I Ask Ford's Performance Chief All the Tough Questions About the 2024 Ford Ranger Raptor!

welcome to an ultra super duper special episode of tfl talking trucks podcast that's right my man Andre got a chance to see the 2024 Ranger and Ranger Raptor and he got to interview the guy in charge yes so let's go to the Ford Ranger Raptor interview with Carl first and Carl here good to see you guys good to see you man uh when we talk Raptors I usually talk to you yup which is a great thing right my job is for performance Chief so Raptor's a big business the last two years okay so now you're introducing a new member of the family for North America exactly because I know this truck exists elsewhere yeah or have been but so let's dig in a little bit deeper because people may not understand that the Raptor is now here yes so a lot of customers have been demanding the the ranger Raptor right it's a midsize pickup so it's got a lot of Venture capability garage ability right a little bit narrower track but it has that same Raptor feel to it in the family right so we do the same treatment from the base Ranger we run a unique front suspension unique rear suspension and that's important for us for stability and off-road so we widen out the track by three and a half inches so that's overall overall okay so about what one and a half ish on each side one and three quarters well I'm doing my math okay okay so we widen it out and that gives you stability but it also gives us the ability to really drag the arm out and we get travel out of it too so we get about an inch and a half of travel so if you take a look at the lower arm it's very visible right now down below um so we're looking at the front so again unique upper lower arms we increase the shock tower height and that gives us room to put in that beautiful orange two and a half inch fox live valve which is super critical in this vehicle because with the three liter engine it makes over 400 horsepower this thing can fly so we have to have a chassis system that can really match up with a Powertrain as you're basically hauling around a dirt track and you're trying to avoid that eucalyptus tree you want to be able to dial in that right amount of steering angle so you really want to be tied to the vehicle right it's a driver's car it's for performance so as enthusiasts we want to be able to dial that in and that really comes down to how that damping is set up so we're always tracking what's going on in the vehicle how fast you're going what the terrain changes from the ride height sensors and that goes through the you know the Ford performance algorithms that we have to control the shocks so that's how we take what is a position and sensitive damper that mechanically can decide quickly what it's doing but then with a electrically controlled valve it actually can act as a multiplier that if you are going towards that you eucalyptus tree you want to turn it in boom you're done you're going to turn it in and it's going to be there for you okay I got you did you do anything to the actual frame compared to the regular Ranger yeah so for the frame um we run in essence in the front the shock Tower goes up and so that's all reinforced in the rear it's a Watts link okay it's totally different yeah so and actually you don't have the Watts Link at least in the US yeah on any other truck correct okay so there's a little bit of a Heritage um to um one of the SUVs they have over there they Everest you know if it has a Watts Link in the back uh the Watson came into the ranger Raptor when it's first generation and we carried it into the second generation so let's start down at the differential yep because that's kind of where you can see yeah you can so it's a little it's different than the five links we use on the uh on the other vehicles yeah and what's a great benefit of the Watts not only do you get the lateral uh compliance reduction that you do on a multi-link but a Watts link will give you a better cornering confidence less compliance and you actually have a coilover rear shock on this setup which gives you better damping control and spring control so as a sporty in the family these are great attributes of a rear suspension so you can dial in that turn and you got the response of the rear end so you really you're really not limiting the flex or the articulation either right so I mean I've never driven I mean I should have been to Australia but I haven't yeah yeah I haven't driven this I'm really excited about actually feeling what it's what it's like right so uh you know uh to be part of the family we play tough and so we took this vehicle out to Borrego so you fly into San Diego take it over the mountains so on the mountain roads uh it it can dial itself in and you can feel confident as you're going through the corners um really because of its Heritage as it was developed on the dirt tracks in Australia right it's got that rally car kind of feel to it um which which is a great position for a vehicle that's set up for that adventurous customer who's a ranger customer yeah who wants to uh be there do anything right you got a bed to load your bike in go off find a great bike trail and then you know if you get a flat tire of your bike you got power to the box you can there you go yep 400 watts very similar to the base Ranger here yeah so you got all the great features to really uh set up for the invection you're going to take and then because it is a Ford performance vehicle that's a raptor you've got true dual exhaust to basically give you the soundtrack of your adventure and also valved yep it's active valve yeah so so as you're going over this it seems like you took the F-150 Raptor and just shrunk it a little bit but you baked in we haven't even talked about you know the torque yeah you know you baked in a additional horsepower and torque yeah three liter larger displacement V6 you've baked in the suspension yeah you've baked in the sound of it yeah it's like a little F-150 Raptor basically it follows the DNA and the other Raptor exactly right so uh it's that same tried and true recipe to give you true off-road capability right big huge