Ford let me see and hear the new F-150 Raptor R last month, but only from a distance. The thing sounded great, but that’s about all I could surmise from the short sprint across the desert floor a few hundred yards from where I then stood. Now, finally, we’ve got more details. Let’s start with the important bits: A supercharged 5.2-liter V8 – the same one from the Mustang GT-500 – pumps out 700 horsepower and 640 lb-ft of torque through a 10-speed automatic. That transmission sends power to a coil-sprung solid axle out back and a front differential up front wedged between long-travel independent A-arms.
Connecting that suspension to the dirt are standard 37-inch all-terrain tires. That’s the same size as the tires on the Bronco Raptor, which is to say: They’re enormous.
Per a number of news outlets, the Raptor R will cost about $110,000, or roughly 30 large more than the Ram TRX, which makes 2 HP more.
Obviously, less horsepower for more dollars seems like a step backwards, but that’s only if your brain functions very, very simply. There’s much more to performance than just power, which is why I’m excited to drive the two trucks back-to-back.
Also, I think the manufacturers have been leaving huge stacks of money on the table when it comes to pricing vehicles like this. Dealer markups are undeniable proof of this.
This is an outrageous extravagance. You don’t price those for affordability. Those should always be priced to remove as much money from the buyers’ wallets as possible. And now Ford seems to be realizing this fact.
Yes, people will pay $150,000 for a Ford F-150. There are at least a few that will pay over $200,000 for an F-150. Ford should concentrate on building something specific for those buyers, too.
They can take the Porsche route by removing a bunch of features and sound deadening, and reworking a few parts in lighter, stronger materials. Then they can double the price. A nylon strap for an inner door handle is on its way, for only $2,000 extra!
Even if I had the means to afford this kind of vehicle, it’d be pretty far down the list of ridiculous toys I’d want to buy.
Yes, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the Z06 pricing came out a few days ago and was ~$20K higher than expected too. There is a balancing act required though; no one wants a repeat of the Gen 5 Viper ($15,000 across the board reduction in MSRP after slow sales) or the NSX (reportedly $20,000+ in rebates, at least as of a couple years ago). I think parts shortages + inflation + 10 years of a good economy for the upper middle class + perceived last gasp for ICE performance have created an extremely weird environment for these halo vehicles. I’m just hopeful some sanity returns before the electric apocalypse descends.
American masculinity so fragile…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20fYVO_aZ0U
I’ve see likewise on the I think RAM TRXs?
Is the reason regulatory, or badass, or ??
I can imagine though people who buy these really like ’em as even further signifiers to all that these are not normal trucks. At least there’s a driving reason for them/they’re not like the Challenger’s yellow lower splitter shipping protectors.
Some of the coolest vehicles ever are totally illogical to drive daily. Old Beetles are slow and unsafe, new 911s are tiny and inefficient, Miatas have the same size issue, old Grand Wagoneers suck gas like mad, Jeep Wranglers don’t ride great, etc etc.
Car-buying is often an emotional decision, and taste varies. I think it’s okay, even if I’d never buy this vehicle (or any new car, really).
It was fully street-legal, but there seemed to be some understanding by Ford of the danger these things posed, especially in the wrong hands. Interesting way of dealing with that while still making them available.
But by the time the next iteration came out in 2000 (IIRC), that requirement was dropped I believe.
I get the emotional connections of vehicles. I embrace it, to a large degree. But there’s a point where selfish childishness and boorishness take over one’s choice of vehicles, and we’ve reached beyond that many times over the last ten years or so.
It think it’s time we step back a little bit from excusing blatantly antisocial behavior in vehicle choice, because our policies aren’t catching up and being adjusted to bill people in any way for the additional costs they burden everyone else with.
It’s a complex thing, no doubt, and the real answer is that we all should make compromises. But I don’t think banning certain cars is the answer. The fact that the whole industry is going EV for new cars is great, and I think in due time vehicles like this Raptor R will be classics — blips in the rearview mirror that we’ll find novel when we see them on the streets in the future.
The energy required to produce something new is quite large. Steel doesn’t melt itself… I’m arguing about the choices we are making today about what we produce.
I’d say we just need to wait for the day when a texting driver accidentally rips a school bus in half to make these kinds of vehicles illegal (or at least worthy of a special licensing requirement), but since we have collectively agreed as a society that kids have no right to safety in the classroom, why should they be safe on the way to the classroom either?
You can buy off-road motorcycles. They don’t have turn signals, you can’t legally ride them on the road. This truck should be the same.
