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The Ford Raptor is the ultra-intense, high-performance version of Ford's F-150 full-size pickup.
It's ready for off-road action and has many cool features.
We checked out most of them.
The Ford Raptor is the pickup truck taken to a wild extreme.
2018-03-14
It's the pickup member of the Ford Performance lineup, a family 0f vehicles that includes the 526-horsepower Mustang Shelby GT350 and the $400,000 Ford GT supercar.
And it's a truck designed to bust through deserts, forests, and rock-strewn landscapes. As we found out when we reviewed it last year, it can also handle road trip duty.
We drove the $62,500 test vehicle for about a week and discovered that it is a simply awesome truck, in every way. Here's a look at its best features:
You can kind of see the F-150 that lives beneath the Raptor's swagger. But just barely.
The Raptor ain't cheap. Our tester tipped the cost scales at a nicely optioned $62,500.
Cool Raptor badging.
Matthew DeBord/BI
If you look closely, you can see that the Raptor has claws for "R's."
Who needs a dainty blue Ford oval on the grille when you spell out F-O-R-D in huge matte black letters?
Matthew DeBord/BI
There's a 450-horsepower, 3.5-liter turbocharged V6, with a whopping 510 pound-feet of torque, behind those menacing consonants and a vowel.
A reasonably ample bed.
Matthew DeBord/BI
The 5.5-foot box is the smallest available on a Ford full-size pickup, but carrying capacity isn't really what the Raptor is all about. As long as you can get a dirt bike back there, you're good to go. You will have to wedge it in diagonally, however. It is of course possible to carry bikes with the tailgate down.
Drivers who are heading off-road will appreciate the Raptors more compact rear end — it makes the truck easier to sling around when the pavement ends.
Big old knobby all-terrain tires.
Matthew DeBord/BI
The BFGoodrich all-terrain tires were designed specifically to work with the Raptor's frame and suspension.
Serious shocks.
Matthew DeBord/BI
The shocks are specially designed FOX racing spec. They allow the front and rear suspensions to move up and down down more than a foot, according to Ford. That's enough to manage serious off-road punishment. But according to Ford, they can also smooth out the ride on traditional tarmac.
Suicide doors!
Matthew DeBord/BI
Our 2017 model Raptor was a "Supercab" trim level. So the rear doors open in the opposite direction as the fronts.
Somehow, this just seems much cooler than a Crewcab configuration.
A stout 10-speed automatic transmission.
Matthew DeBord/BI
The 10-speed is slick shifting and can be switched over the manual paddle-shifter mode, for more direct input into the driving experience.
The 0-60 mph run happens in five seconds.
The paddles are BIG. They actually reminded me of the paddles on a Ferrari.
Matthew DeBord/BI
Ford's SYNC 3 infotainment system.
Matthew DeBord/BI
You have both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. You also have the usual Bluetooth connectivity, with USB and AUX ports, as well as actual 110V plugs for all your charging needs.
Supreme off-road capability.
Ford
The Raptor is considered by most reviewers who've taken it into the desert — we didn't do that — to be just about the best at its mission. Serious off-roader should apply. And their choice of chariot will be an easy one.
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Matthew is a Business Insider senior correspondent who covers transportation (and chess, guitars, home-audio equipment, cocktails, and sometimes classic rock). His focus is the global auto industry, including Tesla, a company he has chronicled since 2007. He also looks after Business Insider's annual Car of the Year award, announced every fall.He's written for The New York Times, Slate, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, HuffPost, and CBS Interactive. He's commented on the auto industry for a variety of media outlets, including Sirius XM, MSNBC, Radio France, KPCC, and KCRW. DeBord won the 2018 Ken Purdy Award from the International Motor Press Association.He's taught at New York University's Stern School of Business and the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California.His book "Return to Glory: The Story of Ford's Revival and Victory at the Toughest Race in the World" was published in 2017 by Atlantic Monthly Press and came out in paperback in June 2018. In the New York Times Book Review, Jonathan Kellerman called it a "page-turning synthesis of business book and adventure saga."
