2023 Ford F-150 Raptor R Review: Just Because You Could Doesn’t Mean You Should

The Venn diagram of “technology” and “enthusiasm” overlaps at “awesome.” Awesome isn’t always good, but it’s always memorable. For example, Nederland, Colorado, is an idyllic mountain town just up the canyon from Boulder and it’s the type of place you’re likely to find more flavors of blunt wrappers than soft drinks if you catch my drift. It’s awesome for that, and other reasons.

It's famous for its annual “Frozen Dead Guy Days,” a festival that celebrates, of all things, the frozen dead guy in Nederland. The short of the long: In the 1990s, a cryogenically frozen man was transported to Nederland by his relatives, which is a bad idea for many reasons and illegal in many places. A judge ordered the relative to remove the body within 10 days, except there wasn’t a law specifically outlawing the practice. The body has remained since, and Frozen Dead Guy Days celebrates the whole affair, culminating in a multi-person race down the hill in a coffin. It’s fantastic.

Nederland and its spaghetti-strand trails nearby like the Switzerland Trail felt like the right place for the 2023 Ford F-150 Raptor R, not because I planned on driving it into a lake. Instead, the super-powered truck is a moment-in-time vehicle, an awesome machine in every literal and figurative sense of the word. Like relatives must’ve said when the sheriff knocked, or when Ford asked its engineers to build the F-150 Raptor R: “We didn’t know we couldn’t do that.” Me neither.

2023 Ford F-150 Raptor R Specs

• Base price: $109,245

• Powertrain: 5.2-liter supercharged V8 | 10-speed automatic transmission | four-wheel drive

• Horsepower: 700 @ 6,650 rpm

• Torque: 640 lb-ft @ 4,250 rpm

• Seating capacity: 5

• Curb weight: 6,077 pounds

• Towing capacity: 8,700 pounds

• Payload capacity: 1,400 pounds

• Ground clearance: 13.1 inches

• 0-60 mph: 3.6 seconds

• Off-road angles: 33.1° approach | 24.4° breakover | 24.9° departure

• EPA fuel economy: 10 mpg city | 15 highway | 12 combined

• Quick take: There won’t be anything like the Ford F-150 Raptor R for the foreseeable future. That’s probably best for all of us.

• Score: 6.5/10

The Basics

The Raptor R takes everything about the Raptor and turns it up to 700. Its nominal competitor is, of course, the Ram TRX. The Raptor R’s actual competitor is physics. That’s what makes the Raptor R unique and special, for now: Something this big has no business going this fast. Calling the Raptor R a pickup truck is a disservice to the downstream F-150s that spend days on the job. The Raptor R is a pickup in its bed alone; the rest is a desert sports car.

On appearances alone, not much differentiates the Raptor R from the Raptor. There’s no obvious outward indicator aside from some red R badging and a different bulge in the hood you sprung for the spicier version, which should irk some owners who’ve forked over $30,000 above the price of a Raptor to buy a Raptor R. Of course, the Raptor R rides on 37-inch tires from the factory, which is an upgrade over the Raptor’s stock 35s (although 37s are an option). But whether you opt for the medium or super-size meal from McDonald’s doesn’t matter to the person behind you; the bags look pretty much the same.

Inside, the Raptor R dazzles with a big screen and gee-whiz features that are available in most of the F-150 lineup already. Aside from the graphics and a steering wheel-ready “R” button, which quickly toggles the Raptor from “Stun” to “Slay,” what’s unique about the Raptor R is more about what you can’t see.

That would be the intoxicating 5.2-liter supercharged V8 pumping out 700 horsepower and an exhaust that sounds like King Kong clearing his throat. Its thirst is equally profound: single-digit fuel economy isn’t only possible, it’s likely. More on that later. Plucked from the Mustang GT500, the 5.2-liter hooks up in the Raptor R to a 10-speed automatic that’s better than it needs to be and pushes power down the driveline through an aluminum driveshaft that’s bigger than the Raptor’s into a rear differential tough enough for the end times.

Using napkin math, I calculated the weight delta between the EcoBoost V6 and the Voodoo V8 to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 to 70 pounds, which means the Raptor R has no hesitation sending its nose skyward when you mash the fun pedal. Ford estimates the Raptor R’s 0-60 mph acceleration at 3.6 seconds. I would estimate that time is possible on any surface including the surface of any Himalaya. Pick one.

Driving the Ford F-150 Raptor R

You could skip all that and treat the Raptor R like any off-road-oriented truck sold on the market today. You could also pretend the sun doesn’t exist. Neither one is a lasting strategy for fun, nor would I recommend either. Hammer down, music up, windows open in the Raptor R everywhere. Because if you’re not doing that, then you’ve wasted all $109,245 (or likely more) that you spent on the truck. The F-150 Raptor R is wholly impractical as a daily commuter and is almost wholly irresponsible as a machine. I also believe true art exists only to serve itself and private collections of historically significant work from the public is a crime. Make of that what you will, but I must acknowledge the planet-warming-size lump in the room.

Still with me? Good. The inescapable feeling behind the wheel of the Raptor R is: Easy. It’s easy to hit triple digits, it’s easy to sprint up that trail, it’s easy to drain its 36-gallon tank, and it’s easy to drive. This generation of supercars, which the Raptor R could arguably be one of, will be defined by how easy they are to drive—for better or worse. The only giveaway that you’re driving something that’s meant for off-road rooster tails is the onerous climb into the tall truck and the prodigious nosedive and rear squat for hard braking and acceleration, which happen often dontchaknow.

Aside from the width, which made for some clenching moments on the Switzerland Trail in Nederland, the Raptor R is a breeze off-road. The off-road mode made the most sense for me and offered a helpful array of cameras from which to negotiate the deep ruts and big rocks I wanted to dominate. The Raptor R tips the scales at more than three tons—which is inescapable in every respect other than acceleration—but it’s nimble for its heft. Tight turns on the trail were straightforward, and its length with a short box but four full doors wasn’t a hindrance.