LATEST NEWS FROM THE 4X4 WORLD
WHAT WE KNOW AND WHAT WE’D LIKE TO SEE.
LAST week Ford Australia released news of its Ranger Raptor X, which brings a range of styling tweaks to the top-of-the-range Raptor model to see it through to what we expect will be the end of the PX2 model at the end of 2021.
But what of the next Ranger; will we see a Raptor in 2022?
With the popularity of the current Ranger Raptor and its success as a halo model for the brand, we’d have to say that an all-new one will be a definite yes; but what form it will take and what will power it are a long way from being revealed.
We expect the 2022 Ranger will be shown by the end of 2021, but whether or not it will make showrooms by the end of the year is still unknown.
We expect the new model to bring significant changes to the popular ute but we’re pretty sure it will stick to the proven ladder chassis, with a choice of two- and four-wheel drive, a diesel engine, and IFS with a leaf-sprung live rear axle.
The long-serving 3.2-litre, fivecylinder diesel engine is expected to be pensioned off and the current 500Nm, 2.0-litre, four-cylinder engine will become the standard powerplant; hopefully Ford will see fit to adapt a manual gearbox to the bi-turbo engine.
The new Ranger will be developed for global markets including the USA, so there will be a petrol powertrain; but whether that will go on sale in Australia is yet to be revealed. EV and hybrid power also can’t be ruled out, as they both become essential to any new vehicle plans.
The PX2 Raptor wasn’t released with the rest of the Ranger models back in 2015, so a new Raptor might not be seen for a while longer. In the USA, the new F-150 has been on sale for almost a year and the Raptor version has only recently been shown and is yet to go on sale.
Also looking to the USA and its current T6 Ranger and Bronco models and we get
a hint of what we could see in a new Raptor.
The Bronco, which seems to be everywhere in the media but is yet to go on sale following production delays, is available with the optional 2.7-litre V6 Ecoboost petrol engine which we think would be the perfect mill to power a new Raptor. And with the Yanks also pining for a Ranger Raptor, they wouldn’t expect anything less under the hood.
The 2.7 makes 231kw and 542Nm in the Bronco, so it would be a killer in the awesome Raptor chassis. Expect it to be backed by the 10-speed auto and an on-demand 2WD/4WD system with a seven-terrain Multi Terrain System also taken from the Bronco.
The key to the current Ranger Raptor is its bespoke Ford Performance-developed suspension which includes a widened wheel track front and rear, and a unique back half of the chassis to accommodate a coil-sprung, Watts link-equipped rear suspension.
Throw in the model-specific Fox dampeners and Bfgoodrich tyres and it’s an off-road-ready package that doesn’t require too much messing with.
Interestingly, the Bronco also runs a coil-spring rear suspension but misses out on the Watts link, instead getting a cheaper-to-produce Panhard rod for lateral location of the rear axle.
However, the Bronco does get tyres up to 35-inch in diameter, so a step up from the current Ranger Raptor’s 33s wouldn’t go astray. Bigger is better, right?
Despite being on the same T6 chassis as our Ranger and Everest models, the Bronco is only made in left-hand drive and there are no plans for a right-hook version. But you’d have to think that while the Australian engineers are developing the T6 platform for both leftand right-hand-drive markets, it shouldn’t be too hard to give us a RHD Bronco.
Fresh spy photos of next-model Ranger production mules out testing in Australia and around the world are dropping every week, each one giving us a better idea of what the new Ford will look like.
We looked at the image leaked to Wheels Magazine back in 2019, had a close look at the more recent spy photos and checked out the front end on the 2021 F-150 Raptor and asked Brendon Wise to come up with this rendering (at left) of what we think a 2022 Ranger Raptor might look like.