tow hooks even here unique bumper yep uh recovery Point dual exhaust yep yeah yeah it's uh interesting what's great about it is all the enthusiasts who work on these vehicles right and you know you know they'll they'll do rally car uh racing in Australia and that's what they do participate in here my team will participate in Ultra 4 King of the Hammers so the people who develop them are the enthusiasts who know what they want to dial in to uh these vehicles to make them fully capable no you chose this tire yep it's a new ko3 from our partners at BF Goodrich yeah so is this like the first vehicle with the ko3 it's our first Raptor with a ko3 okay I can see similar design of the pattern but I'm sure inside of it it's got some technology yeah uniquely tuned for this vehicle um and uh uh 33 33 correct yes why not 37.37. you know what's great about that you know everything anytime we make the tire bigger in diameter we lose travel aha so uh is that why the Bronco raptor is yes it's got wide stands he's got a wide stance uh so the Bronco Raptor set up they have the same stats as an F-150 Raptor so we can share a lot of the componentry so the shock's the same between a Bronco Raptor and F-150 Raptor okay so in this vehicle it has a unique track right uh narrower than the other two Raptors its big sharing is the engine's the same engine we do uh rocker Raptor and Ranger Raptor so it's it was all tuned together the calibrations are the same even though it may have a smaller Wheel and Tire the impact to the engine because we run lower gear ratios on a smaller Tire you know and over these is similar so we can basically get the synergies between the two the I guess the two T6 platform from a Ford's critique well it makes sense I mean it's kind of its own package and also you know it's not a 37 or a 35 it will be quicker because yes exactly exactly and and it's what it's about right you don't really want to widen out the wheelbase on this vehicle because it's really about that customer is really looking for a mid-sized package and it really works really well when you get it out in the desert or you throw it around it can go around things that maybe a Bronco Raptor an F-150 has to go over I want to thank our friends at Five Star Tuning for sponsoring this particular podcast they have Decades of experience in tuning Ford Rangers and also High Performance Ford trucks and SUVs so use the link in the description below check them out for your customization and performance needs there is always more power and more features you could add to your truck so the base Ranger has the 2.3 liter four stone there are the 2.7 now but this one has a 3-0 tell me a little bit about this engine a little bit more yes so um we co-developed uh this engine on two vehicle lines uh for Ford performance so we set it up that we were gonna do the ranger Raptor and the Bronco Raptor with a unique three liter that was set up for four performance requirements so it was a little bit tricky um because we wanted to get you know 90 of peak horsepower at Redline you call it reward to rev and that really gets them when you're driving it it never hits a hole and you're always pushing pushing pushing with a 10-speed transmission it gets this this doubling factor of really fast cool driving because the transmission then doesn't have to worry about hitting a low point in the engine torque or RPM curve so we had a lot of discussions with all the the subject matter experts at Ford and turbo charging and what it really came down to we could do that but we really had to create a real free-flowing induction and exhaust system so we to cut the induction losses by over 50 percent we had to cut the exact you know exhaust losses and so this is one of the intakes at least yep so we have a single inch air intake very similar to Bronco different setup because of the hood systems on it uh slightly different air box upper right so for Ranger Raptor for globally they run a lot of snorkels so it's basically got a punch out for a snorkel in it okay um but everything else all the carrier all these tubes to running twin inlets into the charge air cooler system a huge sewer pipe coming out the other end it really drives a lot of the induction losses down so we're able to get those down by 50 percent than what's on a 2-7 Bronco right and then we run active exhaust right same general architecture is what we do on all the Raptors to give you you know Baja mode which is a straight pipe to quiet mode where we close the valves so you can sneak home at night so all the things we've learned and all the algorithms that we've developed but that gave us the ability to then get a Turbocharger that was uniquely tuned for this full performance application because it didn't have to fight against the impedance of the induction and the exhaust so we can basically spin it up and keep spinning it up through the the RPM sweep so it really comes into a great motor for us that really gives this vehicle a tremendous amount of oomph uh for his package size right you know it's best in segment right no one else has a 400 horsepower mid-size pickup no last time I checked so it might be Overkill I don't know why we would do that there's never enough right this is Never Enough right all right so yeah great motor for this uh I you know since we've launched it overseas it's been you know rave reviews it's definitely an Enthusiast motor and a package and a chassis that can handle it right so really with the challenge was on this is getting the most out of the chassis system because now you can every turn you go into you're going a lot faster than you used to and the power is on tap it's yeah it's always there right it's in Baja you know it's got all the mode stuff so sport is all that fastest shift that you can possibly do and then Baja leaves it in the Power Band so you can in essence it's always there and so with that you know any RPM band we've got it so it's a it's a great motor for the application for performance when you're off-roading or if you're doing spirited driving on a Mountain Road all right so this is what the Baja mode sounds like okay wow [Music] can you uh like a quiet one so yeah there's quite a difference you can tell immediately actually being next to the truck ah okay so I can see that the interior so the seats are different unique absolutely I feel a little bit more bolstering here I think am I right yes or am I growing no you know in essence all all four performance seats we run unique foam and shrimp all four performance front seats and this one is from a Stylistics sense they always say it's Harkens to what an F-22 Raptor has for his seat what works for for when I drive it it'll keep me in the seat as I'm driving and that's always what's critical um if you're driving off-road you always are going to get into a situation where it's gonna kind of throw you around a little bit as you're you know it's going through regulations you don't want to be holding onto the wheel to do that you want the seat to hold you in place and that's what this does a great job as is it's a little bit more bolstered than what we do on the F-150 Raptors but it fits that overall image of the sporty the sporty one in the family and same with the steering wheel it's um it's a little bit sportier than some of the ones we did but same general Palm swell so you got a place to rest your thumbs magnesium paddle shifters quick access to you know all the kind of a la carte features right so you can customize how you want to drive um you can save it I want to explain what we mean by a la carte right yeah uh because like you said you could set up a certain mode or maybe some driving mode but you could also fine-tune each element itself right so on the mode stuff you know we have a true so as a raptor right you have true four high right so we'll drive in a desert in four high you have two high which is you know great for fuel economy you know every day around town all-wheel drives available and of course four low right so and then the mode switch is the same thing you've seen before where we you'd have sport which is that fast shifting transmission [Music] tow haul you know slippery you know puts all-wheel drive on so it engages the uh the uh transfer case system and then you go the other way and you go to their off-road modes and you get your you know they'll start engaging 4x4 High and like you said I like it it already turns yeah it turns the camera on you go to Baja and you know that'll give you the setup they set your trash control up a little bit looser right uh put your exhaust mode in um put you at four High uh you know ready right in like you said so say you know some people some people will drive you know everybody's different in four out over so you basically get Baja will hold your RPM you put it in too high and then they'll you know if you want to do that then you can basically so then your tail could step out a little bit Yeah well if you're driving on a Mountain Road you don't want a four by four on the closed course yeah so you don't want you don't have four by four high if you're driving um pavement right but you can in essence get the throttle control of of Baja which holds you in the RPM band and then say you're on the phone while you're doing that or you know whatever quiet it down yeah yeah you quiet down and you say well that's how I want to drive and that's kind of your combination it's an extreme combination um but you can fine tune it yeah in essence you know yeah so you can fine-tune it you know some people most how I set up mine I'll go to sport right and then you know depending on them if I'm on the phone or not right exhaust system yeah and of course there are some other touches like the is this the code orange color yeah it's called orange stuff I'm still on the interior and uh throughout so yeah and then you know you so it's it's kind of this driver-centric view that you know over the years we've put into you know gauges and so you get all gauges and there's more information so this this particular one being set up transmission temp services I don't really want transmission chips or oil pressure I wanna I like with this particular vehicle has um air charged temp and I was like Aaron let temp so you're driving a desert I can figure out what you know how much air what the temp is actually going into the motor right um but it's all kind of what your preference is and how you want to customize the vehicle but a lot these are very similar if you drive any of our Rafters and that was that was something that was interesting a lot while we're developing these because within 18 months we've finished all three at the same time and so it's really getting you know all the interface in the cluster systems or you know the human interface to be something similar as you you did all these with you know three different Global teams who were doing a development on all the software on us yeah and still you know the paddle shifters the control Logic the mode setups to how they work we have a locking rear axle locking front axle available on this vehicle how do you do that is there a axle lock switch hormone so I guess I go low and I should be able to lock it down okay so now I'm low and then I press the magic locker and I'm blocked front and rear see oh there's symbols over there yeah and what did you push to get that you push the mode the mode selector button yeah yeah I gotcha so and then you have a quite a crawl ratio too four by four low locked is um it's kind of a crazy thing because you can like you said you can climb up almost anything get yourself out of any any situation in that case right so it is uh in an off-road vehicle like a raptor it's something that we uh we require at least a locking rear and four low available to get you that capability of uh getting out of any situation very cool well thank you for sharing the story I really appreciate that bam so what do you think dude the ranger Raptor with over 400 horsepower the the the V6 is absolutely blowing my mind but yes but the question is how expensive is it oh I was afraid you're gonna ask me that so the ranger Raptor the 2024 right this is the US spec version that we just showed you will go on sale later in the fall yeah with a starting price of 