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It is a bird, it really is a plane . . . it is the boulder-decimating new Raptor!
In one particular of his final shows as the cocky, right-wing-mocking speaking head on the Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert made a gleeful, deliciously prescient point about Americans’ short interest spans for inexpensive gas: “Fuel is inexpensive this week? Give me a 5-year lease on a rolling cargo ship with the aerodynamics of a cinder block!” The statement might have been sarcastic, but there couldn’t be a better climate into which Ford could introduce its second-generation F-150 Raptor.
Hulking on its off-road suspension, widened fenders, and meaty 35-inch tires, the 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor is just as outrageously polar bear–mocking and lane-deflowering as its groundbreaking forebear, only now it swills cheap hooch. Not that such a detail matters considering that getting introduced in 2010, the roughly $ 50,000 Raptor has had buyers lining up even through the late stages of financial recession and 4-buck-per-gallon gas. Naturally, we enjoy the point. Who wouldn’t, offered its large power, ability to bomb across craggy terrain at 100 mph, and bad-ass visuals?
Constructed Eco Tough
Happily, Ford stuck to the script for the new model—almost. There has been some paraphrasing in the engine bay, where, rather of the old truck’s 411-hp 6.2-liter V-8, sits a new twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V-6 engine with direct fuel injection. While it shares a displacement figure with the larger of the 2 EcoBoost V-6s obtainable in the typical F-150, the Raptor’s mill attributes a new aluminum block and upgraded internals, revised heads, and tweaked fuel-delivery equipment. Final output figures weren’t offered at the time of this writing, but we’re told to count on 450 to 500 horsepower and far more torque than the current V-8’s 434 lb-ft. As for fuel-economy estimates, Ford is likely to trumpet efficiency gains on account of the turbocharged engine, but horrible, ignorable fuel economy is element of the Raptor’s charm. We’ll file preliminary EPA estimates under “we do not care.”
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Of course, 4-wheel drive will be regular, and the Raptor’s setup now contains a terrain-response function that optimizes the truck for varied surfaces such as snow, rocks, and far more. Feeding the transfer case is Ford’s first application of its all-new 10-speed automatic transmission.
You Can not Crush This Beer Can
The new powertrain is bolted to an equally new frame that, although derived from the 2015 F-150’s steel unit, is substantially upgraded to greater deal with the abuse doled out by full-throttle (sweet) jumps, massive rocks, and whatever else a Raptor can subjugate to its will. 2 wheelbases and cab configurations will be supplied: a 133-inch-wheelbase, extended-cab SuperCab and a 145-inch, 4-door SuperCrew. Following in the F-150’s footsteps, the higher-overall performance truck also switches to aluminum bodywork, shedding a claimed 500 or so pounds in the procedure. A composite hood and front fenders additional decrease mass.
Ford’s stylists somehow managed to massage these fancy new materials in such a way as to imbue the Raptor’s rippling physique with even a lot more muscle. The slight upkick to the rear quarter-panels lends the tail a bad-ass stadium-truck appear, and the grille when once more boasts giant “Ford” lettering and federally mandated marker lights on account of the truck’s width. Colossal Ford lettering also tends to make it onto the Raptor’s tailgate, and there are vents on every front fender and one more 1 on the hood, in addition to LED accent lighting everywhere.
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The most critical components of all, nevertheless, are sheltered by the Raptor’s blistered fenders. Those would be the Fox Racing shocks, coil-sprung aluminum front control arms, and the leaf-sprung strong rear axle. To increase on the old Raptor’s impressive suspension travel—11.2 inches in front and 12.1 inches in the rear—Ford upped the Fox shocks’ diameters from 2.5 inches to 3.. The units still feature internal bypasses that take the edge off of quick, difficult impacts. Skid plates in front help safeguard against meet-and-greets with desert rubble, and shallower front and rear bumpers increase the truck’s strategy and departure angles. New 17-inch aluminum wheels are wrapped in BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A K02 tires that practically scream out for raised white lettering.
It Believes Knows It Can Fly
Amazingly, yet another carry-more than function of the 2017 F-150 Raptor is its close to comprehensive lack of competitors. Dodge delivers the 1500-primarily based Ram Runner, but it is offered only in kit type by way of the Mopar catalog. General Motors in no way picked up the telephone when Ford came calling in 2010, and it hasn’t considering that. Some credit is due to the Ford SVT engineers—who now toil below the Ford Performance banner, hence the absence of “SVT” in the new Raptor’s name—that created such a solution that worked almost as properly on the street as it did in the Baja.
Obtaining sampled many iterations of the new F-150, we can report that the weight loss afforded by the switch to aluminum building is palpable from behind the wheel. Yet for all that, this Raptor version is the one particular we’ve been waiting for. With the base value anticipated to keep about the $ 50,000 mark, it will continue to be within attain of anybody with desert-runner fantasies. So, yeah, Mr. Colbert? You can sign us up for one of these babies.
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2017 Ford F-150 Raptor Unveiled, Gets Aluminum Body and a Twin-Turbo V-6!
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