My 2018 Raptor 1500 mile Review

[jstnumber73]

Thought I'd post up my review of the Raptor after spending 1500 daily driven miles with it.

My background...I'm in the contracting business, and have had just about every brand of truck. The last 3 years though I have daily driven a Ram 1500 with 5.7 Hemi. They were 12 month leases, so I've had 3 separate Ram vehicles since the beginning of 2015. I'm a truck *****, I'm always looking for the best lease deals or values in the truck market. This year I needed a bigger write off, so I instead purchased a Raptor.

First off, I don't give a damn about any Dodge or Ram hate...the Rams I leased never had an ounce of trouble out of them, at least in the 20K miles I spent in each one. Since I drove the Ram last, its what I'm using to compare to my Raptor.

First out of the gate is the TT V-6 in the Raptor. Its grown on me for sure, and I've come to appreciate what it brings to the table. I'm probably not like most of the guys here in the fact my Raptor stays in "Normal" mode almost every day. I live in SC, so the roads are flat and I get plenty of performance in Normal mode.
Even though the exhaust note is enhanced that too has grown on me a bit. Its not as smooth sounding as our BMW 6 series Twin scroll Turbo 6 cylinder, but its not bad. I guess I would describe the Raptor sound as "unique".

However... I seriously don't understand the V6 as the only option in the Raptor. Gas mileage in my Raptor is not really any better than what I averaged in the Ram trucks I had, and there is a definite difference in everyday driving torque between the trucks. The Ram V8 was simply better in real world stop and go traffic. To me, the Raptor just lacks some oomph right off idle below 2500 rpms where most driving takes place.

Since torque is a perceived opinion...I'll let that go. Everyone will have an opinion one way or the other so no need to debate that.

Gas mileage for me from my end is easily compared since we use GPS and company fuel cards that help record mileage and fuel purchases. The Raptor is getting 14.8 avg while my Dodge with a 5.7 liter V8 avg'd around 14.6. This is not off the computers in the truck, these are off our fuel printouts. I just don't think 2 tenths of a mile better gas mileage warrants not having a V8 option for the Raptor and the hype Ford puts out concerning the V6 motors. Again just my opinion.

The 10 speed tranny has been really good in my truck. Its smooth, shifts are crisp, and there aren't any weird glitches I've run into with it. Overall I think its miles above the Ram 8 speed tranny.

Engine/transmission wise the V6 and the 10 speed transmission are a solid combination and works well with the truck, but you either like or hate the 6 cylinder IMO.

One place Ford needs to fix on the Raptor is the brake area. This truck simply doesn’t stop well IMO. To me, with all the bells and whistles the Raptor should have hi performance calipers up front at a minimum. The pedal is a bit soft and the brakes just seem to be inadequate for the truck.

Enough of that. Lets go to overall build quality and ergonomics.

I honestly thought after years of the commercials screaming "Quality is job One", "Built Ford Tough" blah blah that the Ford would be just about bulletproof. But, at least in my case, the Raptor exhibits as many little creaks and groans as my Ram did.
Little rattles here and there seem to be prevalent thruout the truck. Is it terrible? No of course not. Turn the radio up to 6 or 7 and theres not a sound in the truck that isnt masked. But ride around town in a silent cab and theres a few little rattles and noises I was frankly surprised to hear. Theres a small rattle in the dash. The rear end makes a very faint clunking noise when coming to a stop. Small rattling noises thruout the cab when going over rough patches of road are common.
Turn the radio up with good bass, and theres a small buzzing/rattle in the back door panel. Again, not what I expected in a 70K truck. A dealbreaker? No..its a truck.

The B&O has broken in a little bit, and does definitely sound better now. The Rams Alpine system was pretty damn good and I believe its subwoofer was a bit better tuned for the Ram interior then the Fords B&O sub is.

