TRAVIS LANGNESS: This is Ford's wildest F-150 yet.
It's the wildest Raptor yet, and we're
in the wildest city in America, Pahrump.
It's not really wild.
Vegas is next door.
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So maybe you're looking for something
that can help you travel across America without ever touching
the pavement.
Or maybe you just want the biggest, baddest vehicle
in the parking lot.
Or perhaps you just really love vehicles
that are named after Jurassic park characters.
This could be the one for you, and we're
going to take a close look at this, the most off-roadable
version of the Ford F-150.
But before we do, click the link in the description
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Before we get into the details of what makes this
such a special truck worthy of a dinosaur name,
let's talk about the price.
This one starts at $65,000 or around there,
which is 6 grand less than a Ram TRX,
but it is using a little bit less power.
The Raptor carries over with the same engine
as the previous generation, which
puts out about 450 horsepower, 510 pound feet of torque,
which is around 250 horsepower less than its biggest
competitor.
Now there are significant differences
in fuel economy between these two trucks.
The RAM is rated at 12 MPG combined,
and this truck is rated at 15.
Neither of those are super impressive.
But when you think about the fact
that this has a 36 gallon fuel tank,
it's going to have a pretty big difference in range
when you take it off-road.
So it might be more usable, even if it has less power.
Then there's all the stuff that makes it stand apart
from the regular truck.
Does it justify that big price tag?
Well, there's quite a bit of equipment on this.
You essentially start with an XLT level trim of the F-150
and then add a bunch of off-road goodies.
Standard 35 inch tires are already pretty big,
but optional 37 inch tires are simply massive.
This $7,500 option gives the Raptor even greater clearances,
but their size means a bit less suspension travel.
Thankfully, Ford hasn't just slapped a set of 37s on here.
You get a completely retuned suspension.
And what's even more impressive is
you can still fit a full sized spare under the bed.
Where all Raptors have an electronically locking
rear differential, the optional torsion front differential
helps that traction automatically
by ensuring equal power delivery to the front wheels
in slippery off-road scenarios.
Beadlock capable wheels are optional with the 35s
and standard on the 37s.
Beadlocking is a means of mechanically attaching the tire
to the wheel rim, helping them stay connected
when you're running super low tire pressure,
or if you get a flat tire off-road.
There are differences to the chassis, the frame.
There are differences to the suspension.
It doesn't have leaf springs anymore.
We'll talk about that later.
And there are lots of cool little bumper lights,
because these fenders are six inches wider.
Well, we'll get more into the details
as we drive it on and off road.
But this is a way different truck,
so you are getting a lot more stuff for your money.
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One thing that this Raptor has done and F-150 has never had
is it's tossed out the leaf springs.
This thing has rear coil springs.
Now that's a big deal for anybody in the full size truck
world.
But to do it on an off-road truck
means you can have more control when you hit the dirt,
and it allows for a little bit more travel in the rear.
Now what's it feel like to drive on-road?
Well, it's plenty of power.
It gets up and goes.
And it's the carryover engine from the previous generation,
so we know how this engine works.
Nothing's changed.
The power ratings have stayed the same,
and we're still fans of it.
But we'll talk more about what it's up against
and how that might be a problem depending
on the Raptor's future.
On-road, this is a really quiet and comfortable truck.
Now I'm on a pretty rough road out here
in the desert with 35 inch tires, not the upgraded 37s,
and I am getting some noise.
But on the highway out here, this thing was really quiet.
And there are selectable modes for the suspension,
the steering, and the exhaust.
I can turn the exhaust all the way down to quiet,
or leave it in its loudest mode, Baja,
or somewhere in the middle in sport.
When it comes to the Raptor versus other F-150s,
yes, it's more capable off-road.
But there are also some capability differences when
it comes to towing and hauling.
The most amount of weight that a Raptor can tow
is 8,200 pounds, which is almost half
of what a standard F-150 can tow at the top of the range.
Those ones are looking at about 14,000 pounds.
