Deserts? Yes. But Mud Likes It, Too
A few days after Tech Editor Sean Holman gave the 6.2L Raptor his own unique test treatment in the Upper Mojave, I received an invite from the folks at Ford SVT to testdrive the truck at their Romeo, Michigan, proving grounds. Torrential rains had pelted eastern Michigan in the days before my arrival, so when I showed up in Romeo on a sunny spring morning, Ford's network of off-road test trails (over 50 miles in all) had been reduced to a muddy morass, with rocker-deep water holes everywhere. This worried me for two reasons: (1) I'm a So Cal native, born and raised, so I drive in mud about as often as Obama goes bowling (and generally, with the same results); and (2) because I was chosen to lead our pack of Raptor test mules for the day, I wouldn't have anyone else's ruts to follow.
But after a full day of testing in Michigan mud, even with a relative novice behind the wheel, rest assured that the Raptor's got all the makings of a fine mud machine. We played with the locker and the "Off-Road" mode, switching them on and off to see what affect they'd have on the truck's performance and handling. And except for a handful of soupy, grille-deep water holes-where a front traction aid would have been an added bonus-the Raptor seemed to take to mud just about as easily as it handles desert whoops. The 6.2L does seem to have slight "dead" spot in the powerband below two grand, so you need to lean on the throttle a bit in lower gears to maintain the desired level of momentum, and my tester's BFG All-Terrains tended to pack up with some of the greasier goo, making high-speed corners an adventure at times (praise be to the rear locker, which did a great job of inhibiting rear slide-outs and giving Bozo the Testdriver the extra split-second he needed to make the proper steering correction).
All in all, the more time I spent driving the Raptor in mud, the more confident I grew in this truck's ability to handle virtually anything I could throw at it (which included some wheels-up berm-jumping; the SVT guys actually encouraged us scribes to whomp on their trucks). I'd still like to see some "manumatic" quick-shift tranny option with this truck (it's more intuitive to me than feeling for detents along a shift column, and as Sean mentioned, the transmission can be a bit slow to kick down on its own), but otherwise it was hard to find much cause for complaint, and there was much indeed to praise. As Sean notes above, the new truck's suspension tuning has been greatly refined, and overall ride quality has improved a bunch.
And when all else fails, you mud guys know better than anyone that there's no substitute in the bog for plenty of ponies under the hood, and the 6.2L Raptor's got 'em in spades-411, to be precise.
-Douglas McColloch
The 6.2L V-8 fits nicely under the hood of the Raptor. As a nice detail touch, the magnesi
Quick Specs
Vehicle model: 2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor 6.2
Base price: $41,995
Engine type: 6.2L EFI V-8
Valvetrain: SOHC, 2-valves per cylinder, variable camshaft timing
Aspiration: Normal
Mfg.'s hp @ rpm: 411 hp @ 5,500 (premium fuel)
Mfg.'s torque (lb-ft) @ rpm: 434 ft.-lb. @ 4,500
Transmission: Six-speed automatic Overdrive
Axle ratio: 4.10:1
Crawl ratio: 48.4:1
Suspension (f/r): Coil-on-shock, long-spindle double-wishbone independent, aluminum lower control arm, forged steel upper arm/ Hotchkiss-type non-independent live, leaf springs and outboard shock absorbers
Steering: Power rack-and-pinion
Brakes (f/r): 13.8-inch vented discs/13.7-inch vented discs
Wheels/Tires: 17x8.5 cast aluminum/LT315/70R17 BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A
Wheelbase (in): 133
Length (in): 220.9
Width (in): 86.3
Height (in): 78.4
Track (in): 73.6
Curb weight (lb): 6006
Min ground clearance (in): 10.0
Approach (deg): 31.1
Departure (deg): 24.9
Breakover (deg): 20.8
Max payload capacity (lb.): 930
Max towing capacity (lb): 6,000
Fuel capacity (gal): 26
EPA mileage estimates (mpg): TBD
Seating capacity: 5