Even in a class of one, the new Ford Bronco Raptor is beating out the notion of competition, early reviews say.
Ford Motor Co.'s newest model under the Bronco nameplate is meant to cater to one demographic: the most extreme off-road racing enthusiasts.
The Raptor is not hiding its intentions. It's 9.8 inches wider than the base Bronco model, and it comes with a tougher steel frame, shock towers and axles. Its 37-inch tires are the largest on any current production SUV, according to Ford.
Under the hood, a twin-turbo EcoBoost V-6 engine and 10-speed automatic transmission combine to produce up to 418 hp — enough power to climb mountain rocks and speed through desert sand.
A notable feature included to help with high-speed desert runs is Baja mode, which aims to optimize throttle control and torque delivery.
The Raptor is cheaper than its closest competitors — Ford's F-150 Raptor and the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 392 — starting at $70,095 with shipping. It might be hard to obtain one, however, as all 2022 models will be delivered to reservation holders.
Here's what reviewers had to say:
"Like the F-150 Raptor, the Bronco Raptor is a sloppy kind of fun on pavement; it's not perfect, but it's not meant to be. The twin-turbo 3.0-liter V-6 producing 418 horsepower and 440 pounds-feet of torque makes the Bronco Raptor feel quick but not blindingly fast. The 10-speed automatic transmission shifts smartly.
"Visibility is an issue, with the Bronco's large front windshield pillars restricting the driver's view when cornering. The giant full-size, rear-mounted spare tire and taillight assembly is big enough to hide entire cars. It can make highway driving feel fraught when you're in the passing lane because you can't tell if someone is right behind you.
"The Sport drive mode includes aggressive downshifting and automated throttle blips as you decelerate, but the engine sound simply isn't as pleasing as the throaty rumble of a V-8. There's also a fair amount of road and wind noise in the cabin, though it's worth remembering that the Bronco's doors and roof are removable; it's a fair trade to me.
"You probably won't be surprised to learn that the Bronco Raptor feels incredibly capable off-road, equally adept at high-speed desert running and low-speed rock crawling.
"Speeding through the desert, the ride is remarkably controlled for the terrain, and the suspension travel makes bottoming out and hitting the jounce stops an actual challenge.
"The interior being mostly Bronco is both good and bad: It feels roomier than a Wrangler, and the control layout is wonderfully intuitive and easy to use, but it doesn't make the Bronco Raptor feel unique, and the quality is a little below the Jeep's. There are also convenient grab handles — especially useful during high-speed off-roading."
— Brian Normile, Cars.com
"Running fast across rough terrain, we keep reflexively wincing at impending impacts — here comes a ditch! — only to find that the Fox dampers shrug off hits that might crush the bump stops on other four-by-fours. Any Jeep Wrangler would certainly eject its occupants to the moon at this pace.
"A layer of armor protects the vitals, and even the muffler has welded loops to guard its shell. The approach, break-over, and departure angles all exceed those of a Wrangler equipped with the Extreme Recon package.
"Drive it hard into a corner—the calipers grab the upsized rotors, the nose dives, and the tail end wants to take the lead, yet it's a perfectly coordinated exercise.
"There's the expected wind noise from the removable top, as with all Broncos, but ride quality is excellent for a rig so focused on life in the dirt."
— David Beard, Car and Driver
"It doesn't take long for this Raptor's immense capability to go to your head. In the same way the best Porsches make drivers into heroes, the Bronco Raptor turns the person behind the wheel into a villain: reckless, all powerful, above the law. Driving a Bronco Raptor means fighting an incessant urge to straight-line every roundabout.
"The harder and faster you drive, the less the Bronco Raptor is fazed by the terrain. In its signature Baja mode, this SUV combines sports-car reflexes with the compliance of a bounce house. The 10-speed automatic cracks off up- and downshifts with perfect timing, and the BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 tires find traction where there is none, all while bombing over terrain that would fold a Honda in half.
"Thanks to the impossibly wide stance, the body doesn't roll in corners so much as it squats over the outside wheels, creating a surprising sense of stability.
"The heavy hiking boots pound the pavement and send tremors into the body at city speeds, but just as it does off-road, the Raptor becomes supple—even graceful—the faster you go. On the highway, it floats over expansion joints and potholes, making it the perfect vehicle for traversing our pre-apocalyptic infrastructure in comfort and without fear of damaging a tire.
"In a motoring world overrun with Wranglers and 4Runners, the Bronco Raptor still stands out as one of a kind. With its appetite for high-speed hooning, its composure on paved roads, and its ability to tackle any type of terrain, it's as close as you'll come to finding a truck that will drive anywhere and over anything."
— Eric Tingwall, MotorTrend
"Even if it's not the task it's designed for, the Bronco Raptor acquits itself well enough on the open road, whether it's dragging through rush hour in the Coachella Valley down Highway 111 or looping over the mountains on the Pines to Palms Highway, banking northward toward Idyllwild. Its Normal-set suspension thumps over shallow bumps with a jiggle-jiggle, amping up to a tremor-tremor in Sport.
"The wide-beam Bronco can get a little slimmer by unbuckling its add-ons. The flares and fenders bolt on and off, though they require special tools instead of using fasteners like standard Broncos. Each Bronco Raptor comes with a specific tool kit to remove the fenders and flares for extreme off-roading; the same kit provides the tool to remove the six bolts holding the running boards, which hide standard rock rails.
