2018 Ford Ranger Raptor

This is a story about the Australian-delivered 2018 Ford Ranger Raptor

The 2018 Ford Ranger Raptor was the first of its kind – a Ford Performance Ranger. Announced in September 2017, the Raptor was made available globally over the course of 2018 and 2019. Stepping up to the top-of-the-range over the Wildtrak, the Raptor’s rugged looks and upgraded chassis was aimed squarely at off-road performance although few would obviously end up there.

It was an instant hit for Ford and would arrive in showroom at the end of 2018 in Australia and featured as the official recovery vehicle of the Supercars championship.

The new variant’s specification was clearly based on the Wildtrak but featured a new “breadcrumb” feature in the satellite navigation system to help you find your way back in uncharted areas.

The 2019 Ford Ranger Raptor featured new front and rear bumpers to help increase clearance and therefore approach and departure angles. They were also a little more flexible to avoid breakages in enthusiastic off-roading and also featured LED fog-lamps and air-curtain ducts to reduce drag.

The traditional grille with the Ford blue oval was replaced with large block lettering, perhaps the most obvious way to spot the Raptor from the front.

To deal with the longer-travel suspension and large wheel and tyre combination, the fenders were flared for a more aggressive look. Hefty side steps were also fitted.

Raptor stickers adorned the sides of the tub and raised RAPTOR badging was fitted to the tailgate.

Ford Performance fitted front sports seats trimmed in what the company called “technical suede”, an Alcantara-like material intended to help hold you in place. The steering wheel had perforated leather handgrips, magnesium paddle shifters and a red 12 o’clock marker.

The instrument cluster was “aggressively styled”, whatever that means and there was blue stitching and “leather accents” (PR-speak for fake leather) around the cabin. The media screen also had Raptor and Ford Performance graphics that showed when you started the car.

Ford introduced what it called the 2.0-litre bi-turbo diesel to the Raptor. With a cast alloy head and cast-iron block, the twin-turbo, direct injected turbodiesel produced 157kW and 500Nm. This engine was primarily to bring the Raptor in line with global emissions standards rather than improve on any existing engines, such as the Wildtrak’s 3.2-litre five cylinder which spun up 10 few kilowatts and 30 fewer Nm.

The new 10-speed transmission – taken from the F150 Raptor – was the only transmission available in the 2018 Ranger Raptor. Seventh was 1:1 with the rest fuel-saving overdrive gears. The final drive ration is 3.73.

According to drive.com.au¹, the engineering team considered seven, nine and thirteen-speed transmissions before settling on the ten-speed.

Ford’s twin-turbo diesel returned respectable official figures, with an overall CO2 figure of 212g/km.

As you might expect, real-world figures were a little higher, with a range of testers seeing closer to 10.2L/100km over a week or longer.

With its 80-litre fuel tank, you could still expect to see nearly 800km from a single fill.

The Ranger Raptor’s development was skewed towards off-road performance. As a result, the T6 was lifted

FOX dampers feature position sensitive damping (PSD) and are “designed to provide higher damping forces at full jounce and rebound, and lower damping forces in the mid-travel zone for outstanding on-road comfort.”

At the rear, the Watt’s linkage rear suspension was tweaked to high-speed rough roading.

In addition to the new engine, the Ford Performance version of the Ranger added the Baja mode to the car’s Terrain Management System, which Ford said was “inspired by Mexico’s famous Baja Desert Rally, and enables ultra-responsive, high-speed off-road performance.”

Ford Performance enlarged the front discs by 9.5mm in diameter, fitting ventilated 332 x 32mm discs at the front and ventilated 332 x 24mm. The rear caliber is also larger than other Rangers, measuring 54mm.

The 2018 Ranger Raptor rides higher than the rest of the range to increase ground clearance to 283mm (11.417in). Overall height increased to 1873mm (73.74in).

For Australia and NZ markets, the Ranger Raptor’s kerb weight comes in at 2332kg. With a payload of 758kg, that takes you to a GVM of 3090kg.

The Ranger Raptor’s towing capacity maxes out at 2500kg for a braked trailer. With a typical ten percent towball download figure taking 250kg out of the 758kg payload, be mindful of the reduced capacity in the vehicle itself and tray.

The Raptor’s towing capacity is down by 1000kg from the Wildtrak, which can haul 3500kg.

1. Ford: Ranger Raptor 10-speed auto “very capable” 9 February 2018 ↩︎