Ford Ranger RA Petrol Raptor (2022-2026)

Purchased my 25.25 brand new on 13th Jan 26 and in the couple of months ive owned it, words cant describe how happy and excited everytime i get in and go for a drive... Im not Rich, just received a Compo settlement and decided thus would be my only chance ever to buy one. Purchased from Peter Dullard Ford (Bairnsdale Vic) and my buying experience and follow up feedback from Ford has been wonderful.

Im 58yo and my only issue is i need a Forklift to get up into it...But seriously its a beautiful car and im not the Ranger Danger driver like the You-Tube dashcam sites like to make a point of saying.....

Too much money spent to be an id*ot in it and ive always tried to be safe and with all the Safety Features and Tech in it....Just brilliant and almost drives itself.

Only Whinge....I do not like the Auto Stop/Start as its not good on wear and tare on the car.... Hopefully one day Ford will do a Software Update to give a permanent option not to have to turn it off everytime you start the car.

Absolute Beast...And in Code Orange....It Pops

The most fun you can have driving a dual-cab ute – The first Ford Ranger Raptor was a good starting point, but by rewriting the playbook with a twin-turbo petrol V6 engine, Ford has produced a Ranger worthy of being a poster truck. It’s a ute people will aspire to own and drive, unlike its competitors. Rattles and squeaks were hard to come by, even after being thrashed on some fast sections of dirt.

There were some loose trim pieces under the bonnet, but that’s all I could really fault on Raptor.

This is a shocker for a lot of traditional ute buyers. Priced from $85,490 before on-road costs, you’re essentially buying the only mid-sized performance ute sold in Australia today.

There are no direct competitors that offer this level of off-road performance and power in the shape of a ute. That’s unless you want a bigger truck that’ll set you back closer to $200,000 in the form of a RAM TRX.

The warranty is a 5 year/unlimited kilometre offering, with Ford capping the first five services at $329 each.

You’ll need to bring the Raptor in for service every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever comes first.

The speaker system inside the Ranger Raptor is a fine way to listen along to music, podcasts and even take phone calls.

You are riding in a Ranger that is in every way an off-road performance ute. This means noise from those BF Goodrich tyres will be noticeable and that that V6 isn’t there just to produce power. The sound out of those twin exit exhausts is an Australian first; we have never had a ute produce sounds like this.

In Baja mode, you get the full fat sounds of this V6 as it barks and pops and gurgles, in return eliciting unreal laughter and smiles. I’m almost in disbelief that we finally have a Ranger Raptor that makes all the right Raptor sounds like it’s bigger brother, the F-150 Raptor, does.

Hard braking in the Raptor takes a little while to get used to, honestly. You need to readjust to the fact that this is a fast ute, not a fast and low road car. It takes just a little longer to come to a complete stop quickly, due to the weight, height and suspension tune of this vehicle.

You are getting unique brakes on the Ranger Raptor, with Think Bridge twin callipers, front and rear vented discs with a new ABS and stability control system to help with off-road braking and handling.

This 3.0L twin-turbocharged petrol V6 produces 292kW (274hp) and 583Nm! It’s unreal power in such a relatively small truck and when compared to full-size utes.

This is a sibling of the same Raptor motor found in the fire breathing Bronco Raptor, which we don’t get here sadly.

It’ll only take you 5.5 seconds on the road to get the Ford Ranger Raptor to hit 100km/h - a strange thing to write about a Ranger straight from a showroom floor.

On the road, it’s addicting to have this much power and boot under your right foot. You can easily get yourself into trouble as a large and wide ute with a Baja exhaust note isn’t exactly discreet.

Off-road, those tyres manage to find grip along with the permanent four-wheel drive system to project this ute faster than most can react. You’re getting a tamed Baja ute straight out of the showroom, which is a surreal feeling to experience when you find sections of dirt you can exploit this power on.

I was a little curious to see how a 10-speed automatic like this would perform in the real world. Well, just after a few moments of driving, it was clear that this was the superior choice for this ute.

You have the option to let the gearbox do its thing and respond quickly to your inputs and driving style, or you can shift via the race-inspired paddle shifters on the wheel which provide excellent feel and engagement.

Dial this car into its sportier settings, and that gearbox kicks through gears and really adds to the performance spice this Raptor has to offer.

This isn’t your typical Ranger with a new engine and body kit. This is a girthy ute with a wide stance, meaning it is over 2 metres (2028mm) wide compared to the normal 1918mm you’d find on a standard Ranger.

On top of that there have been chassis reinforcements, new shock tower mounts, unique lower and upper control arms and a Watt’s link equipped coil-spring rear suspension system to help with handling.

And you can’t forget the iconic Raptor pairing of Fox Shocks. These shocks are a 2.5-inch Live Valve Internal Bypass shock absorber which can adjust and adapt at up to 500 times a second.

I’ve been in some pretty expensive off-road SUVs, like the Land Rover Defender. But nothing comes close to how playful, reactive and capable this ute feels at a range of speeds.

To help with off-road handling, you have a few drive modes to choose from, where you can let the vehicle choose the right settings depending on the surface. You also have front and rear locking differentials and trail control to further push this ute out of tricky situations.

I spent just over $350 fuelling the Raptor for the week. That was after some daily driving and a trip to Canberra and back for some off-roading.

The claimed fuel efficiency is 11.5L per 100km. You’re going to find it hard to achieve that, as I was seeing combined figures between 12-18L per 100km.

The vertical touchscreen is a breath of fresh air in the conservative ute market, even if some hidden functions can be fiddly to find at times. Wireless Apple CarPlay works well, but I did find it freezing on me on occasion, either due to a connection issue or the fact that your phone overheats while on the wireless charging pad.

The driver display is gorgeous to use and look at. I adored the animations for the drive modes, and it really helped the Raptor feel like it was a bonafide Ford Performance product, and not just a signed off project from Ford North America.

According to Ford, you can fit a Euro-sized wood pallet in the bed of the new Ranger. With a spray-in bed liner offered with the Raptor as standard, it’s a good looking and tough space to throw in your luggage.

Just make sure you don’t exceed the now limited payload (717kg) and towing capacity (2.5T braked) all for the sake of better handling and driving characteristics. It’s a fair trade I’d say, seeing as that’s more than enough for most enthusiasts who don’t need more than this.

This is better than your old Ranger Raptor in every which way, unless you’re dying to drive a diesel. It’s better than the competitors who offer a top-spec ute that’s meant to be ‘exciting’. And it’s a whole lot cheaper than an American import.

*Disclaimer - I work for ProductReview as their independent car and motorbike expert. I borrow new cars and motorbikes from manufacturers and owners to review. I am not paid or incentivised by these brands to post reviews. I write and create content to provide insight and information about any new or used vehicle I can get my hands on.