Ford Raptor

[cpaharley2008]

Just came back from test driving a 2017 Ford Raptor. I saw one on the road coming home and thought it looked sharp. The MSRP is close to $70,000 with all the bells and whistles. It has the 3.5 v-6 with twin turbo's, 450 hp and 510 torque with a 10 speed automatic. The truck has built in brake controller, dual sliding sun roofs and leather. Really nice inside and outside, black.
One thing missing was fog lights, otherwise it has the making of a great tow vehicle, flat crew cab floor, room for the dogs, air conditioned seats, everything. The wheels are 33" and Bilstein dual shocks on all 4 wheels.
Here is the bad news, it is like a lead sled. It weighs over 5500 lbs with a GVWR of 6600 does not leave much room for payload. Plus with 4:10 gearing it is a little slow until you get up 40 and the turbos kick in. Perhaps I should not have driven the mustang over to the dealer? Really nice truck but built for off road, not towing. The estimated gas was 16/18 mpg. I had thought of trading the mustang and Ram 1500 for this truck but my Ram with the hemi and 3:21 rear, not as nice as the Raptor, is more responsive and has fog lights.

[rbryan4]

They're ridiculous. Saw one at my local Ford dealer with an MSRP of 78K. Insane.

As a sport truck designed for off-road use at high speed, perhaps. As a tow? Nah.

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[gbaglo]

Would that be the truck I saw on Top Gear, with the spare tire that took up the entire bed?

[cpaharley2008]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

Would that be the truck I saw on Top Gear, with the spare tire that took up the entire bed?

Probably, the bed is real small and the wheels really big.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Here is the bad news, it is like a lead sled. It weighs over 5500 lbs with a GVWR of 6600 does not leave much room for payload.
...
Really nice truck but built for off road, not towing.

Yes, they're built for off-road, and maybe one in a hundred actually leaves pavement now and then. I see them on the road here, and I don't think I've ever seen on with mud splatters. Payload is killed by the extra weight of the big tires, big wheels, wider bodywork, longer front suspension arms, extra shocks, etc.... a doesn't matter for three reasons:

1. Few buyers will actually carry anything in them.
2. The bed floor is too high to conveniently load anything.
3. Loading anything over the box sides requires a ladder.

To be fair, it can still carry hundreds of pounds of stuff (or people, with the crew cab).

Originally Posted by rbryan4

As a sport truck designed for off-road use at high speed, perhaps. As a tow? Nah.

I agree. The real purpose for most buyers is to impress other truck drivers, although again to be fair it does perform impressively, and could tow any conventional Escape (or the 5.0TA with configuration effort and restraint in cargo weight).

Originally Posted by gbaglo

Would that be the truck I saw on Top Gear, with the spare tire that took up the entire bed?

The yellow one with the "artificial sun"? Close. In the B.C. episode, where the scenario was two pickups racing up trails on a snow-covered mountain to "rescue" someone, Clarkson drove a Velociraptor, which is Hennessey's name for a Raptor made more extreme by aftermarket modifications (including the spare tire rack). It was the previous-generation truck.

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Probably, the bed is real small and the wheels really big.

The Raptor is only available with the 5.5' box, but it's the same size as the the 5.5' box of other F-150 variants. The big tires and wide bodywork probably make it look smaller.

The spare probably goes in the normal location as built by Ford, but owners often put on even bigger tires which don't fit under the truck... and thus the bed-mount (or rooftop) spare tire carriers.