Four Wheeler: 10 reasons Raptor better than TRX

[TurboTJ]

If the Raptor came with a 10MPG V8 instead, I would be driving a Rubicon EcoDiesel. I can convince myself that a Raptor is practical given that we four wheel a couple times a month, camp in remote locations, haul stuff to work on my house and do a good amount of highway driving to my house in the mountains, with two dogs in the backseat and a bed full of gear.

My Raptor’s average fuel economy over the life of the truck (as measured by **** recording of every fill up) has been 17.5MPG. I spend $360/month on fuel.

If I got the MPG’s of a TRX, I would have a bigger monthly fuel bill than my monthly Raptor payment.

I know most don’t care about fuel economy but it’s important to me. Having said that, I’m sure most TRX’s won’t be daily drivers so it won’t be as significant of a cost.

 

[GordoJay]

I know most don’t care about fuel economy but it’s important to me. Having said that, I’m sure most TRX’s won’t be daily drivers so it won’t be as significant of a cost.

Hard to say. It's a pickup truck, not a high-zoot sports car. Most pickups get driven. A lot. I'd expect the typical TRX buyer to burn the rubber off of it for a year or two and then unload it for some newer, shinier toy. That might explain why we see such a steep depreciation curve for anything with a Hellcat in it. If you really want a TRX, patience will save you a whole bucket full of cash ...

 

[RAPTERRIER]

If you really want a TRX, patience will save you a whole bucket full of cash ...

Not unlike all the Gen II owners unloading their Raptors for the TRX now. Good deals are coming. That's why I sold mine last year. Timing is important....

 

[GCATX]

Not unlike all the Gen II owners unloading their Raptors for the TRX now. Good deals are coming. That's why I sold mine last year. Timing is important....

How soon you forget:
https://www.fordraptorforum.com/posts/1522437

 

[rtmozingo]

SCAB was the reason for me. I didn't want or need a Crew cab. The rumored dropping of it for the next model sealed the deal. 2020 SCAB has been a dream truck for me.

There's a whole lot of reasons I'm convinced a 2017 SCAB is the best Raptor made, but I'm still staggered Ford really seems to be dropping the SCAB option on the Gen 3. I remember back in 2010 it was the only option because Ford felt the Supercrew was too much of a compromise. The more time I spend in crews the more I'm convinced they were right.

And don't take that to mean I think the SCREWs are bad, or don't have advantages. But SCAB is definitely the sport version.

 

[ItsAMe]

There's a whole lot of reasons I'm convinced a 2017 SCAB is the best Raptor made, but I'm still staggered Ford really seems to be dropping the SCAB option on the Gen 3. I remember back in 2010 it was the only option because Ford felt the Supercrew was too much of a compromise.

I'm trying to remember where I saw it but the other day an articvle alluded to the SCAB maybe s till being an option. I think it was related to ID numbers in the Ford system maybe.

 

[Richard Hinsley]

I agree in general, but as I think about this I realize that if Ford decides to compromise other aspects of the Raptor to get more horsepower than RAM, or to make it bigger than the RAM, the truck won't be better. Any design is a set of trade offs. You can't optimize one specification without compromising others. A good design has a optimal balance of features. The only reason that the RAM might be OK is that they started with a Raptor spec sheet and tried to incrementally "beat" all of the specs one at a time, no matter how silly it would look and how it would affect performance. Other than the horsepower, I call what they did totally lame.

V8 with massive hp? Check.
100lb more towing capacity? Check
A few percent more payload? Check
A couple tenths of an inch more ground clearance? Check
Bigger - wider, taller, longer - an inch or two in every dimension? Check
Bigger wheels? Check
Slightly bigger tires? Check

Seriously - does anyone except the autistic kid in the back of the room care about most of this stuff? Making the truck bigger and heavier will not improve off road performance. I'll argue that 700hp will not be usable off road without replacing the entire suspension. The hit to range is a huge loss when you go far off pavement. So RAM took a well balanced design and unbalanced it by throwing a blown V8 in it. Another thing that bugs me is that the TRX doesn't stand apart from the rest of the product line. That costs money and RAM seems to be trying to do this on the cheap. That's not a good sign. I'll bet they don't spend the money to actually race it off road and find the weaknesses either.

Bigger, wider and heavier doesn't make it better. I think the 707hp sounds useless in the dirt, at first. I like the idea of no turbo lag.

 

[Russ103]

Other then the extra power (which I admit is tempting) of the TRX, there is nothing about it that appeals to me over the Raptor.
And our Raptors are long in the tooth compared to the best that RAM could come up with for 2021. So I feel good about the upcoming Gen 3 Raptor, regardless of what motor it comes with.

 

[Badgertits]

Other then the extra power (which I admit is tempting) of the TRX, there is nothing about it that appeals to me over the Raptor.
And our Raptors are long in the tooth compared to the best that RAM could come up with for 2021. So I feel good about the upcoming Gen 3 Raptor, regardless of what motor it comes with.

the suspension setup is better, without question

 

[Russ103]

the suspension setup is better, without question

How so?