STOCKTON, Utah – “Where the hell am I supposed to drive this?” was roughly my impression of the Bronco Raptor, an SUV so annoyingly broad that it wants government-mandated marker lights. It additionally boasts 418 horsepower, huge 37-inch tires and a suspension designed to cushion touchdown again on Earth after you’ve launched 5,733 kilos off its floor. As a result of that’s one thing you possibly can routinely do. All the above is amplified within the F-150 Raptor, however a minimum of that may match a fridge in its mattress. Each are mainly the off-road equivalents of a Lamborghini Aventador: immensely succesful, hyper-masculine and, day-to-day, extremely ridiculous.
The brand new 2024 Ford Ranger Raptor will not be ridiculous. Its monitor is 3.5 inches wider than the bottom truck and its fenders flared to cowl the 33-inch tires, however excluding the mirrors, the Ranger Raptor’s width grows by solely 4.3 inches. With the mirrors in place or folded, it is precisely the identical. Against this, the Bronco Raptor is 9.8 inches(!) wider than the usual model with the mirrors folded, and even 6.4 inches wider than the big-tired Wildtrak. The Ranger Raptor is a number of tenths narrower than that.
So whereas the Ranger’s further monitor and large tires grant it better stability, the widespread width doesn’t go away you wincing on the sight of each department lining a path or trying to find RV parking simply to say a sufficiently broad house. And true, the Ranger Raptor is nearly 20 inches longer than its Bronco platform mate (the distinction between a truck mattress and an SUV cargo space), but it surely completely doesn’t really feel it. Whereas the opposite Raptors are intense brutes designed go quick in wide-open areas of desert – form of muscle automobiles of the sand – the Ranger Raptor feels lithe and flickable. That’s partly a results of notion given its dimension, but in addition due to how Ford’s engineers supposed it.
And by “engineers,” I don’t simply imply those that name Michigan dwelling. Like all the 2024 Ford Ranger lineup, the Raptor is a world product, and the lions’ share of its tortuous improvement occurred on, by means of and over rusty pink sands Down Beneath.
“It’s been a labor of love for us in Australia,” mentioned Ford Efficiency and Particular Automobile Applications Supervisor Justin Capicchiano, who made the 22-hour trek from Melbourne, Australia, to transient the assembled journalists in Utah. After making roughly the identical level concerning the Bronco and F-150 Raptor’s perfect efficiency area, Capicchiano added that attaining the next diploma of agility was of paramount significance for the Ranger Raptor. He famous that whereas we could be making our manner by means of generously spaced cones in wide-open desert, his crew was snaking by means of groves of “soap trees and eucalyptus.”
To that finish, the suspension options lighter-weight aluminum management arms and a long-travel rear suspension with trailing arms and a Watts linkage. These could be the bars funkily hooked up to the diff from every wheel. Crucially, just like the F-150 Raptor, the rear finish has coils rather than the usual truck’s leaf springs. Seventeen-inch wheels (beadlocks are optionally available) wrap these 33-inch BFGoodrich all-terrains – no 37s right here. It wouldn’t be a Raptor with out Fox shocks, and the Ranger has next-generation 2.5-inch Stay Valve Inner Bypass {hardware} that alters its damping efficiency based mostly on the assorted drive modes or steering wheel button. They’re additionally swell for attaining a comfortable touchdown, and regardless of all of the speak of agility, the Bo and Luke Duke schtick will all the time be on the Raptor menu.
To that finish, the entrance body rails, entrance shock towers, rear shock brackets and suspension mounting factors have been all strengthened. And sure, I did leap the Ranger Raptor and, truthfully, it was anticlimactic. Credit score assuredly goes to the improved {hardware}, however we weren’t truly allowed to present it the total, nicely, this …
The restrictions have been considerably eased on the dealing with course, which is the first area for the brand new Raptor Assault driving college that consumers of any Raptor now get a one-day admission to. Usually, the gathering of small circuits minimize by means of the desert an hour west of Salt Lake Metropolis could be an inexpensive facsimile for the dusty, sandy situations of Baja, California, which conjures up the identify of the Raptor’s most intense drive mode. On this present day, nevertheless, the circuits are a mucky mess. Sticky mud muffins the tires, water swimming pools on the backside of touchdown zones, corners resemble pig pens … let’s simply say when the driving teacher tells you there’s not going to be any grip when the objective was initially to drive on sand, you recognize it’s dangerous.
Here is the factor, although. I wasn’t being timed; I wasn’t attempting to go quick sufficient to show the truck’s limits. Should you’re simply attempting to have some slidey, splashy, rooster-tailing enjoyable with out killing your self or bashing the truck, the Ranger Raptor is an incredible toy. The drone footage of my runs is hilarious – I needed to examine to see if it was filmed in slow-motion, however nope, it simply appeared like I used to be looking for a parking spot. Didn’t really feel it, although, and it didn’t matter. It was a hoot to flick the Ranger Raptor right into a slick nook, goose the throttle to coax the rear finish to slip, then nurse it to keep up an arc, earlier than flicking the wheel again in the other way to start out once more. Baja mode’s looser stability management reins make this tomfoolery doable, by the best way, however do maintain these reins primed simply in case you get a little bit over-eager. You may also flip them off utterly for full yee-haw.
Later, I might get into the passenger seat subsequent to Anthony Magagnoli, an Off-Highway Attributes Engineer at Ford. Principally, it is his job to go quick sufficient to show the truck’s limits. He was largely doing what I used to be doing round corners, however at, like, thrice the velocity. It was like somebody hit fast-forward on the world. Sustaining such a tempo by means of cleaning soap bushes and eucalyptus could be terrifying. Good on ya, mates. Anyway, it was even simpler to detect the Ranger Raptor’s elevated sense of agility when at a a lot faster tempo and after I wasn’t the one doing the driving – it felt extra like using shotgun in a WRX than one thing known as Raptor.
