Review: 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor

There’s a whole lot of awesomeness in the 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor, much of it hovering around the truck’s new powertrain. The already-jacked Raptor, with its fourteen inches of wheel travel, huge fender flares to accommodate wide off-road tires, and piles of other dirt-throwing goodies, now has a 450 horsepower engine and ten-speed transmission too.

The 3.5-liter V6 in the Raptor is nothing like the standard issue EcoBoost engine found in the F-150. Instead, it’s been hitting the gym and gained bigger turbochargers and an improved injection and air intake system to boost it from the 385 horses of the regular F-150 to the 450HP found in the new Raptor. Torque jumps to 510 lb-ft to match. The new ten-speed transmission is smooth and has been tuned towards the performance bent of the Raptor.

If you look underneath the Raptor past the bolted on protection found along the underbody, you’ll see that the aggressive Ford Performance shocks and coil springs are well-placed to accept the beating that this truck will inevitably receive as it flies across the countryside. With a 0-60 mph time of about five seconds and a top speed of 107 MPH, plus the dirt-digging tires the Raptor wears, those bumps are unavoidable.

Admiring the 2017 Raptor’s updates is one thing. Actually playing with them? That was a dream week for us and we went nuts with it. Everything about the Raptor begs you to hit those bumps, bounce through the dirt, skid around the corner, and mash the accelerator to go up that hill. When you do all of that, this Ford will thank you for it by aggressively conquering the landscape and throwing you around your seatbelt’s confines.

The combination of monstrous turbocharging and power output with the lightweight of the aluminum body of the 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor results in a very off-pavement-ready rig. It’s stable, fast, powerful, and ready to rumble.

“It’s so frigging awesome that they had to bolt the tires on.”

In everyday use, though, there are some big downsides to driving a Raptor. First, everyone sees you coming and it’s impossible to hide when you have this truck. It’s huge and bold and shoves its powerful self into everyone’s face. Second, it’s bulky. So if you live where tight quarters and tiny parking lots are the norm, the Raptor is not going to be easy to deal with. Third, it’s really thirsty. Fuel economy is estimated based on the standard four-wheel drive F-150 and those numbers on the window sticker are nowhere near what you will actually get with this truck.

Obviously, these downsides to the 2017 Raptor aren’t all that bad. It’s big nature and bold statement are kind of the point and fuel economy probably isn’t high on your list of needs if you’re shopping for something like the Raptor anyway. So grain of salt those downers and stick with what’s important: the Raptor kicks ass!

For about $60K, you can own a 2017 Ford Raptor that’s about as fully loaded as they get. There’s a crew cab option, but the King Cab is probably the best bet for those who plan on going off-road and don’t necessarily need all passengers to be luxuriating while that happens. The swing-out doors of the King Cab will let you get Fido or a couple of kids in there without problems. As for your friends who complain that the rear seat isn’t big enough for them? Tell those cheap bastards to get their own truck.

The 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor is everything it’s been hyped up to be. We found that out for ourselves and you should too.