One of the most exciting pieces of automotive news to emerge from 2017 is confirmation of Ford’s hardcore variant of the Ranger. The Raptor, following in the F-150’s footsteps, will be an altogether more powerful, more capable machine. We’ve seen some footage of it undergoing testing, speculated for months as to what it could look like and what could lie under its bonnet.
Now, we have a release date too. Motoring reports that we can expect the Ranger Raptor to drop on February 7th, 2018. Ford plans to have the grand unveil be held in Thailand’s capital of Bangkok, the country where all variants of the ute are manufactured.
Apart from that near-enough concrete bit of information, Ford hasn’t disclosed any other details. However, extrapolating from the F-150 Raptor’s reference and the disguised prototypes shown to the public in months prior, expect to see a markedly more aggressive exterior paired with some heavy duty suspension that’ll take the Ranger’s ground clearance a good few notches higher.
Unlike the F-150 Raptor’s 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6 petrol chucking out 340kW and 690Nm, which faced its share of criticisms upon it replacing a 6.2-litre V8 unit, the 2.0-litre twin-turbocharged four-cylinder turbodiesel (from Ford’s new EcoBlue range) that’s speculated to power the Ranger Raptor is likely to be as much of a contentious point.
In Australia, this comparatively small displacement turbodiesel will have no shortage of rivals in the power and torque department, so it will have much to prove to truly earn its performance credentials in the minds of local buyers. Volkswagen already leads the pack in this regard with its 3.0-litre V6 diesel in the Amarok, delivering 180kW and 550Nm. And then there’s the X 350 d from Mercedes-Benz due next year, another 3.0-litre V6 diesel but with an even more potent 190kW and 620Nm.
How the Ranger Raptor will deliver on its high performance promise won’t entirely depend on sheer power, of course, and there are plenty of more powerful trucks than the F-150 Raptor, albeit not as fast. However, a mechanical similarity the Ranger will likely have with the aforesaid F-150 should be the 10-speed automatic transmission mated to it. Ford updated the North American performance truck to include it, replacing the older 6-speed auto for the 2017 model year.
The new gearbox was developed together with General Motors and also features in the 2018 Ford Mustang and latest Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
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