Bronco Raptor... My BRUTALLY Honest Opinion!

what's up guys Mitchell Watts with Town and Country TV and today we are going to show you the all-new Bronco Raptor and in this video we're going to go into a deep dive about the suspension the tires what makes this the most incredible off-road vehicle to ever hit the market [Applause] [Music] foreign there's a whole lot to cover on this Bronco Raptor so there's going to be time cards down below so you can script around to the part that you want to see about this Bronco but we're going to start off with the exterior what is different on this Bronco raptor versus a normal Bronco for the very first thing let's talk about the hood you've got a functional heat extractor Hood that's got Raptor badged on the roof itself now keep count there's quite a few different Bronco Raptor logos all the way around this vehicle but there's also some really cool Easter eggs like the years that they made the Bronco into the gills on the hood such a cool touch for the Ford Bronco Raptor but some things that are going to be carried over you've got your Trail sites here but you know what guys this is absolutely a raptor and the way you know that is because they've got the Ford logo in the grill itself this is going to be very similar to what you'll see in a normal Bronco but the normal Bronco says Bronco on the front grill this says forward because that is the styling of the normal Raptor as far as the exterior is concerned on the front bumper you'll notice this module front bumper is almost identical to a normal Broncos modular front bumper with one main exception you've got the different coloration for the skid plates the tow hooks and things like that but other than that this is a normal front bumper for a Bronco with a couple of exceptions as well you've got the rigid LED lights located here in the fog light Pockets now this is a DOT approved fog light this one comes with a cap from the factory because it is not DOT approved it is an off-road only light but it's cool that they give you that functionality right out of the box there are two very controversial things about the Bronco Raptor the first is going to be these fender flares they have to have these because this vehicle is 9.8 inches wider than a base model Bronco and you have to have Tire coverage for that but in Black my honest opinions in a black Bronco Raptor I can manage with these fender flares because they blend in a little bit to the paint but on any other color they really stick out big time because these fenders are going to be black no matter what color you choose now I'm really excited to see what Advanced fiber class Concepts is going to come up with they've already started scanning the Bronco Raptor really excited to see what they turn out but either way I will have to say that my honest thoughts on the Bronco raptor is that if everything else was not so epic I would have a hard time buying something like this but one other thing that I do love about the exterior styling of these fenders are going to be the functional heat extractors it allows the hot air to escape the engine bay of the vehicle because the wheels and tires are so wide on this Bronco Raptor you run the risk of throwing rocks up onto the side of the vehicle notice this area right here is going to take a big brunt of those rocks that's the reason that Ford has made this panel replaceable and also accessory ready so I'm really excited to see what Ford and also the aftermarket comes up with to make this a functional aftermarket accessory now as well as the rear because you've got this much more massive Fender Flare the normal gas door in a Bronco is not going to work they had to even redesigned the metal around here to make sure that you still had access to your easy fuel capless fuel filler system which meaning that there's no cap on the system as well now one of my favorite exterior features of this new Bronco Raptor are going to be these step bars because it is a 37 inch tire it's a lot higher up off the ground you might not be able to tell because I'm six foot three compared to the rest of the vehicle but notice it's nice to be able to get in and out of the vehicle using these steps but sometimes you want to go rock crawling in your Bronco Raptor don't worry Ford has got you back on this one you've got these little torx bits right here you unbolt those what is that nine different bowl or six different bolts I can't count I'm from Alabama leave me alone but you remove those bolts and guess what you've got a functional Rock slider you can put the entire weight of the vehicle on that rock slider and so yeah if you're going to be cruising around town you've got your steps if you're going to be cruising around on the Rocks you've got your Rock slider It's the Best of Both Worlds the back of the vehicle is absolutely consumed by this matching spare tire it's a 37 1250 on a 17 inch wheel this is a beadlock capable wheel as all of them are all the way around so pretty cool that Ford gives you that ability all you'd want to do is pop this piece off move the bead to the outside of the wheel use the upgraded bead lock kit that you can buy at your local Ford dealer to actually make this a bead lock wheel the only downside is those are not DOT approved and so it's really for off-road racing use only but anyways the reason that I wanted to show back here is because so much tire is taken up you really don't have that much room for anything else you've got your small little Raptor badge here you've got a pony logo on the passenger side and while we're over here I do want to show you you've got the Ford performance I guess you could call this the tailgate support system so you'll notice that because we've got the heavier Tire if you go off-roading in your you know high speed off-roading this extra weight could pull on the door well Ford has got a bracing system behind here to strengthen up the door so you don't worry about