How to order 2023 Ford Raptor R

Remember that brilliant Wendy's commercial featuring a Soviet fashion show, in which the daywear, eveningwear, and swimwear looks all consisted of minimally accessorized medical scrubs? It lampooned the lack of choice offered by competitive burger chains. A similar lack of choice has bedeviled buyers seeking a street-legal Baja trophy truck powered by a bonkers supercharged V-8. Since the latest Ford F-150 Raptor didn't offer such an engine, the Ram 1500 TRX has been the only option.

Well, Ford has finally evolved its F-150 Raptor with a truckified version of the Mustang Shelby GT500's Predator V-8. With less displacement, power, and torque than the TRX, can this 2023 Ford F-150 Raptor R "Predator" keep from becoming prey? To give us some idea, Ford invited us to the Silver Lake Sand Dunes on Michigan's west coast to thrash its would-be apex predator.

Distinctly Different Character

Ford is offering a real alternative here: technical finesse versus Ram's brute force. Ford's 5.2-liter Predator motor, as configured for towing and hauling [8,700 and 1,400 pounds], produces 99.7 percent of the power and 98.5 percent of the torque of Ram's Hemi from just 83.9 percent of the displacement. It manages this in part by leveraging a modern dual-overhead-cam valvetrain that spins 14.8 percent faster than the Ram's pushrod mill, and by fitting a 10.4-percent-larger Eaton blower huffing up 3.4-percent-higher peak boost pressure.

It's no surprise that these two engines sound completely different. Ford's Predator, which can be enjoyed at any of four exhaust-volume settings, sings a much higher-pitched and more frenetic song that sounds worlds better than the non-R's EcoBoost V-6. And although the Ford may sound higher-strung than the Ram, we got no sense of it being any less torquey at the lower end. That's because tuning changes and a smaller supercharger pulley have added 25 percent to the total area under the Shelby's torque curve—mostly at the lower end.

Performance

We'll be strapping our test gear to a Raptor R very soon. Then we'll know just how much quicker the lighter, aluminum-bodied, 10-speed F-150 Raptor R likely is than the TRX. It'll be a difference you may be hard-pressed to care much about, as both of these things launch like monsters. Their soft suspensions allow the rear ends of each to squat substantially. In the Raptor R, as the front end struggles to deliver torque to pavement in this lightened state, we felt a bit more torque steer than we recall from the TRX. Sport mode even orders up a modicum of over-fueling to deliver those wonderful little overrun backfires and pops.

But although we expect Raptor R to outsprint the heavier TRX, if the chase is long enough and smooth enough to allow each truck to sustain its governed top speed, the Ram will chase down the Ford because its tires are rated for 118 mph—6 mph faster than the Raptor's.

Fuel "Economy"

The EPA has yet to rate the Raptor R, but we drove one set of Raptor Rs to and from the hotel at 80 mph on the freeway through driving rain and wind, and then hooned a different set on the dunes with their beadlocked tires aired down to 14 psi. The trip computers on each reported around 10.5 mpg.

Baja Bounding

These therapod-dinosaur-themed trucks are each optimized for Baja 1000 high-speed desert-running duty, and it may be the shocks that end up really differentiating these beasts. To cope with the added mass of the 37-inch tires, Ford has upped the size of its Fox Live Valve shock bodies to 3.1 inches. This twin-tube design places valved orifices at different points along the shock's piston travel. Fluid flows freely through them around normal ride height to deliver a smooth ride. Damping increases progressively as wheel travel increases, with the final, highest damping rate controlled by orifices in the piston itself. The Live Valve bleeds some fluid off into the nitrogen-pressurized remote reservoir attached to each shock during jounce.

The TRX employs aluminum-bodied 2.5-inch Bilstein Blackhawk e2 monotube shocks, with each connected via braided-steel lines to a chassis-mounted remote reservoir. One of two electronically controlled valves connects these reservoirs to either the jounce or rebound chamber, offering what sounds to us like a broader range of overall control. We look forward to an opportunity for side-by-side comparison.

About all we can say for now is that no rain-sodden Michigan sand dune can make a Raptor R sweat even a tiny bit. We repeatedly bounded up and over towering dunes, never eliciting so much as a groan, clunk, or loose-panel vibration, let alone a need for recovery assistance. And, as with the TRX, sending 700 horsepower through tires with super aggressive treads easily solves traction problems such as having slightly insufficient momentum to crest a dune or coming to an abrupt stop that piles sand in front of the tires. Just give it a bit more "welly," and off you go.

User Interface Differences

Another notable difference between the Raptor R and the Ram TRX is Ford's strictly business user interface versus Ram's more fun-loving "Performance Pages." These can graph real-time power/torque and g-forces, tally lap or acceleration times, display extraneous gauge info, and show a zillion other things on the center screen, none of which the driver should be distracted by while bounding across a desert. By contrast, Ford puts vital info in the cluster—things such as torque distribution or pitch/roll/steering angles—and allows the central screen to display the live forward camera view even at higher speeds in the Off-Road and Baja modes.

Other Cool Stuff We Learned

• R improves the EcoBoost: Many of the chassis reinforcements made to withstand the 5.2-liter's greater torque have been applied to all Raptors, especially those affecting the front axle and its mounts. But the R still gets an aluminum front axle cover versus steel on EcoBoost models.
• One-person build: As with the Shelby GT500, each Raptor Predator engine will be built by a single technician [in Dearborn rather than Romeo, Michigan], but said person will not be signing the engine.
• F-250 transmission clutches: To withstand the added torque being transmitted via the strengthened torque converter stator, the Raptor R's 10-speed automatic shares some clutch packs with the F-250.

Pricier Choice

Ford has priced its Raptor R as the premium choice. Opening at $109,145, the only options are paint color and a panoramic sunroof. By contrast, Ram markets the TRX on an à la carte plan that starts in the low $80,000s and struggles to exceed $104,000 without Mopar accessories. What price, fashion—or, how much quicker will the R need to be for you to justify the cost difference?