Rapture-inducing Raptor

Harry Pegg

Published: 07 08 2010

This is a Ford F-150 that’s been tweaked, massaged and bulked up by the company’s Special Vehicles Team. Originally designed to hunt down other race trucks in the sand and heat of the Baja Peninsula, SVT Raptor’s range has grown to include the cold snow banks of Canada. It hunted then down in Baja and it hunts them down out here in the west, too.

All the controls are within easy reach – and there are a lot of them when you consider the integrated trailer brake control (worth every penny of its $300 cost) and the bank of accessory switches which also houses off-road specific controls.. Just above the centre stack is the navigation screen and control centre for the Sync infotainment system.

Taking on fuel (something that happens a lot) takes some time, firstly because Raptor needs a lot to eat and secondly because there are so many questions from people who are attracted by the truck’s orange exterior with the “mud splash” graphic package.

Under the hood with its functional air extractors resides a 5.4L Triton V8 that pushes out 320 horsepower launched by 390 lb. ft. of torque. A 6.4L version is on the way.

Power gets to the wheels through a 6-speed automatic transmission and an electronically-controlled part-time 4WD system. Hammering the throttle off the line isn’t going to light up the big beefy 315/70 specially-designed tires mounted on 17 inch rims, but the roll-out is authoritative and speed just climbs. And climbs.

I expected a truck to handle the wicked conditions of the Baja would be a rigid rider, but not so. This is the smoothest off-road specific 4x4 pickup I’ve driven. The secret is the internal bypass Fox Racing Shox shock absorbers, the only bypass shocks you’ll find on a street truck.

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