SUPER UTE!

A TWIN-TURBO PETROL V6 AND ADVANCED CHASSIS TECH TRANSFORM SECOND-GEN RANGER RAPTOR FROM CAPABLE OFF-ROADER TO PERFORMANCE HEAVY HITTER

- ALEX INWOOD

FASTER, MORE powerful, more capable and bristling with high-tech systems and hardware. Even if this is roughly what you were expecting from Ford’s all-new super ute, the second-generation Ranger Raptor, the man in charge of creating it reckons a further recalibration is in order.

“It’s a quantum shift, I’ll tell you that,” says Justin Capicchiano, Ford Performance program manager. “The step change is huge; it’s a different thing altogether. You guys aren’t ready for it.”

As ever, the devil is in the engineering detail but let’s start with the headlines. The biggest change, and the one that will most obviously alter the Raptor’s personality and performance, is its engine. Gone is the controversial (and arguably underpowered) 2.0-litre twin-turbo diesel of the first-gen Raptor. In its place slots the same 3.0-litre Ecoboost twin-turbo V6 petrol as found in the recently released Bronco Raptor, with which the new Ranger shares its T6 architecture. Power and torque have both increased sharply to “more than 280kW and over 550Nm”. Exact figures are awaiting official homologation, though expect those estimates to be on the conservative side. One engineer told Wheels the power figure is 294kW, a number almost double the original Raptor’s 157kW. Need some context to understand just what a performance leap the new engine delivers?

“It’s like night and day,” says Capicchiano. “The current car used to be 0-100km/h in 10.6 seconds. Now it’s close to 4.0sec faster. It’s about as fast as a Focus ST to 100km/h and it’ll do it on dirt.”