On tarmac, the four-cylinder engine feels tough and tortured. On the road, this becomes more than obvious. But the EcoBoost engine doesn't really shine, nor give the car extra character. When digging through deep sand, mud, and gravel you don’t miss anything. The diesel engine is okay in its element (off-road conditions), where it's mainly the torque that counts. It has to be completely crazy, giving you a feeling of fear when it accelerates.
Because what you expect from a "Raptor" is a punch to the gut. Now it is also Europe's most driven truck. But in contrast to the F-150, it’s a dwarf – and it is Europe's best-selling truck. Not that the Ranger, with its 17.5-foot length and 6.7-foot width is small in any way. And just try to park it somewhere.Īccording to Ford, the solution is to transfer the F-150’s Raptor recipe to a car that copes a little better to European conditions. The only problem is that, while the Raptor works splendidly in wide open spaces of the U.S., it functions less splendidly is on narrow European roads, lively compact city centers and at petrol stations with German fuel prices. All with the ability to drive, drift, and jump over medium-sized rock formations, and accelerate to 60 miles per hour like a sports car (in less than five seconds). It’s a truck in which you sit nearly 10 inches off the road and ride on gigantic studded tires, all powered by a twin-turbocharged, 450-horsepower V6 that’s completely pointless, highly polluting, and yet, very entertaining. You know the Ford F-150 Raptor, right? The totally absurd, 20-foot-long monster is half pickup, half desert racing car.