Kia's 2023 Rebelle Rally Duo Dishes On The Challenges And Triumphs Of The All-Female Desert Endurance Test
In a modified 2024 Kia Telluride X-Pro, Team Kia drove their “most capable vehicle ever,” reporting the rally as a worthy opponent in the best way possible.
After a week in the American desert, re-adjusting to the "real world" of city life, office jobs, and the internet takes a beat.
For eight days, it's just you, your teammate, your ride, and your singular mission to chart a harrowing course through the Martian expanse of Nevada and California, retrieving point-based tokens positioned in sand dunes and rock formations, requiring precision, tenacity, and expert time management to tackle.
Just ask amateur navigator Susie Saxten and professional driver Verena Mei, the duo representing Team Kia in the 2023 Rebelle Rally—an all-female, 8-day dead reckoning using only analog navigation tools (think: pencils, plotters, maps, and compasses).
Jalopnik had a chance to chat with the pair mere days after the Rally wrapped, and they began the conversation chatting animatedly, like reunited sisters—ease fostered by the 80-plus hours they just spent in a car together with only each other to ideate with and rely on.
"Spending a week in the desert without your phone really rewires your brain," Saxten says. Like so many of us, her workday life is one of ample time spent at a desk as the manager of a San Diego-based hospitality company.
But in the Rebelle, she's a navigator extraordinaire, having competed four previous years in the annual rally, as well as other sandy events in Morocco and Saudi Arabia. Saxten came into this hobby with no motorsports background, just a passion for solving challenging puzzles and completing missions. "The competition is so intense but such a blast." She adds, "Half of me thinks we should be looking for checkpoints right now."
"The competition is so intense but such a blast. Half of me thinks we should be looking for checkpoints right now."
This year's Rebelle began on October 12 and concluded on the 21, with Mei and Saxten teaming up for the first time. In their custom 2024 Kia Telluride X-Pro, the team snagged third place in the crossover class and couldn't be more proud.
As a professional Hollywood stunt driver with a tenure competing in speed rallies like Formula Drift and Rally America, Mei is used to being behind the wheel in adrenaline-junkie territory. But the Rebelle is more complex.
It's less about speed and without the surgical choreography of a film production; instead, it's about braving uncertainty everywhere and making tough decisions quickly.
"I had a fantastic time in my third year driving for Team Kia, and the Telluride has been the most capable vehicle I've competed with," Mei tells us. When the automaker called her up three years ago to ask her to drive for them, Mei responded with a quick "yes," citing the Rebelle as a major bucket list item.
This go around, she felt better prepared than ever, noting, "the vehicle's high clearance gave me such confidence."
To prepare for the race, the Telluride's existing 8.4-inch clearance was modified with an extra 1.5-inch lift courtesy of the off-road specialists at Baja Forged. This prevented Mei from hesitating or decelerating over uneven or rocky terrain.
Team Kia used the custom 2024 Kia Telluride X-Pro's functional modes to tackle the unpredictable desert terrain. (2024 Telluride X-Pro modified for Rebelle Rally. Modified vehicle NOT for sale.) Image: Kia
Other modifications to Team Kia's 2024 Telluride X-Pro included a custom roof rack, tow points, front and rear bumpers to increase approach and departure angles, skidplates to shield the car's undercarriage, and 18-inch KMC716 wheels wrapped in BFGoodrich® All-Terrain T/A K02 tires. In addition to its custom upgrades, the vehicle comes standard with a number of road-ready features, including different drive settings like Sport Mode (allowing the driver to amp up speed on the open road) and Eco Mode (to conserve fuel in the desert).
"As the driver, I love the versatility of choosing what mode to go into based on the different surfaces," Mei says, adding, "Plus the air-conditioned seats, which made this a less rough rally for us compared to others." In the unrelenting Mojave heat, this feature makes a major difference.
As far as Saxten's favorite feature, the Telluride's ample storage space, perfect for hauling all the equipment needed to take on the 8-day mission, stands out. "Especially compared with other smaller crossovers, the vehicle has so much room," Saxten says. "We had a spare tire, a bunch of tools, space for sleeping pads, gear to take us from zero to 104 degrees."
At the end of each rally day, the team would navigate to a new basecamp to catch some quick Z's before receiving the next day's map—full of checkpoints to hit in order to increase their score. Come sunup, they'd then take on a new set of unknown challenges.
The experience is packed with fitful nights of sleep and grueling goal prioritization by day—a real physical and mental pressure cooker, just take it from Mei. "This race is full of stress—from the uncertainty of navigating the map to the negotiation of picking up a curveball checkpoint while losing out on additional time for the rest of the race." She adds, "But Susie handled it all so gracefully. We share this spirit of 'aloha' that made it fun the whole time."
"The race is full of stress... but Susie and I share this spirit of 'aloha' that made it fun the whole time."
The admiration is mutual, Saxten says. "Watching Verena with this wealth of experience behind her was so impressive, and she always put everything in perspective."
"If I'd get anxious about mistakes or missing a checkpoint, Verena would assure me: 'Don't count your chickens. All we can do is move forward. You never know what's gonna happen.'"
Despite the constant challenges of the race, Mei and Saxten both remark on the camaraderie between the 100 contestants, composed of women from all walks of life, some sponsored by automotive manufacturers, others crowdfunding their participation to actualize a personal dream. "I love the spirit of this rally," Mei says. "Everyone supports each other in spite of the competition. Everyone is helping each other tackle challenges, get to the finish, and grow."
Speaking of snags, they recall the final day in Glamis, California.
They were stuck in a dune-laden expanse that, in previous years, slowed Team Kia down, but the duo counts this stretch as a major triumph. Even in the midday heat, with their trusty steed lodged in two of these sand drifts, they tell us that they had a really solid day.
"We were just really careful, and we managed to extract ourselves from the obstacles in Glamis that break a lot of teams," Saxten says. With the help of Eco Mode, Mei was able to rev the car to dislodge it from one of the hills. "We were so deep in those dunes. But even when we got stuck, all we had to do was get out and give the car a little push."
It's a poignant lesson anyone can apply to their lives, whether in a rally like this or back in the real world, a reminder of how capable we can all be even in the face of mounting difficulties.
Saxten remarks, "It's like when you're struggling with something. This voice pipes up in the back of your head to remind you—'Remember that time you pushed a multiple-ton car out of a sand dune? Is anything else really that hard in comparison?'"
"Remember that time you pushed a multiple-ton car out of a sand dune? Is anything else really that hard in comparison?"
Inspired, you may now be thinking: "I could use a dose of that perspective. Should I compete in a Rebelle?" If you ask Mei and Saxten, they will respond with an enthusiastic, "Yes!"
"Anyone can participate in the Rebelle. There are a ton of rookies without motorsports experience," Mei says. "People do it with their moms, their sisters. It's more than a motorsports challenge. It's a journey."
"Everyone has to start somewhere, and this is such a great place to start."