Ram Rebel off-road rig easy on occupants
Chrysler's Ram truck is so rugged looking you might not have noticed there was no special off-road model. The hulking Ram Rebel corrects that omission.
When Rebel goes on sale the first half this year -- no price was announced -- it will sport modifications an owner would perform to make a truck back-country ready. The body sits 1-inch higher to avoid scrapes. Wheels are 17-in. diameter with massive 33-in.-tall tires. Their tread pattern is repeated on the seat upholstery, just for grins.
Steering, suspension and stability-control calibrations are modified to account for the added height, which ups ground clearance to 10.3 in.
So that there's no mistake among truck spotters, Rebel wears a different grille from other Ram s' big-rig shcnoz. When automakers do that kind of thing it can hint at a styling change across the board if the special edition vehicle's look is embraced by auto show crowds and media reports.
For all that, some hard-core off-roaders might think Rebel has a whiff of "poser" about it.
First, Ram calls Rebel an "off-road style package," not a pure off-road beast.
While the 3.6-liter V-6 version comes only with four-wheel drive (4x4), the Hemi V-8 version is available with rear drive or 4x4. There are off-road-capable rear-drive trucks, such as Toyota's PreRunner models, but 4x4 is part of the image to most buyers.
And it has the very practical advantage of helping ensure the driver doesn't spend more time off-road than intended, waiting for a buddy with a winch to overcome a truck-miring mudhole.
Neither engine is hopped-up, though there'd be little reason to boost power of the Hemi.
Those big tires are labeled "all terrain," but Ram says they provide "all-season handling," , and Ram says they're designed to give a comfortable on-road ride as well as chew through mud and sand and snow.
Heated seats are standard, which Ram could argue are simply to ease the occupants' aching backs after a day of boulder bashing. The steering wheel's heated, in a nod to cold-weather owners.
"Radar Red" lights outline the instrument panel and door panels,
Fans of Toyota's TRD off-road equipment packages will be tempted to boast that their setup is "real" and Ram's a little shy of that. But studies show that few owners spend much, or any, time off-road (at least on purpose), so Ram's approach of appealing to a market beyond the hard-core could work.
Ram has, after all, had very good success selling the variety of specials it has introduced over the past few years.