Ford Raptor What is it? (Or, when is a pickup not a pickup?)
The Raptor is a bit of a weird one, and if you aren’t already aware of the technicalities, I shan’t bore you, I’ll just say that to qualify as a commercial pickup in the UK, and therefore be eligible for the owner to claim back VAT, it must be able to carry over a tonne, which the Raptor can’t. That’s not to say the Raptor isn’t heavy duty, it is, it’s just that Ford have focussed more on the heavily reinforced and upgraded nature of the Raptor which in turn means that with a gross vehicle mass of 3,130kg, the Raptor has a maximum payload of just 620kg and can ‘only’ tow 2.5 tonnes. With this in mind, the tax man sees the Raptor as a £48,000 car rather than a double cab pickup, meaning businesses can’t claim back the VAT. So, the Raptor is a pickup, but it’s not as good at pickup’ing as other pickups are, so what is it then? Well, read on…
On the road
What I haven’t mentioned yet is that the Raptor is fitted
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with Ford’s twin-turbocharged 4-cylinder 2.0ltr diesel engine and a 10-speed automatic gearbox. Plant your right foot firmly down and there’s a lovely gruff sound that’s emitted from the exhaust, and even in the dry you can induce a bit of wheel spin from the back tyres. Although the 10-speed gearbox is smooth, put it in manual and you’re forever changing up and down, in fact it can become confusing and tiresome, so I ended up leaving it in auto for most of the time. To be fair though, despite the number of gears, it shifts quite quickly and smoothly both in automatic and manual modes. On the road the new suspension is quite dreamy, and without too much body roll either which is nice. It’s rather quiet too, no matter what the road surface, and the steering is reassuringly heavy and precise. In fact, it doesn’t matter if you’re dawdling around town or attacking fast and twisty B roads, the Raptor gives you a confidence that very few 4x4s of this size can match. Also, speed humps mean nothing to it.
