Auto review: Playing in the sandbox with Ford Ranger Raptor Jr.

Owners should jump at the chance to explore the Raptor’s envelope. The Utah facility has been free to Raptor owners since 2020 (buy your own ticket and hotel, and the playground is yours for a day) and opens up to Ranger Raptor owners this summer.

Ford has made an international name with supercars like the Le Mans-winning Ford GT and Baja-winning, 720-horsepower F-150 Raptor R supertruck. But it's accessible performance vehicles like the Fiesta ST and Mustang GT— and, now, Ranger Raptor— that have endeared it to fans everywhere.

My neighbor tracks his Mustang GT at Waterford and Gingerman. Mustang owners have the opportunity to track their sportscars for free at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s banked oval. And now here comes a trinity of Raptor bruisers pumped with off-road steroids so you can conquer everything from Silver Lake sand dunes in west Michigan to Drummond Island in the U.P. to Holly Oaks.

I’m partial to the latter because it’s so accessible to Metro Detroit, and because Holly is home to all manner of off-road talent including Raptor rivals like the Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro and Chevy Colorado ZR2.

Don’t ask me to pick between them. Competition breeds excellence, and these vehicles are worthy rivals. While the TRD Pro leans toward rock crawling, the ZR2— which debuted in 2017— goes head-to-head with the Raptor with bespoke Multimatic spool-valve shocks and impressive high-speed hijinks. And these are hardly trailer queens.

I arrived at the Ford Performance School the same way owners will get to work every day: via a quiet road drive. The quiet is notable compared to the Bronco Raptor, which is inherently noisy thanks to its removable roof, doors and open plastic fenders.

The Ranger Raptor’s macho, by contrast, melted into the background on my 45-minute trip to Ford’s off-road playground. I dialed the meaty DRIVE MODE controller (shared by all Raptors) to NORMAL, set adaptive cruise control to 75 mph, and followed the Raptor train.

It’s a sight not unlike the pilgrimage off-road vehicle owners make to Holly Oaks on weekends. But, despite the huge all-terrain churning underneath me, I had an easy conversation with a media colleague riding shotgun. How far trucks have come.

Ranger Raptor also boasts the typical advantages of truck— like a five-foot bed out back that can swallow a couple of off-road bikes. Or the tow hitch out back that can drag a RZR side-by-side to the Outback with you. While we’re talking accessories, you also might want to buy a power washer for when your Raptor comes home dirty from off-road adventures.

The auto industry has seen unprecedented change in recent years with sedans giving way to SUVs, trucks competing with German brands in the luxury space, and governments forcing the industry to build electric vehicles. A lot of performance models have been lost in the shuffle, including the Fiesta and Focus ST lines.

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