright. I didn't look at all the figures/ components. That's why I was asking about the power wagon. Never really looked into one. I wonder if that does good on sales .

oz97tj said:

Again those number are based on a 2x4 no option regular cab. If you compare a 6.4 crew cab 4x4 2500 with similar options to a PW you do lose some but it's not as bad as it seems. Not to mention the Power Wagon has a few hundred pounds of winch and mount up front and extra weight front the lockers and skid plates as well. That extra weight also brings down its capacities but it still exceeds even a stripped down 1500. Compare a similarly equipped 4x4 1500 and the PW has far greater towing and payload.

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The Power Wagon would be my choice because of the built in winch feature.

I just picked up my Outdoorsman 1500 5 7 3.92
excellent Truck

If you are even entertaining a serious notion between the two, get the PW. I drove one home back in '05 when they came out, could have gotten a SMOK'N deal on one (won't go into the whole story there) but CFO said No Bueno! Since that day I have bought and traded 4 rams...............still want a Power Wagon and still MIFFED I didn't buy the '05 when I had the chance. Probably still have it today and not wasted near as much $$$$ as I have.............but that's just me.

Bought new: 2008 6.7CTD QC Sport 4x4, traded for 2010 6.7CTD CC Laramie 4x4, traded for 2012 1500 4x4 CC Laramie, traded for 2014 CC Laramie w/8 speed

Gonna get that PW someday

Tried ordering a Tradesman Powerwagon today, and i get to the dealership, and they said that for the 2016's they do not have that option, just the SLT Powerwagon which is 4.5k more. Is this true, or did hey just miss something in the ordering process?

Ghost270 said:

Tried ordering a Tradesman Powerwagon today, and i get to the dealership, and they said that for the 2016's they do not have that option, just the SLT Powerwagon which is 4.5k more. Is this true, or did hey just miss something in the ordering process?

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According to the RAM website it should be available:
2016 Ram 2500 Heavy Duty Work-Ready Truck


After looking at some 1500 sports and another 2500 laramie diesel with the blackout package (see way too many these on the road now that dodge came out with them).

I came home with the Power Wagon!!!

And I have absolutely no regrets!

This was the truck I traded
Diesel 2500 SLT:


to get this:

Ghost270 said:

I'm finally about to pull the trigger on a new truck after my previous Ram took a nosedive into a Pontiac G8.

I've narrowed it down to two trucks: a 1500 Hemi Outdoorsman and a Tradesman Powerwagon. Built both on the ' build and price section ' on Rams website and with the options I want the outdoorsman comes to 44.2k while the wagon comes to 45.5k, with similar options between the two as I can get em, with slight differences.

I'll have to special order whichever one I decide, and with a fleet discount I should get either one for 1% less than dealer invoice.

I hunt and fish quite a bit, and sling mud whenever I get the chance. My main hangup is the fuel economy difference between the 5.7 Hemi with the 8spd and 3.92 gears and the 6.4 6spd with 4.10s. Hemi is quoted at 20ish hwy, but I see nothing about the 6.4. I can swallow a 3 mpg drop to gain the off road performance, but is the best the wagon does is 13-15 hwy, that's a lot of fuel to think about. One pro with the wagon is that I wouldn't be tempted to lift it like I would with the lower 1500.

Any input would be great, thank tall in advance!

Click to expand...

I know a couple of guys who both have the 1500, which was great for when they bought them, but now are looking to upgrade to a 2500 because they want to buy an RV. That's a lot of money to sink into a truck, just to find out later on that you need more power.