Ford's 2024 Ranger Raptor is a solidly built vehicle that will take on highways and farm roads with equal quantities of testosterone. It's a rugby prop in car form but the comfortable interior and extensive amounts of space make for an excellent road trip companion. It'll also lift eyebrows everywhere from parking lots to mountaintops.
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If you’re looking for the ultimate man’s man bakkie, this is it. Bigger really is better, especially if you’re camping in the Free State. Ford’s newest Ranger Raptor has got big clearance, big bumpers, big tyres and the biggest grill on the roads. And it’s got big attitude, perfect for impressing the other fathers on an annual school camping trip.
For my son’s annual camping weekend, I took Ford’s ridiculously butch Ranger Raptor bakkie. It was fantastic. If Arnold Schwarzenegger was a car, he would be a Ford Ranger Raptor. With the XXL “tekkies” for tyres.
If you’re going away to the Free State for a weekend, this is the bakkie to do it in, especially if you’re taking a bike. This is a big bakkie. It has big bumpers and a big running board to stand on, which you need because the big tyres offer massive ground clearance.
Roaring plenty
The Ranger Raptor double cab is what you’d expect of a high-end vehicle selling from R1.2 million. The 12-inch touchscreen – now de rigueur in any modern car – is great. It’s called the centre touchscreen because it houses a 12.4-inch digital instrument cluster. I scrolled through the display options and chose the most minimalist option available. It’s not a major selling point, but I was relieved to be presented with just the dials and figures I know and understand.
Even less important, but what tickled my sense of humour, was the settings for how loud the car can be. The four exhaust profiles culminated in “baja” mode, which Ford says is “the most aggressive of the exhaust profiles in both volume and note. It behaves more like a straight-through system in this setting and is intended for off-road use”.
More than anything else, this bakkie is a pleasure to drive. That is the key criterion for any car for me. Smart integration with your smartphone is also de rigueur and the Ranger Raptor does that well.
Big bakkie
Unlike the previous year, when I reviewed Ford’s excellent Everest, my seven-year-old son is now very much into cycling and we are regulars at Dunkeld Cycles. So, the covered bakkie proved perfect for the trip. Luckily a friend and neighbour is a real outdoors sort, who bought a Ranger after driving the Everest and owns a tent, stretchers and even a caravan.
The bike, tent, stretchers and camping chairs went under the cover at the back and everything else fitted on the back seat. We took loads of sunblock.
Luckily, the Parys venue, Dimalachite, is perfectly geared for a horde of Joburg kids for a camping weekend.
I like to camp since it brings back so many happy memories of my childhood. Most of the old lessons were still within reach but I also learned from the other fathers to book a tent for a shower and to avoid the devastating midday heat (in early December).
When I dragged my son from the swimming pool on a baking hot afternoon, I wanted to hang up his Faf de Klerk swimming cozzie. But, as I wandered outside the chalet I also booked, the only thing in the sun was the back of the Raptor. I picked up a twig and wedged it in the back door. As I turned around, I realised I had invertedly made an Instagramable advert. It was so Jeremy Tailor’s “popcorn, chewing gum, peanuts and bubble gum” from another era, Ag Pleez Daddy for the social media age.
But I digress and shouldn’t be talking about a song also known for “blue skies” and <another nostalgic US car brand> in a Ford review.
King cab
The Ranger Raptor is the top end of Ford’s bakkie range. Its performance 3.0-litre twin-turbo EcoBoost V6 engine is ridiculously powerful, delivering 292kW and 583Nm. It’s sure-footed on the gravel roads in the Free State, thanks to an electronically controlled four-wheel drive system on both rear and front differential locks.
I was impressed with its cruise control and how it slowed down when approaching a car in front. Along with lane control, these are features that show you the potential for autonomous driving. Cars that do the basics for you (maintaining speed, keeping you in your lane and braking) let your brain focus on the driving itself. It’s also not a bad idea in the age of distracted driving. Well, distracted everything, really.
The tekkies alone – which someone else referred to as “shoes” in English to my befuddlement – are impressive. If you’re going to drive off-road and need grip and traction, these are them. (I spent loads of time talking to small boys and their fathers about the tyres…)
It seemed like overkill for a weekend away, but that is precisely what the Ranger Raptop is for. Given how much space we had, I took the only power station I have, a Gizzu Hero Core 800W 512Wh (R7,000) which lives at my 96-year-old mother’s house for load shedding. This seemed like too much for a two-night camping trip but it meant not having to worry about power banks or other chargers. This was all we needed. It also has a handy built-in light.
Ford Raptor Ranger verdict
If you’re an outdoors type and want people to know it, this is the bakkie for you. It has all the mod-cons and excellent aircon, which is the best way to tackle the wilderness. The tekkies alone will strike fear in Free State roads and other bakkie drivers but the modular exhaust roar will also do its level best to subdue the smaller cars you whip past on the gravel.
That’s quite aside from the mechanical benefits of the high ride height in the event of traffic collisions, Ford’s focus on clean, aggressive lines, and a significant focus on customisable in-cabin tech make it an attractive option visually but clearing the million-Rand bar might be a challenge for the average driver. But those massive tyres…
