Back within the early 2000s once I was a wee lad, I used to be obsessive about the 4×4 Evolution video game series, which I played on our Mac computer. In each games you’d purchase, upgrade and race principally every American and Japanese truck and SUV in the marketplace on fictional off-road tracks in all forms of exotic places. I put truly tons of of hours into these games, I used to be even energetic within the fan forums, where I downloaded user-made cars (each real and pretend) and deeply detailed custom tracks and environments. Newer titles like Forza Horizon scratched an identical itch.
One way or the other, despite my love for 4×4 Evolution I didn’t turn out to be an off-road fanatic in real life. I’ve enjoyed off-roading each by myself time and for work, in all forms of different vehicles, but nothing has fulfilled my 4×4 Evo fantasies like a day driving the brand new Ford F-150 Raptor R through Johnson Valley. A bunch of updates for 2024 make the Raptor R even faster and more capable off-road than before, and it’s fun enough to win over someone like me who would typically not go for a truck like this.
Full disclosure: Ford invited me out to Palm Springs to drive a couple of models from the 2024 F-150 lineup, including the Tremor and the Raptor R. There was a number of good food for us to eat, including freezers filled with ice cream treats, and we were put up in a pleasant resort hotel.
Not content with the already wild numbers from the Raptor R’s supercharged 5.2-liter V8, Ford has given it a little bit of a performance bump for 2024. Total output is now 720 horsepower and 640 pound-feet of torque, a rise of 20 hp over last yr’s model, and Ford says it has a wider torque curve. Under the skin the 2024 Raptor R has recent dual-valve Fox live shocks rather than the old single-valve ones, which have repeatedly variable rebound compression and rebound control.
The Raptor R comes standard with huge 37-inch tires on beadlock-capable 17-inch wheels that look awesome, plus a bunch of orange exterior accents, unique graphics, different interior trim pieces, Recaro seats wrapped in leather and Alcantara, a modular front bumper and an even bigger hood vent. I’m into the redesigned grille and headlights, and the newly available Shelter Green paint is awesome too.
We start the afternoon by crawling up a steep hill covered in very sharp rocks that might probably be an excessive amount of for the F-150 Tremor I drove earlier within the day. There’s no getting around how huge the Raptor is; at 86.6 inches wide it’s 6.7 inches wider than a Tremor, and its track is 5.5 inches wider up front and 4.5 inches wider on the rear. The hood is completely massive, and it’s hard to know where the corners of the truck are. A 360-degree camera system actually helps, however the camera quality isn’t great. Despite all of this, rock crawling within the Raptor is a cinch even should you aren’t using the dedicated Rock Crawl drive mode. The immense torque, huge tires and 12 inches of ground clearance make it feel like I can just easily power over any obstacle, and the heavy steering is more precise and confidence-inspiring than the Tremor’s off-road.
In deep sand ruts the Raptor continues to impress. Going fast is effortless, with the suspension keeping the ride level even over big bumps and the steering making small corrections easy. The Recaro seats are super supportive, and I’m never getting tossed across the cabin or punished by the ride. The truck bounds together with gusto, and the sensation of accelerating through a corner or at high levels of suspension compressions is intoxicating. Drift a little bit an excessive amount of onto a berm? Just power out. It’s playful without being uncontrollable.
Next we come upon a giant sand dune, and our instructor demonstrates a run where we hopefully do three big loops across it, making shapes like a teen star using the glowing Disney Channel wand. That is my first time actually driving on a legit sand dune, and while I thankfully don’t get stuck, I do biff it a bit. Really I just don’t send it hard enough, not having enough momentum or attacking at the precise angle to brush over and across the dune on my attempts. Still, I actually have a blast, and next time I’ll nail it. Hopefully.
After a bit more speeding around through the desert we reach an open area where Ford’s created a ramp within the sand so we are able to jump the Raptors. (This was my second first drive event in a row where we got to leap the cars, and now I feel it must be a requirement for all product launches.) Keeping the Raptor headed in a straight line under acceleration within the deep sand is hard, with the rear end wiggling everywhere, but luckily I’m in a position to hit the jump at the proper angle and at Ford’s beneficial 60 mph, getting some pretty good air and distance before landing. While I’m actually aware that I’ve hit the bottom in such an enormous truck, the suspension soaks up much of the landing and it’s rather more enjoyable than it’s uncomfortable or scary — I’m still glad to be wearing a helmet and HANS device, though.
Following a fast snack break by which I actually have a divine ice cream sandwich, we jump back on the road to move to a baja course that Ford arrange using a part of the King of the Hammers route. Fittingly, we twist the drive mode knob into the Baja mode, which changes the powertrain, suspension, steering and exhaust tuning to perfectly suit going as fast as possible off-road. The Baja exhaust mode, which might be toggled individually (together with all those other settings), is illegitimate for driving on-road, so the Raptor makes you acknowledge that by hitting a confirm button. A Ford spokesperson told me the Baja mode is so loud and aggressive that it doesn’t meet emissions standards, and rattling if it doesn’t sound awesome.
The course is a combination of long straightaways, tight corners hairpins and long sweepers; a combination of deep sand ruts and harder washboard gravel with divots and massive whoops. Ford’s engineers encourage us to go as fast as we are able to, and I do exactly that. On each consecutive lap I am going faster down the straight sections, carry more speed into the corners and take more aggressive lines, smiling even harder each time. The Raptor R feels unstoppable.
At the tip of the course is a large dry lake bed on which Ford arrange some cones to direct us where to drift, one other thing that I feel must be a requirement for all press drives. Huge dust devils are whipping around, getting me much more excited to see “Twisters” in a pair months. At first I’m not used to how a truck just like the Raptor performs in situations like this — at first it seems like the truck is becoming unstable once I throw it right into a turn to try to drift, with the wheels and suspension juddering because the truck goes sideways, but I quickly realize that I would like to push it even harder to essentially nail a smooth slide. Once I turn out to be more confident in myself and the truck, getting a drift right is super satisfying. After the drifting corners I stop at a set of cones to do a tough acceleration run, ripping to 75 mph in what seems like no time in any respect (Automotive and Driver got a 2023 Raptor R to 60 mph in 3.6 seconds on pavement) before getting hard on the brakes, that are firm and really strong even when stopping on the dirt.
A base 2024 Raptor with the V6 starts at $80,325 including destination, already a hefty sum, but upgrading to the V8 Raptor R will cost you $32,035 on top of that. Equipped with options like a panoramic sunroof the white Raptor R I’m paired with is $113,640, which still isn’t as expensive as it may get. That’s a ton of cash for what’s “just” an F-150 at the tip of the day, but then there’s really no other truck in the marketplace that may do what the Raptor R does, now-deceased Ram TRX aside.
I’ll be honest, the Raptor R shouldn’t be the truck for me. In any situation I’d much prefer driving something the scale of the Ranger Raptor, and really I wouldn’t desire a pickup truck in any respect for the form of off-roading I would like to do. But as a vehicle to hoon around for a day, in what’s essentially the video game sandbox I at all times played in, the Raptor R really wins me over. Overkill because it is, I totally understand why someone would wish to hop in a single day-after-day no matter what form of driving they’ve in store for them. All the afternoon, the one thing holding the Raptor R from going faster and harder is me.
This Article First Appeared At jalopnik.com
