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RAPTOR RANT
LOADED 4X4 FAKE NEWS: RAPTORNOT?
The Ranger Raptor is big news, quite possibly the biggest
news this year. You’ve all seen it by now, so we won’t pretend that
it’s just out and our scoop, instead we’ll take a quick and maybe
slightly tongue-in-cheek look at Ford Australia’s soon to be new
hero car. We’ll leave you to work out what’s what.
So far this year, our hugest Faceplant post was the Ranger
Raptor reveal. In true Loaded 4X4 fashion, we slapped it up on
Facebook two days late - cos there is real shyte in life to be
getting on with - but that Ranger Raptor post thumbed its nose
at us, laughed and went a bit mental. And the overwhelming
response from the digital peanut gallery was? “What were they
thinking with that little engine?” Good question eh?
Aussies like big engines in their mid-sized 4X4s. That’s why
Ranger 4X4s outsold EVERY other 4X4 last year. It’s why the
2.0-litre Amarok has failed to launch, and I’d be willing to bet it’s
part of the reason behind the 2.3-litre Navara’s recent fall from
grace. So why did Ford choose 2.0-litres of EcoBlue Transit van
metal to base the Raptor’s heart on? It could have boosted the
current five-cylinder 3.2-litre (although it is a development of a Land
Rover engine...) or even better, jammed in the F150 Raptor’s 3.5-litre
turbocharged Ecoboost petrol V6 and stolen the show with 335kW
and 690Nm of “oorah!” But no, the van engine was rolled out,
spruced up and bunged in; job done.
We don’t really know what the good folk at Ford were thinking,
but it seems to us that the Aussie obsession with cubic inches is
being ignored yet again. Maybe they just think Aussies are crap
drivers? More likely we are getting a Thai market hand-me-down
and North America will get the car we really want.
Whatever the case, it’s time to get used to smaller capacity
engines. They’re here to stay and if I swap my smarmy smartarse
hat for a serious one, for just a mo, I’d happily own a half-pint
Raptor with a moderately powerful little donk and a ten-speed auto,
but only if the full fat Ecoboost powered big daddy F150 Raptor
wasn’t available; and guess what, for us Aussies, it’s not. Check out
the next page to see what I’m banging on about here and go get
yourself a green card.