56 690 dollars oh my God that is a lot of dough and as my heart slowly comes back to normal let's talk about something more affordable well yes so and then after we talked about the more affordable Ford Ranger that's new right uh we can dig a little bit deeper into our thoughts about this that sounds good and by the way uh so this upcoming interview right now that you will hear is with the chief engineer for North America Ford Ranger Juan and also uh the base price of the new ranger is also high-ish thirty four thousand dollars but at least it's not 57 now no it's not all right well let's check this out and I have Juan joining me here uh from the you're the chief engineer for the region right yes exactly I'm the North America chief engineer for the all-new 24 Mile year Ford Ranger all right so in this part of the podcast I really want to dig deep dive take a deep dive into it see you know what's changed how did you guys improve it right from the previous generation that's the currently available and also what makes it a little bit more you know special for or North America got it well it starts with the backbone the frame the frame is fully boxed high strength steel frame it is offering a two inch longer wheelbase to each wider track and it all starts from there we also believe in The Power of Choice and forward so we've expanded our powertrain lineup from the single 2.3 liter EcoBoost four-cylinder to add the 2.7 liter Ecoboost V6 on the base Ranger and the three liter obviously on the all-new Ranger Raptor let's pop the hood because you said you changed the front section of the truck right to accommodate also the V6 yes absolutely um when we grew the the the cab we grew it with an eye towards being able to package the larger powertrains but also to provide the the additional cooling that you need when you have larger power chains you know dual turbos create a lot of heat and you got to manage that here that he somehow sold most of the growth that we did on the front end with the new hydroform front end architecture was on growing the engine bay as much as possible so we're looking underneath uh the hood right now this truck is hooked up to an exterior power source because it's also running the interior accessories so we can play with the screens and then we'll be doing that a little bit later but this is it so the 2.7 liter V6 it's also available in other vehicles right yes it is available on the Bronco and on the F-150 but tuned for the ranger so it's a tried and true uh Power Pack we team it up with our class exclusive 10-speed automatic transmission so we get great shift quality a great balance of you know shift quality and fuel economy and performance so that's that's quite special because I've driven several F-150s with a 2.7 liter and that's a larger truck you know it's slightly heavier than this so I can't wait to drive this one because 315 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of torque uh that's that's a lot of power yes it is a Powertrain matching on a lot of applications like this it's again it I love the step up uh powertrain which is obviously a 2.7 liter I thought the 2.3 liter was pretty peppy on its own it's pretty powerful yeah full four cylinder but when you throw the 2.7 liter in here it really it I think when I first drove it it was just a smile uh uh it gives you just instantaneous performance that you want just effortless his power we also as you were talking about earlier about the the frame that's uh offering a wider Wheel track and longer wheelbase we also packaged our rear dampers outboard of the frame Mount so now we're able to tune the suspension much better so the ride quality improves significantly so let's go take a look because we're walking around the front so let's start you know let's continue with the chassis obviously you said most of the wheelbase gain was in the front right exactly the of a pro tangle is significantly improved yes and so we we literally took most of that uh 60 plus or so millimeters was really in the front uh section and this is a Lariat model FX4 so the front end front bumper is a little bit different right because you have a skid plate yes yes exactly yep is part of the FX4 package exactly it's got a steel skid plate I believe it also offers a couple of other goodies like Trail control on this 4x4 system rear Locker right oh a rear Locker exactly a standard um the the Raptor you'll hear more about later that has a front Locker as well yeah yeah but um so tell me about this right because previously on the previous generation the shocks were inboard right of the frame and of course it's a solid rear axle and you got the leaf spring here but now you move the shocks outward can you tell me about some of the benefits of that yeah absolutely by by moving this the the shocks outboard it expanded the tuning range that we can uh of the combination of the leaf spring and the dampers and and so we're able to tune the ride better for when the vehicle is fully loaded when you're carrying a bunch of stuff in the bed to when it's just a driver driving in the vehicle so it gives you that better you know primary secondary ride which most customers usually driving by themselves not on a fully loaded truck so it really really uh tries to improve or we saw to improve the the customer's whole experience not just when they're hauling uh we have a hotchkission suspension which which you mentioned our Raptor obviously will get the watch link yeah you can see it right here I think the previous generation if I remember correctly uh you guys were calling kind of a parabolic spring design right and it's not a multi like a high stacked spring leaf spring it's it's like a single with a Helper and it used to work really great I mean we owned the previous generation Ranger at tfl Studios yeah and I was quite happy when loaded you know when loaded how it behaved yeah yeah it's um uh I was a program manager 14 years ago on the ranger okay and I actually thought that again for a relatively small footprint why they started it's not a big wheelbase and it's kind of not it was a narrow where I'll say the ride quality was