2012 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor first ride

While thinking about 2012 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor, you will certainly picture one orange meteor which barrels on the desert with high speed, flying through air, long traveling suspension and dangles below the dirty bits. This is partially due to the fact that the desert which storms out and bombs down root-strewn, muddy roads were used and partially it is also because these environments have been dominating the advertising efforts of Ford.

If you picture Raptor exclusively with regards to dry creek beds and yumps, then you are not alone. SVT and Ford have admitted that they did it too. But while making this truck, they realized that they made a truck which is much more versatile than what they intended to do in the first place. In the year 2009, there was massive snow storm which crippled ability of the Ford staff and the media members from reaching Chicago Auto Show. Especially Mark Fields along with some other key executives had to travel to Windy City from Dearborn and the company pilots didn’t take off due to horrendous weather. Fields along with some other execs finally traveled in train and arrived about 8 hours late. They could barely make it to press conference. Jamal Hameedi, the boss at SVT were elected for traveling with Raptor along with his crew. Driving the trucks through thick ice and slush in fast lane at normal speeds of highway (along with some little traffic which the road shared) was quite revelation. In spite of building this thing, the SVT Team had not expected something with knobby and wide tires and higher gravity center for cutting through frigid slurry like this.

It is the same type of process of discovery that led me to foot of red smoothly picturesque rocks. We had a eight units of 2012 Raptors and we took easy hour dirve from the Grand Junction, to Moab from Colorado, for tacking the Hell’s Revenge, a popular four by four trailer over this other worldly terrain which does not take very well to the bigger automobiles like the full sized SuperCab pickups of ours. Even with ground clearance of about 11.2 on the front, and 12.1 on rear and raised suspension, I couldn’t help feeling a bit sheepish about Raptor.

In spite of having a huge share in late fall picture perfect day at my disposal and only 6 miles of trailer for covering, it was pretty clear that we had work cut out. The Raptors might have been built to bash at high way speeds across the inhospitable terrains but this strategy didn’t work here. I was picking my way carefully at walking pace. Also, first I aired down my BFGoodrich 35 inches tires to 15psi and then selected the low range.

In ‘trial by fire’ spirit, I started with Intimidator – a steep incline that was named appropriately which rudely drops off on the vehicle’s either side. When Intimidator was powered up, we just saw the hood and the sky ahead of the sheer drop offs which were paired alarmingly out of my side windows. Trail width was not more than handful of feet wide as compared to some thing like Raptor which itself is broader of the beam as compared to standard F-150. I did some off-roading during my time but this kind of obstacle was the first I came across. Due to Intimidator, I realized that this is a spotter country and you will need some friend in front of the automobile for guiding.

An important thing here is that for much of entire day, I didn’t need any spotter courtesy of the optional equipment here that is provided on the 2012 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor. It is downward angled, forward facing camera which shows what is in the front of the Raptor. This is useful when the nose of the truck is in air. This is accessed through a 4.2 inches gauge cluster display but is shown on 8 inches navigation screen. Camera is great but it should have been more intuitive. Just like most of the decent back up cameras, the display screens both dynamic and static lines show where the automobile is going and the path which tires gets angled to. There is washer nozzle for keeping lens away from any trail muck. Truth be told, it is a bit unnerving for using at the first attempt because you will be creeping forward just on the information that is displayed on screen. SVT on their side are assuring that they have worked hard for giving realistic perspective with out any effect of ‘fisheye’ but because we were not on trail for more than couple of minutes before climbing through give stores with not much room for mistakes, my nerves were frayed prematurely. We need not have worried, camera is a pretty good kit piece at a cost of $525 along with navigation cost and it pays for itself practically when you use it for the first couple of times.

The traction levels were a concern and we were told in advance that we would be traversing in slickrock of Moab but truth here is that the surface was really grippy for tires at least. Terrain gets it daunting name due to the horseback traveling and we can just imagine that it would be slipperier under the hoof.

