I purchased a 2019 1500 Rebel late May 2023. After ample research ranging from testimonials from both owners to watching full tear down videos of countless 3.6 pentastars that made it 500,000+ miles it became clear that it was a very reliable engine. Only the chain tensioner guides seem worn down after half a million miles, which is exceptional for any plastic part. Occasionally I came across a lifter issue but I have tons of experience tearing apart engines (my car is a WRX so I’m on engine #4 in 93k miles….) so that did not deter me, especially given how rare it seems.
I forget the actual number but I recall learning that a much higher percentage of Hemi’s have issues down the line than Pentastars, which is also very important given the shear number of vehicles that Chrysler put the pentastar into (very large sample size). The Hemi is a great engine as far as V8s go, but the pentastar seems to be better if you don’t tow more than 7300lbs, which frankly is quite heavy
I live in Southern California and ski every weekend so there’s a lot of driving on a weekly basis. I put about 50,000 miles on my last car in 2.5 years. According to Fuelly V6 owners were seeing about 19MPG vs the Hemi’s 14. That is a 26% difference, and exceptional given the Rebel comes on very knobby 33”s, has a 1” lift, weighs 5049lbs dry, and has the aerodynamic profile of a sexy brick.
I do not tow anything besides motorcycles so frankly I could have gotten by with anything that could tow 3-4 dirt bikes on a trailer but being able to fit 3 bikes in the 6’4 box without needing to screw around with a trailer is a massive perk. The V6 rebel 4wd (3.92 diff) payload capacity is still 1710lbs which is plenty for my lifestyle.
Overall I see about 19-20 MPG average in my Rebel driving it reasonably and going 55-65 on the highway. I got 23mpg with 3 bikes and camping gear coming back from the desert once but congestion limited our speed to 55.