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CONS ›› Huge on tight trails, Gimmicky passenger show, RHO-Adjacent value
I’m not a truck man. I’ve by no means been a truck man, and after spending per week with the 2026 Ram 1500 Rebel X, I’m fairly assured I’m nonetheless not a truck man. But that is precisely the kind of pickup that makes me perceive why any individual else could be.
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Think of this truck because the extra mature different to the Ram 1500 RHO. It’s much less highly effective, much less shouty, almost six inches narrower, and doesn’t scream that you just’re cosplaying as an off-roader each time you pull right into a Costco. Yet beneath, there’s nonetheless a lot sufficient {hardware} to sort out some legitimately tough terrain.
In truth, after taking it into the woods and throwing mud, rocks, climbs, and deeply rutted trails at it, I found that the Rebel X’s largest limitation wasn’t traction or functionality. It was merely whether or not this monumental factor would match. There’s only one different downside. Our Rebel X value $81,565.
Quick Facts
SWIPE
Styling: What Exactly Is A Rebel X?
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Credit: Stephen Rivers
The Rebel already sits on the adventurous facet of the Ram 1500 household. For 2026, it will get a standard-output 3.0-liter twin-turbo Hurricane inline-six producing 420 hp (313 kW) and 469 lb-ft (636 Nm) of torque, mated to an eight-speed automated. Ram additionally provides the Rebel a one-inch suspension elevate, Bilstein shocks, 33-inch all-terrain tires, skid plates, tow hooks, and an digital locking rear differential.
The Rebel X builds upon that relatively than radically remodeling it. The $3,495 package deal provides a panoramic roof, console-mounted efficiency shifter, paddle shifters, distinctive graphics and badging, leather-based and vinyl seats with purple stitching, and one thing referred to as Rough Road Cruise Control. The latter can handle throttle at speeds as much as 20 mph whereas additionally adjusting steering effort, primarily supplying you with a low-speed off-road cruise-control system.
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Our truck piled significantly extra gear on prime. The Level 2 Equipment Group, Advanced Safety Group II, multifunction tailgate, Bed Utility Group, 33-gallon gasoline tank, and different goodies pushed the sticker from $65,445 earlier than choices to $81,565 delivered. That’s some huge cash for one thing designed to get coated in mud.
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At least it seems to be the half with out going overboard. The 33-inch Goodyears fill the wheel wells properly, the uncovered tow hooks and reshaped decrease bumper present some visible clues about its intentions, and the Rebel X bedside graphic isn’t significantly delicate however it’s removed from obnoxious. It’s a pleasant mix of overt and covert indicators that that is an off-road truck with out showing determined for consideration.
An $81k Cabin You Can Get Dirty
Inside, issues get significantly fancier. Our truck featured Ram’s monumental 14.4-inch Uconnect touchscreen, digital gauge cluster, head-up show, digital rearview mirror, Harman Kardon audio system, twin wi-fi telephone chargers, and the passenger-side show. I’m nonetheless not satisfied by that final one.
Credit: Stephen Rivers
In principle, giving the passenger their very own display sounds intelligent. In apply, it may be gradual to react, isn’t significantly intuitive, and performing one thing as seemingly easy as getting a video taking part in can turn into extra sophisticated than it has any proper to be. It’s the kind of characteristic that’s enjoyable to indicate somebody after they first climb aboard, however one I think loads of homeowners will ultimately neglect exists.
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Graciously, Ram hasn’t determined that every one of these screens justify the dying of bodily buttons and switches. There are nonetheless bodily local weather controls, precise knobs, actual dials and devoted buttons for often used capabilities. Better nonetheless, the four-wheel-drive controls sit proper the place you possibly can attain them. Switching between two-wheel drive, four-wheel-drive Auto, 4 High and 4 Low doesn’t require navigating by means of three touchscreen menus whereas midway up a muddy hill. That issues. More on that shortly.
In the identical vein, all the sensible options scattered across the cabin are helpful, too. You’ve obtained twin wi-fi chargers up entrance, loads of USB connections, MOLLE-style straps on the backs of the entrance seats, and extra energy within the rear, together with a 115-volt, 400-watt household-style outlet.
The Crew Cab’s rear seat is big. Ram lists 45.2 inches (1,148 mm) of rear legroom, and at 6-foot-6, I’m not precisely beneficiant when judging second rows. There’s genuinely sufficient area again there for adults to get comfy. Frankly, the entire seating on this truck is comfy, supportive, and straightforward to understand.
