This author is really excited for the 2017 Ford Raptor, which just completed its first round of desert testing in the southwestern United States. Engineers at Ford pushed the truck harder than most owners will push it over its lifetime to see how it will perform. The results are excellent.
Designed to mimic the Baja off-road course, the facility they used saw over 1,000 miles of testing. At times the truck exceeded 100 miles-per-hour, while in other sections the truck was going slow as 10 miles-per-hour. Over the 1,000 miles of testing, the truck averaged 50 miles-her-hour.
But let’s put that testing into context. Its lap times were 25 percent faster than the last-generation Raptor with the V8. That means that the extra lightness of the truck, combined with the extra power of the 3.5L EcoBoost, truly is making this truck a rocketship.
Of course, it wouldn’t be Raptor testing without big jumps, and at the end of each run the Raptor was subjected to a tabletop jump consisting of a steep ramp up to a two-foot plateau, then a step-off back to level ground.
While I’m foaming at the mouth to drive this new truck, it’s still over a year away as a 2017 model. But it’s nice to know testing is going well and everything appears to be on schedule.
Source: Ford-Trucks
