Ramajama
Active Member
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2018
- Messages
- 65
- Reaction score
- 64
So yesterday I took the wife to go drive a new Rebel. One of the first to land in our state. This was the first Rebel I’ve seen in person, much less an eTorque equipped RAM. This truck has the eTorque and 3.92 gears.
The Rebel does not disappoint. It’s one of the best looking trucks out right now. The features are awesome, air suspension worked great, interior is cool. It’s a home run IMHO. I was a fan of the DS Rebel, but this blows the old Rebel away.
I have owned five DS trucks since 2011. My last three were a 2013 QC Laramie 4x4 with the 6 speed and 3.55 gears. Then I had a 2014 1500 R/T with an 8 speed and 3.92 gears. My last 1500 was a 2015 QC Outdoorsman 4x4 with an 8 speed and 3.92 gears. So I’m very familiar with the past trucks with 3.92 gears.
However, I’m a bit skewed now because I’m currently driving a 2018 Power Wagon, which has the 6.4 with a 6 speed and 4.10 gears. So since last November I’ve been used to driving a beast of a truck.
We also have a Discovery Sport that has the stop/start feature. Initially I was a big sceptic of start/stop...but shortly after owning the Disco I’m now a BIG fan. I truly believe in the improved fuel economy that S/S helps to provide. The system would not work for about a month due to a bad battery and we saw our weekly MPGs go down by nearly 2MPGs. It’s been fixed and MPG has returned to previous levels. So I have plenty of experience with S/S. And I’ve never felt that it was annoying. Works good.
As for my impressions:
I’m not doing a full blown review but we LOVED the truck overall and, in 6-9 months, it will be a top contender for my wife’s next vehicle. It’ll serve what we need and are looking for perfectly. That’s the good news.
If anyone from RAM/FCA reads these forums....heads up! Get off your butts and clarify eTorque ASAP. People need to know it’s exact purpose and performance/operating parameters, because right now, it’s a mystery surrounded in an enigma. I pretty much get it personally but I still have a few questions. My salesman, who is their resident RAM truck “expert” (and he does know much more about his products than most salespeople) but...still doesn’t really understand eTorque and I’ll get to that.
As mentioned in speedyv’s review, The start/stop feature works very well for a V8. Come to a stop and the engine promptly shuts off, let off the brake and it starts well before you get your foot on the gas. In normal driving, The eTorque system is not noticeable at all. Feels just like the Disco Sport with the S/S that I’m used to. I couldn’t tell if it was helping the truck along at all. I had no idea what to expect but it feels like it works like any normal SS system to me. Maybe that was their goal? We don’t know for sure because they haven’t said boo about eTorque.
I drove it about 5 miles down the highway and set the cruise on 60. Since eTorque is supposed to help increase how long the truck stays in ECO mode, I was hoping to see if it would go into ECO and see how long it stays there. But I never saw ECO come on...maybe the ECO light was not enabled in the set up menu?
So here comes the interesting part. We pulled off the highway and onto some side streets. And my salesman said that I ought to punch it! He said “this eTorque systems adds 130 lbs of torque on top of the 410 lbs the HEMI already has so it should pull like crazy”. So even the resident expert has the wrong idea of eTorque cause it don’t work that way.
But I wanted to see what it’ll do. I made 4 runs with SS on. I took my foot off the brake, let the engine turn on then I punched it. Two times it had a very weird shudder, stutter or slip. Whatever it was, it definitely took a pause, then lurched into action. Whatever it was, it was not good. Then two other times, it picked up and went without any hiccups at all. My seat o the pants dyno detected a little bit of extra grunt. Nothing to write home about though. Only real world timed runs will tell if it makes the truck any quicker.
Then I wondered what would happen if I turned off the start/stop and punched it. No one seems to know if eTorque is even active at this point? It did not pause like before but it had underwhelming acceleration. Maybe it was a bit better than non eTorque trucks, but I can’t say for sure.
One more thing to note. When I got out to switch drivers and let my wife drive, I could detect a very strong electrical “burning” smell. So this little motor was definitely working in some capacity and has some sort of break in of some kind....either that or it was about to catch fire.
Again, whatever eTorque is...if it was made to work mostly unnoticed, behind the scenes, to quietly help deliver better MPGs then it’s hit the mark as far as being mostly unnoticeable. Now only real world use will tell if it actually delivers better MPGs. I’ll reserve judgement until I see results. Luckily, by the time we are ready to buy, this system should be more clear and I’ll be better informed on a decision to buy eTorque or non eTorque truck.
