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Driving all sorts of new sedans and SUVs, and even other full-sized pickup trucks, cannot adequately prepare you for driving the new Ram Rebel 2500 Power Wagon Crew Cab 4x4, built for serious off-road duty as well as highway travel.  

The test truck, in Granite Crystal Metallic, also came armed with a secret weapon — the 6.7-liter Cummins Turbodiesel engine that makes 370 horsepower and an incredible 850 foot-pounds of tor           new — enough to increase the payload to 1,970 pounds and the towing capacity to 14,920 pounds.  

If the new Rebel Power Wagon 2500 seems like enormous excess, it is. But for those towing heavy trailers, or who want to test out the three-quarter-ton pickup’s off-road capabilities, that’s probably not excess at all.  

It seems quite possible, however, that the normal off-road circuit or trek to the cabin in the woods is not nearly up to what can be achieved by the Ram Rebel. Besides, it recorded more than 16 miles per gallon in all our city driving, and I worked it up to more than 20 miles per gallon by being a little judicious in how I applied all that ready torque. The great thing about a really good turbodiesel is that you might not be impressed with the fuel economy, but it will deliver about the same fuel economy empty as it will loaded and pulling a trailer, and by having all that torque, it never strains at all in accelerating or climbing steep hills.  

It came out a year ago, reinvigorating the Power Wagon standards, but also with a few shortcomings compared to the half-ton 1500 Ram Rebel. The new one spiffs up the interior so that you are sitting in a luxurious bucket seat that is heated and ventilated, and extremely supportive. It also puts you in position to exercise all that power, but I caution you to be careful driving in city traffic, where you have to double-check the triple-view side mirrors and/or the big screen’s information cameras to make sure you’ve cleared that end-spot parked vehicle as you turn.  

You also have enhanced enjoyment from a 17-speaker Harmon Kardon audio system that takes full advantage of how deceptively quiet the big diesel engine is, thanks to modern technology. Obviously, suppressing the anticipated diesel noise enhances your ability to hear all the nuances of the audio system, and you can blast everyone front and rear seats out of their comfort zone.  

The biggest problem, as I see it, is simply getting in and out of the Ram Rebel 2500 Power Wagon. Ford has built up its biggest F-250 pickup with a sliding running board that comes out to meet you as you start to step up and in. Dodge hasn’t blessed the Ram with that sort of thing, choosing to stay primitive for the sake of that aforementioned off-road capability.

Driving too Rammy, to coin a phrase, could knock the running board off and into the woods, so without it, you have one less thing to worry about.  

Still, when you walk up ro the Ram and open the front door, you are immediately challenged by the raised chassis and its high step required to enter. There really is no easy answer. I was able to throw one foot up onto the floor of the truck, grab the grab-handle up high on the front pillar, and pull myself up and onto the seat, or at least onto the outside edge of the seat, from where you don’t relax your grip on the grab-handle until you’re sure you are securely inside.  

My wife, Joan, refused to even ride in the big Ram Rebel the first few days we had it, just because of the height of it, and the threat of pulled muscles on sore legs. When I finally coaxed her to make the leap, she had to admit she was amazed at how it “doesn’t feel like such a huge truck,” once you’re moving.  

True, it drives much more agreeably with traffic and available space, although we did find the perfect antidote to the high-jump entry. Joan has a couple of conveniently sized folding steps that come into play whenever we have to reach something on a high shelf in a closet, or change a lightbulb, or some such task. I borrowed one that has only one step, and folds flat when not in use.  

The problem, I instantly realized, was that once you step up and then hop in, you have no way to reach down for the small stool without risking plummeting out for a head-first meeting with the asphalt. So I found a little-used pair of winter boots and removed one shoelace. I tied it in a simple square knot on the handle of the portable stool, and made sure I had the loose end of the lace inside before I entered. Then I simply reeled it up and in, much like some guy ice-fishing who might have caught a 20-inch walleye through the ice fishing hole.  

Once inside, it was simple to fold closed the stool and stash it in the back seat, where it could be quickly retrieved and put to use for exiting. Because climbing out is just as imposing; you don’t face the anti-gravity entry, but you do realize that once you try to jump down from that bucket seat there is some elapsed time required before you hit the ground.  

The base price of the Ram Rebel is $88,425, which is a pretty good chunk out of the family budget. It gets healthier when you step up to the long list of optional equipment, such as the 20-inch polished alloy wheels, the 220-amp alternator, all of the safety benefits available — such as lane-holding and surround camera devices, the 8-way power seats, and the $9,695 for the Cummins 6.7 turbodiesel, and the 17-speaker audio system — easy allowing the sticker to climb to $92,500.  

Now, I have driven some loaded pickups that cost nearly or over $100,000, but this might be the first one that rides as smoothly as some limousines on the highways and is still built to take on the most rugged terrain this side of Moab. And maybe that side of Moab, as well.  

Now if they’d just supply, maybe, a portable escalator to climb in and out with, we could justify that expense.