actually pretty impressive especially when it was loaded when it was loaded it was a dream I'm going to say I'm going to say unloaded I I thought it was a little too unnervous so you kind of worked on that we worked on that exactly spent a lot of time working on that we're very proud of our integrated box side steps as you can see it's body mounted not uh rear bumper mounted okay so again it's wide enough that you can be wearing work boots and it holds 300 pounds uh that's a good thing because I had the big breakfast I think uh some of the ones where it's uh bumper integrated they end up being a little narrower you know because obviously it's a bumper you're not going to grow the bumper you know full foot uh so this is I thought a good way to execute it and allow good access uh even if you're wearing you know big work boots you can get to the vehicle well I'm just almost six three and I can still reach the bed I mean just standing next to it you're talking so I can I can reach the floor of the bed you could you could and I could as well yeah exactly and I'm not uh six feet so but if you have a lower rack system or something on top here right it's nice to have this step yes it is absolutely get around all the stuff that you would install obviously you see our access panels so you can install accessories you can uh you remove these and you can get right to the load bearing uh uh surface of the of the box so I like it so in the in the bed rail cap this is a plastic piece you even have a little screw decal here or imprint that's exactly yep you toggle them forward or rearward I think uh rearward and then with a screwdriver I see you push up from the bottom and they pop out and then you can mount racks anything you want that's exactly yep uh caps you name it so the payload is uh well not on this truck but the maximum payload for two wheel drive is 1805 pounds correct that's a hairless than before is that because the truck got a little bit heavier or what is the weight like option for I mean trim for trim it is because you know obviously with bigger engines who needs more weight and so that's exactly right it's a trade-off it's trying to manage it all again within the capability of the architecture that's a lot of that is a lot 800 and five pounds is quite a bit so so now five foot beds still yep still five foot bad and you um crew cab only so so you're launching this truck the 2024 model so got four doors shorter bed you're not doing a long wheelbase we are not doing a long wheelbase right now okay uh we're also uh not doing the the super cab shorter with the with the with the little uh half doors okay but you have you know really fancy tail lights um of course this is showing the bed line you know the bed is deadline you have a ruler here yeah we have the ruler we've got clamp access right so you can clamp um uh you know a piece of wood if you're working in the back of the bed we have power to the bed so we offer 400 watts of power we've got the tie downs up front and and the rear impacted I think I think it's six tie downs I yeah I see six right now oh good you see six that's great and this obviously has the spray in bed liner and I see this has a little damper so the tailgate doesn't slam down yes um and then the tailgate is kind of controlled that's quite nice and the taillights incorporate the blind spot monitoring yes yep exactly and they work when you're carrying a trailer as well uh it'll extend to cover the trailer as well so that's really useful so still 7 500 pounds correct so that hasn't changed correct um the towing capability yep so you still have obviously this hitch looks familiar I think I think the previous generation may have very soon it's a true and tried tow trailer hitch receiver assembly again a a four and uh seven pin connectors same as F-150 same as before as well yeah that's really useful and also you included the trailer brake controller yes we did yeah it's right here uh we'll look inside but it's kind of a by your right knee yes or on the right side so that's really cool um I also like you have like lights in um yeah we have in the tailgate Zone lighting exactly so we've added some additional lighting as you can see uh and with the with the Ford app uh you can you know you can be standing outside and you can select which zone you're lighting up Etc so it's I think the livability the customer experience is really what we focused on heavily when we designed it it made sense right yeah and you talked about the power in the bed right we quickly showed 400 watts did you guys consider like higher wattage power you know the F-150 offers several options on inverter systems uh what was some of the trade-off there I guess you know uh the marketing person spoke about our Target customer and how we live with them uh this is what they asked for you know when we deliver especially the 12 volt too exactly a 12 volt and a 110 exactly and in terms of what the ranger offers it's the right offering for what customers are looking for at this price right so you did the research basically absolutely based on the customer that's exactly right wanna wow and Delight but we also don't want to drive the the price of the vehicle you know so high that it it's beyond a mid-size pickup segment because there's all the F-150 there too and we have our big brother right on top of us exactly all right well let's jump inside because uh that's quite interesting all right so this is my first time in the brand new 2024. all right Powers bar seats yes driver and passenger let's open the window so because we're not running the AC right now so so we can get a little bit of air so I can see fully redesigned Dash and kind of Ip area correct significantly updated uh if you're familiar with the current Ranger this is a dramatic dramatic dramatic evolution of that design uh it looks good it's very functional as you can see glove box on top bottom not them but two glove boxes yeah and a little shelf here on the Shelf as well it's got ambient lighting we have a 10 inch and 12 inch portrait screen this is the 12 inch and I can see we talked about the brake controllers off your