zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Trucks
/
The Ford Raptor Is Too Big
The Ford Raptor Is Too Big-April 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:13:11

The is one of the most creative and successful vehicles in recent memory, a joyous interpretation of what a performance car is. But as second generation Raptors now prowl our nation’s highways and byways one shortcoming (lol) has become clear: The Raptor is too big.

I, of course, am not the target market for the Raptor. I am 1) not a large man. I’m 5'9" and 150, and I fit better into a Ford Courier let alone any F-150. In addition, I am 2) not the owner/operator of a construction company so I can’t afford a Raptor anyway. Ford probably does not care about me. That’s fine. I am merely the messenger of truth.

If you are looking for the exact specs of the Raptor, I will give them to you, though I could really sum things up faster if I just told you that it’s the size of a small house and would comfortably fit three llamas.

Length: 220 in

Width: 96.8 in, 86.3 in not counting the mirrors

Height: 78.5 in

Weight: 5,525 lbs

And those numbers are for the smaller SuperCab. The SuperCrew is yet bigger, at 231.9 inches long, weighing 5,697 pounds. How big is this? It’s too big. The body is a good half a foot wider than an equivalent normal F-150, and the Raptor is a good two or three inches taller, as well.

But hey, this all makes sense for the Raptor’s main reason for being, though, right? It’s supposed to be huge to go offroad, isn’t it? Well, sort of. It’s only good at one thing: Driving fast over the open desert. Anything else makes it punitively girthsome, as .

I just spent two weeks with the 2017 Ford Raptor during my 1948 Willys Jeep off-road excursion to…

First, the Raptor he had sunk up to its running boards in his Michigan backyard because it’s so heavy. Then it struggled on the rocks of Utah because the giant body so easily caught on obstacles. Then David just gave up on the thing:

In fact, we ended up not using the Raptor on the trail because it was just too large and cumbersome to navigate through rocky terrain. It’s really too big to truly be an off-road workhorse the company makes it out to be.

Again, I understand Ford designs the Raptor for desert running and little else, and that’s what made the first generation so desirable. But even the first generation Raptor was reasonably sized compared to the current model. That made the first Raptor accessible to people who wanted to enjoy the benefits of a cool, fun, powerful performance truck with desert-ready suspension. I understand that. That’s why I bought a Baja Bug to drive around New York City, and that’s why I put Class 11 Baja shocks on my current VW. Desert gear is actually well-suited for America’s terrible, rough-but-high-speed roads.

The only problem is that the current Raptor isn’t sized to be a cool, fun, powerful performance vehicle. It’s sized to invade France. It’s either that or to carry R2 units across Tatooine.

Ford’s Ranger Raptor can’t come soon enough.

CORRECTION: A number of readers have reached out to me to point out that the previous generation of the Raptor is just as long, tall, and wide as the current generation, which is factually correct. (.) I appreciate these notifications. I will, however, point out that the original Raptor was smaller in its heart. I can’t explain how I know this other than that Raptors speak to me. Moreover, the Raptor is still too big.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Trucks
The 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger Is The Hybrid Truck America Probably Needs
The 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger Is The Hybrid Truck America Probably Needs
In addition to the all-electric , the truck brand announced this week that it will also release a engine gasoline-powered hybrid version of its electric pickup, called Ramcharger. The goal here is to use the V6 engine as a generator for the electric powertrain when the 92 kWh battery...
Apr 10, 2025
There Was Once A Glorious Compact Chevy ZR2 Truck
There Was Once A Glorious Compact Chevy ZR2 Truck
Those who saw the meteoric rise of through the 2010s and onward probably associate the badge with the . The was Chevy’s halo midsize truck when it was released in 2016, but the ZR2 badging goes all the way to the when Chevy made the S-10 ZR2. It’s gnarly....
Apr 10, 2025
Deer Flies Directly Into Pickup As Its Prospective Buyer Arrives
Deer Flies Directly Into Pickup As Its Prospective Buyer Arrives
No square inch of the Northeast is safe from deer, as video out of New Jersey shows. A deer, tearing through the suburbs, managed to leap over a Pontiac Vibe and Honda CR-V before landing on the bedside of a 2007 Chevy Silverado — just as a prospective buyer arrived...
Apr 10, 2025
Ford Robbed Us Of The Old Four-Door Ranger To Give Us The Explorer Sport Trac
Ford Robbed Us Of The Old Four-Door Ranger To Give Us The Explorer Sport Trac
By definition, a big truck like a or struggles to be small. Even in its smallest, most trucky configuration — a two-door single cab — a full-size truck is relatively large and comes with a sizable bed for hauling cargo. But a small truck like the third-generation can do...
Apr 10, 2025
Porsche Built A 911 With Portal Axles To Go Where Unimogs Can't Reach
Porsche Built A 911 With Portal Axles To Go Where Unimogs Can't Reach
No car has ever driven at higher altitude than this 992-generation Porsche 911 Carrera 4S with portal axles. On Saturday the Porsche crew, led by racing driver Romain Dumas, reached the highest peak of the west ridge of the Ojos del Salado volcano in Chile, . That’s the tallest...
Apr 10, 2025
The Nissan Navara Was The Overdue Frontier We Deserved A Decade Ago
The Nissan Navara Was The Overdue Frontier We Deserved A Decade Ago
gets dunked on for letting models like the languish for years. But, the truck saw a model update well before the release of the , which is mechanically much like an with a design. Outside of the U.S., the successor to the second-generation Frontier came in 2014 with the...
Apr 10, 2025
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved