If you tow heavy and often, buy a used Ram 2500 with the 6.7-liter Cummins diesel; if you tow occasionally or mostly haul, the 6.4-liter Hemi gas V8 is cheaper to buy and simpler to own. The 2019 redesign is the sweet spot for most people in mid October 2026, and the 2025 refresh is better still if you can afford it. Whatever the year, the VIN check, the tow and fleet history, and proof the emissions equipment is still on the truck matter more than the trim badge.
Heavy-duty trucks live hard lives. Plenty of 2500s spent years hooked to a gooseneck, plowing, or sitting in a contractor fleet, and the clean paint does not tell you any of that. So the order we would go in is engine choice, generation, recalls, then history.
Cummins or Hemi
For the 2019 redesign, Car and Driver's first drive lists a 6.4-liter Hemi with 410 hp and 429 lb-ft on an eight-speed automatic, and a 6.7-liter Cummins at 370 hp and 850 lb-ft on a six-speed automatic. The 400-hp, 1,000-lb-ft high-output Cummins was a 3500 thing in that era; Consumer Reports described it as a Ram 3500 option and put the 2500's diesel upgrade at $9,100 back in 2019. So if a 2019-2024 Ram 2500 ad says "1,000 lb-ft," ask questions, because that number may be a tune and not a factory spec.
The 2025 refresh changed the numbers. Car and Driver's current Ram HD page lists a 405-hp Hemi and a 430-hp, 1,075-lb-ft Cummins offered on both 2500 and 3500, both with an eight-speed automatic. C/D rates the 2500 diesel to tow up to 20,000 pounds and lists a 4,420-pound max payload with the gas engine. On C/D's 75-mph highway loop, a diesel 2500 got 22 mpg and a Hemi 2500 got 14. The EPA does not rate these trucks for mileage, since their GVWR is over 8,500 pounds. The diesel costs more to buy and more to fix, so honestly, if you tow a small camper twice a year, the Hemi is fine.
2010-2018 vs 2019 and newer
Older 2010-2018 trucks are the budget pick, and many of them have very big miles by now. They are tough, but they are old, and the recalls show it. 14V635000 covers 2010-2014 diesels whose fuel heater electrical connectors can overheat. 17V562000 covers 2013-2017 Cummins trucks with Concentric water pumps that may leak coolant. 19V021000 covers a steering drag-link jam nut that can loosen on 2014-2018 2500s. The 2019 and newer trucks ride and drive far better, and the interior is in a different league, which is why they still hold their money.
Recalls we checked by year
We ran the NHTSA recalls API for the Ram 2500 on October 15, 2026. On 2019-2020 diesels, 21V880000 covers a high-pressure fuel pump that can fail and stall the engine without warning; the remedy replaces the pump and inspects other fuel parts. 20V043000 covers a fluid leak from the dipstick tube on 2019-2020 trucks with the 68RFE six-speed, and 22V835000 covers a similar leak on 2020-2023 2500s. 25V010000 covers side curtain air bag inflators that may rupture on 2016-2020 2500s. On 2021-2023 Cummins trucks there are several intake heater grid and relay short campaigns (21V163000, 21V798000, 23V060000). Newer trucks have 26V288000, a 2023-2026 software error that can let the truck exceed the tire speed rating.
Start with the NHTSA recalls feed for a 2020 Ram 2500, change the year, then run the specific truck through our Ram recall check by VIN steps. Decode it with our Ram VIN decoder notes too, because 2500 vs 3500 and diesel vs gas should match the ad.
Tow, fleet, and delete history
This is where diesel Rams get risky. The EPA's review of tampered diesel pickup trucks estimated that emissions controls were removed from more than 550,000 diesel pickups in the decade it studied. The EPA treats stripping those parts as tampering under the Clean Air Act, per its tampering enforcement policy. A "deleted" truck may be cheap and loud, but you inherit the problem, and the next buyer will find it too. Ask whether the DPF, EGR, and SCR parts are still on it, then look underneath. Our post on whether CARFAX shows a diesel delete explains what a report can and cannot catch.
Fleet and commercial use shows up on many reports, and on a 2500 it is not automatically bad. A maintained fleet truck can beat a hobby truck that towed a 14,000-pound fifth wheel on worn brakes. Read our guide to fleet use on CARFAX and look for regular service intervals. If you are also shopping half-tons or Chevy, compare with the used Ram 1500 buying guide and the used Chevy Silverado 2500HD buying guide.
Report cost
A fake or stale seller report on a $50,000 truck is a bad trade. Pull your own: through us a CARFAX is about $5.50 as a guest or about $4.50 as a member, and a CARFAX plus AutoCheck bundle is about $6.75, versus roughly $39.99 to $44.99 retail as of mid October 2026; confirm at checkout. We are a licensed CARFAX and AutoCheck reseller and are not affiliated with CARFAX, AutoCheck, or Experian. CARFAX's overview covers what the report includes.
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