Ending the Madness, Part Two: The 2026 Ram 1500 Express Crew Cab 4X2

Full disclosure: I like pickup trucks. I'm just not wild about what we've been doing with them lately.

Regular readers know that I describe it as the "My truck wants to eat your house" syndrome. Ever bigger, more imposing, more intimidating, more wasteful vehicles that are infrequently used for anything you actually need a truck for.

Instead they are meant to telegraph a manhood that in the case of many drivers is best assessed not by looking at the size of the truck but at the tire's valve stems.

It's there...you just have to look. Maybe squint.

The antidote? A good, honest full-size half-ton pickup truck. And the 2026 RAM 1500 Express is exactly that.

The Express is the second-from-the bottom trim level of the RAM 1500 line, but, optioned properly, you can get a powerful, well-equipped truck for a surprisingly low (by contemporary truck standards) price.

V8s are not on the menu for the RAM 1500 Express, but $1,695 for the Hurricane twin-turbo inline six is money well spent. 420 horsepower, 469 lb-ft of torque. That's actually more power and more torque than the entry-level Hemi, the 5.7-liter. It's also remarkably smooth, and, with the standard active noise-control system, very quiet, even under acceleration. You can get a 4X4 model for an additional $3,800, but our tester is a 4X2.

With an eight-speed automatic, the RAM 1500 Express 4X2 with the Hurricane six can tow up to 11,610 pounds and has a maximum payload of 1,930 pounds. All that plus an EPA fuel economy estimate of 18 mpg city/25 mpg highway and 483 miles of range on a full tank of gasoline.

A Class IV receiver-hitch, 7-pin wiring harness and cargo tie-down loops are standard. The Bed Utility Group adds a 400-watt inverter, pickup box lighting, a spray-in bedliner, a 115-volt AC outlet, a deployable bed step and four additional, adjustable tie-down hooks for $945.

That looks like a lot of rear seat legroom because it is. The driver's seat is set to my 5'11" frame. The passenger behind me has 44.8 inches of legroom. And yes, there's storage space underneath the rear seat, stretching from door to door.

The front seat can accommodate three across as well, but if there are two or fewer, the center seatback folds down to provide cupholders and a console storage box.

The base price of the 2026 RAM 1500 Express Crew Cab 4X2 is $43,775---$45,970 with destination. That money buys a decent list of standard equipment not mentioned above (see the window sticker at the end of the review).

Our tester had extra-cost options, including the aforementioned Hurricane Six ($1,695) and the Bed Utility Group ($945) plus Customer Preferred Package 21D---a rear 60/40 split-folding rear seat, outlined white letter tires, 20-inch polished aluminum wheels, second-row in-floor storage bins, a rear power-sliding window, front and rear floormats, front seatback map pockets, a three-month subscription to SiriusXM satellite radio, a body-color front bumper and a body-color rear bumper with step pads ($945). The Billet Silver Metallic clear-coat paint job was $295.

All told, the bottom line on the window sticker reads $51,030.

Yeah, you have to plug your phone in to charge it (no wireless charger, but Apple CarPlay and Android Auto do connect to the audio system wirelessly) and the climate control is old-school heat/cool and fan instead of a set-it-and-forget it climate control, but I took the RAM 1500 Express on a 220-mile roundtrip during its stay with me, and those weren't really inconveniences. I actually fiddled with the HVAC less than I do some automatic climate control systems. The 2026 RAM 1500 Express is a truck for guys with nothing to prove. Except maybe how secure they are with their...well, you know.

2026 RAM 1500 Express 4X2 at a glance:

Price: $43,775 base/$51,030 as tested

Engine: 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged inline six-cylinder

Horsepower: 420

Torque: 469 lb-ft

Transmission: 8-speed automatic

Curb Weight: 4,836 lbs

0-60 Acceleration (manufacturer data): N/A

EPA Fuel Economy Estimate: 18 mpg city/25 mpg highway

Fuel tank capacity: 26 gallons

EPA Range Estimate: 483 miles

Click on the arrows in the upper right corner to expand the window sticker to full screen.