Ford Ranger Raptor Special Edition
Hard dog
Ford Ranger Raptor Special Edition
© press-inform – the press office
Before there is a new Ranger next year, Ford is bringing out a special edition of the Ranger. Outwardly it lives up to its terrifying name, but could use a little more power.
A raptor dinosaur had 80 razor-sharp curved teeth, some of which were over an inch long. The Ford Ranger Raptor has 156 kW / 213 PS and wins the numerical comparison. But despite the maximum torque of 500 Newton meters, the bite is not quite as powerful as that of the prehistoric predator. Mainly because the ranger with the martial suffix doesn’t have any more power than the tame brothers. We would like more power so that the vehicle lives up to its name. After all, the raptors in Jurassic Park were bloodthirsty and superfast.
“The Ranger Raptor is about presence and not pure power,” says Ford. To put the “bad ass” (tough dog) in the right light, the plum brand Sergio Leone’s legendary spaghetti western “The Good” “The Bad and the Ugly” reissued with the Ranger Raptor SE in the role of Bad-RSE. What would the actor Lee van Cleef, who played the bad guy, say?
So let’s take a closer look at the cowboy’s outfit. Black stripes with a red border adorn the bonnet and further over the roof to the luggage compartment tailgate and along the side of the sills to the rear flank of the drop side. The obligatory red stitching and the red line that marks the zero position of the steering wheel on sports cars are allowed in the interior. We appreciate the fact that the Special Edition of the Ford Ranger is only available with a double cabin, because adults can also sit in the second row. Overall, the Ranger Raptor SE is 5.36 meters long by European standards. In comparison with the dinosaur of the same name, which only reaches two meters, the point in this category clearly goes to Dearborn. Especially since the flatbed measures 1,575 meters and can accommodate a lot on it.
The Ford Ranger Raptor has built in a performance chassis that allows 51 millimeters more ground clearance and 850 millimeters more fording depth than the Ranger XLT. The engineers widened the track by 15 centimeters so that the Raptor does not stand there too high. At the front there is a double aluminum wishbone axle, while a multilink wheel suspension is used at the rear. Coupled with the variable Fox dampers, the spring travel on the front axle is increased by 32 percent and on the rear wheels by 18 percent. Even if the Raptor has been optimized for the terrain, the chassis shows its good side even on dirty asphalt. With all the comfort you can still feel what is going on under the mighty rollers.
When it comes to the drivetrain, the Raptor version differs in detail from the regular Rangers. It is true that the ten-speed automatic shifts from the Mustang in the Raptor, instead of an “S” for more sporty gear changes, in the Saurier you select “M” and take your luck with the two paddles on the steering wheel in your own hands. There are also six driving modes, including the Baja program for fast off-road driving, named after the famous Californian rally. We chose Sport mode and got on well with it. But one thing has to be clear to everyone who gets such a Ranger Raptor SE for at least 70,014 euros: A four-cylinder turbodiesel does not turn a pick-up weighing 2,510 kilograms into an alpha animal. Even if the 500 Newton meters of torque, which are available from 1,750 rpm, are good for the flatbed truck. However, the glory ends at 2,000 rpm. However, this narrow speed range does not affect progress. As long as you are cautious with the accelerator, everything is fine thanks to the slightly shorter gear ratio. From a standing start, the Raptor SE reaches country road speed in 10.5 seconds, is up to 170 km / h and indulges in 10.6 l / 100 km. Since the fuel tank has a capacity of 80 liters, fear of range is not an issue.
A constant topic at Ford is infotainment, which looks old-fashioned compared to some European versions. This is less due to the size of the eight-inch display and more to the graphic appearance and range of functions. This communication purism may go well with a pickup truck like the Ranger, but there should be more in 2021. As I said, this also applies to the engine. Next year there will be a new Ranger – and with it a Raptor version. Let’s see if our wishes are heard. Maybe there will be a commercial in which the rolling dinosaur takes on the role of Clint Eastwood as the tough cop “Dirty Harry”. The San Francisco criminal hunter was always out with a magnum 44 handgun.