2023 Ford Ranger Raptor Review: As fun and over the top as ever - which is no bad thing!

if you've been after boatloads of off-road capability as well as plenty of character then there have been few better options than the Ford Ranger Raptor it's a car which has brought mechanical upgrades to make sure they can go Here There and Everywhere as quickly as possible and now there's a brand new one which arrives with a fresh and rather Punchy three liter turbocharged V6 engine replacing the diesel engine in the old Raptor we've got the same over-the-top recipe as well as loads of mechanical upgrades that made this car's predecessor so famous but can the engine take things up a gear and can it still retain the character that made this truck so popular when it first came out well we're going to find out just what this Raptor has to offer in today's review it felt like Ford couldn't get even more over the top with this latest generation of raptor but it has definitely lived up to the job in hand it looks far closer to the largest and full-size trucks that you get over in America like the Ford F-150 with the prominent Ford badging at the front and these new c-shaped lights which give the car a really distinctive look particularly at night we've got the same kind of Graphics as before and of course we've got that dominant High riding position which is so typical of what we'd expect from the ranger Raptor around the back we've got some cool new exhaust pipes too the interior of the Ranger raptor is pretty much as lary as the exterior you've got loads of these red accents around the vents the red accents on the seats and of course we've got prominent Raptor badges on the seat backs too so you're getting the same kind of character from the outside on the inside but it's being backed up by some really clever new tech you've got this huge 12-inch portrait display in the middle and that's got pretty much everything you could want in terms of multimedia functions you've got Apple carplay and Android auto and loads of configurations to go through the main touch points that you have down here are nicely made and solid those ones for the drive modes and the four-wheel drive selection systems are nice and chunky the only thing I'm finding a little bit uh interesting is the gear selector itself which has the operating button at the front but that feels slightly unnatural I keep going for the side which is actually the one for the manual gear shift controls the steering wheel itself is nicely positioned nicely shaped and you've got these nice little paddles behind it and you get this big high riding driving position and a little view of the Bonnet vents which I think is quite interesting as is quite often the case with pickup trucks the space in the back of the Ranger raptor is quite tight the seat is in my position and as you can see my knees though thankfully give it a bit more space from this concave design are quite tight against the seat in front I've got a decent amount of room for my feet but there is also quite a large transmission tunnel which is worth bearing mine if you're planning on having three people back here I also like the fact that there's a rubberized mat to the whole back section and that's going to make it easier to clean particularly when things get muddy or gritty and in terms of charging options we've got two USB charging ports I've actually got a three pin plug as well so you could technically well you could warm up a kettle back here if you fancied it I think for child seats you've got two specific points here on either side but you are gonna have to lift them up and in and again like other high riding Vehicles that's something to bear in mind if you struggle getting Here There and Everywhere that you are gonna have to step up and into the back of the Raptor it's a tight space but it's kind of what you would expect from a pickup truck the only real kicker with the range raptor is that because it's only rated with a payload of 652 kilograms it falls quite a bit short of the one ton requirement for a commercial vehicle so it isn't classed as a commercial vehicle and that doesn't bring all of the requirements that come alongside that it means you can't claim the tax back so you really are going to want this truck just because you love it and I think that's absolutely fine to be honest the area that you've got here is still excellent and it's great for all manner of uses and you can use it for mountain bikes if you want to get a pad on the back too this is definitely a lifestyle vehicle but it's definitely worth considering where you would rather the regular Ranger which can be classed as a commercial vehicle if you want an out and out Workhorse rather than something that is well fun boy do I love a ranger Raptor now I was fortunate enough to go on the launch of the original Raptor when we took out to Morocco and I couldn't believe how capable this pickup truck was and how what how quickly you could drive it over some pretty serious Terrain but since that time the ranger Raptors Rivals have pretty much formed by the wayside really got no more Mercedes x-class you've got no more offerings from Mitsubishi pretty much you've just got the D-Max and maybe the sangyong Musso and then of course the upcoming amrock which is largely the same as this car underneath or truck I should say but the biggest change this new range of raptor is of course the engine gone is the turbocharged diesel engine replaced instead by a three liter turbocharged petrol V6 engine now I'd argue that's more in keeping with the character of this pickup and actually brings it closer into line with something like an F-150 you get out in the states the downside is of course that you're not going to get the same level of efficiency and in fact Ford claims that combined you'll get around 21 MPG from this Ranger Raptor fortunately if you're after a more efficient Choice then you can get a regular turbocharged diesel but that's in more regular versions of the Ranger itself in this Raptor version we've still got incredible Fox adjustable dampers and a proper off-road setup which is designed to enable you to go very quickly over Port rain now the thought I've always had with the range raptor is that it actually doesn't suit the kind of off-roading that we do in the UK whereas in this country it's all about slow articulation and mud plugging the Raptor's strengths lie and its ability to go very quickly over loose surfaces like sand and gravel and that's something we just don't have to get a lot of in the UK but it's here all the same and I can't argue with that because I do think this track is fantastic just for existing really the new V6 special engine is quite responsive and it makes a good noise and you can cycle through all the different modes and you can tailor how much noise you want from that engine depending on which mode you put it in the suspension when you're on the tarmac is pretty Lively and unlike any truck there's only so much it can do and it does jostle about a bit and you get a little bit of head toss from here to there the steering is actually super heavy and makes the whole car feel very very solid I think that's the best way to describe it we've still got 10 speed automatic gearbox just as we did in the original Raptor and as before I I'm not a huge fan of the 10 speed gearbox simply because it just never seems to know which gear it wants to be in when you're shifting through it's got so many cogs to get through that you just seem to be constantly shifting you're never quite sure which one it's going to go for I just like a more regular one you can stand you can control it via the paddles on the back but again judging and guessing which gear you're in when you've got 10 of them actually takes a little bit of effort does this new V6 engine sound pretty good well I'll pop it into a sportier mode which of course in any car is uh a good way of finding out how loud it usually is and I'll try and go see already in sixth gear just cruising along yeah I'd say it sounds pretty good a little bit artificial but that's okay sounds exciting to me and that's what you want from this truck 0-60 is coming in around seven seconds so more than enough performance for a truck of this type and actually it feels pretty brisk when you do step on it but as you can hear it's just shifting through so many gears the whole car sometimes feels a little bit Orange it's like it doesn't quite know what it wants to do but of course with so much mechanical upgrades going on underneath this is still a really capable car off-road and it'll do everything you ask you plus we've got some nice chunky rubber on this one and that's going to be the real kicker when it comes to making sure that you can get Here There and Everywhere it's hard not to like the Ford Ranger Raptor really it's a pickup truck which has been extensively re-engineered from top to bottom and that means it feels like a proper product rather than just a kind of joke really the new engine is definitely better in terms of performance but it is thirsty but as an overall experience it's hard to beat it's just the price and since these trucks nudge 60 000 pounds they are expensive but if you want a whole experience and you want something that really is going to put a smile on your face each and every day then the ranger Raptor continues to be one of the trucks to beat thank you for watching this new truck review on the Ford Ranger Raptor now let us know in the comment section below what you think of this truck would you go for it or would you go for a conventional SUV instead and if you have enjoyed this video please leave us a like below plus since you're here please remember to subscribe to the modes.co.uk user Channel and click on that Bell icon so that you never miss one of our new reviews

Channel: Motors.co.uk

Views: 57,078

Keywords: motors.co.uk, cars, motors, video, filming

Id: 9_lRrV6B2t8

Length: 9min 18sec (558 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 16 2023