Ram Rebel Splashes Its Way to Victory at the Texas Off-Road Invitational
Rebel emerges from the mud and the muck as the Texas Motor Press Association’s 2019 Off-Road Truck of the Year.
The Texas Motor Press Association recently held its first annual Texas Off-Road Invitational in Huntsville, Texas. In the course of a day and a half, my colleagues and I drove a variety of pickups and SUVs up and down the trails that wind all throughout General Sam’s Offroad Park. Several manufacturers, including Toyota, Nissan, Kia, GMC, and even Rolls-Royce, entered a total of 19 vehicles into the contest in hopes of taking home the top prizes: “Off-Road Truck of the Year” and “Off-Road SUV of the Year.”
Ram brought down its fan-favorite 1500 Rebel. It didn’t just have to impress myself and my 24 fellow writers. It had to perform on a higher level than the Toyota Tundra and Tacoma TRD Pro models, Nissan Titan and Titan XD PRO-4X pickups, GMC Sierra 1500 AT4 and Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 Bison.
Before I hit one of the trails in the Rebel, I had FCA’s Nick Cappa give me a tour of some of its highlights for my YouTube channel, There Will Be Cars, which you can see in the video at the top of this post. There was no on-road driving at the invitational, so hardware and ground clearance were key. Cappa pointed out the Rebel’s robust metal front bumper, skid plate, and tow hooks (which went unused).
The Rebel’s meaty 33-inch Goodyear Wrangler DuraTrac all-terrain tires are wrapped around cool, two-tone 18-inch wheels that sit under a one-inch factory lift. According to Cappa, “We keep the smaller wheels so that you can change the tire sizes and decrease air pressure without reducing that sidewall and hitting the wheel.” Whenever those Wranglers travel over rough terrain, the Rebel’s monotube shocks take the brunt of the impact. Cappa added the Bilstein units are “really good at dissipating heat so you can hammer on that shock all day long without it fading.”
One feature that separates the Rebel from its half-ton competitors is its available four-corner air suspension. That allows the Rebel to sit low enough to aid entry and exit, ride at an aerodynamic height on the highway, and, at its off-road levels, clear obstacles that stand in the way. The system is controlled by a switch in the roomy, black and dark ruby red cabin. All of the other essential off-road controls, including the button for the locker, are grouped around the rotary shifter for the eight-speed automatic.
Once I got behind the wheel, I fired up the 5.7-liter Hemi V8. The Ram 1500 may be a thoroughly modern truck, but it has a lovably old-school engine. Ram didn’t downsize it or add forced induction. They kept it big and brawny, just the way many truck nuts like it.
I could’ve taken the main park road out to the trails in two-wheel drive without even the slightest worry about a problem. Cappa wanted me to see just how much grunt the Rebel had, though. It was already in 4WD LOW so he suggested I keep it there and put my right foot down hard. The 395-horsepower, 410-lb-ft Hemi fired all four wheels into motion with the fury of a 2.64:1 low-range ratio. The dirt paths that had been softened by recent rains were no challenge for the Wranglers. They just bit in and kept me and Cappa rolling at speeds I wasn’t used to hitting in max 4X4 mode.
We quickly got to the hardest trail available. Like all full-size trucks seem to be these days, the Rebel is a massive beast. Luckily, General Sam’s Offroad Park had plenty of space for it. Not once did I hear it scrape or drag, even when I had the suspension flexing the way it was made to. When another writer took it down and up a sharply angled valley that led to a muddy uphill climb, the Rebel still had plenty of approach and departure angle left in reserve.
With so many slippery surfaces around, good throttle management was important. Too much gas and I risked digging in where I didn’t want to. Thanks to Ram’s engineering, 4WD LOW always gave me the right amount of power and nothing more.
My biggest challenge wasn’t mechanical at all. It was largely cosmetic. One section of the trail consisted of a sharp, blind righthand turn down a steep hill. The Rebel’s enormous hood and passenger-friendly width would’ve made getting a good sightline from the driver’s seat a struggle. Fortunately, Cappa had a better vantage point and could see that I was taking the right line. With the push of a button, I engaged Hill-descent Control and used it to bring us safely and calmly to the bottom of the hill.
I had liked the 2019 Ram 1500 Rebel well before the Texas Off-Road Invitational. It’s a bad ass-looking truck with an attractive assortment of functional upgrades. After driving it through the messy terrain of General Sam’s Offroad park, I liked it even more. It was unflappable, unstoppable—and unbeatable.
After lunch on the second day of the event, as the mud on its body was still drying, the Rebel was crowned the Texas Motor Press Association’s Off-Road Truck of the Year.
Need more photos feed that off-roading itch? Take a look at the gallery below!
Photos for Dodge Forum by Derek Shiekhi
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