Taming Ford's wildest Ranger

GUZZLER: SHORTER-THAN-NORMAL STINT HAS SEEN THE RAPTOR LIVE UP TO ITS REPUTATION

- Charl Bosch

As the Blue Oval had probably expected, the Ford Ranger Raptor has been a sales phenomenon since the first generation's global debut in 2018.

Despite facing criticism for installing its halo Ranger with the standard 2.0-litre Panther bi-turbodiesel engine without any power or torque uptakes, the brashest model ever made became a massive hit for Ford for incorporating elements from the F-150 Raptor.

While lacking punch, its off-road capability, trick suspension, and grin-inducing Baja mode have now been passed on to markets where the F-150 isn't marketed because it is a left-hand-drive-only product.

Being a world model, the opposite applies to the Ranger and while the original's success has since led to the Bronco Raptor that rides on the same T6.2 platform, before this, producing the second generation Raptor probably rated as an easy task.

Again, the global T6.2 performance model as the Bronco Raptor, like the F-150 Raptor, remains exclusive to left-hand-drive nations, the new Ranger Raptor not only had to improve dynamically, but also on the power front.

Although initial speculation pointed to a detuned version of the F-150's Raptor twin-turbo 3.5 EcoBoost V6 or even a V8, the eventual option was the twin-turbo 3.0 EcoBoost V6 instead of the smallest mill, the single turbo 2.7, used in the North American Ranger and Bronco.

Ironically, this resulted in the same backlash as the diesel for the petrol's propensity to consume unleaded faster than the Mustang's 5.0-litre Coyote V8.