But in the end this thing was just an overall great truck! ETorque or not.
The Rebel does not disappoint. It’s one of the best looking trucks out right now. The features are awesome, air suspension worked great, interior is cool. It’s a home run IMHO. I was a fan of the DS Rebel, but this blows the old Rebel away.
I have owned five DS trucks since 2011. My last three were a 2013 QC Laramie 4x4 with the 6 speed and 3.55 gears. Then I had a 2014 1500 R/T with an 8 speed and 3.92 gears. My last 1500 was a 2015 QC Outdoorsman 4x4 with an 8 speed and 3.92 gears. So I’m very familiar with the past trucks with 3.92 gears.
However, I’m a bit skewed now because I’m currently driving a 2018 Power Wagon, which has the 6.4 with a 6 speed and 4.10 gears. So since last November I’ve been used to driving a beast of a truck.
We also have a Discovery Sport that has the stop/start feature. Initially I was a big sceptic of start/stop...but shortly after owning the Disco I’m now a BIG fan. I truly believe in the improved fuel economy that S/S helps to provide. The system would not work for about a month due to a bad battery and we saw our weekly MPGs go down by nearly 2MPGs. It’s been fixed and MPG has returned to previous levels. So I have plenty of experience with S/S. And I’ve never felt that it was annoying. Works good.
As for my impressions:
I’m not doing a full blown review but we LOVED the truck overall and, in 6-9 months, it will be a top contender for my wife’s next vehicle. It’ll serve what we need and are looking for perfectly. That’s the good news.
If anyone from RAM/FCA reads these forums....heads up! Get off your butts and clarify eTorque ASAP. People need to know it’s exact purpose and performance/operating parameters, because right now, it’s a mystery surrounded in an enigma. I pretty much get it personally but I still have a few questions. My salesman, who is their resident RAM truck “expert” (and he does know much more about his products than most salespeople) but...still doesn’t really understand eTorque and I’ll get to that.
As mentioned in speedyv’s review, The start/stop feature works very well for a V8. Come to a stop and the engine promptly shuts off, let off the brake and it starts well before you get your foot on the gas. In normal driving, The eTorque system is not noticeable at all. Feels just like the Disco Sport with the S/S that I’m used to. I couldn’t tell if it was helping the truck along at all. I had no idea what to expect but it feels like it works like any normal SS system to me. Maybe that was their goal? We don’t know for sure because they haven’t said boo about eTorque.
I drove it about 5 miles down the highway and set the cruise on 60. Since eTorque is supposed to help increase how long the truck stays in ECO mode, I was hoping to see if it would go into ECO and see how long it stays there. But I never saw ECO come on...maybe the ECO light was not enabled in the set up menu?
So here comes the interesting part. We pulled off the highway and onto some side streets. And my salesman said that I ought to punch it! He said “this eTorque systems adds 130 lbs of torque on top of the 410 lbs the HEMI already has so it should pull like crazy”. So even the resident expert has the wrong idea of eTorque cause it don’t work that way.
But I wanted to see what it’ll do. I made 4 runs with SS on. I took my foot off the brake, let the engine turn on then I punched it. Two times it had a very weird shudder, stutter or slip. Whatever it was, it definitely took a pause, then lurched into action. Whatever it was, it was not good. Then two other times, it picked up and went without any hiccups at all. My seat o the pants dyno detected a little bit of extra grunt. Nothing to write home about though. Only real world timed runs will tell if it makes the truck any quicker.
Then I wondered what would happen if I turned off the start/stop and punched it. No one seems to know if eTorque is even active at this point? It did not pause like before but it had underwhelming acceleration. Maybe it was a bit better than non eTorque trucks, but I can’t say for sure.
One more thing to note. When I got out to switch drivers and let my wife drive, I could detect a very strong electrical “burning” smell. So this little motor was definitely working in some capacity and has some sort of break in of some kind....either that or it was about to catch fire.
Again, whatever eTorque is...if it was made to work mostly unnoticed, behind the scenes, to quietly help deliver better MPGs then it’s hit the mark as far as being mostly unnoticeable. Now only real world use will tell if it actually delivers better MPGs. I’ll reserve judgement until I see results. Luckily, by the time we are ready to buy, this system should be more clear and I’ll be better informed on a decision to buy eTorque or non eTorque truck.
But in the end this thing was just an overall great truck! ETorque or not.
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That’s some nice numbers! 
