It doesn’t win in horsepower, but the 2023 Ford F-150 Raptor R is well-rounded versus the competition.
The Raptor R defaults to its Normal drive mode upon startup, and dare I say it makes the 700-hp 8-foot wide truck just another loud pickup. Yes, it has a lot of power, but it just goes about the daily business ignoring the fact there’s a 2.7-liter supercharger huffing up to 12 psi bolted to the top of the engine. Flick the drive mode knob to Sport and the Raptor R wakes up cracking off quicker shifts, opening the active exhaust baffles more, and cranking up throttle tip-in and response.
I beat the EPA highway rating on three of four highway road trips, when the supercharged monster averaged 16.0 mpg with the cruise control set at well over 70 mph. The fourth road trip added a head wind into the situation and dropped fuel economy to an abysmal 12.4 mpg because it’s an 8-foot wide pickup truck sailing through the air on 37-inch tires. Budget gas money; this truck has a 36-gallon fuel tank.
It’s hard to call an 8-foot wide vehicle or something this potentially loud a sleeper, but in the entire week I had the Raptor R only one single person realized what it was. Everyone else just assumed it was a Raptor, presumably powered by a turbo-6. With visual differences limited to blacked-out trim, orange tow hooks, a 1.0-inch taller hood vent, and tiny R badges on the grille and tailgate, not to mention R-specific fender and hood graphics it just looks like a Raptor.
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