There’s an odd tranquility inside the 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor when it has broken free from the chains of gravity, that brief moment when your monkey brain realizes the smartphone you left on the console is now hovering next to you. We generally wouldn’t reflect on this in an ordinary road test, because jumping ordinary cars results in a yard sale of debris. But the Raptor has never been ordinary—not from the moment it debuted in 2008 and became a cult hit, and especially not in this bolder, more capable second iteration.

We’ve already sampled the new Raptor in California’s open desert, where its fortified, long-travel suspension and new 3.0-inch Fox internal-bypass shocks can be exercised at high speed as Ford Performance intended. We also know from experience with the first-gen truck that the new Raptor’s electronic-locking rear differential and available Torsen-limited-slip front differential (with 4.10:1 gears) will let it slog through mud and crawl over rocks. But there’s only one place in Michigan where we could certify the Raptor’s awesomeness on our terms: the coastal sand dunes of Silver Lake State Park, on the west side of the mitten.

View Photos MICHAEL SIMARI

Got Sand?

The park’s 450-acre off-road area is where Ford spent many development hours on the expanses of soft, undulating sand, which can seriously tax a vehicle’s chassis, drivetrain, and cooling systems. Here, even the Raptor has to run significantly reduced tire pressures for effective traction. And there are plenty of jumps, from the roller coasters of towering dunes to smaller berms that can hurl three tons of pickup into the air like it was the General Lee.

The 2017 Raptor’s 13.0 inches of front suspension travel and 13.9 inches at the rear are modest in the greater off-road world, despite increases of 1.8 and 1.9 inches over its predecessor. But the updated Fox dampers are masterful within that range, evermore deft at soaking up smaller bumps as speeds climb yet able to absorb the truck’s full girth falling from the heavens. After we scoped out the perfect dune for a smooth, shallow slope and a gently angled landing area, the Raptor dropped jaws as it launched through the sky in lazy arcs before landing in a cushioned poomph, its trick hydraulic bump stops guarding the chassis against crashing into the Earth.

What pictures don’t convey about our menacing Shadow Black test truck is its sheer size. The new swollen-fender design may be more effective than the original’s at masking the Raptor’s lane-clogging width, but this full-four-door SuperCrew has a limo-like cabin stretching 11.9 inches longer than the extended-cab SuperCab version (both models share a 5.5-foot cargo box). Measuring more than 19 feet long (231.9 inches) with a beam 6.4 inches broader than a regular F-150’s (86.3 inches), the Raptor is a Peterbilt next to a Toyota Tacoma. Our 5924-pound example is a significant 360 pounds lighter than the previous Raptor, thanks mostly to the new aluminum bodywork, but it still has about 450 pounds on a similar 2017 F-150. Fun fact: The Raptor fits in an automatic car wash.

View Photos MICHAEL SIMARI

The rabid fandom ignited by the original Raptor—which we saw in the wildly modified F-150s prowling Silver Lake at high speed—moved Ford’s engineers to build upon its foundation while better integrating the entire package. There continue to be massive control arms and coil springs in front, a leaf-sprung solid axle out back, and 17-inch forged-aluminum bead-lock-capable wheels with huge BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 tires, sized 315/70. Ford also broadened the scope of the Raptor’s four-wheel-drive transfer case: It still can lock the axles together in normal and low ranges but adds an integrated clutch for improved fore-aft torque shifts when in all-wheel-drive mode, which is most effective on the street, where the BFG tires struggle for grip.

The new Raptor benefits even more from the greater refinement of the latest F-150—both share a 2017 10Best Truck and SUV award—along with vastly improved structural rigidity and ride quality. Where the old truck used to shake, jiggle, and clomp off-road, the 2017 version feels supple and smooth, its body calm and level as the suspension dances over washboard terrain at highway speeds. More important, the Raptor performs these feats with all the drama of a trip to 7-Eleven, so you needn’t have run the Baja 1000 to get the most out of it (although you could with minimal modifications). Just be mindful that you can high-center this extra-long Ford on hilltops, despite 11.5 inches of ground clearance, and its 30-degree approach angle is shallow enough to scuff the nose on steep takeoffs.

High-Tech Roughneck

We’ve lamented Ford’s decision to go V-6–only with the new Raptor. Its muted, synthesized hum makes us think of the Incredible Hulk as voiced by Charlize Theron. But Ford’s high-output, twin-turbo 3.5-liter V-6 atones for its thinner voice with brute force, delivering massive and immediate thrust pretty much anywhere. With 450 horsepower at 5000 rpm and 510 lb-ft of torque at 3500, the Raptor was one of the quickest pickups we’ve ever tested, bolting to 60 mph in 5.1 seconds and covering the quarter-mile in 13.8 at 100 mph—certifiably swift and a significant 1.5 and 1.4 seconds (and 8 mph) quicker than the old crew-cab Raptor with a 411-hp 6.2-liter V-8.

