The first-ever Ford Ranger Raptor, Ford's latest off-road, performance pick-up truck, blasted out from behind its camouflage during a reveal event in Thailand last year. The ultimate Ranger is purposefully designed, built and tested to set a benchmark as the only factory built performance truck across Asia Pacific. Designed by Ford Performance team for the true enthusiast off-roader, Ford Ranger Raptor strengthens Ford's commitment to deliver high performance pickup trucks to customers.
Exterior
The Ford Ranger Raptor features distinctive design cues inside and out that are functionally driven.
At the front, a stunning new grille takes styling cues from the world's first factory-built high performance off road truck, the F-150 Raptor. The iconic block FORD lettering proudly positioned within the grille design is unmistakable when emerging from a dust cloud.
A frame mounted front-bumper system is designed to offer desert durability performance and a distinctive presence. The front bumper also includes new LED fog lamps with functional air-curtain ducts, which help to reduce air resistance of the body.
Using composite materials, the front fenders not only look tough, but resist dents and dings often associated with off-road usage. The flared shape of the fenders are required for the long travel suspension and oversized tires. The exterior color palate offerings include Lightning Blue, Race Red, Shadow Black, Frozen White, as well as a unique Hero color for the Ford Ranger Raptor, Conquer Grey. Contrasting Dyno Grey accents helps to accentuate the vehicle's look even further. Vehicle stance is noticeably bigger from every angle, standing at an impressive 1873mm tall, 2180mm wide and 5398mm long, with wider front and rear tracks at 1710mm.
Ground clearance is increased to 283mm, as a package are superior to anything seen before. Starting from the ground up, the side steps are a cut above the rest. The step boards were designed specifically to prevent rock spray from hitting the rear of the truck and the holes have been designed to drain sand, mud and snow. The tough high-strength aluminium alloy die-cast main step board is designed for durability.
At the rear, a modified rear bumper comes with an integrated tow bar and two recovery hooks rated at 3.8 tonnes. Updated styling to the rear includes flush sensor bezels and specially packaged and styled tow connectors. Providing an abundance of space, the 1560mm x 1743mm tray has been designed with the weekend explorer in mind, while the 2500kg towing capacity also accounts for dirt bikes or jet-skis, as well as traditional work needs during the week.
Interior
Inside, Ranger Raptor offers a tailored Ford Performance DNA interior design with a high level of craftsmanship, harmonious colours and durable materials suitable for both off-road driving and everyday use. The seats are specially designed for off-road high speed performance support, allowing the driver to engage in enthusiastic handling, while also providing superior on-road comfort. The use of technical suede on the seats for additional occupant grip shows the practicality behind the material choice.
When getting behind the wheel, Ford Ranger Raptor drivers will notice the detailed cockpit differences everywhere they look, including the blue stitching and leather accents. The cluster has aggressive styling, encompassing a host of Driver Assist features. The steering wheel is distinctively different and features a magnesium paddle shifters for crisp gear changing are easily accessible near the perforated leather hand grip sections on the rim for precision off-road shifting when you really need it, plus it's so cool!
Ford Performance DNA has played a significant role in the purposeful styling, including the "12 o'clock" marker - a red stripe at the top-middle of the wheel to let you know where the centre is when operating the vehicle at high speed. The steering wheel is finished off with the Raptor logo debossed into the spoke bezel.
Engine
The Ford Ranger Raptor powertrain features cutting edge technology to offer more power and torque, better fuel economy, less weight and with off-road specific calibrations for engine, transmission, driveline, steering, brakes and Electronic Stability Control (ESC) system. In a revolutionary move to deliver incredible performance and responsiveness, a 10-Speed transmission is combined with a new 2.0L Bi-Turbo diesel engine in the Ranger Raptor to deliver a maximum of 210 bhp and 500Nm of torque.
The Ford-designed and Ford-built 10-speed automatic transmission is shared with the F-150 Raptor and has been created with high-strength steel, aluminium alloys and composites to optimize durability and weight. Having 10 gears means a wider ratio-span resulting in better acceleration and responsiveness. With more room to optimize gear spacing, engineers could customize gear progression far more efficiently than before, providing more accurate - and quicker - upshift and downshift capability, though i find it really jerky when maneuvering around traffic, but it gives you that punch when you're really on it on open and flat surfaces- which is quite nice and sporty.
Drive
Inheriting vital capability from the truly successful Ranger and complementing that with DNA from the F-150 Raptor, the Ranger Raptor is set to turn heads throughout the Philippines and around the world. It is amazing to enable this level of performance and create a vehicle that can provide off-road enthusiasts such an adrenaline rush.
There are six different “terrain modes” that help the four-wheel drive system cope with different conditions: Normal, Sport, Grass/Gravel/Snow, Mud, Rocks and, for the ultimate off-road performance experience, Baja mode. Each of these adjust the throttle response, steering weight and feel, torque distribution and so on. Stick it in Baja mode and the Raptor feels quite potent enough, with surges of power coming from low in the rev range. Switch off the traction control and put it in rear-wheel drive and it’s quite possible to cut big muddy circles into your local field (with apologies to the land owners around Dasmariñas, Cavite and no cows were killed during the testing of the raptor).
Verdict
As I've told colleagues and friends, I'm not so much a pick-up truck type of guy. I rarely have to carry things around hence the lack of needing such a vehicle. But when I got behind the wheel of the Raptor, I immediately felt it's an insanely cool car. It is incredibly capable and packed with tech but I can’t help but feel that if you are buying this to be seen or recognised as a Ford groupie you may as well buy a WIldtrak and drive it through your nearest aftermarket parts store and see what sticks and achieve the same thing.
But, if you are buying this to genuinely attack the off-road cross country scene and don’t mind paying the premium for the pleasure, you can’t go wrong with the Raptor. It really is worth the extra money and the wait.
Comments