When you take your first look at Ford Ranger Raptor, you’ll immediately notice it’s not your regular Ranger. It’s not a sleeper either. Everything from its grille up front, its big chunky tires, its muscular bulges all the way to its tailgate yells “Off-road” in your face like a drill sergeant on your first day at boot camp. And it continues to remind you and everyone else on the road each day you drive it. We got to spend a few days behind the wheel of a not so subtle Raptor in True Red.
Exterior
This is not an accessorized Ranger, mind you. It’s a completely different yet stock vehicle, 150mm wider and 50mm taller with ground clearance of 283mm. It’s got a hexagonal grille screaming, “FORD” in big block letters. Underneath its beefy front bumper is a noticeable Bash Plate with thick gauge tow hooks mounted to the front and rear ends of its chassis.
Speaking of the chassis, the Raptor’s is made of strengthened low-alloy steel that’s ‘ultra-durable’ to be able to withstand whatever off-road abuse is thrown at it. It’s got big 33-inch BF Goodrich all-terrain tires. It has an aggressive 32.5-degree approach angle, 24-degree departure angle and a 24-degree brake-over angle for harsh terrain. Standard equipment are the 2.5-inch Fox Shocks which give this a completely different off-road characteristic and allowing 30-percent more wheel travel.
Interior
Inside the cabin is where it looks more like a Ranger, like the dash and most of the amenities. You get leather sports seats up front with Raptor accents. The Raptor ditches the digital instrument cluster for analog gauges. You get a meatier steering wheel, sporty blue stitching, and sporty driver and front passenger seats that hold you in during aggressive driving. Finding your driving position is as easy as in the regular Ranger.
Just as you get in a 4x4 Wildtrak, there’s a knob next to the gear shift lever that lets you select 2H, 4H and 4L, but you also get the Ford Performance Terrain Management System with two modes; Baja Mode, which according to the brochure “dials down traction, improves responsiveness and shifting speed, and optimizes the Ranger Raptor for high-speed desert running;” and Sport Mode, which “allows for faster throttle response and shifting for improved acceleration.”
Powerplant
Under the hood is a Euro-4 compliant 2.0L Bi-Turbo diesel that puts out 213-Ps at 3,750 rpm with maximum torque of 500-Nm between 1,750-2,000 rpm, mated to Ford’s new 10-speed automatic transmission with paddle shifters. Although the figures look a little small on paper, it’s output is adequate for the weekend adventurer.
Safety and amenities
You get front driver, passenger, side and curtain airbags, Antilock Braking System (ABS), Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (EBD), an adjustable speed limiter, Electronic Stability Program (ESP) with traction control and Hill Start Assist, and Cruise Control as standard equipment. A SYNC3 six-speaker entertainment system with navi, with an eight-inch screen that has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto provides the entertainment.
We noticed that the some elements of the Wildtrak’s safety suite was not present, like the Heads-Up Display Warning, Autonomous Emergency Braking, Blind Spot Information System (BLIS), Active Park Assist, Adaptive Cruise Control, Roll Stability Control and the Lane Departure Warning and Lane Keeping Aid. But that’s understandable, when you’re on a vehicle that’s purpose built for romping around in the dirt. You probably don’t need a lot of sensors going off, telling you you’re exceeding road safety limits, when you’re not on the road at all.
Driving the Raptor is somewhat akin to being with a celebrity; it draws a lot of attention. People often wonder if it’s a Ranger made to look like a raptor or an actual Raptor.
When you first drive it, there’s a big disconnect from road feel as it is equipped with Electric Power Steering and big wheels, but as you get used to how the vehicle is put together, you’ll get over that quick as you start to enjoy the advantages of the Raptor’s engineering and tuning. It’s nimble for a big pickup, and despite it being set up for the beaten path, it’s quite pleasant on our city roads and expressways. It’s just a tad difficult to park in tight spaces.
Priced at P1,898,000, what you get is a properly-equipped truck that can take what you throw at it, limited only by how skilled the driver is. The badge says Raptor —either a bird of prey or predatory dinosaur — and it looks and lives up to its name. There’s no subtlety here. The Ranger Raptor is for owners just as bold and brash as it is.
Text and photos by Neil Pagulayan