right hand i'm right-handed and I mean a lot of people are I don't want to discriminate against left-handed people but but this is quite useful because it's high up so I don't have to reach down somewhere you know down exactly do a blind operation yeah so that's quite important you have wireless charging wireless charging we have the new e-shifter as you can see right in front of you but you also have the mechanics you also have a conventional shift as well they're both levers uh the new e-shifter that's available on Lariat and Raptor are the standard on lavender reactor uh uh enables us to offer some additional driver assistance technology that the conventional shifter won't offer like park assist 2.0 exactly that type of stuff that's exactly yeah so for that you need but it's still kind of the same feel right the same feel yeah exactly short throws interesting little cubbies you got your parking brake here in the center console and then you have your four-wheel drive rotary dial here in the center on top of the center console you got it too high four high four low so this is the part-time four-wheel drive system then your your drive mode selection back like here for off-road and that can change obviously on the trim level a little bit right yes it could but you still have the Eco Mode right we still have Eco yeah yeah they all get I think on the standard uh and I'm going off the memory here but it's all in the paperwork I believe standard it'll be at least maybe for the modes and then you you go to six and then I think on the route that you maybe go to eight yeah depending on what trim level you're buying yeah I think this is quite a nice design and you have a premium stereo system yeah this one this has a nice 10 speed I think 600 plus 10 speaker yeah yeah 10 speaker exactly uh uh and it sounds really really good we spent a lot of time again on the interior the interior as you can see it's it's an evolution uh uh it is significantly sort of more plush more comfortable more livable and everything's right way where you need it your line of sight is is great it's the right size truck with the right capability um and and again customers spend most of their time inside of the truck where you need the inside of the truck to be you know a comfortable environment so this is interesting I'm looking at this vertical Center screen which is quite large and it looks really really nice but you have some redundant controls for climate down below it which I think some of the customers ask for that right that's exactly yep just like the customers said that they were not big fans of rotary knob shifters they also said that they want to have buttons you're wearing gloves you're wearing big work boots you need to be able to access these functions effortlessly and the volume knob right that's exactly it yeah let's see let's play around a little bit oh I just turned on the climate control system sorry about that I think the heat's on oh the heat no we don't need heat so you have the towing app so and also you mentioned fordpass app integration too and over-the-air updates all those things yes yeah absolutely this has an all-new electrical architecture fnb4 uh and for Network vehicle four okay uh and and what it affords what it allows us exactly that it's over the air update we have obviously a brand name for it I forget what it is off the top of my head right now but yes it is OTA cable and then of course think 4A um I mean that's kind of the name of the the entire interface as well and then I I'm just this is my first time kind of connecting to it so I of Zone lining we discussed that already and software updates vehicle let's let's see what's under vehicle here you know in the vehicle menu so you can control many different functions uh rear occupant alert I usually turn that off just personally oh yeah you don't have a kid I do you do okay but but yeah I mean they're 15 and 12. okay yeah yeah they're I'm they're sitting right behind you yeah it's leaving behind uh they'll let you know I won't I won't leave them behind just trust me driver assistance features so of course cruise control with distance adaptive right yep that's available you can teach a long list uh yeah so I mean copilot system and there's various versions of that right and I like it that you can select normal cruise control or adaptive some people you know prefer one versus the other that's quite nice I like it you could do it you know on the screen it's you know the the selection buttons are large enough that you can hit it without having to ground yourself you know if you're moving uh you know you kind of got to grind yourself before you touch something and it's kind of easy to be able to do it on the Fly and it's close to the drive it's close to the driver exactly this is the right size as you can see everything feels you know at arm's length yeah that's quite nice um General so if I mean if you're used to the latest system and like an F-150 this will be very familiar to you yes exactly absolutely so you're not you know you're not Reinventing the wheel but you're kind of bringing it down to this mid-sized truck basically that's exactly right um I like the digital cluster as well in in front of me we have attack we have a speedometer um so and all the key indicators trip fuel have you announced MPG or fuel I'm waiting for the for the official EPA numbers to come out okay and also pricing is not available pricing is not available but I think I think I heard one of the marketing folks say that the building price was going to be coming online imminently so okay very very soon you'll be able to see it online okay I got you Towing status this is very cool so let's take a look at the rear seat as well because that's important yes absolutely so first of all I'm also feeling the seat materials and this is quite nice and soft yes it is yes this is hilarious right yes it is so it's kind of what but you have two functions on this seat you can lift it up or fold the seat down pull the seat back down exactly we uh we we have new redesigned seats and in redesigning the the rear row we want it to be able to fold that seat