The new king to the Ford Ranger throne, the Ranger Raptor, had only recently been revealed in production form in its production market of Thailand. During that event, Ford kept word about the high performance pickup’s price scarce, but that soon followed with a firm tag in Baht.
Now, though, Ford Australia has confirmed the Ranger Raptor will come attached to a $74,990 list price when it makes local landfall later this year, which makes it some $13,000 dearer than what is currently the most expensive Ranger you can buy from showrooms, the Wildtrak.
Developed by Ford Performance, the same whizzes that have delivered the Ford GT, Mustang GT350, Focus RS, and the F-150 Raptor from which this Ranger takes its lead, there’s little to doubt their credentials. Add to the fact that the Ranger Raptor was extensively tested and honed at the You Yang Proving Grounds east of Melbourne, and there’s more than a little homegrown pride involved with swaying new buyers.
Naturally, the Raptor will be the most technologically packed variant of the 2018 Ranger when it arrives in addition to being the most performant and best handling. As we all might already be well aware of, a new 2.0-litre ‘Panther’ twin-turbocharged diesel motor from Ford’s EcoBlue range powers ute, delivering 157kW and 500Nm.
While that may sound a little underwhelming when contrasted against the 3.5-litre bi-turbo V6 petrol that powers the F-150 Raptor, and especially so when considering that a 6.2-litre used to headline that range as recently 2014, but Ford is insistent that the downsized oiler is more than capable of delivering as much grunt as the smaller Ranger Raptor needs.
It’s not purely about grunt, though, and Ford has arguably focused on the Ranger Raptor’s suspension more than anything other aspect, tuning it for the high speed off-roading and dune-running that the larger F-150 Raptor is so adept at.
A 10-speed transmission is sits in between the engine and the all-wheel drive system, the same unit used in the facelifted Mustang and the updated F-150 Raptor. Meanwhile, there’s 46.6mm dampers from Fox Racing, a lifted ride height of 283mm, 2.3mm thick bash plates, uprated brakes, new aluminium upper and lower arms, and 17-inch alloys that wear 285 section BF Goodrich All-Terrains.
“Aussies have a passion for performance cars, and an appetite for pick-ups, and the Ranger is a direct response to that,” said Ford Australia President and CEO, Graeme Whickman. “Our local design and engineering team has worked incredibly hard with Ford Performance on this truly unique program to deliver a product that brings Raptor DNA and meets the needs of Australians who’ve called for such a vehicle.”
“It’s clear that there’s an appetite for a performance pick-up, and we’ve worked hard to deliver something that fits the bill as a genuine performance product,” said Graeme Whickman. “The Ranger Raptor is the real deal: its unique engineering and performance aspects make it unlike any other Ranger – or any other truck on sale, for that matter.”
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