The Ford Ranger Raptor

Meet the 2024 Ranger. Ford's worldwide best-selling midsize truck has many great new features to discuss. And while every trim of the new Ranger from the XL, XLT, and Lariat has something new, I'm going to skip straight to the one we all want—the Ranger Raptor.

Ford flew me out to Detroit over the weekend to meet this truck in person, and my first impressions were, "Well, that looks familiar." And that's because it is. The Domestic Ranger Raptor's styling isn't too far off from its cousin, Down Under, released last year.

While I had my hopes high for 35s to make the Ranger Raptor a truck-like companion to the Bronco, I'm here to report that it is sitting on the all-new K03s in a 285/70/17 which is an undersized 33" tire.

But don't let the tire size deflate your spirits. This truck packs a punch in every other category.

Everything about this truck is a Raptor, and if you've felt like the F-150 and Bronco Raptors have been too far out of your grasp, I'm happy to tell you that the Ranger Raptor starts at under $57,000 shipped. Yeah. That's cheaper than a Rubicon Gladiator.

To start, we need to understand the all-new 2024 Ranger. Ford has redesigned this truck from the ground up to be an all-american truck and fit into the Built Ford Tough line of trucks that so many of you already love.

Rather than looking at the Ranger as a big brother to the Ford Maverick, it is better perceived as a little brother to the F-150. With a body-on-frame design, top-quality interior, and of course, a Raptor trim, this truck even got this Gladiator owner to raise his eyebrows.

Now, there will be a lot of heavy marketing videos from every publisher on the market about this truck. If you're serious about purchasing one, I'm sure you will seek those out. Edmonds, Motor Trend, and every other car publisher were invited to the same event.

I want to speak from the perspective of a guy who spends a large amount of his time in the driver's seat on dirt.

So allow me to dig into some details I noticed while playing in and around the new Ranger Raptor that relate specifically to how I would use this truck as a "localander."

From a functionality standpoint, this truck checks a lot of my minimum requirement boxes.

It has front and rear lockers.

It has the largest of the small truck beds that I've seen. Ford redesigned the truck bed to fit a full stack of 8x4 sheets of plywood or sheetrock, which means this has some of the best interior space between the wheel wells available for your camper build.

And while we're on the topic of campers, the Ranger Raptor has a GVWR of 6,790 pounds and a curb weight of 5,325 pounds. Leaving a payload capacity of 1,465 pounds!

To break that down, a Ranger Raptor with two passengers still has 1,000 pounds to play with. A 300-pound Go Fast Camper, a 200-pound Decked, and then 500 pounds of gear is what it would take to hit the threshold!

That is impressive and nearly 300 pounds more than my Diesel Gladiator. The Ranger Raptor's numbers are doing a lot of talking.

Not to mention it can tow 5,510 pounds. I am generally hesitant to tell folks to build overland rigs out of Raptors, but I have to say the Ranger Raptor is quickly changing that opinion.

It has 33-inch tires on 17-inch wheels, but after climbing under it, a 35-inch tire should fit between the frame rails in the spare tire location.

It has full loop recovery points on both the front and rear bumpers, although the ones on the rear bumper look a little odd attached to a cross bar behind the bumper, but we're talking function here, so it still checks that box.

The tail lights are tucked into the body of the truck, which will limit damage to them, and they have an integrated blind spot monitor, so you won't need to do anything fancy to a replacement bumper to keep that feature.

Like the Bronco, the new Ranger Raptor is pre-wired to accommodate auxiliary lights with wiring routes to the bumper and, as I understand, on the roof.

The engineers at the event told me that all the 2024 Rangers have threaded inserts for a roof rack, so there won't be any need to drill to add one. Naturally, they wouldn't let me peel back the weather stripping to check, so I'll leave this one up in the air for now.

Built into the top of the bed are tie-down points. These are something new and make me think you could run a bed rack with a tonneau cover, which would put this truck on the top of a lot of your lists.

Power is built into the bed with a 110v socket on a 400-watt inverter and a 12-volt socket. Both will run with the truck turned off and have an automatic kill switch to prevent you from killing your starter battery.

The tailgate is easy open and has a built-in camera, light, bottle opener, and garbage bag holder.

The steps on the side act to mitigate rock chips on the doors but are not rock sliders, nor are they convertible steps like on the Bronco Raptor. If there is an option to order without the steps, I would go that route to save a little money.

The sharkfin on the roof includes the FM antenna, which I would modify to fit a camper or roof rack better.

While the rear bumper is steel, the front is plastic, which leads me to my first significant negative. The adaptive cruise sensor is in the same spot as it is on the Bronco, which limits winch placement. I wish it were higher up in the grill so that a replacement winch bumper would be a simple install. Unfortunately, the aftermarket world will have to get creative about relocating that cruise control sensor.

Before we jump inside, I want to talk about dimensions.

If you notice, the grille lacks the iconic center marker lights, the ones we call Raptor lights. They are missing because the truck is under 80 inches, so they aren't legally required. But just barely!

The width excluding mirrors, is 79.8 inches. I asked one of the engineers why they couldn't have made the Ranger Raptor an additional one-tenth of an inch wider on each side, and he said simply that it didn't need it.

I'm sure it won't be long before someone has an aftermarket kit to add the marker lights.

The new 2024 Ranger is only offered in the SuperCrew size, no more SuperCab, and they all only have the 5-foot bed making the overall length just shy of 211 inches with a wheelbase of 128.7 inches and a height of 76 inches.

