NYIAS 2017: Ram 1500 Sublime Sport, Rebel Blue Streak Take Lickings (of Paint), Keep on Ticking

Matthew Guy
by Matthew Guy

Ask any real estate agent worth their salt and they’ll tell you the easiest way to increase the curb appeal of an aging house is to slather it with a new lick of paint. With a trifling of effort and minimal investment, new sets of eyes will be drawn to the place.

With that in mind, may we present the latest special editions — sorry, factory-custom designs — headed our way from the truck builders in Auburn Hills.

Boasting nary a mechanical upgrade, the Ram 1500 Sublime Sport features similar bright green paintwork made available on past copies of the Dodge Challenger, delighting many leprechauns right out of their lucky charms. Ram’s twin-nostril sport-performance hood is standard, as are blacked-out badges on the nose, side, and tail. Two-wheel-drive Ram 1500s will enjoy inky black 22-inch rimz while those in the snow belt will be forced to endure the indignity of mere 20s on their four-by-fours.

Inside, lime green stitching will pepper the interior, reminding you you’re piloting a factory-custom design, just in case you lose sight of the eye-popping exterior paint for a second. If you want to trade some green for this green, you’d better get in line: they’re only making about 3,000 of them, all of which will be the Crew Cab body style with a Hemi under the hood, natch. I only wish they had introduced this on St. Paddy’s Day.

Across the showroom, the Sport’s heavier brother also gets a new coat of Sherwin-Williams. The Rebel Blue Streak dips the aggro-heavy trim in a pot of dark blue paint to go along with its factory lift, 33-inch all-terrain tires, and Bilstein shocks. Like a sommelier offering to pair your antipasto with a specific wine, Ram pairs the Blue Streak shade with the recently introduced Black Appearance Package. This slaps some black go-faster decals on the hood and spritzes some black paint on the rims and badges. Other than the new hue, however, no other changes are made to the truck. The red trim found on the seats of other Rebels is vetoed, although the embossed tire-tread pattern remains, because reasons.

We may scoff at these factory-custom designs but the sales data doesn’t lie: FCA sold 46,384 Rams to American customers in the month of March. That works out to roughly one truck per minute, around the clock, seven days a week.

The Ram 1500 Sublime Sport will start at $45,740 plus $1,395 destination. The Rebel Blue Streak is $645 cheaper. Both should appear in Ram stores beginning next month.

Matthew Guy
Matthew Guy

Matthew buys, sells, fixes, & races cars. As a human index of auto & auction knowledge, he is fond of making money and offering loud opinions.

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  • Advance_92 Advance_92 on Apr 11, 2017

    Looks more like Yankee blue to me.

  • EBFlex EBFlex on Apr 13, 2017

    "easiest way to increase the curb appeal of an aging house" But see, when that "house" is by far the best house in terms of value/drive-ability/powertrains/etc, you don't change what works. So, in typical TTAC fashion, you tried to slam Chrysler by saying the Ram is long in tooth. But in reality, it's the best truck on the market.

  • Danddd Or just get a CX5 or 50 instead.
  • Groza George My next car will be a PHEV truck if I can find one I like. I travel a lot for work and the only way I would get a full EV is if hotels and corporate housing all have charging stations.I would really like a Toyota Tacoma or Nissan Frontier PHEV
  • Slavuta Motor Trend"Although the interior appears more upscale, sit in it a while and you notice the grainy plastics and conventional design. The doors sound tinny, the small strip of buttons in the center stack flexes, and the rear seats are on the firm side (but we dig the ability to recline). Most frustrating were the repeated Apple CarPlay glitches that seemed to slow down the apps running through it."
  • Brandon I would vote for my 23 Escape ST-Line with the 2.0L turbo and a normal 8 speed transmission instead of CVT. 250 HP, I average 28 MPG and get much higher on trips and get a nice 13" sync4 touchscreen. It leaves these 2 in my dust literally
  • JLGOLDEN When this and Hornet were revealed, I expected BOTH to quickly become best-sellers for their brands. They look great, and seem like interesting and fun alternatives in a crowded market. Alas, ambitious pricing is a bridge too far...
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