Thursday 5th January 2017

Ram Rebel Black Edition for Detroit

Massive pick-up not intimidating enough? Time for a Black pack!

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This year's Detroit show promises to be a very interesting one. It's the first US show since the election of Donald Trump, but it's also likely to be dominated by future car tech like autonomous driving, smartphone connectivity and so on.

"Guys? Guys? I think I'm stuck."

Not if Ram has anything to do with it! In a motoring world increasingly dominated by complexity and baffling specifications, it's a nice change to see a new model introduced presumably just because it makes a truck look really cool.

The Ram 1500 Rebel Black aims to build on the success of the standard Ram 1500 Rebel, a pick-up that reputedly brings "an aggressive, one-of-a-kind, off-road design to the full-size truck segment". Sadly it isn't based on the wild Ram Rebel TRX seen at LA, this Ram offered only with the regular Pentastar V6 (305hp) or Hemi V8 (395hp) engines.

Marking the Black out are, wouldn't you know, a few black design elements, namely the wheels (on 33-inch off-road tyres), brush guard and 'Katzkin' interior. It is available in all Rebel body colours, but who wouldn't want black having looked at these pics? Oversteering in the snow never looked so intimidating.

Otherwise it's standard Ram Rebel, which means uprated Bilstein dampers, skid plates, tow hooks and "other off-road-ready features" for the intrepid explorer in you.

After its debut at Detroit - we'll be sure to go and have a look - the Rebel Black will arrive in US dealerships this March. Prices start at $45,590 plus a $1,320 destination charge, or about £37,000. If a V6 Raptor doesn't fit the bill...

[mylesmcd]

terrible truck.

Just trying to match the Raptor - which it wont. Penstar is decent engine in a mini van, not a truck, hemi is loud, but life less.

The only decent thing it has is a Uconnect 8.4....

[mylesmcd]

5ohmustang said:

Nice. It has the right number of cylinders. I'd rather have a Ram Power Wagon and be able to tow 5 houses or a Ram Runner.

http://www.ramtrucks.com/en/power-wagon/

but you could do all that stuff in the picture aftermarket on a 10 year old beater truck that you wouldnt mind wrecking!

[mylesmcd]

5ohmustang said:

Exactly. They won't sell many. They did a great job switching to an aluminum body.

The only 6 cylinder that is widely accepted in America are the Dodge contracted Cummins diesel straight 6's.

There's hardly any improvement in fuel economy and more expensive to maintain.

It's fords way of giving customers vehicle configurations they don't want.

They will. As far as I am aware the Raptor is sold out for 2017 already. The 3.5 tt ecoboost is a hell of an engine, in American terms.

[mylesmcd]

ChemicalChaos said:

mylesmcd said:

5ohmustang said:

Exactly. They won't sell many. They did a great job switching to an aluminum body.

The only 6 cylinder that is widely accepted in America are the Dodge contracted Cummins diesel straight 6's.

There's hardly any improvement in fuel economy and more expensive to maintain.

It's fords way of giving customers vehicle configurations they don't want.

They will. As far as I am aware the Raptor is sold out for 2017 already. The 3.5 tt ecoboost is a hell of an engine, in American terms.

I hope it's significantly modified from the 3.5v6 Ecoboost we had in a Ford expedition last year, because that was bloody terrible. Sounded like a hoover when you floored it and had negligible power. Probably not helped by the autobox that made my early 90s ZF look quick-witted

Raptor will be, 450 hp - but the stabdard peasant model is the one i was reffering to. Maybe the Expedition being absolutely massive wouldnt help the speed. In a standard F150 it will spin the wheels in 3rd!