Ford has been selling its Raptor pickups for around 15 years, and if you conjure up an image of one, it’s likely a ferocious beast a widened version of the full-size F-150. These trucks are undeniably impressive, but their width necessitates clearance lights. However, their substantial breadth has deterred off-roaders accustomed to navigating narrow trails lined with a brush that could easily etch “desert stripe” into passing vehicles’ paintwork.
In some cases, rock- or tree-lined trails are too narrow to traverse, and even when feasible, the Raptor’s wide stance can limit maneuverability when dodging obstacles. Moreover, parking within designated lines at Home Depot becomes challenging, and curbs at drive-throughs risk scraping against the Raptor’s imposing frame.
While Ford has intermittently offered the Ranger over the years, its modest FX4 package mainly comprised decals and little else. This left a void in competition against the Toyota Tacoma TRD Off-Road, which debuted in the mid-’90s. The Ranger had been discontinued by the time the Tacoma TRD Pro emerged.
Chevrolet briefly filled the gap with the wide-bodied S-10 ZR2 featuring off-road-tuned suspension during the Ranger’s heyday, but Ford remained unresponsive. Although Chevy resurrected the ZR2 in 2017 and revamped it again for 2023, Ford’s reintroduction of the Ranger to the U.S. market in 2019 failed to offer anything more than the dated FX4 formula, particularly frustrating considering that other global markets enjoyed a wide-bodied Ranger Raptor.
Finally, the long-awaited Ranger Raptor has arrived. It’s a scaled-down version of the Raptor that may catch the attention of overlanders and off-road enthusiasts alike. At 6.8 inches narrower than its larger sibling at the fender flares and a whopping 9.3 inches slimmer from mirror to mirror, the Ranger Raptor strikes a sleeker profile.
Under the hood, its twin-turbo 3.0 V-6 churns out 405 horsepower and 430 pound-feet of torque, delivering performance comparable to its larger counterpart, excluding the Raptor R. Yet, it’s the chassis that steals the spotlight. Equipped with Fox Live Valve shocks featuring variable compression damping and rear shocks boasting remote reservoirs for enhanced cooling, the Ranger Raptor’s wide-stance suspension impresses.
However, the pièce de résistance is its coil-sprung rear axle, a departure from the standard rear leaf springs found in regular Rangers. Supported by four trailing links and coil-over-style coil springs wrapped around the rear dampers, this axle eschews the conventional Panhard bar for a Watts linkage a design choice reminiscent of the elusive first-generation Ranger Raptor that never graced American soil.
