FORD RANGER RAPTOR SPECIAL EDITION 2,0 BIT DOUBLE CAB 10 AT 4X4

5 267 km

This month, the Raptor SE has been out and about. Multiple drivers have headed off on back-to-back adventures. Our video team travelled to the Cederberg to film a Cape Nature Reserve hiking trail. Intern Ryan de Villiers headed for the Melkbos 4x4 trail with the Ford Adventure Club for some formal off-road training and the team from our online sister publication Cape {town} Etc took it on a trip a little further afield to the spectacular Tsitsikamma.

Peter Frost also spent a bit of time in the Raptor and here is what he had to say:

“Borrowing the editor’s car always comes with a certain

10,64 L/100 km

import; when the larceny results in pancake-makeup-thick layers of Swartland clay coating the undercarriage, roof and loadbed, it’s downright rude. But means must; of the whole fleet of CAR long-termers, only the Raptor could handle the waist-high quagmire that was the chosen West Coast route into the Cederberg, post-frontal system, to check out food guru Justin Bonello’s latest initiative. Turns out the extra stilts were much needed … the 285/70 profiles equally so. Tracking north of Sanddrif beyond Algeria towards Wuppertal, the 283 mm of ground clearance – almost 50 mm more than the standard Ranger Hi-rider

XL Sport – was vital. Big is best out there; all bakkies shrink and even Raptors seem somehow diminished in the South African hinterland. I will admit to the Stormtrak being my sweet spot (manageable enough in town … just as brilliantly agile at crosscountry) but the Raptor’s extra end-of-days ability in wading through the deepest fords and conquering goat tracks cannot be discounted. Fit for purpose, as they say, and when those ambitions are epic, only giants will do.

“Apologies, Mr Editor for the geological gumbo, but it was fun.”