"I never get used to using the Raptor's extensive cameras instead of my own eyes. Maybe it's the decent camera quality, the washed-out light and heat soaking into every pore, but the front-facing cameras that show what's just ahead of the Raptor's tires come in handy for me only when I crest a few blind hills. It's more of a distraction in a place that doesn't reward it—distraction can kill out here, given the right speed and wrong attitude."
— Martin Padgett, Motor Authority
"It's designed to go out; out past where paved roads end; out past the subdivisions and strip malls and gas stations, past the farms and the dirt roads, all the way out; into nature.
"First, the cooling. The Bronco Raptor makes the difficult seem easy. Idling all day under the sun, 100-odd degrees of ambient temperature, the air beneath it god knows how hot. It might be loud, the cooling fan blowing so hard it sounds like a med-evac chopper, but the temperature needle inside never climbs.
"This is an unobtrusively powerful truck. It's not that it ever glues you to the back of your seat, it just always has enough power for you to do what you need to do.
"The controls are sharp–the throttle pedal, the steering, the response of the engine–are all quick and direct. You just sit over a foot off the ground, with long-travel suspension and A/T tires. A decision you make has a repercussion 50 yards down the road. You have to set the Braptor up, set it up for corners long in advance to set it up for success."
— Raphael Orlove, Road & Track
"This wider stance not only provides more stability off road, it allows Ford to run massive 37-inch BF Goodrich KO2 tires as standard. These tires are excellent over rocks, through the sand and in the dirt, though I'll note that if mud is in your future, BFG's KM3 tires are better suited for sloppy stuff.
"The Bronco Raptor has a crawl ratio of 67.9:1. That's less than what you can get in a Jeep Wrangler, but because the Bronco's 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 makes 440 pound-feet of torque, I have plenty of grunt to get me up and over obstacles.
"The only thing I don't like while using Rock Crawl mode is the rough shift from first to second gear. When the revs are high in first gear and the engine is really working, and the shift is enough to jerk my head back and forth. It happens again, though not as bad, when the Bronco shifts from second to third.
"But where the Raptor truly shines is in high-speed desert running. This is what I live for and the Bronco 100% puts a smile on my face. In addition to 440 lb-ft of torque, the V6 makes 418 horsepower and the Fox live valve shocks can adjust damping rates up to 500 times a second.
"The Bronco Raptor doesn't do badly on the pavement, either. At 5,700 pounds this SUV is heavy, so don't expect to hustle up any canyon roads, but the Raptor holds its own fairly well while driving in Sport mode. While using two-wheel drive, the transmission shifts smoothly, doing its thing in the background without any weirdness.
"For now, the Bronco Raptor tops its own pedestal, and it's an SUV I would totally buy. It satisfies my need for desert speed while being more than capable at slower rock crawling. As far as stock off-roaders go, it doesn't get better than this."
— Emme Hall, CNET
"Despite the hot rod job, it's as smooth of an operator as its luxury vehicle origins would suggest and sends its power to the wheels through a 10-speed automatic transmission. DIY drivers will have to settle for one of the Broncos with the base four-cylinder turbo.
"Its straight-ahead view stays on at high speeds when the Baja G.O.A.T. mode is selected, which is meant for blasts through wide-open off-road areas, not the street. The Bronco Raptor is happiest when you're doing that. It's practically impossible to bottom it out and handles like its on rails even when it's on whoops.
"I've found the other Broncos to be a little soft and jittery at times, but the Raptor's suspension tidies things up and makes it a great highway cruiser. The big knobby tires aren't even that loud, but the square removable hardtop roof does rustle up the expected amount of wind noise, even with the optional sound deadening headliner.
"While it may not make the best daily driver at around $100 per tank, you could spend that much on an amusement park ticket and not have as much fun as driving the Bronco Raptor in its natural habitat."
— Gary Gastelu, Fox News
"As muscular as the Ford appears, those styling alterations hide genuine engineering improvements. The most headline-grabbing of these is probably its new, twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V6 that makes a prodigious 418 horsepower and 440 pound-feet. That V8-rivaling grunt routes through a 10-speed automatic gearbox to a part/full-time four-wheel-drive transfer case with a rock-friendly 3.06:1 low range.
"I wish the throttle were a bit more linear. Typical of turbocharged engines, you have to wait a moment after touching the gas pedal before you know exactly how much power you've dialed up, and that makes inching over huge rocks a challenge.
"Even at speeds approaching 60 miles per hour, the Bronco felt surefooted and stable, although its short wheelbase relative to the F-150 Raptor meant it could get controllably tail-happy going through corners. Ford nailed the tuning for the Baja G.O.A.T. mode, reducing stability control intervention to allow those big tires to thrash through the sand and keep momentum.
"What's more, the alterations Ford made to the steering (partly to compensate for the weight and width of the tires) have given it a more accurate, stable feel when driving down the highway, as well as decent response when going around turns.
"The usual Bronco traits apply. Plenty of wind noise makes its way through the hardtop at freeway speeds, and there's abundant tire howl in corners that warn you not to treat your SUV like a hot hatch.
"The design brief was to create an off-roader that could just as easily tackle the rocks as it could the open desert, and it's impossible to argue with the results. The Bronco Raptor is an excellent blend of the Blue Oval's best-performing products. Big Oly would be proud."
— Brett T. Evans, Motor1.com
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