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Say you’re cruising on a two-lane highway at 75 mph and there’s virtually no road noise making its way into the cabin. The 10-speed gearbox keeps the engine humming quietly, and you’ve got a whole weekend’s worth of ski and snowboard equipment in the backseat. You spot a dirt road cutting a path through the desert up ahead. Its access gate approaches quickly. Surely you’ll have to pass it by — this quiet, comfortable, cargo-swallowing vehicle isn’t cut out for driving anywhere but on pavement. Right?
Wrong. Chucking the Raptor into corners at 80 mph and blasting through dried-up riverbeds is the most fun I’ve had in a vehicle in the 15 years I’ve legally been allowed to operate one.
That’s no throwaway statement — I had to sift through a lot, and the new Ford Raptor is so much more than the sum of its parts, which is crazy seeing as it’s made up of a lot of impressive hardware. The first-generation Raptor was quite enjoyable, thanks largely in part to the 6.2-litre V8; but it was a blunt instrument that never came across as being particularly special. By comparison, the new Raptor feels confidently over-engineered. It’s clearly special from the moment you lay hands on its chunky steering wheel. By drastically reducing weight and adding a modicum of efficiency, Ford has moved the Raptor from the category of “weekend plaything” to “everyday weapon.”
Throughout my drive, I repeatedly found myself laughing for no reason. The damn thing just filled me with joy. Whether blasting so-bad-it’s-good country music with all the windows down or flipping the factory-installed fighter-jet overhead auxiliary switches back and forth or sitting on the tailgate on top of a sand dune at sunset, the Raptor facilitated a good, reasonable time. However, it’s when I left reasonable behavior behind that I really began to understand what an incredibly special vehicle the Raptor is.
First I ripped along the edge of the Pacific and did drifts and donuts at Oceano Dunes SRVA, an otherworldly vehicular playground that’s just 3.5 hours north of Los Angeles. With “Mud/Sand” mode selected, I set out to explore the ocean-side sandbox, more concerned with the rapidly setting sun than I was with getting stuck. Ford’s AdvanceTrac system, combined with 4 High and an electronic locking differential, kept the Raptor clawing forward over some very soft sand.
Chucking the Raptor into corners at 80 mph and blasting through dried up riverbeds is the most fun I’ve had in a vehicle in the 15 years I’ve legally been allowed to operate one.