Then payload drops significantly too.
Just running a standard single cab F-150,
you can have as much as 3,200 pounds in the bed.
But this thing, max of 1,400 pounds.
That's just the price you pay with off-roading equipment.
You lose some truck capability.
But it's still impressive because it's more
than the last Raptor could tow and haul,
and it's more than the current Ram TRX can tow and haul.
And it's always a numbers game with these two competitors.
It steers and handles like a big truck.
Yes, there are different steering modes
you can change it to be a little bit more loose,
or comfort mode.
Go to sport, things get a little bit heavier.
But the steering is still pretty vague, not uncharacteristic
for a truck.
Then there's the ride quality.
With such big tires and so much suspension travel
from an off-road truck like this,
there's not a pothole in the world
that's going to bother you.
It isn't exactly serene in here, but you
wouldn't expect it to be.
It's quiet enough on the highway that you could easily daily
commute this truck without any problems
and still have a lot of fun on the weekends.
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We've thoroughly reviewed the F-150.
We saw it our first drive of the standard truck,
and the interior of the Raptor isn't very different.
There are some different seat options,
and there are some different looks and things
about the interior.
You have to look pretty close to find the Easter eggs.
But it's not a bad thing that it's
no different than the standard F-150.
These two big screens are really impressive, good to look at.
There's a nice little shelf to rest your hand when you're
pressing the touch screen.
Then there's a lot of redundant buttons
so it makes it easy to execute commands without having
to look around for stuff.
The steering wheel is made out of nice materials.
Feels good and chunky in your hands.
And there are some of the cool quirky features
that the F-150 gets here in the Raptor.
So for instance, you can do the little
fold away shifter thing, which I'm still not a huge fan of,
but it's fun.
And as a result, you can then open up the center console
to make a table, desk combo if you're not
working from home anymore and you've
decided that your truck is the best
place to set up your laptop.
Or if that's how you do it every day anyways.
There's lots of space in here.
Crew cab configuration only in the Raptor.
These seats have plenty of room and there's
a really good driving position.
And in the back, plenty of space for adults too.
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Really early.
It's really early.
It's almost five.
I wish we were sleeping a little later, but I'm very excited.
That's not what my face says, but it's what my heart feels.
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It is day two and we are out in the desert somewhere
with some sand and rocks, waiting in a line of other Ford
Raptors.
We've already had an adventure with a flat tire,
potentially based on driver error,
or potentially just based on big rocks.
Right now we're going to do the first
of Ford's off-road modules.
They've got to strap into these harness devices
because that's how serious the work is
that we're going to be doing.
All right.
Time to test off-road handling.
So we're going through a wash.
We're in Baja mode, and basically we're
just following some cones.
This is pretty high speed stuff when you consider off-roading.
And we've put the truck in Baja mode,
but we leave obviously no lockers on, four high,
and it really bounces along in this stuff.
It's super easy to drive.
Steering's pretty light.
I mean, obviously you get a ton of bumps
because you're in a wash.
It's what you get--
kind of rain rutted.
There's rock crawling capabilities
which are great, but this is the kind of stuff that I like--
high speed, going as far and as fast as you can.
And that's why you like a truck with a 450 horsepower
turbo charged V6.
It's really enjoyable to drive.
And you've got a camera, not that
is really useful at this speed.
But I'm going 150 miles an hour and the front camera
still on, because we're in Baja mode, which
is an off-road only mode.
You can't really turn that on in the street,
or you're not supposed to.
But when you're in Baja mode, you
get the extra lateral exhaust.
You get the changes to the steering and the suspension.
And you get that full 12 inch screen filled up
with a forward facing camera.
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All right.
We're doing loops, and we're supposed to move up
to 45 or 50 miles an hour.
Let the truck do its thing.
I mean, these are massive.
And the amount of movement that's going on inside
is really small compared to what's happening
on the outside of the truck.
We're going to try and get a shot of that.
It is impressive how much travel this thing has.
Short lived but, man, you feel like a hero doing
that kind of stuff.
