The funny thing about trucks is that even though the number of new models is a little limited
compared to say an SUV or a crossover the variety is still vast if you're thoughtful about your bed
length your cab size and your trim you could be looking at thirty thousand dollars for a Bare
Bones Workhorse or a hundred and twenty thousand dollars for a super luxurious living room on
Wheels not everyone makes trucks but those who do really seem to want to make a truck for everyone
and that's how the truck that we're looking at today came to be this is the 2023 Ram 2500 heavy
duty obviously we've got it in its new trim Rebel and we've seen the rebel treatment before on the
Ram 1500 this one is here as a result of Ram's continued efforts to dial in that lineup for
customer demand in this case demand for a truck that has the ability to go off-road and also has
the ability to tow more than twice its own weight the rebel trim looks pretty similar to The Power
Wagon the other off-roader in the lineup with a few notable differences first of all we have
20 inch wheels with 33 inch tires fewer Graphics no winch up front then there's this blacked out
grill with a special design that's unique to the rebel trim and this is cool this is an accessory
445 dollars it's the tubular side step by Mopar it's been a really good friend to me this week
and I think it looks awesome all 2500 Rebels get the crew cab so the four-door and the six foot
four inch bed it is possible to get the eight foot bed with the crew cab not on this trim now it's
possible to get a power release tailgate there's an available in bed power outlet for your tools or
your air fryer maybe and a pickup cargo box light we have the black leather interior on our tester
and the materials are really nice heated front seats are standard on the rebel trim ours are
also ventilated and we have the Dual Zone climate control and an eight-way power adjustable driver
seat there's 40.9 inches of Headroom and 40.9 inches of legroom in this front row kind of like
a big Square you might notice this center console is really wide and that's partly because this is
such a big truck but it's also because this could have been a bench seat for three people across we
just happen to have the two bucket seats in this particular truck this large center console does
make a nice work surface and it's also great for storage we've got a lot of neat little features in
here like this part moves back and forth there's a little charging station where you can prop your
phone on and this thing opens up lots of space and there's even a dedicated spot for hanging file
folders which is so cool when Ram says that this truck is for work they are not excluding paperwork
there's lots of other storage in here including at the back of the center
console and who needs a frunk when you have covered in-floor storage bins on crew cab
models now in total we have 125 cubic feet of Passenger volume 60.7 cubic feet of interior
cargo volume 40.2 inches of legroom back here and 39.8 inches of Headroom [Music]
one of the main reasons that this Rebel exists is that unlike the Power Wagon it can get the
optional Cummins turbo diesel engine why would you want that basically gas mileage
and low speed torque diesel engines are more fuel efficient and they give you more torque
lower in the Rev range which as a general rule is going to translate to better towing capability
with less stress on the engine also if you're doing your Trucking at higher altitudes that
turbocharger is going to be essential because a naturally aspirated engine will lose some power
and thinner air that said if you are going to be doing a lot of Towing and Hauling off-road
you're going to want the rebel with the base engine which is what we're driving today
this has the 6.4 liter Hemi V8 which makes 410 horsepower and 429 pound-feet of torque if you
go for that 6.7 liter Cummins turbo diesel you're going to get a whopping 850 pound-feet of torque
with 370 horsepower but it'll cost you nearly 10 grand extra it'll also reduce your max towing
capacity from 16870 to 14 920 pounds and your max payload capacity from 3140 to 1970 pounds plus
since you need airflow for the turbo you cannot get the optional winch with the diesel engine
if Towing and Hauling are top priorities for you you should know that the Ram 2500 can tow up to 20
000 pounds or 12.8 1963 Volkswagen Beetles when properly equipped and it can handle a payload
of up to 4010 pounds or two and a half Herbies you should also know that it has new telescopic
trailer tow mirrors new available trailer tow camera views and a newly available trailer reverse
steering control system the EPA does not provide fuel economy ratings for this class of vehicle
but Chris wardlaw reported that he got 19.1 miles per gallon average on mostly highway driving I've
been averaging about 12.9 with maybe a 65-35 ratio of City to highway driving it has a 31 gallon tank
and it takes regular fuel the diesel engine comes with a six-speed transmission this one has the
eight speed now you may have heard me complain before about vehicles with too many gears I'm
sorry but 10 is way too many for a Ford Explorer Ram has really nailed it with this eight-speed
transmission the shift points feel great and it's not overly eager to get out of first and
second gear like some Vehicles so transmission great acceleration it'll get there eventually
it does weigh more than three tons so short of using electric power like the F-150 Lightning
it's gonna take a minute to get up to speed and that's okay likewise you really have to stomp on
the brakes but that's also appropriate for a heavy duty vehicle the steering is really light to the
point that it's almost unnerving when I first got in this thing I'm thinking okay this vehicle is
