2023 Ford Ranger Raptor
The all-new Ford Ranger Raptor is now available in South Africa, but the biggest shock about the bakkie is its price. By some miracle, Ford managed to tag its new high-performance bakkie ridiculously, adding little more than R142 000 onto the outgoing Raptor’s asking price.
Retailing for R1 094 000, the new Ranger Raptor raises eyebrows for being so well-priced, while at the same time offering a high-performance engine and a suspension setup that is even better than the previous model’s.
For greater perspective, the outgoing Raptor sold for R951 900, while the Jeep Gladiator tips the scale at R1 329 900.
“The outgoing Ranger Raptor that we launched locally in 2019 created an entirely new segment for performance bakkies. It has been exceptionally popular, maintained strong sales demand through its lifespan and remains without rival four years later,” says Doreen Mashinini, General Manager for Marketing at Ford South Africa.
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“And now, the next-gen Ranger Raptor completely rewrites the rulebook yet again, elevating performance and capability to new heights, both on and off-road.
“Ford’s development team raised an already high bar to entirely new heights with the next-gen Ranger Raptor by focusing on delivering a vehicle that is significantly more powerful, much faster, designed to conquer even more challenging terrain, tougher than ever and has more aggressive and purposeful looks to match.”
The important stuff
Ford listened to customers who were not completely happy with the previous Ranger Raptor’s 2.0-litre bi-turbo diesel engine, and, this time around, opted for a turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 petrol engine. In other markets, the 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel found in the new Everest Platinum and Ranger Wildtrak is also available in the Ranger Raptor, but Ford South Africa settled on the petrol only.
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This new V6 petrol offers an insane 292kW and 583Nm, which is almost double the previous model’s 157kW, while torque increased by 83Nm. The engine is mated with a 10-speed automatic transmission, sending power to a permanent four-wheel drive system.
Ford also opted to build the cylinder block from graphite-iron, making it 75% stronger and 75% stiffer than the iron used in traditional castings. And regarding the exhaust and engine sounds, drivers can choose their preferred engine sound by pressing the exhaust mode button on the steering wheel or by selecting a drive mode.
The following drive modes are available on the new Ford Ranger Raptor.
- Quiet: Designed to prioritise quietness over performance and sound. Great for keeping the peace with neighbours on early mornings
- Normal: Intended for everyday use, this profile offers an exhaust note with presence while not being too loud for street use. This profile is applied by default to Normal, Slippery, Mud/Ruts and Rock Crawl modes
- Sport: Offers a louder and more aggressive note, for when you want to shake things up a little
- Baja: The most aggressive of the exhaust profiles in both volume and note. It behaves more like a straight-through system in this setting and is intended for off-road use only