denting your tailgate accidentally but they've even taken it one step further you've got the ability to upgrade and put extra accessories using these bolts right here that way if you wanted to put a Jerry can back here if you wanted to put a high lift Jack whatever it is you want you've got that ability and I think it's so cool that Ford has given us that flexibility into the future but because we have got this massive spare tire it's going to reduce the visibility of these brake lights from certain angles so what Ford had to do is they had to redesign these brake lights out further so that way you're not going to be obstructed by this massive tire that is the reason that you actually have a different looking tail light in the rear of the Bronco Raptor compared to a normal Bronco but while we're back here I want to tell you about a couple of other things that you're going to need to know on the Bronco Raptors because this is a wider vehicle than normal just like the F-150 Raptor they've got marker lights on this vehicle on the sides to make sure that it is DOT approved all the way across it's the reason you have those Amber lights in the front you've also got lights built into the actual mirrors on the side to make sure that everything is staying compliant you'll also notice this third brake light is a lot bigger than it is on a normal Bronco once again for DOT approved and because you've got a bigger tire but the coolest thing about this is when you look at this third brake light from the inside in the rear view mirror you'll notice that raptor is spelled backwards inside of this third brake light so if you ever forget which Bronco you're driving when you look in the rear view mirror it is always displayed properly that you're driving the Raptor variant the other thing to note this vehicle has blind spot information system meaning if someone's in your blind spot there's a radar system that picks that up and tells the driver hey someone's in your blind spot you might not want to get over with an orange light in the rear view mirror in the side rear view mirror side rear view mirror in the side mirror so what I wanted to tell you this is because you get this massive Fender Flare they normally put that radar sensor located right in here as it is on my Badlands Bronco the unfortunate thing is because you get these much bigger fenders you had to put that radar sensor somewhere and they took this as a great opportunity to put those radar sensors inside of the tail light housing so please please please do not break these rear tail lights because they're probably going to be extremely expensive so one of my favorite features about this Bronco raptor is the suspension this thing is ridiculous how much Flex it absolutely has and there's a quite a few good reasons for this now keep in mind this is an independent front suspension but as you can see right there uh yeah I'm I'm the tire is still on the ground and the amount of travel of the suspension the flexibility of the suspension is really important if you're new to off-roading the more suspension travel you have articulation is what I like to call it the more articulation you have the better chance you have of this tire being on the ground and if you've got all four tires on the ground you have a better chance of getting more traction that's the reason this is so important if you're a rock crawler I'm not a rock crawler but that's what we have in Alabama we don't really have a whole lot of high speed off-roading the good news is the Bronco Raptor can do both of them but one of the things that I love about this suspension system is this is the fox live valve suspension system you can even see where Ford has got a different frame on the Bronco Raptor to allow for a taller shock when you have that taller shock you'll notice all of this in here looks different not just the shock but the actual frame itself they did that because they can reinforce it more and they can get a longer shock in there which allows for more suspension articulation this is actually the highest uh I've ever been up on this little Mound the hill that we use to test suspension and things like that Ford hit a home run with the suspension normally an independent front suspension is not what you want for an off-road monster something you're going to take Rock Problems but this might be the very first exception you've got the fox live valve suspension system up front just like you do in the rear obviously a little bit different but anyways you've also got upgraded tie rods you've got an upgraded steering rack and you even have an upgraded lower control arm all of this is designed to work in conjunction with one another to give you the most travel in the suspension of any Bronco ever even the normal Broncos got a really good independent front suspension this Bronco Raptor takes it to a whole nother level now it's time to talk about the interior but to talk about the interior I got to get it off this mound and this this ought to be interesting your boy's six foot three but even look at this the door doesn't even stay open okay I shouldn't I've done oh that was almost bad all right okay all right now that we're back in the truck let's get it off this mound and talk about this interior because it's a game changer the interior is one of the largest improvements on the Bronco Raptor over the normal Bronco this particular Bronco raptor is upfitted with the marine grade vinyl seats but you'd never know it this is a straight up leather looking material all the way through I love the larger bolsters I love the pattern on the marine grade vinyl you can literally and legitimately hose out the interior and you don't have to worry about anything the downside with the marine grade vinyl there's two things and you've got a manual seat which is interesting for a vehicle that has an MSRP of 74 595 dollars speaking of MSRP can we at least get a like on this video for a dealership