The recently-redesigned Ford Ranger has enjoyed its fair share of success in terms of winning comparison tests against rivals such as the Chevy Colorado and Toyota Tacoma, which is also true of the Ranger’s platform-mate, the Ford Bronco. As for the high-performance Ford Ranger Raptor, it too has proven to be quite popular with critics and consumers alike, though it continues to face new competition with the passage of time. Regardless, the Ford Ranger Raptor once again came out on top in another new comparison test.
This particular test was conducted by Car and Driver, pitting the Ford Ranger Raptor against the gussied-up Chevy Colorado ZR2 Bison and Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro. This comparison took place near Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in California, where there are plenty of sandy dunes to wring them out, and as one might imagine, all three proved to be quite competent at such tasks. The Tacoma did lose some points for its cramped back seat, but managed to post the highest max towing and payload capacities of the trio, however.
The Ford Ranger Raptor out-accelerated its competitors by a large margin, but loses out in terms of lateral grip and braking distance. However, when it comes to actual driving both on and off the pavement, it was the clear winner. “It was the fought-over truck for our on-pavement transits between trails and an absolute delight when the pavement ended,” C&D noted. “It’s also the easiest truck to off-road.” Ultimately, that was good enough to give the Ford Ranger Raptor the edge in this tight contest, followed by the Tacoma and Colorado.
“The Chevy Colorado ZR2 Bison, Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro, and Ford Ranger Raptor were all ridiculously fun in the dirt and totally civilized on the street,” C&D concluded. “They do all the basic truck jobs and have looks that impress at a trailhead. So, no losers, but we had an obvious winner in the Ranger Raptor. Not only did it offer all kinds of off-road goodies with a lower asking price than the others, it also delivered a better ride off-road with little sacrifice on-road.”
Comments
IMO, Ford’s biggest mistake here is not building enough Raptors. I don’t see them at any dealers lately. The limited numbers mean more dealer markups. I’m in Colorado and these beasts are getting into the dirt and many Taco owners are pissed with the huge price increases. Ford is missing out on this opportunity.
Beyond that, Ford just needs to keep improving reliability and they could dominate this particular market.
Have yet to read a bad review on the Ranger Raptor. A grand slam from Ford by any measure. I worked with the Ford Australia team once (when the 2005 S197 Mustang was in early design) and there were intentions on building the RHD version in Australia. The engineering team they sent to Dearborn was impressive. That never panned out (mainly cost) and it took another 10 years (S550) for a RHD Mustang to see production.