Either that or a villain.
I don't know which one.
SPEAKER 2: Well, how was it?
TRAVIS LANGNESS: Yee-haw-haw.
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We're not doing the rally course,
which means they want us to go 40 miles an hour
across some pretty big sections of the dunes, which is great.
They want us to keep our foot in it,
because that way you don't get stuck in the sand.
We're really moving, really moving.
There we go.
This is the stuff that is on bedroom posters,
or at least in the PR catalog for this truck.
Going sideways at 40 miles an hour.
It's bone stock.
And I'm barely doing anything, you know?
You're not having a hard time.
It's not difficult to control the truck.
It moves around on you, sure, but it's
very predictable at these speeds.
And that's part of the fun of off-roading
is you can really reach the limit of at least the driver's
potential, and especially somewhere near the limit
of a vehicle's potential based on abilities
without going very fast.
To do this in a sports car to reach these kind of limits,
you got to be going way faster.
Here we go.
And we're up in the air.
The truck also sounds pretty amazing.
When we were going through the wash earlier
I talked about it a little bit, but this exhaust really
opens up in Baja mode.
And one of the things that Ford did when they redesigned
this Raptor, is they changed the exhaust to be equal length.
They did what's called the trombone design,
or basically did a twist in the exhaust,
and then changed the location of the X-pipe
so that they made this V6 actually sound pretty gnarly.
It's got a good growl to it, and it's really hard
to make a V6 sound good.
Normally you get this kind of engine note from a V8.
It doesn't scream or have the supercharger whine of a TRX,
but boy oh boy, it doesn't sound bad.
And you can just switch the exhaust mode
with a button on the steering wheel.
Quiet it down for highway commutes.
I don't know why you'd want to do that,
but maybe you don't want to wake up
your neighbors in the morning.
That's probably a good reason, right?
This place exists for trucks like this.
And this truck exists for places like this.
This is the reason you spend the extra money
over a standard truck and/or any other vehicle on the planet.
The smiles per miles are real high out here.
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So let's recap our time with the Raptor.
Yesterday, we had a fun on-road drive.
We got to see what it was like on highways
and a little bit in the city.
And this morning we started bright and, well, dark and
early, and got to off-roading before the sun even came up.
And had a little bit of a misadventure with a flat tire.
SPEAKER 2: Be honest, is it his fault?
SPEAKER 3: Oh, that is so someone's fault right there.
SPEAKER 2: Is it his fault right there?
TRAVIS LANGNESS: The Raptor took a licking and kept on ticking.
And that leads us to our next two big questions.
One, how did the Raptor hold up to sustained off-road abuse?
And two, what's it like to drive off-road?
Well, it holds up really well.
You throw everything at this truck
and it just keeps on going.
I mean, this is what it's built for.
It's specified for off-road use and it really
does justify the extra price you pay over something like an FX4
F-150.
What's it like to drive off-road?
Well, it doesn't feel nearly as big out here
as it does in the city.
When you're in an area with so much space,
feels like it's ready to roam.
And it actually feels kind of like it's the right size.
Now don't get me wrong.
I would like something that's a little bit lighter.
This is almost 6,000 pounds, but that doesn't
mean it's difficult to drive.
The steering, the handling, everything comes into its own
out here in the element of off-roading,
and it's a really fun vehicle to drive.
How does it compete against the Ram TRX?
Well, that's not really a direct competitor.
Sure, they're both expensive, full size, off-road trucks,
but we've got an upcoming Raptor R
and will likely have some version of the predator
engine, which is going to put out somewhere north of 700
horsepower, fingers crossed.
So the real comparison is going to be
between this truck in its R form, the TRX,
and the upcoming Silverado ZR2.
We've got a comparison in the works for those,
but we're going to have to wait to see just
when the ZR2 shows up and when the Raptor R makes its debut.
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And let us know in the comments, what do you think?
Would you pick this?
Would you wait for the R?
Or have you already put a down payment on your first TRX?