Town and Country Ford that is selling every one of these Bronco Raptor reservations and Order holders at the MSRP we're not messing with anybody's pricing on that there's a lot of dealers that had customers wait for two years and then when the vehicle got there surprise there's going to be 10 20 30 000 over MSRP and quite frankly I've seen a lot of these Bronco Raptors already selling on the pre-owned market for up to 135 thousand dollars for a vehicle that stickers for in the mid 70s but with that said I do have to tell you we are completely sold out of Bronco Raptors so please don't call us and try and get us to sell you one because we don't have any more because this has the marine grade vinyl you're going to have the hard dashboard located here you've got not as nice amenities when you pick up the leather trim seats not only do you get the the power seats but you also get a double stitched leather covered dashboard that really takes the interior up a whole nother level as far as niceties and you know fit and finish and premium interior but the other thing that I want to point out to you is the steering wheel this is a fantastic steering wheel uh I am a big boy and I love how thick this steering wheel fits in my hands I love these little bolsters if you I don't think that's actually called a bolster but anyways uh Raptor logo located in the steering wheel just in case you forgot already once you're driving you're driving the rafter you've also got these uh paddle shifters located right here and the transmission actually does shift pretty decently fast not nearly as fast as the Ford GT's paddle shifters but you know quite a different transmission altogether but I love my favorite thing about the interior is this massive LCD screen inside the instrument cluster from here as you change your different Drive modes from normal into sport into tow haul slippery you've even got rock crawl Baja a lot of really really cool things you have the ability to do now I will tell you though as a more seasoned off-roader I typically don't use those Drive modes the goat modes is what Ford calls them I like having a little bit more flexibility being saying you know what I'm going to stay in normal mode then I'm going to just drop it into four low and I'm gonna you know hit the hero switches up I want that manual control but that's what I love about the goat modes is that if you're new to off-roading those goat modes are going to help you tremendously on what you should be doing with the environment that you're currently in but Ford doesn't make you use the goat modes it's not it's just one extra tool in your tool belt speaking of those hero switches I want to show you what you have located up here your stabilizer bar disconnect which allows for more articulation and off-road rock crawling and things like that you have a front Locker standard equipment on the Bronco Raptor a rear Locker which by the way if you're not familiar with what a locker is it ties and locks the left and the rear tire together for Maximum Traction but you have one for the front you have one for the rear and you also have the trail turn assist also known as donut mode but speaking of donut mode if you wanted to turn the traction control on and off you can do that or if you want a little treat cheat code a little secret code click and hold it to turn advanced track all the way off that is going to allow for maximum fun the Bronco Raptor has a couple of switches that are called upfitter switches or auxiliary switches if you want to call it that but this is allowed for aftermarket accessories to be why fired in directly into these switches I think it's fantastic Ford is giving you the the leg room if you will to customize your vehicle after the fact but these buttons right here a lot of people don't know what these are this is your home link setup you can pre-program your garage door openers to these particular buttons or whatever it is if you've got a if you're buying a Bronco Raptor you might have a gate in the front of your house you can power and open the gate with those buttons located right there I think that is a really really cool touch that I've not seen it in my Bronco Badlands which has a lux package and also has marine grade vinyl but it is included in the Raptor located in the center stack you've got a 12 inch infotainment system this is sinks the Ford's brand new sync system and as you can see you've got a massive 12-inch screen you've got a picture and a picture if you will so you've got different panels where you can adjust what you're looking at over here while not screwing with what you've got located on the main screen as well and as you can see these tiny little dots those are breadcrumbs where you can drop and see where the vehicle has been located over your recent history so pretty neat stuff there Wireless Apple carplay wireless Android auto is located right here in this infotainment system but one thing you'll notice is as you adjust your dual climate control it adjusts it on the screen and then notice there's not a button or a digital dial down here if you got a 2021 and some of the early 2022s when you adjust this it automatically shows your your um your temperature gauge in these dual climate controls but not the case on a 22 and 23 model Bronco in any of them and the reason for that is the microchip shortage they were able to save at least two extra microchips by taking that feature out but we've got heated seats a heated steering wheel and a heated seat on the passenger side I'm not going to do that to our cameraman Josh because he's probably pretty hot right now anyways uh it is nice that you have the Dual climate control and you also have a wireless phone charger as you can see my phone is sitting down there charging right now as I am sitting here in this vehicle so pretty cool stuff there you can also notice this vehicle has orange accents all the way around it you've got an orange