Yahoo Autos 2022 Ford Bronco Raptor First Drive Review: King of the Hill and the Hammers
It takes equal parts guts and capability to keep the throttle mashed even when you’re not entirely sure what terrain lies ahead of you. That suddenly occurred to me while barreling through the brush-filled desert near Palm Springs, Calif., while driving the 2023 Ford Bronco Raptor at around 60 miles per hour through whoops that would swallow the average crossover whole. The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized “guts” is really a very small part of it. What you need, in all actuality, can be better described as “trust.” After only two days driving the new Ford Bronco Raptor, I had developed enough trust in the vehicle’s capabilities that I felt confident I could keep the throttle mashed, the terrain be what it may.
And yes, I did indeed keep the throttle mashed, over hill and dale and brush and bump. Needless to say, both I and the Bronco Raptor survived unscathed, minus a solid layer of dust that coated everything from the vehicle to my helmet and jeans. With apologies to J.M. Barrie, “Second exit to the right and straight on ’til Baja.”
Let’s be clear right off the bat. Unless you’re a regular King of the Hammers competitor, the Ford Bronco Raptor is capable of much more than you are as a driver. Proof positive is the fact that I was actually piloting the thing over terrain that made up parts of the last KOTH race on Means Dry Lake at Johnson Valley. Our route included several miles of high-speed action over sand and rock, along with slow and deliberate climbs, and descents over boulders bigger than the Bronco itself.
And that’s saying something, considering just how imposing the Bronco Raptor is. Besides the obvious aggressive bits, including the Raptor-specific grille, fascia, front and rear lighting signatures, and fully functional vents in the hood and front fenders, it’s almost comically wide. The track width extends 8.6 inches past the standard Bronco, and overall width is up even a bit further than that. Everything about the Bronco Raptor is harder-core than lesser models, from the fully boxed frame with new shock towers and several reinforcements to the B- and C-pillar reinforcement bars. Ford says the Raptor is 50% more torsionally rigid than the base Bronco platform.
The two main components that turn the Bronco into a Raptor are its suspension setup and its powertrain. The former offers 13 inches of front travel and 14 inches at the rear. Propping it up are Fox-branded 3.1 Internal Bypass Semi-Active Dampers, with the rear benefiting from remote reservoirs. Sensors, including a set that monitors how much travel is left, allow the dampers to adjust hundreds of times per second to match the vehicle’s terrain requirements. The same axles that Ford designed for its Bronco DR race truck are used in the Raptor: the front based around a Dana 44 AdvanTek and the rear built on a Heavy Duty Dana 50 AdvanTek drive unit. Combined with 37-inch BFGoodrich K02 All-Terrain tires on 17-inch beadlock-capable wheels, those axles allow the Bronco Raptor to offer a minimum of 13.1 inches of ground clearance.
On to the powertrain. A 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged EcoBoost V6 is tuned to provide 418 horsepower and 440 pound-feet of torque. It’s not the exact same powerplant used in other Ford and Lincoln vehicles, though it’s certainly related. Its unique induction and intercooler systems are designed to deal with hot and dusty environments, which came in handy in the 110-degree dry lake beds we plowed through. A 10-speed automatic transmission sends the ponies to all four wheels through a transfer case with a 67.7:1 crawl ratio and on to locking differentials front and rear. That front locker was absolutely crucial to conquering the boulder-strewn rock climbing exercises we put it through. Also appreciated were the side steps that are removable with just a handful of bolts, leaving full rock rails to protect the Bronco Raptor's rockers from rock-size damage.
There are a few noteworthy upgrades inside the Bronco Raptor, too. The seats have some bolstering, though we still had to hold ourselves in on really high-speed off-roading sections. There are orange highlights all over, including on the steering wheel, vents and, optionally, the seat belts. A fully digital gauge cluster sits directly in front of the driver, and it’s configurable with a few different looks. The Performance View that puts a big digital tachometer front and center seemed to be the best choice. While driving off pavement, useful gauges can show the drive mode, pitch and yaw angles, and a whole lot more.
Like other Bronco models, a dial on the console is used to switch between GOAT (Goes Over Any Terrain) modes. In addition to obvious ones like Normal, Slippery, Sport and Off-Road, the Bronco Raptor features a Tow/Haul mode (and trailer towing is up from 3,500 pounds on other Broncos to 4,500 lbs on the Raptor), Rock Crawl and the Raptor-exclusive. Owners can set up their own mode with tuning adjustments offered for the steering, suspension and exhaust. At the top of the dash are buttons for activating or deactivating the sway bar, locking the differentials and activating trail turn assist.
