The Ford F-150 Raptor is a curious beast. It’s the class leader of the desert-running truck segment that can also destroy when it comes to rock crawling – meaning it’s the leader in a class of one. Some people like to think that Chevy’s Silverado 1500 ZR2 or the RAM TRX are competitors, but they simply are not. The ZR2 comes closest as a highly competent off-roader, but you wouldn’t dare try and keep up in an off-road race across the desert. The TRX, well, that’s Dodge shoving a Hellcat engine in a truck in the name of catching up, and when hooning across a desert landscape, the suspension will have you backing off the throttle while the Raptor pushes on.
What we’re getting at is the fact that, coming into its third generation, Ford’s Raptor development team has only itself to compete with. And its determination to go faster and tackle off-roading better has led to the new V8-powered Raptor R. So, if the existing Raptor’s twin-turbo V6’s 450 horsepower with 510 lb-ft of torque is too tame for you, then you’ll want the Raptor R with its 5.2-liter supercharged V8 churning out a relentless 720 hp and 640 lb-ft of torque.
But, that’s not the only change for the Raptor R, as the development team is always pushing the envelope of factory performance from every angle. Here’s what we learned at the First Drive event with Ford from behind the wheel of the Raptor R.
First Drive events provide our initial impressions of a vehicle in a restricted environment under certain time constraints. Keep an eye on DrivingOnRoad for our comprehensive Test Drive review which will follow soon.
Exterior: It’s Big, But Not Unwieldy
If this is your first time reading about the F-150 Raptor R, then you need to know that it’s based on a SuperCrew layout, but it’s 96 inches wide. This extra width is courtesy of flared fenders that need to accommodate 37-inch tires wrapped around 17 x 8.5-inch forged aluminum beadlock capable wheels. The tires are two inches taller than the standard Raptor, and the ride height is increased. In turn, that improves approach and departure angles by two degrees from and rear.
The Raptor R is differentiated from lesser trucks by a ‘power bulge’ in the hood and new graphics, including a specific hood graphic and two front fender emblems. New paint colors are available, including the Raptor-specific Shelter Green. However, we would go with Code Orange or the white on our test vehicle with the black emblems for something that will stand out in any environment.
Off-Road Ability: Improvement On Top Of Improvement
The Raptor R gets a new modular front bumper capable of having accessories tacked on, but the most interesting upgrade is the suspension itself. The Live -Valve shocks are now Dual Live Valve shocks with new algorithms to help control the new 24-inch coil springs – now the suspension system has continuous compression and rebound control, making for a smoother ride and more control on the harshest of terrain.
As before, there are seven terrain modes, including the now famous Baja mode for when you want to go fast over the rough stuff. Trail control, which is essentially extreme low speed cruise control, is standard and to get around those tight corners, the all-wheel-drive system can lock up the left or right rear wheel to drag and help the vehicle pivot, creating a virtually-shortened wheelbase effect.
Under The Hood: All The Power You Could Possibly Need
If you’ve driven the twin-turbo V6 Raptor, then you already know it has plenty of grunt on offer with torque to spare when you need it and horsepower for days. The supercharged V8 in the Raptor R is pure, unadulterated overkill and, we suspect, the last hurrah for outright gas-guzzling power for the Raptor.
The 720 horses are laid down through the 10-speed transmission and it’s suprisingly controllable, even on the dry, dusty lake beds in Johnson Valley in California’s brutal desert. It does, of course, help when you lower the tire pressure for those extreme conditions out there.
Of course, the supercharged V8 sounds spectacular, whether it’s being revved out in high-speed areas or using its grunt to clear steep obstacles.
Behind The Wheel: Not Wasting Time
We had a Raptor R in the famed Johnson Valley, home of King Of The Hammers, so we wasted as little time on the paved road as possible. Instead, we hit the access roads to the areas where Ford tests the Raptor, starting with a high-speed course through the scrub and over loose sand and hard dirt. It’s an area where you quickly realize how much skill and dexterity racers have to guide heavy trucks at freeway speeds on narrow, loose, surfaced ground.
You have to look way ahead and guide, rather than steer, the truck until you get to tight corners, and the F-150 Raptor R can easily fool you that you’re on stable ground due to the suspension eating up bumps and feeling like you’re just on rough California concrete.
Thankfully, in Baja mode, the suspension and the all-wheel-drive system does a superb job of taking the edge off of inexperience, but it’s not magical. Physics can only be held off so far, but the Raptor R often defies it, particularly when braking hard to set up for a corner when sand is building up under the front of the tires and wanting to unsettle the chassis as you let off. Getting the power down is grin-inducing, with the tires hooking up and needing gentle corrections to get and keep it in a straight line.
We moved on to a short autocross track laid out with cones on the dry lake bed so we could find the limits without the threat of being spat out into the brush and scrub and bringing a cactus back in the bumper. Again, in Baja mode, the system doesn’t want to slow you down, but it does want to help when you get past the limit. Acceleration is relentless off the line, and the Raptor R loves to turn in and hold a line. When the back starts to swing, the longer wheelbase over the Bronco Raptor makes things more controllable and encourages a bit of showing off for the cameras.
We learned that second gear and switching to Two High – which makes the Raptor R rear-wheel-drive – is not the quickest way through an autocross track. But it’s a lot of fun, and fun is what the Raptor models are all about.
The next adventure was out into the gnarlier areas of Johnson Valley with some rocky climbs that the Raptor R made comically easy and with a shocking (pun intended) amount of comfort through obstacles that should be rattling teeth. Even coming to an inadvisable stop in the sand, we got ourselves out of trouble purely through throttle control and taking the brawn-over-brains way out. Simply because we could.
Conclusion: Unadulterated Fun
All Raptor models are insane, and the Raptor R cranks that up even higher. It’s amazing that Ford Performance has created such a complete package; you can literally drive away from the dealership and hurtle across the desert at 70 mph as comfortably as if you were on a rough freeway to a rock-crawling spot that normally requires modified or custom-built trucks to navigate.
The F-150 Raptor R also has all the practicality of a truck most truck owners use, so it can still be driven daily. It’s not so much wider than a standard F-150 that you’d get stuck in parking lots or need to avoid places you usually go. Sure, it’s expensive – the Raptor R adds over $31k to the $78,440 starting price of the regular Raptor – and nobody needs an F-150 Raptor, let alone a Raptor R, but what does need have to do with it? It’s one of the most fun vehicles you can buy today – just make sure you have plenty of room to take advantage of its high-speed ability.