What is this crazy behemoth? A gigantic bright orange pickup truck with huge tyres, flared wheel arches, air scoops, and a 3.0 litre twin-turbo petrol engine under the bonnet. It can only be the Ford Ranger Raptor.
Ford’s perennially popular pickup truck has been given an extensive overhaul. There are cheaper and more mundane options available but the in-your-face Raptor model was the first version Ford launched in Europe.
You can have it with a 2.0 litre diesel engine but my test car came with the full fat 3.0 litre twin-turbo petrol unit. With 288bhp it has no shortage of grunt and will get from 0-62mph in 7.9 seconds, which is pretty darn quick for a vehicle weighing just shy of 2.5 tons.
The flipside to all that power and weight is fuel economy. Over my week with the car the trip computer mainly showed an mpg figure beginning with 19, only nudging 20mpg on one run from Dundee to Kirkcaldy when the Ranger sat at a steady 55mph for most of the journey. Get used to regular trips to the fuel pump.
Driving on and off road
On-road the Ranger Raptor is a great drive. You’re so high up that you even look down on Range Rover drivers. The suspension is remarkably comfortable for a pickup and wind and road noise are low. The 10-speed automatic gearbox is excellent too.
It comes with lots of toys including Active Exhaust mode, which offers four levels of volume from the twin exhausts. I was careful to make sure that the loudest was not used on the quiet Dundee street I live on.
Of course a pickup truck has to be able to cut the mustard off road and the Ranger Raptor has no problem performing there. There’s high and low range four-wheel drive and various driving modes for mud, rock and sand.
I drove the Ranger Raptor through some very challenging off road routes in rural Wales a while back and can confirm there isn’t much that phases it. It will easily cope with anything a Fife, Angus or Perthshire farmer could require of it.
The loadbay can carry up to 652kg and the Ranger Raptor can tow up to 2.5 tons. Those aren’t class leading figures but should be enough for all but the most hardcore users.
Inside the cabin
Inside there’s seating for five. Headroom is extremely generous throughout and space in general is good, though very tall passengers might find rear legroom a little pinched.
The updated cabin is well-designed with a large, clear 12in touchscreen and easy-to-use buttons and dials for the heating controls.
In a nice design touch ventilation grills, seats and steering wheel have colour-matching trim – which made the interior nice and vivid on my bright orange test vehicle. The rear load bay cover slides open and closed at the touch of a button too.
You also get a B&O stereo, heated front seats and a heated steering wheel, a 360 degree camera, and power steering that has three different settings: normal sport and comfort.
Should you buy one?
The Ford Ranger Raptor isn’t cheap. Prices start at £56,500 for the diesel and £58,900 for the petrol model. The basic doublecab Ranger costs a little under £30,000, however that’s not including VAT (because the Raptor version can’t carry a ton payload it isn’t eligible for a commercial vehicle tax break and VAT is applied).
People might question the need for a souped up pickup truck – and they would be right to. But hot SUVs are common enough. I’ve lost count of the number of Range Rover SVRs or Audi RSQ5s I’ve seen on the road
No one needs a car like the Ford Ranger Raptor. If you want a pickup you can buy a much cheaper and more basic diesel one. If you want a sports car you can buy one.
Nope, the Ranger Raptor makes no sense at all. And yet I loved it. I drive a different car almost every week and I enjoyed the Ford Ranger Raptor more than perhaps anything else I’ve driven this year.
Facts
Price: £62,710
0-62mph: 7.9 seconds
Top speed: 111mph
Economy: 20.5mpg
CO2 emissions: 315g/km
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