Drivers seeking a full-sized pickup truck with the capability to carry up to five passengers during off-road racing will find the 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor a dream come true. Combining power, handleability and comfort in a giant-sized truck, the Raptor is a great option if you’re looking for more everything in a vehicle.
A bonus for purchasing a 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor, Ford is offering customers an off-road racing event, called the Raptor Assault Program. Conducted in the Utah desert by the Ford Performance Racing School, it’s a training regimen aimed at customers who actually want to use the Raptor’s off-road capabilities. Customers can participate in a grueling educational effort to learn competitive driving in a robust terrain. It provides a great opportunity to develop off-road skills with the assistance of instructors.
You’ll find that the Raptor benefits from the talented engineering that has made the Ford F-150 brand so enduring and popular. However, unlike other trim models, it boasts an overhauled, much lighter weight coupled with a more beefed up profile. It’s a streamlined version of the F-150, weighing several thousand pounds less than other trim packages, but it is more massive to look at.
The modifications enable this pickup to maneuver more quickly across especially challenging landscapes, offering you the ultimate off-road experience.
Specs
The price of the Raptor varies based upon the selection of available features. This heavy duty off-road vehicle begins at a MRSP of $49,520.
However, costs can increase significantly with the addition of extras.
Important Features and Available Options
The Raptor accelerates very quickly. It reaches a speed of 60 miles per hour in an astonishing five seconds, and reportedly requires only 13.7 seconds to attain a racing speed of 100 miles per hour. If you want speed while off-roading in a pickup, the Raptor can give you a lot of it. With its wider body, though, you’ll be giving up some agility for it.
The 2017 F-150 Raptor commands a hefty, race car level of performance ability. Sources claim this pickup will achieve a maximum horsepower of 450, placing it in the same powerful league as many imported high performance race cars.
Ford recently upgraded the engine to offer a 3.5L Eco-Boost 24-cylinder capability, practically unheard of in the domestic car market. The available 10-speed transmission also places it in a unique performance category.
Today auto manufacturers usually provide customers with a variety of choices. You can essentially customize a vehicle to meet your unique individual needs through the selection of available options and upgrades. In this respect, Ford does not disappoint! You’ll enjoy numerous avenues for tailoring the 2017 Raptor in accordance with your preferences.
Although Ford provides a variety of built-in and available infotainment features in its F-150 trucks, it does not heavily promote these same entertainment products for the Raptor. Drivers using the Raptor at high speeds in challenging terrain likely won’t need distractions, but for those who are using it as an everyday vehicle, there are some options available.
The Ford F-150 Raptor models do enable customers to enjoy optional SYNC-3 with SYNC-Connect features, providing useful navigational and streaming music capabilities. They also come standard with an 8″ central display screen, additional speakers, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity. Different trims offer different options, but the Raptor is pretty customizable based on your wants.
Every Raptor provides some built-in safety features for those off-roading adventures. Underneath a nice paint job sits a strong, steel frame. A lighter-weight specially-manufactured aluminum alloy exterior encompasses the structure, which helps safeguard the cabin from crushing impacts. You’ll be able to park your mammoth of a truck easier with parking sensors, trailer backup assist, and animated guidelines.
There’s also an option for a 360-degree camera to facilitate safer navigation, too. It might help you avoid an unexpected rock or other obstruction capable of damaging your truck.
The available high tech Terrain Management System gives the driver options for selecting gears based on the surrounding environmental surface conditions.
An available Torsen front-differential package helps improve torque during steep off-road climbs and descents, likely enhancing vehicle stability in some precarious situations.
As you might expect with a truck designed with extreme sports enthusiasts in mind, you can also enjoy the ability to select specially designed 17-inch high performance racing wheels crafted for their unique capabilities.
Competitors
Ford classifies the Raptor as a full-sized pickup truck in the under 8,500-pound category. It competes in the popular marketplace with a number of competitors, including the standard Ford F-150 truck, which starts at $28,025.
Other potential rivals include the GMC Sierra 1500 beginning at $29,500, the Toyota Tundra beginning at $31,315, the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 beginning at $28,880, the Nissan Titan beginning at $30,775, and the Dodge Ram 1500 beginning at $27,715.
All these vehicles offer available additional features which may increase the final price. However, the Raptor remains the only full-sized pickup specifically marketed primarily to off-road racing enthusiasts.
Fuel Efficiency
The 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor excels as an off-road vehicle. The Super Cab trim package will attain an estimated 15 miles per gallon in urban traffic and 18 miles per gallon on the open road.
Pros and Cons
Like any make and model of vehicle today, the 2017 Ford F150 Raptor offers both advantages and disadvantages. Most customers will weigh these issues carefully:
Pros
The Raptor should rank very high on the list of anyone seeking an off-road racing pickup truck. It exceeds the capabilities of some well-known racing vehicles of the past, offering both rapid acceleration and huge horsepower capability.
The Raptor’s impressive power should make it an attractive choice for you if you anticipate towing exceptionally heavy loads. For instance, if you own very large, weighty horses, such as Percherons or Clydesdales, you may gain greater peace of mind towing large horse trailers in tough terrain with a very powerful engine at your disposal.
Cons
Paradoxically, the enormous power of the Raptor may also pose a negative in some situations. If you are interested in most types of towing and hauling, you can locate less powerful yet still reliable competitors, including other Ford F-150 models.
If you don’t expect to race overland, you may not want to invest in a 10-speed transmission vehicle with a lot of high performance features.
Its comparatively high starting price places the 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor outside the reach of many customers seeking a full-sized pickup for daily transportation, towing and hauling purposes. Other trim packages of the Ford F-150 and several competing brands of full-sized pickups likely offer significant price and fuel-saving advantages by comparison.
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