2023 Ford F-150 Raptor R Street Check: The hugest sizzling rod

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Once I appeared on the Autoblog Podcast with Affiliate Editor Byron Hurd, and he informed his story about cavorting with the 2023 Ford F-150 Raptor R on the sand dunes at Silver Lake, I admitted it: I used to be jealous. I’m probably not a truck man. I desire one thing gradual and small with tight dealing with — even higher if it’s electrical. That … shouldn’t be the Raptor R.

What it’s, primarily, is a daily Ford F-150 Raptor with a Shelby GT500’s supercharged V8 and the optionally available 37-inch tires made commonplace. That’s just about it, however even that easy method means this truck is quite a bit.

For one factor, the Raptor R is big. It’s taller than 6-foot-8, and never straightforward to climb out and in, however you do really feel like you could possibly drive over something. That top hood with its massive energy dome makes it exhausting to see what you’re about to rumble over just like the Grave Digger, however quite a lot of cameras may also help make sense of what poor trodden object is simply forward of your entrance bumper. It’s broad, too, at 96 inches total, or a “mere” 87 inches when you don’t care about your mirrors. Both manner, that’s greater than 7 ft, which suggests you’re utilizing each little little bit of the lane you’ve obtained, and getting warned by the lane-departure system if you deviate in any respect from the direct center. Mix that with 145.4 inches of wheelbase and 232.6 inches of total size, and you end up avoiding crowded parking heaps and looking for out probably the most open of roads — or the quickest path off of them. No surprise this factor feels most at residence within the desert. Good factor it’s obtained a Baja mode only for such escapes.

However on the open highway, you possibly can unleash the beast (which, by the best way, is precisely what my son saved calling the Raptor R). The aforementioned supercharged V8 displaces 5.2 liters and make an excellent 700 horsepower and 640 pound-feet of torque. That’s a rise of 1.7 liters, two cylinders, 250 hp and 130 lb-ft over the usual Raptor. Stand on the precise pedal, and there’s no hesitation for the Raptor R to hurry towards the horizon. From behind the steering wheel, it’s not precisely jarring, which comes as a shock the primary time you set your foot to the ground.

It nonetheless pulls exhausting, but it surely does so with such poise and linearity that it someway feels much less dramatic, or a minimum of much less unnerving than you’d anticipate. The Raptor R follows its preliminary jolt off the road with a clean, fixed shove that offers you a way that the truck is in command of its powerplant, and that you simply’re in command of the truck. Sure, there’s quite a bit to stimulate the senses — the deep however someway clean growl of the V8 accompanied by the whinny of the supercharger, the snugness with which the Recaro seats wrap round you — but it surely’s extra of a service than an assault. The suspension doesn’t squat excessively as you launch, nor does it nosedive within the subsequent braking required to return to smart speeds, and the 10-speed computerized transmission doesn’t smack its manner by way of the gears. Moreover, the sheer dimension of this factor makes the pace really feel like much less threatening to the a part of your lizard mind which may lose its composure in one thing smaller and extra uncovered. Within the Raptor R, you’re lounging on the pace of sunshine. It is certainly extra horrifying from the surface, however that surprising spectacle and cacophony of one thing this huge hurtling throughout the tarmac is distilled into an epicurean delight for the motive force.

And on these highways on which this truck has a completely dominating presence, it’s a shocking deal with to pilot when not ripping round at full blast. I couldn’t discover fault with the suspension tuning. There’s no actual sense of the additional weight beneath the hood; no matter calculations Ford did to tighten up the entrance suspension have been good, and, likewise, the rear coil spring and five-link setup preserve chatter in test. The Fox inner bypass shocks and digital repeatedly variable damping do an unbelievable job of sustaining composure and luxury whether or not hauling ass over freeway frost heaves, cruising cratered dust roads or gliding over undulations in a good nook. It navigated the ever present Mt. Brighton car parking zone potholes — which extra intently resemble the world’s least comfy kiddie swimming pools than something that may match in your range — with out drawing a clatter from the skis within the mattress.

The Raptor R package deal that nets you the V8 additionally tacks on an additional $30,575 to the sticker value, giving it a place to begin of $109,245 (together with $1,895 in vacation spot). There’s not a lot else mechanically that separates it from the lesser Raptor. It will get these commonplace 37-inch wheels, which aren’t simply higher for tackling powerful terrain. They give the impression of being cool as hell, and don’t flip on a regular basis driving right into a extra painful expertise, other than the elevated ingress top and the small lower in turning circle (50 ft, versus the non-R Raptor’s 48 ft on commonplace 35-inch tires).

So is the Raptor R’s V8 and the modicum of extras price 30 grand? Fairly probably. It delivers. There’s one thing deeply satisfying a few Ford V8, no matter displacement. The smoothness and regular, predictable pull, whether or not blown or not, is satisfying. This V8 would possibly fit your fancy greater than the uncooked, hungry, hardscrabble clawing of the ferocious Hellcat V8 within the Ram TRX, however which may rely in your relationship with different Fords you’ve pushed, too. All legitimate.

I don’t significantly care why you’d decide the Raptor R or the way you spend your cash. I do know I’ll be stating any Raptor R I see to whomever is within the automotive with me, and possibly spout off among the stuff you’ve learn above, as long as they’ll hear. I’ll respect the proprietor’s distinguished style. Whenever you blow previous me whereas my youngsters cowl their ears and everybody else shakes their head, I’ll quietly pump my fist for you. And as a lot as I attempt to deny I’m a truck man, there’ll all the time make sure pickups I’ll get enthusiastic about recognizing within the wild. After driving it, the Raptor R simply hopped to the highest of that record, proper alongside the Lightning and the Hummer EV. If I can catch as much as you, I would counsel you’d like these, too.

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