Off-road rapture in the new Ford Ranger Raptor!

Isn't the new Ranger Raptor just a souped-up Ranger?

No. Instead of just putting a Ranger on higher stilts and enhancing it cosmetically, the locally-built Raptor is freshly engineered from the ground up to withstand every kind of off-road punishment that adventurous bakkie-owners can throw at it. And it's for this very reason that Ford flew motoring media to one of the hottest and most remote areas in the Northern Cape namely Goerapan, approximately 100 km from Upington. Comprising of a flat and endless salt pan strewn with rocks and gravel, and surrounded by soft, red dunes, it's here where Toyota Gazoo Racing bring their Dakar Hiluxes for infinite laps of testing. Thus, the ideal location for Ford to showcase what their new Raptor is made of.

Sporty but functional interior

As we landed at Upington airport, my driving partner and I made a beeline for a blue Raptor. Ford put ultra-supportive Alcantara suede sport seats (with Raptor lettering) into their new star vehicle, which is meant to hug you in all the right places as you feed your rallying aspirations, or when you're simply dropping off the kids at school. The user-friendly Sync 3 system (with standard Satnav) is a breeze to use, and there are two USB ports hidden below the air-conditioning controls. For the lads with large hands, you may find it easier just to keep your phone's USB cable inserted into its port, as plugging it in every time may prove a little finicky.

Other interior highlights include blue topstitching, red needles for the speedo and rev counter, and lightweight magnesium shift paddles for manual gear changes. A red motorsport-inspired on-centre steering wheel marker helps you to know where your wheels are positioned. All the dials and switches have a high-quality feel to them.

Driving into the nothingness, fast

The 100 km to Goerapan was on a straight, mostly smooth (or so it felt!) tar road until you turn off to the pan itself. As we arrived on the pan we were told to line the Raptors up in different sections so air could be let out of their standard BF Goodrich 285/70 R17 All-Terrain tyres, to suit the different driving activities we'd be taking part in.

I was thrilled when I heard we'd do the rally section first; this is where you can really let your inner Nasser-al-Attiyah out to play. And, this is where the new 'Baja mode' gets your heartbeat racing: Inspired by the Baja Desert Rally in Mexico, this terrains setting sharpens throttle input, alters the steering, optimises gear selection, and switches most of your traction control off so the Raptor's tail can slide out for a wildly entertaining drive. The Raptor is unusually adept at doing things that you didn't think it capable of, giving you almost silly faith in your own driving abilities.

Super supple suspension

As for the multi-purpose suspension; it's completely next level. Specifically engineered for this kind of rough adventuring in all types of bundu, as well as relaxed and/or fast driving on tar, it's unbelievable how comfortable the ride is, even on terribly corrugated surfaces. By using high-strength and low alloy (HSLA) steel, engineers could keep the weight nice and low.

Bat out of hell

After I completed the rally section I also opted for the high-speed shotgun ride with Ford rally driver Gareth Woolridge, who wasn't overly concerned with the Raptor's (or my) comfort and innards. Without a crash helmet or safety harness like I wore in the Dakar Hilux, Gareth gunned it across the pan, flew over dunes, performed gravity-defying turns and drove as I've never seen anyone drive a straight-from-the-factory bakkie. At least I knew beforehand that Ford's specced its new flagship bakkie with all of the passive and active safety features that a car of this ilk deserves, including Roll Stability control that helps to nip excessive under- and oversteer in the bud, which can lead to loss of control or rolling incidents. (Read more about the Raptor's many safety features here.)

Let's go sideways...

The afternoon commenced with some high-speed driving on a twisty gravel track, where we could do laps with the different driving/terrain settings engaged or disengaged. Suited to every level of driver skill, you can choose how much or how little electronic assistance you need. If you don't like that uncertain feeling of the Raptor's behind coming out, you can play it completely safe and stick to the Grass/Gravel/Snow setting, and 4H. We all got the chance to appease our inner hooligans in the above-mentioned Baja mode in rear-wheel drive, which lets the Raptor be tail-happy but allows traction control to pull you back on track before things get out of hand.

Other settings include Sport ("for aggressive on-road driving"), Mud/Sand ("for navigating tight trails and over obstacles") and Rock ("for optimum rock-climbing ability"). The Raptor also has 283 mm of ground clearance and 2.5-inch position-sensitive damping shocks (by Fox) in the front and rear. Wading depth is a useful 850mm for no-fuss river crossings.

The rest of the afternoon was spent driving through sand as soft and fine as icing sugar, which was especially challenging after the previous media members had driven the track to pieces! I was the last person that day to do the dune route, but with a bit of help from the rear diff-lock, we made it back to camp.

Wheeeeeee!!

The last treat of the day was a farmer's private gravel road where we got the chance to feel how the Raptor reacts to having all four wheels in the air at once. With a driving instructor in the front passenger seat, we were told to drive over some serious bumps at 100-120 km/h. My stomach did somersaults with every jump and settled down, relieved, after every impossibly soft landing, just for my guts to reach my throat again over the next one. The GoPro footage that came out of our car was gold!

That new engine/drivetrain combo...

The question on everyone's lips, of course, is if the 2.0-litre bi-turbo diesel engine with 157kW and 500 Nm is up to the task. While I am certainly a fan of the smooth-shifting 10-speed auto-box, I did find that the Raptor ached for a bit more power for overtaking on the highway, but on the high-speed performance driving sections, the engine didn't disappoint. Driving back to the airport saw our fuel consumption drop from 12 litres per 100 km to 10, and I suspect it may go even lower as time goes by. We'll have to save that judgment for when we have the car for a week-long test.

The verdict

Just like the intelligent, carnivorous dinosaur it's named after, the Raptor is aggressive, diligent, and quite the gymnast - the polar opposite of how you'd expect a large double-cab bakkie to behave! And the cost? Well, considering that the V6 Merc X-Class (the X350d Power) costs 973 188 and the Amarok 3.0 V6 TDI Extreme is priced at 829 200, it does seem like a rather fitting price tag, especially with the amount of standard kit you're getting of which I hardly scratched the surface...

Take my money, Ford South Africa...