Ford has really done the work to fill out its Raptor lineup in recent years. In the past, just the F-150 got the Blue Oval’s hardcore off-roader treatment. Now, though, we’ve got a Bronco Raptor, Ranger Raptor and a supercharged 720-horsepower F-150 Raptor R that sits above them all. With the addition of the F-150 Raptor R, you wouldn’t be wrong for hoping Ford would R-ify the Braptor and Rangtor. Well, I’ve got some bad news for you: it’s not happening.
Ford Racing production vehicle chief engineer Carl Widmann spoke to Road and Track, and he pretty much told folks who are holding out hope for a more powerful Bronco Raptor R or Ranger Raptor R not to hold their breath. He gave the magazine about as straightforward an answer as you could imagine when asked about the prospects of those two off-roaders. “I have not seen any plans for it.”
Widmann’s reasoning for Ford’s disinterest in building these cars is fascinating. It’s not because customers don’t want vehicles like these, it’s because they’ve got enough power as it stands, and the Ranger Raptor is already pushing the limits of its segment. Hell, Widmann contests the Bronco Raptor might actually have too much power. And here I was, thinking this was America.
Here’s what he told R&T:
The Ranger Raptor already has significantly more power than any other truck in its class,” Widmann said. “Nothing else is even within 30 horsepower.
“If anything, the Ranger Raptor might even already have too much power,” he added. Widmann pointed out that the Ranger Raptor uses the same twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6 found in the Bronco Raptor[.]”
Power player
I suppose I can see Widmann’s point. That motor makes a strong 405 horsepower and 430 pound-feet of torque in the Ranger Raptor and an even more impressive 418 hp and 440 lb-ft of torque in the Braptor. Neither of these trucks need more power. Jalopnik’s Logan Carter, who just began a week of testing the Bronco Raptor, told me that it already chirps its “big dumb tires” every time he even looks at the throttle a bit too hard or when going around a corner at about 5 mph.
Still, I’m the kind of guy who believes in excess, and Ford sort of is, too. In reality, the 450 hp and 510 lb-ft of torque produced by the twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6 of the regular degular F-150 Raptor is more than enough for that truck, but Ford decided it wasn’t, and that’s how the supercharged V8 Raptor R was born.
Who knows what’ll happen. Plans can always chance, and Jim Farley could wake up tomorrow in a cold sweat and decide the only thing that’ll make up for the 10 million-plus cars his company has recalled this year is a V8-powered Bronco Raptor R. I know it wouldn’t make up for all of it, but it would certainly help.
