Ford Ranger Raptor - long-term review

I am that guy. The one who gets frustrated about cars and SUVs getting bigger and heavier; the one who always winds the dampers to their stiffest setting (whereas most of my colleagues love everything set to max except the dampers); the one who truly despises poor body control and heaving understeer. I try to be a normal human being, but it just doesn’t work. Some miles recently in the new Range Rover Sport confirmed it. It does many things well. It just can’t do the thing I want it to do. Namely, be a proper driver’s car.

The strange thing is that all those geeky requirements never spoil my enjoyment of the Raptor. If it was a pick-up trying to be a sportscar in the way nearly all SUVs try to be properly ‘sporting’, then I’m sure it would drive me mad. But because it embraces a different sort of character and chases a very different sort of dynamic capability, I find it tirelessly endearing.

This pattern shows no signs of letting up and extends in all sorts of ways. I love how tough and rugged the interior feels. Utilitarian but with just enough good materials to not feel rudimentary. Getting it filthy doesn’t feel criminal, but once the rubber mats are hosed down and the seats given a bit of a spruce-up the cabin feels really grown-up. The monster touchscreen is a tad excessive but actually works pretty well and, best of all, so many of the annoying driver assists are easy to disable. I wish I didn’t have to disengage Lane Assist every single time I start the Raptor (or any other car for that matter), but I’m very thankful a physical button on the steering wheel does the trick.

The latest discovery on this front is that I’ve managed to ‘downgrade’ from adaptive cruise control to the good old fashioned hurtle-up-to-somebody’s-bumper variety. I know some people really love adaptive cruise to take the stress out of journeys. However, for me, the barely perceptible creep downwards in speed is death by a thousand cuts. Disabling the radar function is liberating and the scale of the Raptor is suddenly a great asset once again. It clears mindless dawdlers doing 67mph in the outside lane with great effectiveness.

The bad stuff? Well, the circa 20mpg ‘economy’ is a little painful at times. The load bay is massive but I often have to climb into the bed of the truck to retrieve shopping bags and other paraphernalia, which isn’t as convenient as a normal boot. And, well, that’s about it. Life with the Raptor is loud and a little bit wobbly (it’s a truck, after all), and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. Still haven’t done any jumps, though. Need to rectify that asap. I’m also keen to see how it compares in the mud with Ollie’s pretend Defender…