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The expected impact of the fast-approaching ground isn’t as jarring as you’d expect, owing to dampers tuned to retain their pre-flight compression and resist bucking the bakkie about on landing. Grit your teeth and feel the suspension hunker down as your momentum builds to the bottom of the ramp before seemingly springing the Raptor clear of the rise. That chopped bumper and bumped-up ride height means you can approach inclines at a pace that would see other bakkies spearing their noses into the dune.
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And when you find a suitable launch pad, the Raptor just begs to take wing. You recalibrate your previously cautious off-roading approach foot flat wherever you go, dismissive of most bumps and searching the landscape for a natural ramp. The large footprint afforded by those BF Goodrich tyres and that wide track make the most of what little traction is on offer. Then it’s a case of throwing caution to the wind and barrelling onto the sand. Toggle the drivetrain-management system into its model-unique Baja setting and traction control intervention is kept to a minimum, while the gearbox adopts a more aggressive gearshift pattern. The brilliant bowls of white sand in the Atlantis dunes is the perfect place for it to strut its stuff. A kerb weight that’s 166 kg north of the Wildtrak likely didn’t help acceleration off the mark, nor did it help bring the Raptor to a halt from 100 km/h any quicker, despite its uprated braking system with 332 mm discs all-round.īut the Raptor’s natural habitat isn’t a drag strip. Our performance testing compounded this impression when the Wildtrak outstripped the Raptor in the 0-100 km/h run, clocking 10,10 seconds versus 10,94. Looking at the Raptor’s hulking form, you do feel this concession sits astray of its perceived reputation. The same reasonable 157 kW and 500 N.m of torque the same GM co-developed 10-speed automatic transmission. While Ford’s engineers have had a field day with the Raptor’s underpinnings, the constraints of mechanical packaging and economy of scales see it share the company’s new 2,0-litre, four-cylinder sequential twinturbo-diesel engine with the Wildtrak. But with what’s sitting under the bonnet, their slow response on both up- and downshifts is understandable. Just beyond the steering wheel’s chunky leather rim, a pair of magnesium paddle shifters beg to be toggled. Indeed, you can settle back in wonderfully supportive sports seats and chip away at the miles without fatigue. Even the bit of extra noise you’d expect from the Raptor’s knobbly tyres is well suppressed, albeit in part by synthesised engine sound lending the turbodiesel a warbling, off-beat tone. Time on the tarmac also highlights the impressive levels of refinement served up by both cars. This is especially evident when the uprated, six-setting Ford Terrain Management System is in its sportier preset, rendering the variable-ratio electric power steering palpably more direct than the Wildtrak’s more benign helm. Furthermore, the Raptor’s wide track makes it feel foot-sure and pleasingly composed under cornering. It’s this sophisticated system that immediately impresses with a compliant ride on tarmac bereft of wallow. The inner lining of the front tubes features a line of oil-bleeding holes which close sequentially under compression, incrementally modulating the Raptor’s damping in response to whatever surfaces it’s traversing. Double-tube racing shocks have been allied to the revised front wishbone suspension with coil-over springs out back. With suspension travel upped by 32% fore and 22% aft, this setup lends itself better to the rigours of high-speed off-roading and combines with additional chassis bracing to up torsional rigidity and check lateral movement.Īs with the F-150 Raptor, Ford has turned to Fox Racing for the Ranger Raptor’s suspension setup. Changes underneath that muscular shell start with a ladder-frame chassis combining the Ranger’s front-end architecture and the Everest’s rear section the latter accommodating a Watts linkage axle in lieu of the Wildtrak’s leaf-sprung tail. And that’s exactly what Ford’s performance arm has aimed for.