HydroRebel
Well-Known Member
Hi everyone,
I wanted to create this thread about a month ago but decided to hold off to allow a little more time to evaluate my new 2020 Rebel. I'm coming from a 2014 Ram 1500 sport that I bought in February of 2014. I had that truck for just over 6 years and in the end it had 99,262 km on it and a helluva lot of engine hours due to where I live. In the winter time it spent several hours idling every day but not so much in the summer time. I wanted to emphasize that as I've read a lot of things about hemi cam/lifter issues. I also wasn't Johnny on the spot with oil changes and general maintenance and plus I drove the truck like I stole it, except when my kids were in with me. Bottom line is that truck took a lot of abuse and kept on ticking (but not the hemi tick
). The only issue I had in my 6 years of ownership was a blown fuse for the 12V cigarette lighter, that's it. My previous truck to that was a 2008 Toyota Tundra that was plagued with electrical gremlins which left me stranded all the time so despite what I read all the time about Toyota reliability and Ram reliability my experience has been the opposite. I'm not a brand loyal person just simply stating things from my experience with these vehicles.
Ever since it's introduction in 2016 the Ram Rebel has been calling out to me. I managed to resist for years up until I seen a 2020 Hydro Blue Rebel at my local dealer. That particular one isn't the one I took home as it didn't have all the options I was looking for but I found one at another dealer in a different province and my local dealer grabbed it for me. The only thing it had that I didn't want was the tow mirrors so I had it pre-arranged to have the mirrors swapped out for power-folding ones. To my surprise they actually ordered color-matched mirrors which I ended up liking a little better. I drove the truck home on July 30. I loved my murdered out 2014 sport so do I regret trading it in for a 2020 Rebel?
Of course not. It's hard to believe that they could make an already awesome interior better but IMO they did. The back seat in the crew cab is a bit bigger than the previous gen which makes it easier for the kids (and me helping them in their seats). Love the way the Rebel handles and drives both in city and highway. I haven't had it in the severe off-road yet but I'll be completely honest that wasn't my main intent, though it will be heading there eventually. I also love the way it looked from the factory, even though I modded some stuff, but I'm the type of person who don't like doing irreversible mods unless they're absolutely necessary.
I'm also very particular and I will mention some of the things that I don't like even though it's more nitpicking more than anything. My truck has all LED premium lighting except the 3rd brake light. Why they would skimp there is beyond me. I swapped the cargo lights to LED's that I already had on hand and left the brake light alone (for now). In Canada DRL's are mandatory and I didn't like having low beams as the default DRL. I thought that the amber turn signals on the 4th gen were awesome for DRL's. Luckily all I had to do was buy the SGW bypass as I already had everything else so that was a quick and easy fix. I also felt that the truck was too quiet stock. Swapping to a Magnaflow cut and clamp was also an easy fix. I have kids and neighbours so I didn't want it too loud and the Magnaflow did the trick for me. That's pretty much it for the nitpicking.
Edit: I forgot one thing. The block heater cord (I know this won't apply to everyone) was way too short. We need the block heater in Northern Canada in the winter time! I ended up installing a Noco plug at the bottom of the front bumper which I have to admit will work much better for me than the traditional cord hanging and flopping around against the grille.
Sorry for the long post (I could go on) but I'll conclude by saying that I'm an extremely happy camper. I love being a Rebel owner and have zero regrets trading in for one. My only hope is that it's as reliable as my last truck. If anyone has any questions feel free to ask.
I wanted to create this thread about a month ago but decided to hold off to allow a little more time to evaluate my new 2020 Rebel. I'm coming from a 2014 Ram 1500 sport that I bought in February of 2014. I had that truck for just over 6 years and in the end it had 99,262 km on it and a helluva lot of engine hours due to where I live. In the winter time it spent several hours idling every day but not so much in the summer time. I wanted to emphasize that as I've read a lot of things about hemi cam/lifter issues. I also wasn't Johnny on the spot with oil changes and general maintenance and plus I drove the truck like I stole it, except when my kids were in with me. Bottom line is that truck took a lot of abuse and kept on ticking (but not the hemi tick
). The only issue I had in my 6 years of ownership was a blown fuse for the 12V cigarette lighter, that's it. My previous truck to that was a 2008 Toyota Tundra that was plagued with electrical gremlins which left me stranded all the time so despite what I read all the time about Toyota reliability and Ram reliability my experience has been the opposite. I'm not a brand loyal person just simply stating things from my experience with these vehicles.Ever since it's introduction in 2016 the Ram Rebel has been calling out to me. I managed to resist for years up until I seen a 2020 Hydro Blue Rebel at my local dealer. That particular one isn't the one I took home as it didn't have all the options I was looking for but I found one at another dealer in a different province and my local dealer grabbed it for me. The only thing it had that I didn't want was the tow mirrors so I had it pre-arranged to have the mirrors swapped out for power-folding ones. To my surprise they actually ordered color-matched mirrors which I ended up liking a little better. I drove the truck home on July 30. I loved my murdered out 2014 sport so do I regret trading it in for a 2020 Rebel?
Of course not. It's hard to believe that they could make an already awesome interior better but IMO they did. The back seat in the crew cab is a bit bigger than the previous gen which makes it easier for the kids (and me helping them in their seats). Love the way the Rebel handles and drives both in city and highway. I haven't had it in the severe off-road yet but I'll be completely honest that wasn't my main intent, though it will be heading there eventually. I also love the way it looked from the factory, even though I modded some stuff, but I'm the type of person who don't like doing irreversible mods unless they're absolutely necessary.
I'm also very particular and I will mention some of the things that I don't like even though it's more nitpicking more than anything. My truck has all LED premium lighting except the 3rd brake light. Why they would skimp there is beyond me. I swapped the cargo lights to LED's that I already had on hand and left the brake light alone (for now). In Canada DRL's are mandatory and I didn't like having low beams as the default DRL. I thought that the amber turn signals on the 4th gen were awesome for DRL's. Luckily all I had to do was buy the SGW bypass as I already had everything else so that was a quick and easy fix. I also felt that the truck was too quiet stock. Swapping to a Magnaflow cut and clamp was also an easy fix. I have kids and neighbours so I didn't want it too loud and the Magnaflow did the trick for me. That's pretty much it for the nitpicking.
Edit: I forgot one thing. The block heater cord (I know this won't apply to everyone) was way too short. We need the block heater in Northern Canada in the winter time! I ended up installing a Noco plug at the bottom of the front bumper which I have to admit will work much better for me than the traditional cord hanging and flopping around against the grille.
Sorry for the long post (I could go on) but I'll conclude by saying that I'm an extremely happy camper. I love being a Rebel owner and have zero regrets trading in for one. My only hope is that it's as reliable as my last truck. If anyone has any questions feel free to ask.
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