The new B&O systems ease and operability of the radio in general is lacking. In the Ram I loved the fact I could cycle thru all my saved presets from the steering wheel. The UConnect interface in general was just better looking and snappier. But, the Ram sucked ass at verbal commands and voice recognition. Sending nav addresses thru the UConnect system was almost painful at times.
Pairing up my phone also took forever in the Ram.
The Raptor is almost instant pairing my phone as soon as I start it up. Voice commands in the Raptor are simple and short, and I have not had an issue yet with the system understanding me. So for me, its a toss up overall on which system was "better". If Ford would let you cycle thru the presets from the steering wheel, and the display was a little less 1990's they'd have a near homerun on the audio portion of the truck IMO.

Overall, the thing that puts the Raptor over the top despite my perceived issues with it for me is the fact its distinctive and you don't pass 10 of them a day. I love the way it sits, and I love the way it drives. I love the styling and it gets a ton of attention wherever I take it.

I'd like to see Ford fix some of the little quirks in the radio portion of the truck and I'd like to see a few less little rattles but overall, I would buy another Raptor without hesitation.

If I wrote a review of going from my Ram to the Raptor this would be it. My only difference would be the mpg. I averaged 17.5 in the ram and 15 in the raptor. For a truck running heavy 35 inch tires I'm impressed with the fuel milage.

 

[Jeff-Ohio]

Reading about the interior rattles concerns me when mine arrives in 3-4 weeks.
Those are my pet peeve.

---------- Post added at 01:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:41 PM ----------

I also severely hate rattles and have had zero issues with my Raptor aside from a vibrating gas pedal which is fixed by replacing the exhaust resonator with an X-pipe.

 

[BangBang]

Reading about the interior rattles concerns me when mine arrives in 3-4 weeks.
Those are my pet peeve.

---------- Post added at 01:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:41 PM ----------

I also severely hate rattles and have had zero issues with my Raptor aside from a vibrating gas pedal which is fixed by replacing the exhaust resonator with an X-pipe.

Thanks! I have been in an SUV for the last three years that is so tight and bone quiet now I'm overly spoiled.

 

[smurfslayer]

If you’re driving around in normal mode, the eco strategy the truck employs in the throttle by wire is nowhere close to linear. If you’re not going to do a tune, look for a used pedal commander in the for sale section. I think the pedal commander “city” mode makes the low end throttle opening strategy closer to linear without going more than 1 to 1. I’m sure someone has a graph somewhere. I can tolerate normal with the P/C in most situations
-except
trying to pass someone, or accelerate at anything under wide open from about 40mph on. The truck just doesn’t want to shift out of the OD gears and tries to boost its way out of trouble. without the pedal commander, the truck is almost obstinately not downshifting. with the pedal commander, it’s better at reacting to -my perception- of a normal throttle.

 

[rtmozingo]

Regarding rattles, I have a SCAB (which is more prone to rattling) and have offroaded it a bunch. From my experience, the rattles come exclusively from the stuff you've got stored in the truck. If you clear stuff out (especially the doors and coins in console) I've found that all my rattling goes away.

I'm at 16.7 mpg at 15k, and that's with about 400 miles of offroading getting 10mpg factored in, and with lots of sport mode shenanigans too. Speaking of, if you really want to see what this truck is capable of, sport mode 4A, or better yet, find a dirt road and try baja mode out. Normal mode is definitely the best mode for daily driving, IMO, but whereas it takes effort to chirp the tires in Normal mode, it takes effort NOT to chirp them in Sport mode.

 

[jabroni619]

That would be true except for the fact the final drive ratio is similar in both trucks given the Ram I’m comparing against my Raptor had 3.92’s and 20” tires. I’m just guessing but I’m thinking the effective gear ratio is similar once everything is factored in on both trucks.

The fact remains that the Raptor as it sits gets around the same gas mileage as a Ram 1500 4x4 with a 5.7 V8 so I would think that it wouldn’t be all that difficult to get a small block V8 to obtain the same mpg in the Raptor.

The final drive ratio doesn't' account for the added rolling resistance and weight of the tires on the raptor, nor does it take into account the increased drag coefficient. I don't agree with Jazz on much in these forums, but in this case he is correct.