back flat so you can uh maximize the package space uh in the back obviously this the underseat story that you're looking at right now is pretty useful same as as the current production Ranger so this is hasn't really grown inside has not gone inside so the leg room overall is about the same as before correct and then you can pull this I'm still learning about this you could pull this and you can kind of lower it flat there you go we're both A Little Too Tall yeah we're reclining too heavily yeah is that a subwoofer that is a subwoofer yes it is so behind the rear seat there's a subwoofer uh your tool for your jack yep exactly on this side and I can see you can kind of kind of have a couple hooks you know a couple hooks uh maybe for child safety yeah those are tethers the upper tethers for uh there you have it and also oh I noticed power rear glass we do have power where glass you also have sliding uh rear glass as well but on the Larry that's standard power yeah so it's kind of Premium truck features in the smaller in a smaller truck these are absolutely and and again but a smaller truck that still has you know big truck capability so um you know again you want to give the customer full utility full off-road capability full you know working utility but also give them a great experience in the cabin space right where they're spending all their time but significant significant Improvement I think on the interior we spent a lot of time on the Interiors as you've shown yeah I got you um have you considered I mean and obviously I want to ask you a lot like is there a hybrid is there is there a diesel tell me about you know the global Ranger because this is a global vehicle in the world and how it differs you know region to region yeah uh rest of the world uh we have diesel powertrains we have uh we have two Panther diesel engines that we offer uh we do not offer them in the U.S uh in the USS all petrol lineup two three two seven and three liter um uh rest of world Raptors are the same three liter uh you know petrol turbo yeah you got it yeah um uh same 10r60 transmission around the world um what about the manual transmission I mean around the world and here uh North America does not have a manual transmission uh rest the world I believe and I'm a little rusty on rest of the world I believe that there is a man transmission option for the rest of the world um but we're not offering one in the US so it's kind of like based on regions you know certain countries have different requirements right and so is U.S obviously yeah it's sold in I think 180 different countries we have five plants uh South Africa two plants in Thailand plant in Vietnam Planet Argentina Pacheco so um uh we built this truck around the world that's why it's a proven and here in Michigan and here in Michigan it's a new plan by next to us it's uh it's sibling the Bronco yeah well very very cool so well thank you for sharing it with us and kind of showing you know what makes it new uh what makes it special I really appreciate that thank you I appreciate the time well there you have it dude that's the Deep dive from the people who created the truck who built it and designed it it's interesting to me because you look at this and you you know obviously we already know about the Chevy Colorado and the GMC Canyon and how different they are from their predecessors I would say Ford is in a very similar you know type of field in terms of changing so much of the truck but Ford went a step further because it's three different powertrains that we're talking about that was surprising because when they introduced their previous generation for us right the 2019 Ranger they went with one engine yes they did I think they're taking this uh segment in a much more serious way because look at it this way initially when Ford came out with the ranger you and I both were saying the same thing we're not seeing Billboards we're not seeing commercials and what I mean is the the revamped Ranger which came out so not like heavy marketing right exactly you know a few years back and we were kind of struggling with that but it made sense because they didn't want to push into the uh F-series Market we get it but now it looks like Ford has sort of woken up and said oh wait a minute there there's some real potential here and we're gonna expand on it and we're basically going to build a variety of different pickup trucks with different powertrains for different types of consumers and I applaud them on that but the pricing really stings yeah and I'm a little bit surprised even by the base price increase because the 34 000 plus where the new ranger XL starting by the way that's available in the summer or late summer they said so to me that means what August september-ish yeah uh time frame for their standard Ranger for 2024 model year um that's an already a three thousand dollar increase over the previous year that is a huge increase I know they changed the interior I know this yeah and you know they added some functionality they wind the bed which is really nice yes it is um but what do you think about styling because we have a lot of comments from our viewers and listeners who who did not really appreciate the new style what do you think really okay from the front end I don't mind the styling at all and I like the fact that they are all a little bit different kind of like what they did with the F series trucks um and that to me isn't so bad I the the Raptor version is looks very different from the other ones and that's thanks to of course you know what they've done with yeah exactly offenders front bumper and all that other stuff yeah so you do know you have a raptor that's great but the other trucks I kind of wish they did a little bit more to make them look a little bit different but I don't hate it I saw some hate online and I don't agree with a lot of what the guys are saying one somebody said it looks like a Tacoma no the front and the lights have nothing nothing to do with it but you know what all these mid-sizers now have in common is kind of like the cabin profile where the front window and the rear window of the crew cab