2024 Ford Ranger Raptor: 6 reasons to love it, 3 reasons to think twice

The 2024 Ford Ranger Raptor is truly the overachieving little brother of the F-150 Raptor. As remarkably capable as it is, there's always room for improvement.

HillaryClinton

Dec 12, 2024 - 09:31

5144

2024 Ford Ranger Raptor: 6 reasons to love it, 3 reasons to think twice

Built for an all-out assault on all off-road terrain, the 2024 Ford Ranger Raptor is a compelling choice. It’s powerful, has an outstanding suspension system, and is competitively priced.

Competition from General Motors, Toyota, Jeep, and Nissan all have their strong points as well. Still, the Ranger Raptor is either near or at the top of the class in many categories.

The thing is: any time a pickup truck is converted into an off-road plaything, it loses some of its capability. Payload, towing, and efficiency usually suffer when trucks are augmented for hard-core off-road capability.

Does the 2024 Ford Ranger Raptor pay this price?

Reason to love it #1: El Macho Looks

Usually, when you prep a truck for serious off-road capability, it looks awesome. That’s one of the reasons folks who never venture off-road build up their trucks with beefy suspensions, sweet colors, armor, and meaty tires. It looks cool.

Ford knows a thing or two about mixing aesthetics with purpose. After all, they are the builders of icons like the OG F-150 Raptor, and the Mustang. They know how to make a truck look macho. A large majority of folks who buy certain models of trucks do so based on looks and the Ford Raptor Ranger looks cool.

Reason to love it #2: Almost ridiculous power

Leading all other trucks in this class with its torque, the Ranger Raptor has a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V6. It makes 405 horsepower and puts out 430 lb-ft of torque. That power is handled by a beefed-up 10-speed automatic transmission.

There is very little lag, and squirting out of a sandy bank makes the Ranger Raptor feel like a rally car. The exhaust note is somewhat manufactured, but it’s not an issue. The thrust is all that matters, and this Ranger has gobs of it.

Reason to love it #3: Suspension (think trophy truck)

The Ranger Raptor’s sophisticated suspension system is a combination of Fox Live Valve shocks with variable compression damping and coil springs throughout. The rear shocks also have remote reservoirs as extra cooling is needed.

The coils and Watts linkage rear setup is unique to the Ranger Raptor. Normal Rangers come with a Panhard bar rear setup, which doesn’t allow the crazy amount of articulation this setup does. In addition, it’s all connected to the ground via 33-inch BFGoodrich All-Terrain K03s mounted on unique beadlock-capable wheels.

The off-road ride is astonishingly good.

Reason to love it #4: Terrain management

Ford’s Terrain Management System (TMS) allows the Ranger Raptor to be driven with electronic assistance. Unlike some TMSs that simply change a setting on traction control, this TMS truly changes the character of the vehicle.

There are seven settings:

Normal: For regular driving on dry, wet, or normal paved roads
Grass, Gravel, and Snow: This is a setting for driving on wet, slippery, and difficult to claw-at off-road surfaces
Mud and Ruts: Best used for driving through thick, restrictive mud or ruts
Sand: This is useful for slow/medium driving on soft ground - like sand
Rock: This is your rock-crawling setting
Baja: This is the Ranger Raptor’s specialty - for high-speed off-road performance
Slippery: (Similar to grass, gravel, and snow) Use this when driving on watery surfaces covered with ice (especially black ice), snow, heavy rain, or other slippery road conditions

Reason to love it #5: Better than expected daily drivability

The biggest issue with super trucks like the Ford F-150 Raptor, Ram Power Wagon, or similar is their daily driver limitations. Try taking an F-150 through a drive-through or parking one at a store. They are a bit of a bear in traffic and can be a pain to fit into a normal garage.

Enter the Ford Ranger Raptor, which has none of these limitations. It is much smaller, more maneuverable, and easier to park by far. In addition, it’s fairly quiet, has a comfortable ride on the highways, and it’s easier to see out of.

2024 Ford Ranger Raptor in the dirt
Ford

Reason to love it #6: Competitively priced

The 2024 Ford Ranger Raptor is competitively priced in its bracket with a base price of $55,720. That’s a lot of dough for a small truck, but consider the upgrades and it all makes sense. The suspension alone would cost the average buyer thousands before installation.

Every upgrade, counted on its own, makes this price more understandable; especially considering the base model Ford Ranger 4x4 with an electronic-locking rear axle comes in at about $40,000. Or, look at it this way: the Jeep Gladiator Rubicon X can easily come in at $70,000, and the GMC Canyon AT4X with the AEV package can get pretty close to $70K as well.

Reason to think twice #1: The range on a Ranger Raptor is…

One thing that’s important to some folks is the ability for a truck to “overland.” That means, how much off-road range does it have? Equipped with a 20.3-gallon fuel tank capacity, it’s said the Ranger Raptor can go between 340 and 350 miles per tank. The Ford Ranger Raptor gets an EPA-estimated 16 miles per gallon (mpg) in the city, 18 mpg on the highway, and 17 mpg combined.

Those numbers do not reflect the drain of that fuel flying off-road on full boil. If you’re traveling more than 100 miles into the bush, you should bring extra fuel. In my off-road experience, it burned twice that amount when pushed. While that’s comparable to most competitors, I would stress buying a competing diesel for serious overlanding.

Reason to think twice #2: It's still a small truck

Yes - you have a LOT more power than a standard Ford Ranger, but you do not have the capacity of the standard Ranger either. With a tow rating hitting 5,500 lbs, and approximately 1,400 lbs of payload (depending on the setup) the Ranger Raptor’s duties as a working truck are small. A regularly equipped Ranger can haul 7,500 lbs and has a maximum payload of up to 1,805 lbs.

Reason to think twice #3: Capability ain’t cheap

Yes, indeed, I did say that the Ford Ranger Raptor is competitive in its price bracket. With that being said, the majority of the people who purchased this truck do not need this much capability. In many cases, a Ford Ranger with the Tremor package or even the FX4 package is more than enough. At the same time, you will maintain better capability with payload and towing.

This is the slightly modified Ford Ranger Raptor I drove in the desert at the 2024 Ranger Rally.
Nathan Adlen

Final thoughts

My personal conclusion? I think that, out of the Raptors (F-150 & Bronco), the Ranger is my favorite. It’s also way more truck than most buyers need. At least, for off-roading.

It’s so good at what it’s made for, I have a hard time not being tempted to buy one. Even living in the middle of a concrete wonderland, I contemplated where I could take one. Then my wife stepped in.

Alas, this little truck is meant for the folks who truly want to rip up terra-firma with abandon…often.