{"id":28655,"date":"2022-01-24T17:26:58","date_gmt":"2022-01-24T21:26:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=28655"},"modified":"2022-01-27T17:27:56","modified_gmt":"2022-01-27T21:27:56","slug":"ford-unleashes-the-ferocious-bronco-raptor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2022\/01\/ford-unleashes-the-ferocious-bronco-raptor","title":{"rendered":"Ford unleashes the ferocious Bronco Raptor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fenton<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 Ford has let its much-anticipated Bronco Raptor\u00a0out of the cage, and it\u2019s a beast.<\/p>\n

With a ferocious, 400-plus horsepower engine under its ribbed hood, the Raptor sits on 37-inch tires and a 9.8-inch wider track for high speed off-roading like its big brother F-150 Raptor pickup. Combine that with Bronco\u2019s signature, electronic detachable sway bar and Turn Assist for low-speed rock-crawling, and Bronco Raptor sets a new industry standard for off-road bandwidth.<\/p>\n

In its escalating arms race with Jeep, Bronco\u2019s Raptor lines up against the 470-horse, V-8-powered, Wrangler 392 with 35-inch Extreme Recon rubber. With its all-around capability, the Bronco hellion also becomes the new halo for Ford\u2019s Raptor brand. True to that status, it will start at $69,995 \u2014 $2,924 more than a Raptor pickup.<\/p>\n

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While F-150 Raptor is designed for the high-speed desert runs of the Baja 1000, Bronco Raptor is targeted at Ultra4 Racing\u2019s King of the Hammers series \u2014 North America\u2019s demanding, multi-dimensional off-road competition where vehicles tackle courses with everything from high-speed sprints to brutal rock crawls.<\/p>\n

\u201cBronco Raptor is the apex of our off-road lineup,\u201d said Ford CEO Jim Farley. \u201cIt\u2019s the real deal. It\u2019s not for show and it\u2019s not for everybody. But for people who love to get out in the wild, it\u2019s the ultimate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Due this summer, Bronco Raptor will be hard to miss on road.<\/p>\n

Like the Hulk\u2019s biceps ripping through Bruce Banner\u2019s shirt, its enormous tires stick out well beyond Raptor\u2019s fender flares. The grille is stamped with the same \u201cFORD\u201d letters that ID the F-150 Raptor. Three amber marker lights on the bow indicate that Broncos Raptor is more than 80 inches wide (86.9 to be exact) \u2014 a regulation that usually applies to heavy duty dually trucks. Amber is the color of the Bronc\u2019s signature ring headlights as well.<\/p>\n

The design is Ultra4-inspired, and body panels forward of the A-pillar are new \u2014 including functional hood vents to feed the turbo-V-6 \u2014 except for the bumper, which has been reinforced to weather whatever obstacles are in the beast\u2019s way. Body panels aft of the C-pillar are also new to accommodate the wider track. They are made from composites (the standard Bronco is aluminum) for light-weighting and ease of manufacture. The rear swing gate is reinforced with an exoskeleton to carry the larger, 37-inch spare tire.<\/p>\n

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This being a Bronco, owners can remove body panels and fenders and replace them with modular parts of their choice. When you\u2019re done gawking at Bronco Raptor\u2019s biceps, check out its tattoos \u2014 \u201cEaster eggs,\u201d the product team calls them \u2014 including the dates of Bronco\u2019s Baja 1000 wins (1967, 1969, 1971, 1972) on the hood intake and profiles of three generations of Bronco racers inside the gas-filler door.<\/p>\n

Ford introduced Bronco Raptor to media in its natural habitat \u2014 a scarred, off-road landscape in Genesee County \u2014 dressed in Code Orange, a color unique to Raptor. Ten colors will be offered but body style is limited to a four-door model with a hardtop roof.<\/p>\n

Beneath its ripped wardrobe is some serious off-road muscle shared with the F-150 Raptor, America\u2019s first super truck.<\/p>\n

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Bronco Raptor\u2019s 116.5-inch wheelbase is significantly shorter than its pickup elder (145 inches) with shorter overhangs to allow batter maneuverability over tough terrain. The front\u00a0approach angle is\u00a0an impressive 47.2 degrees while the brute sits 4.8 inches higher than its Bronco sibling with a ride height of 13.1 inches.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been reinforced to take extreme off-road punishment \u2014 reinforcement that also increases its tow-rating to 4,500 pounds from the standard Bronc\u2019s 3,500. Below the removable hardtop, two roll bars have been added at the B and C pillars to increase chassis torsional rigidity by 50% over the standard Bronc \u2014 as well as enhance safety. Rock rails are standard; bead locks for the 37-inch BF Goodrich KO2 tires optional.<\/p>\n

Performance, live-valve Fox shocks (upgraded over the Bronco\u2019s Bilsteins) are shared with the F-150 Raptor and enable up to 13 inches of suspension travel up front, 14 inches rear. Control arms, half-shafts, suspension knuckles \u2014 all have all been beefed up. Five skid plates protect the beast\u2019s underbelly from hard hits over, say, high-speed King of the Hammers jumps.<\/p>\n

Propelling this off-road predator is the 3.0-liter, twin-turbo V-6 \u2014 similar to the 400-horse mill stuffed into the Ford Explorer ST. Raptor\u2019s horsepower rating is expected to be north of that. It\u2019s mated to the Bronco’s\u00a0quick-shifting 10-speed transmission \u2014 a manual option is not available.<\/p>\n

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Bronco Raptor pilots will pull themselves up into the high cockpit with carbon-fiber grab handles. Once strapped into (optional) Code Orange seatbelts, they\u2019ll be surrounded by Bronco\u2019s electronically-controlled, off-road weaponry \u2014 plus a few new toys.<\/p>\n

Like the boulder-climbing Bronco Badlands trim, the Raptor\u2019s dash is full of hero switches: sway-bar disconnect, Trail Turn Assist, dual-locking differentials, the works. The Code Orange-trimmed, rotary GOAT (Go Over Any Terrain) selector offers seven modes: Normal, Slippery, Tow\/Haul, Sport, Off-Road, Rock Crawl\u00a0and Baja. Drivers can also configure a steering wheel button \u2014 just like My Mode in a Mustang GT500 or Z-mode in a Corvette Stingray \u2014 to instantly switch to the pre-programmed performance setting of their choice.<\/p>\n

The Bronco Raptor comes standard with rubberized washout flooring and heavily bolstered, marine-grade vinyl seats, but \u2014 for those who don\u2019t intend on getting their interiors muddy \u2014 a leather-and-suede or blue-accented leather-suede interior are available.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Bronco Raptor interior was designed around what we know hardcore off-road racers want in a vehicle,\u201d said design manager Ryan Olsson.<\/p>\n

Bronco Raptor will roll off the same assembly line as the Bronco at Ford’s Wayne Assembly Plant. It will get its first public viewing Feb. 3 at the King of the Hammers Festival in Johnson Valley, California.<\/p>\n

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fenton\u00a0\u2014 Ford has let its much-anticipated Bronco Raptor\u00a0out of the cage, and it\u2019s a beast. With a ferocious, 400-plus horsepower engine under its ribbed hood, the Raptor sits on 37-inch tires and a 9.8-inch wider track for high speed off-roading like its big brother F-150 Raptor pickup. Combine that with Bronco\u2019s signature, electronic detachable sway […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28655"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28655"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28656,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28655\/revisions\/28656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}