We additionally managed to do some rock crawling on the close by Sunshine Canyon Highway OHV Loop. The Raptor has higher clearances than the usual Ranger, with an strategy angle of 33 levels (versus 30.2), a departure angle of 26.4 (25.8), a ramp breakover angle of 24.2 (23.0) and a minimal floor clearance of 10.7 inches (9.3). That’s the very same floor clearance of the Colorado ZR2, which has a greater strategy, worse departure and ballpark-ish break-over. The Tacoma TRD Off-Highway is broadly related, which is to say that the TRD Professional will probably be better. The Colorado ZR2 Bison is matter-of-fact better. Certainly, the rock crawling we tried at Sunshine Canyon was a leisurely sashay by means of the nation in comparison with the “Are you kidding me?” boulder discipline I tackled within the Bison. We didn’t even have spotters within the Raptor – simply the helpful array of onboard cameras, plus orders over the radio to interact the “Off-Road” or extra aggressive “Rock Crawl” drive modes, choose the entrance or rear lockers utilizing the touchscreen menu that continues to be in place when in these modes, and interact the Path Management off-roading cruise management system that did its job. Usually, I’d say “that’s what your feet are for,” however giving it a whirl on the slippery terrain the place the system can stab particular person brakes however proved its worth.
In different phrases, the Raptor can do some rock crawling, and given its extra manageable dimensions, it’ll be simpler and extra enjoyable to take action than within the Bronco or F-150. In comparison with different hardcore selections, the reply might be “not as good,” however then rock crawling isn’t for everybody. I do know I’d somewhat be slip-sliding and leaping mounds within the desert than bashing facet rails at 1.7 mph. And to that finish, the Ranger Raptor will completely thwack its rivals with what it is packing beneath the hood: a 3.0-liter turbocharged V6 good for 405 horsepower and 430 pound-feet of torque. That is likely to be the identical torque because the ZR2 and 6 fewer pound-feet than the TRD Professional’s hybrid four-cylinder, however the horsepower? Not even remotely shut.
There aren’t any lengthy straights at Raptor Assault to essentially let the massive turbo V6 fly, so the very best I may do was a pair full-wood acceleration runs as much as the listed velocity restrict on Freeway 73 (our on-road driving was restricted solely to a 30-minute trek on mentioned freeway). Just like the Bronco Raptor, which has the identical engine with a number of further horses however tasked with transferring 408 further kilos, don’t anticipate giggle-inducing, high-five-your buddies thrust. But, it nonetheless will get up to the mark with a clean, easy punch and sounds nice doing it, due to an exhaust with 4 ranges of quantity: Quiet, Consolation, Sport and Baja, which the IP tells you is for “Off-Road Use Only.” I’m positive house owners will completely comply with that.
You can also make your exhaust choice utilizing a devoted steering wheel button. There are additionally buttons for the shocks and steering, plus an R button that shortly summons your personalized menu of things. It is a degree of customization that was sorely lacking within the new Mustang … which may additionally use the gorgeous, real-metal paddle shifters hooked up to the Raptor’s thick, grippy steering wheel. There may be additionally an ordinary assortment of drive modes – Regular, Tow/Haul, Slippery, Off-Highway, Rock Crawl and Baja – chosen with the identical heart console knob additionally assigned to the Trailer Reverse Steerage system (examine it in our customary Ranger first drive). A button within the heart engages that performance with switch case buttons surrounding it in a neat little bundle.
Elsewhere within the cabin, the seats have chunkier bolsters accented in Code Orange, a colour additionally trimming the air vents. That, plus the wheel and a row of AUX switches within the ceiling, is the extent of Raptor-specific components in an inside that’s in any other case the identical as what you’d discover within the loaded Lariat trim (together with further soft-touch vinyl on the sprint and doorways). I don’t suppose it seems nearly as good because the Colorado ZR2 or GMC Canyon AEV cabins, however the high quality is true there, if possibly larger. It additionally will get the identical, user-friendly 12-inch touchscreen interface and good-looking, customizable 12-inch instrument show because the Lariat.
Pricing begins at $57,065, together with vacation spot. A base Colorado ZR2 is $8,000 much less, however the distinction shrinks to $6,230 when equally outfitted. A Bison goes for $62,535. A GMC Canyon AT4X is definitely a number of hundred pricier than the Raptor to start out, and whereas Tacoma TRD Professional pricing hasn’t been introduced, the Restricted model begins over $53,000, in order that looks as if an honest guestimate. Total, I’d say that makes the Raptor competitively priced. It’s additionally lots cheaper than its siblings – the 2024 Bronco Raptor crests $91,000, whereas the 2023 F-150 Raptor was slightly below $80,000. From a efficiency perspective, that makes the Ranger a considerably higher deal than the Bronco, and except you want a extra family-friendly again seat, I believe it’s simply higher normally. The F-150 is clearly much more succesful when it comes to its truck-ness, and there’s no denying the distinction in sheer presence. Nobody goes to boost a can of Monster in the direction of your Ranger Raptor if an F-150 is shut by.
Very similar to evaluating a lithe sport coupe to a brutish muscle automobile, although, the Ranger Raptor’s attraction is about a lot extra than simply being cheaper. Leaping gorges is enjoyable and all, however I’d wager you’d be capable to have extra enjoyable extra usually within the Ranger whereas not struggling a lot whenever you simply have to go to Kroger. The place are you imagined to drive it? Wherever.