 

[Monster]

Rattles/creaks/squeaks are a pet peeve of mine. I’m ocd about vehicles. The raptor is my 11th vehicle. They all have had made noises. I’ve only kept 2 of those more than 4 years so it’s not like they got old and started rattling. 2 of them were Lexus vehicles that by far had the fewest cabin noises, but they have them also. I’ve traded in vehicles for rattles. Now I’m convinced every vehicle has them. Some noises come and go, some are dependent on if it’s really cold or been sitting in the sun.

The Raptor has 5K miles and there is a rattle in the door and a creak in the console where the closeable door and USB ports are. They come and go. Not as annoying as they would be in quieter car for some reason. They are not there every day. Wife has a Lexus GS and it has a rattle in the door from the window switch area, which you can hear sometimes.

 

[OriginalToken]

The final drive ratio doesn't' account for the added rolling resistance and weight of the tires on the raptor, nor does it take into account the increased drag coefficient. I don't agree with Jazz on much in these forums, but in this case he is correct.

^^^This.

Don't think drive ratios as much as rolling resistance caused by wider and more aggressive tires, and the increased air turbulence under the vehicle and what it does to drag at highway speeds.

On a previous vehicle I lifted it 6 inches, but the new tires and wheels were not coming in for a week, so I drove it around for a while with the original tires/wheels/gear ratio, but a 6" lift. Looked goofy. And I lost nearly 20% gas mileage at highway speeds. This loss was caused by the lift alone. Then I added the larger, more aggressive, tires, and lost even more MPG.

So until you compare similarly lifted vehicles (with similar under vehicle clearances) with similar size, compound, and tread pattern tires, any fuel economy comparison is for warm fuzzy only.

One thing I have noticed about the Raptor (only had it a bit over a week, and 900 miles so far, so still learning), the over the road MPG appears really tied to speed (and I assume largely drag). At 55 MPH and below it gets quite good mileage (in my opinion and for what it is), on the order of 20 or better MPG over distances. At 60 - 65 MPH it is more like 17 to 19 MPG. But above 65 MPH it drops off rapidly. This mornings fillup was 338 miles (25% light city driving, 75% two lane desert roads at 65 – 72 MPH) and 21.3 gallons, for about 15.8 MPG.

T!

 

[rtmozingo]

^^^This.

Don't think drive ratios as much as rolling resistance caused by wider and more aggressive tires, and the increased air turbulence under the vehicle and what it does to drag at highway speeds.

On a previous vehicle I lifted it 6 inches, but the new tires and wheels were not coming in for a week, so I drove it around for a while with the original tires/wheels/gear ratio, but a 6" lift. Looked goofy. And I lost nearly 20% gas mileage at highway speeds. This loss was caused by the lift alone. Then I added the larger, more aggressive, tires, and lost even more MPG.

So until you compare similarly lifted vehicles (with similar under vehicle clearances) with similar size, compound, and tread pattern tires, any fuel economy comparison is for warm fuzzy only.

One thing I have noticed about the Raptor (only had it a bit over a week, and 900 miles so far, so still learning), the over the road MPG appears really tied to speed (and I assume largely drag). At 55 MPH and below it gets quite good mileage (in my opinion and for what it is), on the order of 20 or better MPG over distances. At 60 - 65 MPH it is more like 17 to 19 MPG. But above 65 MPH it drops off rapidly. This mornings fillup was 338 miles (25% light city driving, 75% two lane desert roads at 65 – 72 MPH) and 21.3 gallons, for about 15.8 MPG.

T!

I agree with all of this. FWIW, 65mph has been the sweet spot in every vehicle I've ever driven.

 

[Sledgehammer]

Bmw N54 engine had two turbos, one on bank 1 cyl 1-3 and one on bank 2 cyl 4-6. The N55 came on the F30’s and yes only has one turbo. The N54 came in the E90 335’s mostly but a few others as well. Just an fyi.