Credit: Stephen Rivers
Material high quality is mostly wonderful for one thing supposed to spend its life getting soiled. In truth, I’d relatively have sturdy plastics in a truck like this than an inside coated in delicate supplies you’re afraid to the touch with muddy arms. That mentioned, it’s at a time like this that you just keep in mind the $81,565 sticker. Suddenly, a few of these cheaper plastics really feel more durable to disregard.
Driving Impressions: On Road First
Firing up the Hurricane, there’s no V8 theater, however there’s additionally no scarcity of efficiency. The standard-output Hurricane’s 420 hp and 469 lb-ft really feel like a lot right here. No, it doesn’t ship the borderline absurd acceleration of the RHO’s 540-hp (403 kW) high-output model, however that’s kind of the purpose. This isn’t making an attempt to show each on-ramp into qualifying for the Baja 1000. That mentioned, I do love the sound of this engine swapping gears at full throttle. It’s akin to high-performance metallic from throughout the pond.
On the freeway, the Rebel X is remarkably easygoing. The Bilsteins don’t punish you for getting the off-road mannequin, the cabin is comfy, and at 70 mph, it’s straightforward to neglect that you just’re sitting on 33-inch all-terrain tires in one thing constructed to crawl by means of mud. Ram’s eight-speed automated largely stays out of the way in which, which is about the very best praise you can provide a transmission in one thing like this. Around city, actuality returns.
The 2026 Ram 1500 Rebel measures 232.9 inches (5,916 mm) lengthy and 82.1 inches (2,085 mm) huge with out its mirrors. Its turning circle spans roughly 47 toes. That’s utterly regular stuff in full-size-truck land, however when you’re accustomed to smaller automobiles, parking garages and tight tons shortly remind you what you’re driving.
Fuel financial system? I noticed roughly 18 mpg throughout a combination of freeway, metropolis, and off-road driving, though I didn’t conduct a managed financial system take a look at. The EPA charges the truck at 18 mpg metropolis, 24 freeway, and 20 mixed. Frankly, if gasoline financial system is close to the highest of your purchasing listing, an off-road pickup carrying 33-inch tires most likely isn’t an awesome concept.
Where The Road Runs Out
This is the place the Rebel X begins making significantly extra sense. I took it throughout unfastened grime, rocks, mud, ruts, and a few critically steep climbs, and the Ram primarily shrugged at every part I pointed it towards. Traction was by no means the issue. Neither was energy. The Bilstein suspension did a superb job of conserving the truck composed over tough surfaces, and the 33-inch Goodyears fortunately clawed their method throughout unfastened terrain.
This, once more, is why having these 4WD mode buttons is good to have useful. Low vary is a button press away. So is the rear locker. The instrument cluster can show pitch and roll, whereas cameras assist tremendously when the hood prevents you from seeing precisely what’s instantly forward. Everything I threw at it, the Rebel X dealt with with out grievance. So lengthy because it match. That’s an essential qualifier.
Credit: Stephen Rivers
I’d beforehand taken the Jeep Wrangler 392 Moab we reviewed by means of a few of these identical trails, and sections that hardly required a second thought within the Jeep grew to become significantly extra sophisticated within the Ram. Tight timber, sharp turns, and sudden elevation modifications don’t care how subtle your suspension is once you’re maneuvering almost 19.5 toes of pickup truck.
That lengthy wheelbase issues, too. So does the burden distribution. There have been trails I merely wasn’t prepared to aim as a result of getting by means of them with out rearranging a number of thousand {dollars}’ price of bodywork regarded questionable. Seriously, we had this Rebel X pitched at over 15 levels each ahead and to the left on the identical time in some sections. It was unnerving. That’s hardly a Rebel-specific downside. It’s the elemental compromise of taking a full-size pickup into genuinely tight terrain. And the Rebel X is definitely higher positioned right here than its crazier sibling.
Competition: The RHO Problem
The 2026 RHO is 88 inches (2,235 mm) huge with out mirrors, which means the Rebel provides you nearly six additional inches of respiratory room on a slim path. The RHO additionally weighs round 6,300 kilos in customary kind in contrast with roughly 5,500 for a Rebel. That’s important.
