2017 Ram Rebel

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DVC

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Hi guys - I'm new to the forum, and wanted to introduce myself and ask a few questions...

I'm on the verge of pulling the trigger on my first truck, and the deals on 2017 1500s are amazing right now. I assume that the deals on the 2018s won't be anywhere near this good until around November next year, so I guess now's the time to make the move.

My goals are to have a do-everything vehicle that can tow a race car, comfortably haul the family around town, venture off road for a little light over landing, etc. I test drove a Sport with air suspension, and a Rebel, and really liked both... but I'm leaning toward the Rebel since it seems to come standard with several of the options I want (LSD, air susp, 3.92 rear, class IV hitch, etc.).

From those with more experience with Rebels (or Ram trucks in general, for that matter), based on my intentions with the truck, any reason to stick with a standard 1500 over the Rebel that I'm not aware of?

As far as spec/options, I think the Rambox is fantastic, so I wanted to make sure I get that; otherwise I'm looking for the following:

Luxury, Protection and Black groups
Hemi 5.7 (of course)
Rear window defroster
Side steps
Keyless Enter n Go
Nav
Trailer brake
Spray-in bed liner

Any other options that I should absolutely look for or steer clear of?

Not many color options left out there for remaining 2017s with the options I want, so I'm looking at Silver, White, or dark Red. Any thoughts from owners living with these colors would be appreciated as well.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts and advice!

- Aaron
 

Hawkman

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Either truck is fine but for your specific wants/needs, I would go with the Rebel. Traded my 2014 Laramie with 3.21 but fully loaded for a 2017 Rebel Black Edition with 3.92 and I am very happy.

Good luck and keep us up to speed. This is an awesome forum.
 
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Nystagmus

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Yes....forever stuck at the top of B class...Limited.
 
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DVC

DVC

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Yes....forever stuck at the top of B class...Limited.
B is tough to get out of...'A' class takes a lot of dedication, and once you put in the time and effort to get there, it's usually a quick stop on the way to Master class.
If you ever find yourself in Northern NJ, I'm a competition shooting instructor on the side (DVCperformance . com)
 

unxpctd

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I have a Rebel with alot of the same options you mentioned. I absolutely love my Ramboxes. They were number one on the list for things I wanted.

The 5.7/3.92 combo is excellent.

Mine came with the factory spray in bed liner and side steps. If they can't find one with those options you could always get those put on after (and maybe done cheaper). I will say that the factory spray is really good though.

One more option to think about is the dark vs. red sided/trimmed interior. The Blackout version comes with the dark but some non blackouts (like mine) came with the dark interior. Alot of non blackouts have red sided/trimmed interior. I just re-read your initial post and see you're going with the Black group so you'll get the dark interior.

If you're getting a Rebel with those options it will probably already have the Alpine speaker system. I love mine...upgraded the 2 rear door speakers along with the 3 dash speakers to Infiniti's. Really cleans up the highs....but it still sounded great stock.

The only other thing I can think of is the Navigation. You said you want it. There are (2) types of 8.4 navigation. 8.4A and 8.4AN. 8.4AN is the full navigation and has the built in voice commands. The 8.4A is the dealer activated navigation. It usually costs $600 or so...you could get a deal on it or have them activate it as part of the purchase. When I bought my 2014 Durango R/T my dealership did this (threw in the activated navigation). Personally I didn't use the voice commands. My Rebel has the full 8.4AN navigation. Just a thought.

As far as colors...I personally did NOT want the blackout package on my Silver Rebel. The silver front skid plate and silver/black wheels offset the silver/flat black color scheme over the entire truck.

The blackout package looks great on the Delmonico Red (Maroon) and Bright Blue along with either of the dark gray or black Rebels. If I was buying a white one it would be a 50/50 choice.

Good luck with your choice! Keep us posted!
 
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unxpctd

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I did forget to add...the issue you'll be dealing with now (early December) is finding a Rebel with Ramboxes with all those options. Ramboxes are only on something like 10-15% of Ram pickups. So to find one with Ramboxes WITH all of those other options....may limit your choices on some of the other options (color/blackout, etc).

Have your dealer do a search, nationwide if necessary. At least a few states away. My dealer went 5 hours to just outside of Chicago to get my Rebel...they did a dealer trade.

If you find a good dealer....they'll do this for you. Good luck!
 
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You have picked a good selection of options but like someone mentioned it may be difficult to find a 2017 loaded with them this late in the year. The Rebel in particular may be harder to find but the one positive is all Rebel’s have the air suspension. I REALLY wanted a Rebel when they came out (late 2015 for 2016 model year) but most dealers were marking them up huge because supply was limited and I couldn’t justify spending 10k over sticker for it. I ended up with a 2015 Big Horn for 10k UNDER sticker and it did have the Ram boxes (and I loved them). I ended up trading it in this September for a Ram Power Wagon and been loving every minute. I do believe that you could probably get a good deal on a 2018 once they ‘ unveil ‘ the redesigned 2019 in January. Either way the trucks are a smoking deal right now. The features per dollar quotient can’t be matched by any of the other manufacturers. Keep us updated on the process.

BTW...do you do any training for PTC? Would like to improve my scores on bi-yearly qualifying. I’m in the South Jersey area.
 