nearly seven feet tall like I said of more than three tons I want to have to think about where
I'm going to put it that said it's not Twitchy which is a good thing and on the highway physics
kind of takes care of it there's enough play in the steering wheel that you really have to commit
if you're going to change lanes or move around which is very helpful for something this size
this truck is four-wheel drive that's the default for the rebel trim that has a part-time transfer
case which means you can run it in four high four low or two wheel drive now I did get some
wheel hop in rear wheel drive similar to what you might feel if you're using summer
Tires and it's really really cold out but this truck is made to carry substantial weight and
that's likely not going to happen when it's being used for its intended purpose likewise
having it loaded up will help with the ride Ram says that this is the most comfortable
ride in the heavy duty segment I have not gotten to experience that because it doesn't feel great
when it's not loaded down but the suspension again is designed to carry a lot of weight
speaking of ride Comfort you'll notice when you're driving there's an Eco light that's
going to come on and off on the dashboard and when that's on the truck is shutting
off four cylinders for fuel economy purposes and it's going to make the ride rougher it
might actually cause your passenger to accuse you incorrectly of driving on the rumble strip
but when you're behind the wheel you don't really notice the difference [Music] foreign
12-inch touchscreen is running Uconnect 5 with Wireless Apple carplay and Android auto it has
five user profiles the ability to customize the home screen and you can connect two phones at once
this is standard on all but the Tradesmen and the Big Horn trims now there is a lot of gloss black
around this infotainment system we have just a few physical climate controls and I personally don't
love that you have to go into the touch screen to access the heated seats and steering wheels
but I do love that there are dedicated buttons for muting the sound system and turning the screen off
we've got the 17 speaker Harman Kardon sound system a six-speaker sound system is standard
on the rebel trim does have voice activated audio controls and then a four speaker sound
system is standard on the base Tradesman trim Wi-Fi and wireless charging are also
available on the 2500 lineup the newly available 12-inch driver information display will show you
navigation if you have that option it also lets you keep an eye on your trailer's tire pressure
and it'll show you trailer brake status trailer light Chuck tow specific navigation and off-road
Pages there's also a newly available digital rear view mirror that will integrate the side
cameras and it'll let you see what's going on behind your trailer now if you have Ram
connected Services that's going to let you use the ram app from your phone to do things
like lock or unlock or even start the vehicle locate it send a destination to your nav if
you have that system and if you're buying this truck for employees to drive on your
behalf you might want to take advantage of ram telematics which will let you monitor its usage
you can add the safety group to any trim of the Ram 2500 that's going to get you automatic
emergency braking automatic high beams adaptive cruise control rear cross traffic alert and blind
spot monitoring which is really useful given the visibility in here now if you have the side
cameras they will turn on with the turn signals it's pretty cool for Lane changing on the highway
but as someone who signals scrupulously myself I found that incredibly annoying when I was trying
to navigate anywhere they're also super bright no matter how much you turn down the screen at night
doesn't seem like you can change the brightness when that camera turns on you can turn the entire
feature off so that's something to be aware of you also can add most of these safety features
as Standalone options making this truck even more customizable the base price for the rebel
trim is 70 715 dollars and hours as tested comes to eighty one thousand two hundred ninety dollars
that's what the safety group the towing Tech group and the Harman Kardon sound system now
the 2500 lineup in the base Tradesman trim starts just under forty five thousand dollars and you're
not gonna get a sedan or an SUV with manual door locks for that amount of money but you're buying
one of these for the capability and that really limits its competition to other heavy duty trucks
like the Ford F-250 Super Duty the Chevy Silverado 2500 HD and the GMC Sierra 2500 HD the F250 Super
Duty was just redesigned for 2023 and it does start a little cheaper by a difference of about
a thousand dollars the Sierra and the Silverado are due for redesigns in 2024 so while there are
a few grand cheaper at the moment we'll see what happens then as with any vehicle purchase this is
a question of wants versus needs if you need this kind of capability the Ram 2500 is a no-brainer
if you want the extra features and benefits that come with a higher trim then more power to you
maybe even literally but if you just want a giant truck I would invite you to think carefully about
your day-to-day life do you ever have passengers with you they are not going to like the ride in
this thing unless you actually have it loaded down and do you ever Park in parking lots in that case
my advice to you with this truck look out for pull throughs because you're gonna need a pull through
hey thanks for watching to learn more about the pros and cons of this truck or any of
its Rivals head over to cargurus.com to read our full written reviews please subscribe to
this Channel and check back soon we'll be driving something else next week [Music]