Wheels Australia – August 2019

@wheelsaustralia 109

T WASCRUEL,really,bringing

theRaptoralong,butwehad

nochoice,see.Weneededits

height,anditstray,toshoot

thecovershotoflastmonth’s

magazine.It workeda treat,

too– theresultingimagewassuitably

evocativeandarresting– butwhatwe

didn’ttwigatthetimewashowthe

Raptormightfareinsuchillustrious

company.Yousee,everyoneofthecars

intheshootwaspoweredbya thumping

V8(GreatV8s!wasthecoverline)and

this,byassociation,didtheRaptor’s

2.0-litredieselnofavours.Thecompany

youkeepandallthat.

It’sa touchytopicthisone,soit’s

besttotreadcarefully.Muchhasbeen

madeofFord’scuriousdecisiontofitits

flagshiputewitha downsized2.0-litre

oiler,andmostofit hasbeencritical.It’s

easytoseewhy.With157kWand500Nm

ontap,theRaptor’snew‘Panther’twin

turbo-dieselproducesonly10kW/30Nm

morethanthe3.2-litredieselin

theregularRangerrange.It’salso

outgunnedbyrivalslikeVWAmarok

(165kW/550Nm)andMercedesX-Class

(190kW/550Nm),whicharecheaper.

TherestoftheRaptoris pumpedup

tothemax,sowhynottheengine?Why

notfitthe335kW/691NmEcoBoostV6of

thelargerF-150Raptor,whichis paired

withthesame10-speedauto?A tweaked

versionoftheMustang’s2.3-litreturbo

fouralsosoundstasty.

FordAustralia’sanswer?Noone

wouldbuyit.BlueOvalengineersare

convincedthatthedual-cab-utemarket

is sodieselorientedthattheRaptor

hadtobepoweredbyone.The‘Panther’

unitwasthenewest,mosttechnically

advancedoption.Fora while,I could

seetheirpoint.It’snicelyrefinedand

reasonablyefficient,andanyway,doesa

utelikethis,designedforsustainedoff-

roadrunning,needa kick-arseengine?

“Yes!”cametheresoundingresponse

fromthewiderWheelsteamwhen

I floatedthequestion.AndnowI’m

startingtoagreewiththem.Twothings

happenedthismonthtoconvinceme.

Thefirstwasdrivingthose‘GreatV8s’

andthenimaginingwhattheRaptor

wouldbelikewithone.Prettyepic,I

reasoned,especiallyasmostexamples

willlikelyspendmoretimeonbitumen

thanfangingthroughthebush.

Thesecondwasalmostbeingcrushed

bya BK-seriesMazda3 aswedragraced

ontoa freewayon-ramp.TheRaptor’s

0-100km/hclaimis a yawning10.4sec

andonlytheMazda’sdriverliftingoff

savedmefromseriousembarrassment.

Is thatthekindofperformanceone

shouldexpectfromsucha hardcore,and

expensive,dual-cab?I’mnotsosure.

ALEXINWOOD

REPORT

THREE

I

Stricken with a bad case of V8 envy, Inwood ponders the

concept of ripping out the Raptor’s 2.0-litre bi-turbo four

A colourful and cracking

collection of hugely powerful

cars. And our Ranger Raptor

WE CAN’T AVOID IT ANY

LONGER. IT’S TIME TO TALK

ABOUT THE RAPTOR’S ENGINE

FORD’S CALL,

DO OR DIESEL?

FORD RANGER RAPTOR

Price as tested: $76,790

This month: 1655km @ 10.4L/100km