dial for the goat modes you have orange stitching for this center console shifter you have the orange accents on the Bronco and even on those handles you've got orange all the way through it because that is kind of the hero color for the new Bronco Raptor was orange coat orange coat orange coat orange at first you might think that the back seat is not a whole lot of difference between this and a normal Bronco but there actually is one thing you'll notice well actually you know you still don't have a center console you don't have a cup holder here you don't have a cup holder here if you're the person sitting in the middle or really the only kind of cup holders you have are these Nets located in the door itself but that is something I want to point it out to you because this is the marine grade vinyl you have a Mali panel located on the back here with the more elastic here but this is really where I wanted to show you is the biggest difference is when Ford announced the new Bronco they kept talking about how this thing is epic because you've got this open view you don't have anything obstructing your view if you're in the back seat if you're in the back seat and you've got the top off you can see everything but you'll notice that the Bronco Raptor because this is a high-speed desert off-roader you have to stiffen the chassis the chassis or chassis I'm from Alabama leave me alone that but to get that extra stiff chassis you've got this bar that runs the entire side to side of the vehicle so that unobstructed view is re-obstructed in the Bronco Raptor and you've also got some more stiff chassis stiffening up in the back with this little K brace is what I'm going to call it so as you can see it is branded with Ford performance and it is also easily and readily removable I think that is so cool now here's another fun fact for you is this particular part looks like it will actually retrofit and up fit into a normal Bronco because my Bronco has got two bolt holes located here and two bolt holes located right here so if you're wanting to upgrade the chassis of your Bronco you might be able to purchase this on the Ford performance side in the near near future while we're near the rear of this Bronco Raptor let's talk about the exhaust system this is an active valve system that can open and close and choose how loud the exhaust is with just a simple button press on the steering wheel you've got everything from normal to sport to even 5 heart exhaust sounds now in full disclosure I can't tell much of a difference when I'm driving the vehicle but we've got some sound clips for you listen now and let me know in the comments if you can hear much of a difference [Music] I also want to point out the rear axle notice it's beefed up from the factory you've even got a big r located on the differential cover it's going to allow for more fluid to stay in that differential which will mean everything stays nice and cool during those hot days on the desert running now let's take a look at the second most controversial thing on the new Bronco Raptor and that is going to be the engine oh did you see that did you see that hood struts the Bronco does not have hood struts you got an old school Hood prop but on the Bronco Raptor you finally paid enough to get rid of that 50 Cent prop so anyways thank you for for giving us that but there is quite a few cool things going on there's good technology and a lot of horsepower going on but you're taking a look at a 3.0 V6 twin turbocharged ecoboost engine that I believe makes 420 horsepower it makes a ton of torque it's a fantastic engine and it's actually been repurposed out of quite a few different Ford products but I don't understand why Ford chose use this particular engine I mean they did have an opportunity to put a V8 in this engine but I don't think they really understood quite the demand for a V8 in the in the Bronco especially in the Bronco Raptor but I'd be willing to I don't have any Insider information or anything like that but I'd be willing to bet you a large sum of money that Ford might be coming out with a Bronco raptor r with maybe a V8 under the hood who knows they did it with the F-150 Raptor R hopefully they've got a Bronco raptor r coming very very soon now that I've had quite a few days of driving this particular Bronco Raptor and I've also had an opportunity to get some serious air time if you want to see that video I'll have it linked down in the pinned comments down below but anyways this is without question the most mechanically sound best mechanically performing Bronco I have ever been in it is absolutely impressive that something with 37 inch tires from the factory can ride this good on road because really I know this is supposed to be the off-road version but most people are not going to spend 90 or 125 000 on a Bronco Raptor and then not drive it back and forth at least on the road some and so it's really important to me that the vehicle can drive well on the road and then can also perform off-road there's no question this thing can perform off-road the question is does it have a good balance between on-road and off-road the answer is without question yes in fact it's so much so that I can actually Overlook the fender flares on the Bronco rafter because this thing is so mechanically good and if you get black like this vehicle is those fender flares tend to disappear into the rest of the paintwork as far as the engine is concerned it is a good engine it's got plenty of horsepower plenty of torque but it's nothing to write home about I'm still a little jealous that the Jeep 392 has a V8 in that vehicle but hopefully Ford will fix that with an upcoming raptor r once again I don't have any Insider information but you know the rest of the competition is starting to do it and now you know who knows maybe they'll follow suit like they do with the F-150 Raptor r as a bigger guy someone that's six foot three and weighs a whole lot of