View Photos MICHAEL SIMARI

Ford’s new 10-speed automatic transmission, co-developed with General Motors, links the engine with the Raptor’s advanced suite of chassis electronics. A rocker switch on the steering wheel toggles through six driving modes (Normal, Sport, Weather, Mud/Sand, Baja, Rock Crawl). The Mud/Sand setting we used at Silver Lake, for example, put the Raptor in four-wheel drive, locked the rear differential, sharpened the action from the engine and gearbox, lightened the electrically assisted steering, and dialed back the stability-control intervention (which we ultimately fully deactivated). While the 10-speed usually toils away smoothly to keep the turbocharged V-6 on boil, during our off-road excursions it frequently slurred shifts as if it were a CVT. Sport mode was our preferred setting on the street because it firmed and hastened gearchanges and minimized the initial lag from the engine. While throttle response is excellent in Baja and Sport modes, the 10-speed sometimes can be reluctant to upshift and can stumble for gears when pressed with rapid throttle inputs. You can’t miss the massive paddle shifters behind the steering wheel, but they simply aren’t responsive enough to help with managing all those ratios yourself.

Once a driver has acclimated to the way frenzied motorists dive out of the truck’s path when its huge FORD grille fills their rearview mirrors, the Raptor is quite impressive on the road. The front sport seats are supportive and firm, and the steering action is precise if numbed by the big tires. While our sound meter showed the Raptor to be notably louder at full throttle than a standard F-150 with the 3.5-liter EcoBoost six (79 decibels to the regular truck’s 73), it was only slightly noisier at a 70-mph cruise. Lateral grip is unsurprisingly low at 0.71 g. But the extra-wide stance affords great stability in all situations, and the soft suspension still maintains solid control over extreme body motions. Bombing down a twisty back road is not only possible but entertaining in the way a monster truck would be on an autocross course. Raptor don’t care if you clip an apex too tight or run onto the shoulder.

Stopping performance, however, is severely hampered by the chunky rubber and limited space for brakes within the 17-inch wheels, which are completely packed with 13.8-inch front rotors gripped by two-piston calipers and single-piston, 13.7-inchers in back. Our truck’s 212-foot stop from 70 mph was 37 feet longer than a comparable 2017 F-150’s and faded to 225 feet by the fourth consecutive stop. And it’s best not to think about fuel economy: The EPA rates the SuperCrew at 15 mpg city and 18 highway, but we could manage only 12 mpg over 1300 miles (our time playing in the sand was removed from our fuel calculations). Fortunately, the crew cab’s tank holds 36 gallons of fuel versus the SuperCab’s 26.

View Photos MICHAEL SIMARI

The Hero You Want

Beneath the Raptor’s brash exterior still exists a Ford F-150. Our SuperCrew had a cavernous and highly functional 136 cubic feet of interior space, could tow up to 8000 pounds, and came with loads of standard equipment: LED lighting front and rear, heavy-duty aluminum side steps and underbody skid plates, a full-size spare tire, a towing package with Ford’s Dynamic Hitch Assist, a leather-wrapped sport steering wheel, an 8.0-inch touchscreen, and a panel of upfitter switches for accessories. The dizzying array of controls across the Raptor’s steering wheel, dashboard, and ceiling can be overwhelming at first.

Value is another fundamental Raptor trait that carries over to the 2017 truck. The smaller SuperCab version is available from an entirely reasonable $49,520. Our SuperCrew started at $52,505 before climbing to $67,660 with a host of extras; opting for additional kit can push that figure well beyond $70K. But we’d be fine with even fewer options than on our test truck, which were highlighted by the extensive $9345 802A equipment group (the Torsen front diff, Sync 3 infotainment with navigation, dual-zone automatic climate control, leather upholstery, 10-way adjustable heated and ventilated front seats, Pro-Trailer Backup Assist, and a ton more), the $1950 Raptor Technology package (lane-departure warning, lane-keeping assist, adaptive cruise control with automated emergency braking, rain-sensing wipers, and auto high-beams), a $1295 panoramic sunroof, $1165 for the forged 17-inch wheels, and a $750 Interior Color Accent package (orange accents on the seats and doors and aluminum trim on the dash).

Every 2017 F-150 Raptor also comes equipped with a sense of power and invincibility that can turn even the most stoic adult into a squealing kid. It is the fastest way we know of to degrade socially acceptable driving behavior, and we love it. Until another manufacturer steps up with a proper challenger—we’re looking at you, Ram—the Raptor offers three-dimensional fun that no earthbound high-performance vehicle can match.



Specifications VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, rear-/all-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door pickup

PRICE AS TESTED: $67,660 (base price: $52,505)

ENGINE TYPE: twin-turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 24-valve V-6, aluminum block and heads, port and direct fuel injection

Displacement: 213 cu in, 3496 cc

Power: 450 hp @ 5000 rpm

Torque: 510 lb-ft @ 3500 rpm

TRANSMISSION: 10-speed automatic with manual shifting mode

DIMENSIONS:

Wheelbase: 146.0 in

Length: 231.9 in

Width: 86.3 in Height: 78.5 in

Passenger volume: 136 cu ft

Curb weight: 5924 lb

C/D TEST RESULTS:

Zero to 60 mph: 5.1 sec

Zero to 100 mph: 13.8 sec

Rolling start, 5-60 mph: 5.8 sec

Top gear, 30-50 mph: 4.2 sec

Top gear, 50-70 mph: 4.0 sec

Standing ¼-mile: 13.8 sec @ 100 mph

Top speed (governor limited): 108 mph

Braking, 70-0 mph: 212 ft

Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.71 g

FUEL ECONOMY:

EPA combined/city/highway driving: 16/15/18 mpg

C/D observed: 12 mpg

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