Ford Ranger Raptor revealed

Ford has finally revealed its off-road racing inspired Ranger Raptor that borrows parts and design from its F-150 sibling. 

Nearly every aspect of the factory-built performance ute has been strengthened, redesigned and rethought in a bid to provide one of the strongest and most capable four-wheel drives available, including new coil over suspension and custom calibrated long travel shock absorbers from Fox Racing.

Revealed to media in Thailand where Australia’s second most popular ute is made, the Ranger Raptor shows aggressive new styling and a raft of changes underneath its skin including the introduction of a completely new driveline to the blue oval’s line-up. 

“The Ford Performance team is excited to extend the Raptor name from our flagship off-road performance F-150 to Ranger. Just like the F-150 Raptor, the Ranger Raptor builds upon the core capability of the range of vehicles it comes from and carries the unmistakable Ford Performance DNA appearance,” said Ford Performance chief engineer Jamal Hameedi. 

Designed by the Ford Performance team and based on the updated Ranger due later this year, the Raptor shows styling cues inspired by the F-truck version such as a wide ‘Ford’ embossed black grille above a frame-mounted and toughened bumper with LED fog lamps and fully-functional air dams that decrease wind resistance for a better drag co-efficient.

A limited range of paint colours are available including lightning blue, racing red, shadow black, frozen white and unique conquer grey hero colour with contrasting grey ascents. 

Strengthened composite wheel arch flares accommodate larger wheels and increased travel along with a 140mm wider track with improved ground clearance, approach and departure angles over the Ranger XLT.

Measuring 1873mm tall (up 52mm), 2180mm wide (331mm wider) and 5389mm long (30mm longer), the Raptor raises its ground clearance by 46mm to 283mm and approached angle gains 3.5 degrees to 32.5 while departure angle grows 3 degrees to 24.

Underbody protection has been reinforced with a new 2.3mm high-strength steel silver baseplate which integrates around 4.5 tonne rated front tow hooks and joins the existing engine and transfer case guards that protect the engine sump, cross-member, front differential and power steering unit.

At the rear is a modified bumper with integrated tow bar rated to 2500kg braked towing capacity and 3.8 tonne rated recovery hooks. Higher up, the new rear tray has grown to measure 1560mm x 1743mm and Raptor badging and stickers adorn the tailgate with new EZ lift struts that reduce lifting effort by 66 per cent.

Bespoke two-coat grit painted black sidesteps have been designed to prevent rock spray from hitting the rear of the truck while also draining sand, mud and water, and were put through a vigorous testing regime that applied 100kg of weight to the steps over 8400 times – or the equivalent of ten years regular use according to Ford. 

Underneath are stiffened side rails made from high-strength low-alloy (HSLA) for coping with hard bumps while the rest of the chassis and frame has been re-engineered for a focus on high-speed off-road driving that can withstand high impact hits.

The rear leaf suspension setup has been replaced with a coil over spring Watt’s linkage configuration for improved lateral support while the frame is re-enforced throughout with HSLA steel, including the spare tyre mounts, and the front chassis accommodates strengthened shock absorber towers.

Custom tuned Fox Racing Shox dampers - just like in the F-150 Raptor - have been used all-round with position sensitive dampening for increased dampening forces on impact and rebound off-road while the mid-travel zone is configured for a plusher ride when not careering through the bush.

The rear suspension has been further strengthened with a bypass shock absorber and separate fluid reservoir and all shocks have a 46.6mm piston front and rear with internal bypass. Forged upper control arms and cast aluminium lower arms hold the longer shocks in place that give the Raptor greater travel than any Ranger before it.

The same 17-inch alloy wheel design as the American ute will be on the Oz-bound Raptor which is fitted with reinforced BF Goodrich tyres measuring 285mm wide and 70mm thick, giving a total wheel diameter of 838mm and increasing the Raptor’s track front and back to 1720mm.

Behind the big tyres are 332mm wide ventilated rotors all-round sitting between 9.5mm wider twin-piston callipers upfront and a single-calliper rear.

Power is supplied by an all-new engine and transmission for the Ranger that, as first reported by Drive, sees a 2.0-litre twin turbocharged four-cylinder diesel engine upfront producing 157kW of power and 500Nm of torque. While undoubtedly high-strung, the team thermo-tested the sequential turbo setup for reliability at glowing red-hot temperatures for 200 hours continuously.

Mated to the new power plant is a 10-speed transmission lent from the F-150 Raptor which is lighter and optimised for durability and features ‘live in drive’ function that allows for manual shifting override at any time.

Changing parameters such as shifting pattern, throttle response and traction control is Ford’s Terrain Management System (TMS) which has been re-tuned for the Raptor and features six modes that can be easily access via controls mounted to the steering wheel.

Sport and normal are the only on-road settings while off-road gets modes for rock; grass, gravel and snow; mud and sand; and a unique ‘Baja’ mode that’s tuned for high-speed off-road performance that Ford says is ‘just like drivers in the famous Baja Desert Rally need’.

“It is amazing to enable this level of performance and create a vehicle that can provide off-road enthusiasts such an adrenaline rush,” said Hameedi.

“It really is like a motocross bike, snowmobile and an ATV rolled up into a pickup truck.”

Ford Performance’s inspired desert racing theme also crosses into the interior with specially designed sports seats that have extra bolstering and support for extended driving and hard knocks of off-road, finished in suede trim with blue contrasting stitching and black leather ascents with bespoke Raptor embroidery. 

The steering wheel also takes inspiration from race-bred machines with a red on-centre marking at 12 o’clock and perforated black leather grips in front of magnesium alloy paddle shifters for full manual gear selection. 

Ranger’s 8.0-inch SYNC3 touch-screen infotainment screen carries over and offers connectivity such as Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, but its satellite navigation gains a special off-road bread crumb feature for Hansel and Gretel style waypoint marking. 

Keyless entry with push-button start and reverse camera with rear parking sensors round-out standard features plus Ranger-tuned electronic safety assists such as stability control, roll mitigation, ESC, trailer sway control, hill start assist, hill descent control and load adaptive control.

Ford Australia has not announced pricing or availability but has confirmed it will be launched locally this year, with dealers already taking orders. Given the extensive design and engineering changes, and that the Raptor sits atop the range as the new halo model, pricing is likely to be north of $80,000.

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