Ford surprises ranger fans with early Raptor arrival

Good news for customers keen to get hold of the most anticipated cars of the year, and bad news for rival pick-up manufacturers.

The fastest, meanest, high-flying version of the new Ford Ranger will be in customer hands within months.

Ford has confirmed its all new Ranger Raptor will hit dealerships in July, which is months earlier than most had expected – and only a month after the Australian-developed Ranger goes on sale.

“Ranger deliveries will start in late June, Raptor deliveries start in late July and Everest in August,” said a Ford Australia spokesman.

The new Ford Ranger Raptor is one of the most-anticipated cars of 2022.

The big news with the new Raptor is an almost doubling of power, from 157kW in the current car to 292kW in the second generation model.

In an era of incremental improvements, it’s a monumental leap brought about by a shift from a frugal 2.0-litre four-cylinder twin-turbo diesel to a 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 petrol engine.

No word yet on fuel use, but Ford has admitted it’ll be thirstier than the current diesel engine, the argument being that customers want grunt to match the muscle oozing elsewhere in the dual-cab pick-up truck.

There’s no shortage of that, with flared arches to house chunky off-road tyres and vents to assist with cooling the new engine.

The new Raptor has a twin-turbocharged V6 engine.

The Raptor also gets unique suspension designed for fast-paced off-road driving and even jumps.

The shock absorbers were designed by Fox – which is known for high quality dampers used in mountain bikes and various off-road motorsport categories – and is paired with seven selectable drive modes that also adjusts the exhaust sound. One mode is called Baja, which Ford says is the “most aggressive of the exhaust profiles in both volume and note and is intended for off-road use only”.

The new Raptor also benefits from the improvements and updates made to the current Ranger, which is scheduled to start customer deliveries in June.

A huge touchscreen and digital dash feature inside the Raptor’s cabin.

And while the emphasis is on performance, the Raptor also comes with matrix LED headlights, a Bang & Olufsen sound system, as digital instrument cluster and a 12-inch infotainment screen.

Despite the American influence with the performance and design, the Raptor was designed, engineered and developed in Australia – leaving Ford’s US team to focus on the F-150 that is on its way down under in 2023.

As for pricing for the new Raptor, there’s no word yet. But given the step-up in performance and prices rises that have impacted most new cars the expectation is it will be significantly more than the $79,390 before on-road and dealer costs of the outgoing Raptor.

Best estimates are people will be asked to pay close to $100K once you drive it out of the dealership.