Vanity project
The Ford F-150 Raptor is a bit of a legend. Built as a manufacturer take on a desert pre-runner, it captured the imagination of those who needed – or thought they needed – a full-warranty, off-road V8 monster with semi-race suspension, big tyres and an extra ego of attitude. But where an F-150 works in
the wide-open USA, it definitely doesn’t work in a rural village in Berkshire. Or commuting through the medieval meander of London streets. Or with UK petrol prices, for that matter. The solution, according to Ford, is to apply the Raptor brand and attitude to a vehicle with a more Euro-compliant silhouette. And ta-daa, we have the Ranger Raptor.
The essential Raptorish ingredients remain largely similar to the ethos of the Big Brother F-150 (now in bi-turbo V6 petrol guise), in that there’s a reinforced chassis, seriously uprated Fox Racing suspension, 33-inch all-terrain tyres and a series of body mods and underbody protection – it’s wise to note that the bash plates aren’t just shiny jewellery but 2.3mm steel. There are new bumpers – shaved to provide better approach and departure angles – standard running boards that should do a passable impression of a rock-bouncer, flared wheelarches and a big FORD grille re-scaled from the full-house F-150.
It looks brilliant, and utterly faithful to the heritage: bulky and butch without looking like a mobile accessory catalogue. And it drives well on-road and brilliantly off it, scaling, crawling and jumping across anything you point it at. The issues come with the 2.0litre four-pot diesel engine. A Raptor needs to be just a little bit silly, and 211bhp and 369lb ft in a 2.5-tonne pickup are adequate rather than exciting, and the 10-speed ’box also has strange habits, getting obsessed with certain gears for vague reasons. And there’s a small fly in the off-road ointment. The EuroRaptor now has coil springs at the rear with a Watts linkage: great for off-road axle location at speed, not as good as leaf springs for load-carrying. The upshot is that this near £50k pickup can’t carry the required tonnage to be registered as a commercial vehicle and claim the tax benefits.
It’s a strange one, this. It’s a completely rational take on the Raptor brand, nicely engineered and executed. But if you can’t get the VAT back, you might as well have a properly silly engine to go with the pricetag.