right uh have the same like design with a little bit of a cut a little cut at the end of the rear door but that's not a bad thing I don't think it's not and actually uh from what I gathered that's for crash safety um at its strength right right side impact strength apparently um what you're seeing with trucks on cars is that lessless window a lot more steel and that is to make sure that you are safe when you're T-boned but the bottom line for me is that essentially the Raptor Ranger is a baby Raptor F-150 and it really is and then you move up to or move down I should say to the other to really the two there's just a couple more than two trims going below that and I think they did a wonderful job and I really am looking forward truly and looking forward to jumping inside of one I love the new design of the cab I think it's great it's it's not a knockoff of the F-150 which I was expecting at first right yeah no it has its own character it really does and I think they did a great job with it I'm hoping the materials are better than the ones on oh I don't know your show yeah but here's here's the rub we don't know how good this is in terms of the uh the world of competition that it's competing in because Tacoma isn't out yet right the the all-new one the all-new one right which is coming in about a week exactly do you believe this well I I can and I'm really curious to see if Toyota can come back and say aha we told you we're going to undercut you and we're going to kick your butt or whatever or is Toyota going to be like oops we screwed up so I'm curious about that I know you all of you are as well I'm sure they've been all watching each other like Hawks oh yeah I mean General Motors trucks already on sale in the 2023 Colorado and GMC Canyons uh now in just a couple months what August September well three months from now the ranger the new one goes on sale right uh and then I'm assuming just a couple months after that the new Tacoma will be on sale right and already the Tacoma is doing something that neither General Motors or Ford is doing and that is they are giving you an option to get a manual transmission yeah that we know for sure that's already been that's what they've told us yes so you know it's it's already the game it's already getting interesting and I'm really excited because this is my favorite class of truck mid-sized trucks are absolutely my favorite and if you look at Andre next to that Ford you can see there's a little bit of regret in his face and I wonder why so um well I haven't driven the new ranger yet so I can't regret look at that you are inches away from hugging it well I was hugging yeah so I was surprised though uh by one thing and we can close out on I think is remember in 2019 they told us how important the steel bumper was in the front for the American Consumer remember this yes I know and but then they took it away just now with this new 2024 Ranger that is one of the things that I am a little curious they took it away they put the plastic cover on the front bumper area which looks okay in my opinion but but where is my bash plates well it's a little bit more you you do have bash plates on these on the FX4 and there's this kid played and also you know if you go to the Raptor then you have a completely different fan yeah but uh I will say one thing for this I have a guess I think that might be for aerodynamics and also efficiency because this new ranger grew in size a little bit yeah it's a little bit wider it's a little bit longer in the wheelbase it gained some weight yes because of new engines you know another six interior and whatnot yeah it gained a little bit of weight which means it may have a problem with efficiency right you're right so in order to sort of combat that perhaps the vehicle is more aerodynamic as such perhaps they're able to save some of those you know and there's no hybrid you know a lot of our viewers are really surprising a lot of our viewers wanted to see a hybrid version I'm willing to bet though that that is something that isn't you know coming soon maybe in the works Ford said they were electrifying everything yeah so I mean I'm sure it's in the works and I think we may have even seen a test model of it but for now at least this is what they got and right now they're having trouble building enough Rangers right so I'm thinking their philosophy here is you know offer this the base four-cylinder turbocharging engine that exists right now right get that going you know having the factory you know not too stressed about the new model coming out and then they can maybe ramp up but I'm hoping with more options and more choices it's going to be interesting to see exactly what Ford does with this because we're in a weird transition period right now so I want to see what Ford does also remember the plants at least one of the plants that they're using to build the ranger is also where they're building the Bronco right Bronco is stupidly popular yeah so that's one I guess that's a good problem for them to have except they need to solve this one well they do because people are sick of waiting a year to get their car yes and truck and truck all right so there you have it the brand new 2024 Ford Ranger us spec is here right we were tired of waiting yes and now it's here it is here and we're looking forward to driving it very soon and we'll see you next week uh we'll have a lot of coverage of the new Tacoma so stay tuned for that and also we're gonna talk about heavy duty trucks yes we are in the future manly thank you

Channel: TFLtalk

Views: 291,324

Keywords: tfltruck, podcast, ford ranger 2024, 2024 ford ranger, ford ranger, 2024 ford ranger raptor, 2024 ford ranger us, ford ranger raptor 2024, 2024 ford ranger raptor usa, 2024 ford ranger raptor price, 2024 ford ranger usa, ford ranger raptor, ranger 2024, 2024 ford ranger hybrid, 2024 ford ranger raptor v6, 2024 ford ranger interior, 2024 ranger raptor, 2024 ford ranger tremor, 2024 ranger, new ford ranger, deep dive, toyota tacoma, chevy colorado, jeep gladiator, nissan, honda

Id: BzaGeHmQ9aE

Length: 50min 46sec (3046 seconds)

Published: Fri May 12 2023