.

the car junkie daily magazine.

.

BangShift Question Of The Day: Would You Have Considered The Ford Ranger Raptor?


BangShift Question Of The Day: Would You Have Considered The Ford Ranger Raptor?

We approved of Ford’s decision to bring back the Ranger nameplate on a truck smaller than the current F-series pickup truck. We like it’s looks, we like it’s size, we like what we know about the powerplants so far. But we kept hearing and seeing a potential Raptor variation of the Ranger being tested and were getting seriously excited for the prospects of a smaller off-road mental patient of a pickup truck. But, sadly, it was confirmed in an Autoblog post that the Ranger Raptor will not be appearing in the American marketplace. Well, that sucks. Ford can’t keep Raptors on dealer lots, yet the new truck doesn’t get a chance to come out of the gate swinging?

The biggest reason why the smaller Raptor isn’t coming here is it’s powertrain, a twin-turbo four-cylinder diesel engine. Given the current climate regarding diesel power, we can understand why Ford might be a bit gun-shy about bringing that to the U.S. market. But there might be other factors, including vehicle cost and potential sales conflict with the larger F-series Raptor, both of which make sense from a business standpoint. But since when does that stop us from wanting the best form of a vehicle for sale? Honestly, the Ranger Raptor sounds like a full-blown riot and we suspect that it’d be a neat option. A small, off-road biased diesel truck? What is your opinion?


  • Share This
  • Pinterest
  • 0

8 thoughts on “BangShift Question Of The Day: Would You Have Considered The Ford Ranger Raptor?

  1. OKSnake08

    Stuff a hot V6 ecoboost in it for a Ranger Lightning or Storm if you want to save the Lightning name plate for F150 – no conflict with your halo 4X4 and another gear head option!

  2. PJ

    On the Raptor front steeling sales. Look at Dodges hellcat program. They have stuffed the engine in everything they can. They have released how many different versions of it now? hellcat, demon, 1320, red eye, etc.. Build a product people want and people will buy it (provided its not priced so insanely that people cant justify or afford it)
    As far as this new ranger, meh. I think its ugly, to small to be usefull as a truck and to expensive to be justifiable to buy. The old ranger was cheap enough you can easily look past its pitfals. This new one? Why bother.

  3. b

    loved my manual v6 4×4 king cab ranger. but sadly manuals have gone the way of carbs, and king cabs gave way to fugly crew cabs. who wants a cowboy cadillac based on the cimarron???? make the 2004 bronco concept,…….

  4. andyb

    While I’d be first in line for a small pickup with a twin turbo V6, if it was actually a pickup (two doors, long bed), I must say that Ford already has a really nearly perfect driveline available for a small, light pickup, and that’s what’s in the four-pot Mustang. Buckets of torque right through the middle, no real top end rush, reasonable mileage. Just about perfect for a truck, no?

    I doubt they’ve got the balls to put even the tiny N/A V6 from the F150 into a ranger though. Sucks a lot, Ford’s engines are really really good right now, but you can’t get one in anything that’s actually worth buying.

Comments are closed.