Thorough out my testing day, Hell’s Revenge gave me plenty of opportunities for making use of the new front camera of Raptor, I easily could conquer a lot of obstacles and steep ascents with names that are pretty evocative like “Belly Button Hot Tub,” “Hell’s Gates,” “Tip-Over Challenge,” and “Dragon’s Tail”. The first one was series of some crazy rain water collecting, scooped out pockets which have depth of about twenty feet and the length isn’t more than a couple of cars lined along. With off-road Moab fixture, my guide made me see some jaw slackening countless vistas and we also got a history lesson ranging from the fossils of dinosaur to the lore of outlaw.

Apart from the front camera, another big addition of Raptor for the 2012 model is Torsen standard front unit. Substituting open differential of the 2011 model for this gearset needed a case that is redesigned and returning the traction control system of the vehicle but it was totally worth it. Torque is marshaled by Torsen from front tire that is losing traction to tire which still has some purchase putting Raptor over and up the objects just like mountain goat. If you add front Torsen, then you will get unwanted feedback for steering when it isn’t fully engaged and this why the engineers at Ford are saying that they have engineered zero pre load in to this system. You will notice it only when it is needed. Through out my testing, this new diff acted well in concert with the Off-Road setting of Raptor (it disables the traction control, Roll Stablity Control and ABS and the 6 speed auto shift scheduled is altered. The throttle too is mapped for low speed ideal work, Hill Descent Control, electronic locking for the rear end (4.10:1) for ensuring safe passage, down and over all the manner of obstacles.

Apart from Torsen, the driveline of the Raptor is unchanged with V8 6.2 liter engine having horsepower of 411 at 5,500 rotations per minute or rpm and the torque of 434 pound feet at about 4,500 rpm. We are confident that if Ford plunks the EcoBoost V6 3.5 liter under hood; you won’t be seeing any infestation of Raptor at the Whole Foods.

All the other alterations on the 2012 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor are just cosmetic. There is trim aluminum package having matte anodized blue pieces of accent (it replaces option of orange cheesy interior for the interiors). Apart from that, this $2,970 luxury package includes cooling of seat for going along with the heating. There is an option for new graphics package on the inside and Molten Orange hue which dominated the marketing efforts of Raptor at its launch is now replaced by Race Red paint. The final alteration of Raptor for this new model year is both functional and aesthetic just like the new 17 inches Euroflange alloys which look pretty great while moving the balancing weights to rim’s inside reducing the off-road vulnerability.

Just like the mentioned above, the off-road trails like the Hell’s Revenge isn’t really kind to this size of automobiles making it important for attacking obstacles on one angle for avoiding getting high centered or gashing the underbelly of the Raptor otherwise. Considering the approach, size, departure angles of about 29.8 degrees and 22.85 degrees are more than what is respectable. The breakover is of 11.3 degrees. All through out journey, I had to be pretty vigilant about the obstacles approaching towards me at wide angles and also had to be diligent with the momentum and throttle by taking advantage of Descent Control and Hill Start Assist. That said, red rocks left their signs on all other trucks in my group, in form of the crimped exhaust pipes and the step rails, tow hooks, and skid plates were also abraded (along with some patch of the scraped paint from rear bumpers that were rubbed away at bed sides by over zealous). SVT team winced a bit at this but they do understand that such minor scrapes are a part of off road driving. Also, some battle scars on Raptor looked right, each one a badge of tactic honor that the automobile was used as it was intended to be. Apart from minor scrapes, all Raptors could make it through Hell’s Revenge easily and we called for tow rope.

Raptor has been a good success and it allows SVT crew for justifying the ongoing development of the model on yearly basis instead of waiting for mid-cycle refresh. There are 10,000 of Raptors expected in the year 2011 and they are not sitting around on the lots with average supply of about 21 days. The volume is quite surprising for niche automobile which starts at a price of $43,565 but on other hand, it is capable off-road all-around automobile in the market – closest thing which truck segment has seen to a supercar that is affordable. Raptor is quite a bargain by this yardstick and cape is all that is missing.