Of course, the RHO earns these additional inches and kilos with some spectacular {hardware}. Its high-output Hurricane makes 540 hp and 521 lb-ft (706 Nm), whereas its Bilstein Black Hawk e2 adaptive shocks present 13 inches of entrance and 14 inches of rear suspension journey. It rides on 35-inch tires and presents 11.8 inches of floor clearance. Ram says it’ll hit 60 mph in 4.6 seconds.
It’s basically designed to do one thing the Rebel isn’t. Namely, to journey throughout tough terrain very, in a short time. But what number of homeowners really want that? The actuality is that loads of homeowners won’t ever come near exploiting what the RHO can really do.
More: Chevy’s 2026 Silverado ZR2 Is A Trail Weapon That Hates The Drive-Through
For crawling round trails, reaching a campsite, exploring forest roads, working round a farm, or just getting someplace effectively past the place pavement ends, the Rebel X delivers a lot of the helpful functionality with out the RHO’s extra. It’s the extra approachable, much less ostentatious truck. Except for the value.
Our Rebel X rang in at $81,565. The 2025 RHO I examined beforehand stickered at $89,995, and that wasn’t a stripper. It had the $9,995 Level 1 Equipment Group, beadlock-capable wheels, multifunction tailgate, mattress utility package deal, and quite a few different choices. That’s an $8,430 distinction between these two precise take a look at vans. The present 2026 RHO begins at $73,795 earlier than vacation spot and choices. Suddenly, paying greater than $81,000 for the 420-hp Rebel turns into a a lot more durable proposition.
That’s additionally to say nothing of different vans from different manufacturers. The apparent Detroit alternate options are the Ford F-150 Tremor and Chevrolet Silverado ZR2, and neither makes life significantly straightforward for the Rebel X. The 2026 Tremor comes customary with a 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6, 33-inch all-terrain tires, an digital rear locker, off-road-tuned suspension, Rock Crawl mode, and Ford’s helpful Trail Control and Trail 1-Pedal Drive methods.
A 400-hp 5.0-liter V8 is accessible, too. Pricing varies significantly with gear, however Ford’s personal stock reveals well-optioned 2026 Tremors starting from the low-$70,000s to past $80,000. In different phrases, a equally lavish Tremor can completely find yourself within the Rebel X’s neighborhood.
Chevy’s Silverado ZR2 arguably makes the Rebel’s $81,565 sticker look even more durable to swallow. It begins at $71,800 for 2026 and will get a two-inch elevate, glorious Multimatic DSSV dampers, entrance and rear digital lockers, 33-inch Goodyear mud-terrain tires, substantial skid plates, and a cutaway entrance bumper that helps present a 33.5-degree method angle.
The customary 3.0-liter Duramax makes 305 hp and 495 lb-ft (671 Nm), whereas the optionally available 6.2-liter V8 produces 420 hp and 460 lb-ft (624 Nm). Chevy even presents its personal intelligent Multi-Flex tailgate. The Ram counters with a nicer-feeling cabin, that glorious Hurricane, and arguably a extra restrained character, however as soon as a Rebel X crosses $80,000, there’s no pretending it exists in a vacuum.
Sometimes Less Really Is More
Oddly, although, I’m unsure I’d need the RHO, ZR2, or Tremor as an alternative. The Rebel X’s restraint is exactly what makes it interesting. It doesn’t want 540 hp. It doesn’t want 35-inch tires or 14 inches of rear suspension journey. And it actually doesn’t must be 88 inches huge once you’re making an attempt to squeeze between two timber.
Instead, the Rebel X looks like a critically succesful truck constructed for somebody who really needs to make use of that functionality relatively than continuously promote it. It’s comfy sufficient to cross states, spacious sufficient to haul a household, helpful sufficient to work from, and succesful sufficient that off-road I typically ran out of bodily area earlier than the Ram ran out of means.
There are additionally little issues that make dwelling with it genuinely fulfilling. Chief amongst them is Ram’s multifunction tailgate. It can drop conventionally or cut up 60/40 and swing open like barn doorways. After repeatedly strolling instantly as much as the mattress as an alternative of leaning throughout an open tailgate, I began questioning why one thing related isn’t accessible on each pickup.
That’s actually the Rebel X in miniature. It’s not the wildest Ram. It’s not the quickest one. It isn’t even the one which’ll generate essentially the most consideration on the fuel station. It may, nevertheless, be the off-road Ram 1500 I’d relatively stay with. I simply want selecting the wise one saved a little bit extra money.
Lead Photo: Stephen Rivers
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