2023 FORD F-150 RAPTOR R: Trucks of Fury

Highs: 700 horsepower, monster-truck presence, surprisingly graceful on-road manners. Lows: Not 703 horsepower, can't lock the rear diff in two-wheel drive, it costs how much?

- EZRA DYER

The day began with weather that would scare Jim Cantore, when the gales of November came to the sand dunes of Michigan's Silver Lake State Park. The thoroughly soaked mounds provided almost too much traction. Not for the guy in the rented Buick Encore, but enough to make even the steepest of dunes only a minor inconvenience to the 2023 Ford F-150 Raptor R. When you've got 700 horsepower and 37-inch bead locked tires, wet sand may as well be interstate slab.

The Raptor R is the long-awaited (but maybe not inevitable) zenith of the Raptor brand. In a world with no Ram TRX, would Ford drop a Shelby GT500 engine into a pickup? Science tells us that observation influences outcomes, and we have to think Ford observed Ram selling all the $86K trucks it could build and said, "Maybe we should do that."

Given the obviousness of the Raptor R's competition, it's a bit curious that Ford didn't go for horsepower bragging rights. With the TRX making 702 horsepower, why not give the Raptor R 703? That's something Ram might do. Instead, Ford arrived at an even 700 horsepower at 6650 rpm. Trucks like this are about big numbers and loud noises and taking dirt that was over here and throwing it way over there and then doing some sweet jumps. The Raptor R is spectacularly well-equipped to handle all of that, even without superlative horsepower.