weight these marine grade vinyl seats do a really good job of staying bolstering but not being constricting meaning that if you put me into a Ford Focus RS those things have got some crazy good seats but unfortunately they're made for skinny people also had a chance to sit in the leather seats and uh when we did the the jumping with that Bronco Raptor and uh yeah both seats are fantastic no issues there at all once again the only complaint that I can have on this Bronco Raptor are the fender flares and that's the biggest compliment this truck can get the handling of the suspension is really good that's primarily because these wheels and tires sit so much further out compared to a normal base model Bronco I will tell you though that because the suspension is so soft because it's designed for high speed off-roading that when you do slam on the brakes you're going to feel a nose down effect in fact I was driving yesterday and some guy in front of me actually slammed on his brakes forcing me to slam on my brakes I had plenty of room to stop in the truck stop no problem but man when that truck goes nose down because the suspension is so soft if you're not used to that it might be a little unnerving at first but don't worry I mean it's not like it's unplanted it's just if you've ever seen one of those trophy trucks try and slam on the brakes or slam on the gas there's a lot of suspension play you're going to have that in this particular situation too the good news is Ford does allow you to adjust the stiffening of those dampers with the simple control all right here on the steering wheel one of the things I didn't realize until I started driving this Bronco raptor is the rearward visibility so that spare tire is a lot bigger than it is on the base model Bronco and because of that it's going to take up more of that space inside the window but what I didn't realize is how much that bigger third brake light is also going to be covering up the window itself in addition to that because this is the Bronco Raptor it's got that extra bracing we've already talked about the end result is there's a lot of obstructed visibility out of that rear view mirror I'm quite frankly I'm shocked that this is street legal I mean yes I can see that there's a car behind me but most of that car is blocked by the spare tire and also by the third brake light now I also want to tell you it doesn't bother me because I also have a 37 inch spare tire that's been raised up higher on my personal Bronco so I'm used to it I'm just shocked that Ford was able to get away with this with the Department of Transportation as far as the stereo is concerned if you're used to a normal Bronco with the Lux package you've pretty much already heard the radio foreign [Music] it's good there's nothing to write home about once again I've been in plenty of other setups that are a whole lot better than this from the factory but keep in mind that Ford is not able to put any speakers in the doors why is that because these doors are completely removable so you've got some limitations you've got to put those b o speakers on the dashboard instead of in the doors you've got to put them in unique places that are not optimal for your audio listening experience but I will say that as far as this is concerned it's a lot better than the base model audio system all right let's give it a little acceleration [Music] not bad I feel very much like I'm driving the 2-7 out of my my Broncos well because this is primarily an engine that is derived off of that 2.7 once again there's nothing wrong with this engine I just wish it had a V8 but let's talk about the fuel economy so I forgot to set the trip meter up until about 22 miles ago and so uh about 22.6 miles ago I reset it and I'm getting a whopping 12.9 miles per gallon now I will say this is not a fuel economy test but 12.9 miles per gallon if you have to ask about the fuel economy you probably shouldn't be buying a raptor this is right along with what I'm getting in my personal Bronco which I know I keep talking about that but the reason that I keep talking about my Bronco is because I've also got 37 inch tires I've got 1350 wide Nitto Ridge Grapplers it's a very similar about as similar as you can make a normal Bronco into a Bronco Raptor so yeah you're going to be very very comparable in the fuel economy so nothing it's an issue there the real reason that I keep bringing it up is this is the only Bronco I've ever even been around that has caused me to even think for even a remote second should I sell it for the Bronco Raptor as I'm actually on the interstate doing um you know 75 80 right around the speed limit uh there is a good bit of wind noise in this hard top there's so many people that think that because I'm getting a hard top it's going to be a whole lot quieter it's not anytime you have a removable roof there's going to be some wind noise associated with it now it might be a little bit quieter than the soft top yes but realistically I'm almost always listening to the radio and when it's nice outside because I live in Alabama I've almost always got that top back so it really doesn't make much of a difference to me in audio sound the soft topper this is a hard top but once again Ford very well done on making the only Bronco that I would actually consider buying over my 2021 custom Bronco Badlands built by TC Customs guys thank you so much for watching this video if you haven't already done so subscribe to the channel and have a great day peace peace [Music]

Channel: Town and Country TV

Views: 184,229

Keywords: town and country, auto, review, walk around, car, comparison, ford bronco raptor, 2022 ford bronco raptor, ford bronco raptor 2022, new bronco raptor, ford bronco raptor review, ford bronco, bronco raptor off road, ford bronco raptor engine, 2022 ford bronco raptor price

Id: LK85Q-5ie70

Length: 27min 58sec (1678 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 18 2022