The front approach angle is 33º with a departure of 26.4º, a break over of 24.2º, and a minimum running ground clearance of 10.7".

That is great for a 405 horsepower truck on 33s.

As for bed dimensions, it is a 5-foot long box with 48.2 inches between the wheel wells and 62.4 inches wall-to-wall.

I have to say, it is a good-looking truck. Squeeze 35s onto it, and it can be the Ranger Raptor we've all been asking for.

I don't have any statistics on fuel economy or tank size, but it does take 91 octane, and if it is anything like the Bronco Raptor, I suspect it will get around 10-12 miles per gallon on the trails. Estimating that it will have a 22-gallon tank means just shy of 250 miles on the trails. Not great for overlanding.

The interior is nice and quiet. While filming inside, I had the doors closed, and unlike my Bronco or Jeep, I couldn't hear the conversations happening outside the door.

The seats are very comfortable. The kind of comfortable that makes me jealous. The leather and suede work well together, and the accents of Ford Performance's Code Orange and carbon fiber throughout the interior are a nice touch.

They told me, however, that the 2024 Ranger Raptor will not offer Code Orange as a paint color. A massive blow because that is the best color for it.

The screen is a 12-inch screen turned vertically. At first, I thought this would be weird, but layering the information vertically felt natural.

While in the "Normal" drive mode, the off-road screen controls lockers, which I am not a fan of. I prefer physical buttons or switches for lockers.

To avoid using the screen to activate lockers, use the selection dial near the center console to pick the appropriate off-road mode. These modes will automatically turn on the lockers, but you will need to use the screen to turn them off. A tad cumbersome.

I know with an electronic transfer case and e-lockers that the button is just activating something electronic anyway, but I don't want to rely on the screen. I would've preferred to see the hero switches like the Bronco up on the dash to eliminate the need to hunt through software to find the switch for lockers.

All of that aside, the screen is incredible. Having multiple camera angles, off-road information, and maps simultaneously is impressive. It may be a little much to operate all at once, but I really like the screen itself.

The steering wheel is perfect. I always get asked about something I miss from the Bronco after switching back to a Jeep. It's the steering wheel. Ford gets it. And the Raptor is no different. With paddle shifters, center mark, and all the fun raptor buttons, including suspension tuning, exhaust note, and steering strength, this is precisely what I want, and all the controls are in the right place. Cheers to Ford.

Ford has also included a built-in trailer brake controller! A big plus for those that are towing.

And then, there is the all-digital instrument cluster. Holy wow, I wish I had this. It's fully customizable, so you can monitor all of the details of your engine that you want to monitor, about the only thing you cant monitor is the air box filter.

Now the gear selector. This little nub of a gear selector is something they considered making a selection wheel as well. I'm very, very happy that they opted to keep a traditional selector, but like most of us, I wish it were bigger...

The wireless charging pad has a nice upgrade, air vents! I can't tell you how many times I've reached down to grab a device from the Bronco's wireless charger, and it was like reaching into the belly of mount doom. This is a welcomed upgrade.

The passenger side is clutter-free and has a top box to hide things in. Something I know my wife would love. She is always looking for a spot to store sunglasses, her wallet, and other nicknacks.

Inside the center console is a 12v outlet, but no light. I think a small lamp needs to be in a little black box such as this that is often cluttered and dark.

This is a big one that every Bronco passenger has asked for, A-Pillar grab handles! Yay! I know that whenever I had a passenger in the Bronco, they always asked where the handle was. In the Ranger Raptor, you won't have to worry about that!

Moving to the back seat, there are two bins under the bench - I think this will be a popular spot to toss an air compressor. The bench does not fold up in a 40/60 but is the entire bench. So if you have a car seat or if someone is sitting back there, you will need to remove it or them to access the bins.

Similarly, the back of the seat folds forward and should lay flat. I was operating it with one hand with the camera in the other and couldn't figure out how to fold the headrests forward. I'm sure I just needed to give the string a firmer tug or something. But that adds a flat spot to lay gear and a possible option for some aftermarket molle panels behind the seat.

The rear window is electric but still tiny. It would be cool to see that entire rear window roll down like some of the competition. Still nice that you don't have to fight with it to open and close. Just press a button.

Now, if you have a sharp eye, you have noticed two things missing. Just like in the Bronco, there are no rear air vents, and the only cup holders are in the center seat of the rear bench.

What gives? I can tell you right here and now that anybody riding in the back seat of a Raptor while I'm driving will be wishing they had air vents. I asked why, and the answer was "cost savings." Truthfully, I think we'd all pay the extra $2,000 to have access to air conditioning in the back of our trucks. I know I would.

Cup holders - I don't get it. I guess you can use the door card.

So there it is. The 2024 Ranger Raptor. A significant upgrade over the previous generation Ranger and pushing the limits even further of the new 2024 Ranger.

There is a lot to love about this truck. And if I were looking at it back in October of 2022 when ordering my Gladiator, I likely would've gone this route. Seriously. A great truck that I can't wait to get behind the wheel of!

The Ranger Raptor is sure to make a lot of Localanders happy. I can't wait to see how these are modified in the coming years.

The response from Toyota, Chevy, and Jeep had better be impressive.

If the Ranger Raptor isn't the truck for you, perhaps the Bronco Raptor is. You can catch my video about that monster right over here. I'll see you in that one!