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DVC

DVC

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You have picked a good selection of options but like someone mentioned it may be difficult to find a 2017 loaded with them this late in the year. The Rebel in particular may be harder to find but the one positive is all Rebel’s have the air suspension. I REALLY wanted a Rebel when they came out (late 2015 for 2016 model year) but most dealers were marking them up huge because supply was limited and I couldn’t justify spending 10k over sticker for it. I ended up with a 2015 Big Horn for 10k UNDER sticker and it did have the Ram boxes (and I loved them). I ended up trading it in this September for a Ram Power Wagon and been loving every minute. I do believe that you could probably get a good deal on a 2018 once they ‘ unveil ‘ the redesigned 2019 in January. Either way the trucks are a smoking deal right now. The features per dollar quotient can’t be matched by any of the other manufacturers. Keep us updated on the process.

BTW...do you do any training for PTC? Would like to improve my scores on bi-yearly qualifying. I’m in the South Jersey area.

10k over sticker is ridiculous for any vehicle; hard to imagine any dealer getting away with that nonsense. In light of that, the deals now are even more significant.

Congrats on the Power Wagon... that is an impressive beast. When I first started checking out reviews of the Rebel, I saw an off road review that featured the Rebel and the PW, and the reviewers didn't even bother to try to take the Rebel up some of the stuff that the PW tackled... double lockers and detachable sway bars make for some serious capability. Have you taken it off road much?

Regarding training, I could certainly help with your PTC qualifications... if you're going to be up in the North Jersey area, I'd be happy to set something up with you! (I do discounts for active duty military and LE.) My website is on my profile/about me page.
 

rango10

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Auto dimming side mirrors (make sure both auto dim, some vehicles only the driver side does), auto folding side mirrors, auto dim rear view mirror, color matches side mirrors, ram LED bed lights (mounted on the side Wells near the tailgate), sunroof, front mounted wrench, cargo camera, all LED interior lights, all black package from the pillars to the headboard, fender flares, interior wheel well covers... I could probably think of more but that's what I got so far. I mentioned some things that are standard on the Rebel, but not the sport. Here's a pic of mine... with a nice toy attached. b03afd2fc277eee57d0f310f00e9c4d1.jpg

Sent from my STV100-1 using Tapatalk
 
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DVC

DVC

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Auto dimming side mirrors (make sure both auto dim, some vehicles only the driver side does), auto folding side mirrors, auto dim rear view mirror, color matches side mirrors, ram LED bed lights (mounted on the side Wells near the tailgate), sunroof, front mounted wrench, cargo camera, all LED interior lights, all black package from the pillars to the headboard, fender flares, interior wheel well covers... I could probably think of more but that's what I got so far. I mentioned some things that are standard on the Rebel, but not the sport. Here's a pic of mine... with a nice toy attached.

Thanks for the suggestions (and beautiful Sport you have there!)

There are a few items on your list that I'm not familiar with... for example:
Front-mounted wrench (or maybe you mean winch, which I also haven't see an option for)
Cargo camera (unless that's the backup camera)
 

rango10

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Thanks for the suggestions (and beautiful Sport you have there!)

There are a few items on your list that I'm not familiar with... for example:
Front-mounted wrench (or maybe you mean winch, which I also haven't see an option for)
Cargo camera (unless that's the backup camera)
Yeah I meant winch. But Ram also makes a camera that is mounted in the third brake light called a cargo cam.

Sent from my STV100-1 using Tapatalk
 
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DVC

DVC

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Yeah I meant winch. But Ram also makes a camera that is mounted in the third brake light called a cargo cam.

Interesting...I haven't seen either of those options
 
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DVC

DVC

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For those who live where there's cold weather, how important is the rear window defroster? It's an option i thought i needed, but not sure about...

My dealer says he has a truck with all my options other than that.
 

unxpctd

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I can't see it being that much of an issue. Let the truck warm up and you should be good. I drove mine in the first snow/slush yesterday and didn't have any issues...and the rear window didn't need to be defrosted.

Will your Rebel be garaged? If it sits out in the snow all the time over the winter I can see the rear window defroster being much more useful.
 
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DVC

DVC

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I can't see it being that much of an issue. Let the truck warm up and you should be good. I drove mine in the first snow/slush yesterday and didn't have any issues...and the rear window didn't need to be defrosted.

Will your Rebel be garaged? If it sits out in the snow all the time over the winter I can see the rear window defroster being much more useful.
Thanks. Yes, i should have mentioned... unfortunately mine will live outside.
 
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DVC

DVC

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I ended up pulling the trigger on a black 2018 Rebel... with more options than I initially wanted (sunroof and Alpine) because it was the closest match the dealer could find.

The good news is that they were willing to give me a fantastic deal on the 18 (very close to what they came up with on the 17), so it made sense all around. And apparently the 18s now come with Google Auto and Apple Car Play, which was a nice surprise.

Thanks for all the input, guys - really great and helpful forum. Pictures to follow when I pick up the truck on Saturday!
 

unxpctd

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Congrats! Post up some pictures after you pick it up!
 
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usaf2006

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Piiiics!! I love my Rebel, just wish it wasn't a pain to lift/level the Air Suspension. That's my only gripe!
 
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