thor1958
Member
I got my 2019 Ford Performance Blue Supercab Raptor delivered exactly 1 month ago on the 3rd of October. Chose the shorter supercab version since cost 75.000 USD less ! Than the full 4 door version has a price tag of 149.000 USD, while the supercab only 95.000 USD.
This first month have certainly has brought joy and excitement, lesson learned and a fair bit of technical issues of which one seems to be real serious.
I have driven 3.200 miles this first month of ownership on Burmese (Myanmar) roads, ranging from bumpy and potholed/washboard expressways to broken country roads with a bit of concrete or asphalt in the middle, patched a thousand times, gravel and dirt roads in horrible condition, where normal cars cannot even drive.
So, the Raptor has had its suspension and stability/traction control working overtime and seen air multiple times, covered in mud and hardly to recognize due to yellow dust sticking everywhere.
Full car cleaning needed daily and all manual washing, since no machines or even high pressure cleaning equipment at hand.
In short, everyday normal driving is a mix of racing, Baja style and off-roading, paired with most other drivers on the road not having even a driving license and creates scary moments non-stop.
The Anti-collision warning will soon wear out my display.....
Funny enough I do not feel any brake boosting or emergency breaking done by the system. Just alarm.
First the positive:
- head-turner, thumbs up everywhere, sometimes creating a traffic situation, since other drivers loos focus on where they are driving....
- very easy to drive in the city, parking etc. 360 camera and large mirrors makes this super easy despite size. I tried an F-150 SCREW with 6.5 bed and it was terrible and difficult to park, compared to SCAB.
- extremely comfortable on dirt roads, just flies over massive bumps, rocks and larger potholes.
- have plenty of power for overtaking and safe driving
- never gets stuck
Driving experience:
- driving on normal tarmac covered highway or expressways, that here in Myanmar are very uneven, have patched/repaired potholes in the thousands, the Raptor seems to struggle a lot. It side-slips in the turns when going normal or fast speed and sometimes hard to keep in lane. First times very scary, since feel of total loss of control. Then one gets used to it and the traction/stability control normally takes care of it. Feels funny though, having sudden retarding and loss of power, when systems kick in, driving on a fairly normal but wobbly road doing 60 miles/hr. I have reduced air pressure to front 36 psi and back 32 psi and it has made the ride smoother and less sliding, but still of the scale of what one would expect.
- when going fast on narrow and winding roads, the electronic systems does a good job at keeping on the road
- when getting air on normal tarmac rods, the landing is not exactly soft and load bang from suspension when car is off the ground.
- due to constant need for passing other cars/trucks (old and slow), normal mode is not ideal, since slow response and less power. Sports mode in automatic could have been nice, but since it hangs and dont shift gears when needed, I have stopped using it and now only drive in manual and sports mode, most of the time in 4A.
- when going fast on the poor and bumpy gravel roads, it seems a bit nose heavy and my front skid plate already have many scars on it, from hitting top of bumps on the way up, when suspension still compressed.
- driving to the sites I normally go to, now takes 6.5 hours instead of 9 hours (still staying within speed limits). A 100 mile drive here, can take 5-6 hours, so roads are as you can imagine in poor condition and other vehicles blocking.
Then the negative and unexpected:
- Starting the car for the first time, the dashboard gauge cluster went black and blinking in and out. After restart and waiting, it came back, but have kept blacking out up to 10-15 times in a day and also keeps restarting. Lately, also the radio infotainment screen has gone black and stays off for hours.
Haven't found fix yet. Screen also restarts if alarms comes up. Low wash fluid, makes the system restart.
- Last week, when car was about 3 weeks old and had 2.500 miles on it, the Low Oil Pressure warning came on. Immediately stopped and checked oil level, since gauge display showed 0 and moments before showed normal. Could not find any oil on the dip stick and after a lot of stress late night in the middle of nowhere, I managed to get hold of a can of Shell Helix 5W-30 Synthetic oil. I filled 3,8 Quarts (3,.5 litre) to get back to normal level. I have no idea why the car in 3 weeks had used such a huge amount of oil. Have contacted Ford and say there are no TSB out for my car (03/2019) in relation to excessive oil usage. Reading these Forums and see many that have the same with solutions for fix ranging from new car, engine swap or engine upgrades (valve covers etc.)
- After the Low Oil Pressure and 3.8 Quarts of oil gone, the car is not the same. Acceleration as uneven and definitely less power. Feel unsafe now overtaking other cars, since I am not sure if I have the power needed or not. When cold engine (not really possible, since average temperature here is in the high 90's), power delivery seems to be better. When warm less. Not happy about this one, since some of the joy of feeling the power is replaced with constant worry about having the right power or not when needed.
As mentioned, I live in Myanmar and the Raptor is not a common car here.
Ford are doing well here and do local assembly of several models, such as the Everst, Ranger etc.
For my car however, not much expertise at hand I guess.
So, all in all, I finally feel safe on Myanmar roads (except for the crazy side-slipping on certain road types....) and can definitively go a lot faster than before. Time is money in my business (logistics) and I can now go to all and any remote site in Myanmar in style, being safe and don't get stuck.
We have 5 months of rainy season and can now get to places I could not due to only possible for cars with lift kits, snorkel etc.
Hopefully Ford will come up with a solution for the two above issues, one being annoying and the other a bit scary, since I am now filling 1 quart per week.
If anyone has similar problems or found solutions, please share.
Will in a month or two post some pictures of everyday driving in Myanmar. Its certainly a handful.
This first month have certainly has brought joy and excitement, lesson learned and a fair bit of technical issues of which one seems to be real serious.
I have driven 3.200 miles this first month of ownership on Burmese (Myanmar) roads, ranging from bumpy and potholed/washboard expressways to broken country roads with a bit of concrete or asphalt in the middle, patched a thousand times, gravel and dirt roads in horrible condition, where normal cars cannot even drive.
So, the Raptor has had its suspension and stability/traction control working overtime and seen air multiple times, covered in mud and hardly to recognize due to yellow dust sticking everywhere.
Full car cleaning needed daily and all manual washing, since no machines or even high pressure cleaning equipment at hand.
In short, everyday normal driving is a mix of racing, Baja style and off-roading, paired with most other drivers on the road not having even a driving license and creates scary moments non-stop.
The Anti-collision warning will soon wear out my display.....
Funny enough I do not feel any brake boosting or emergency breaking done by the system. Just alarm.
First the positive:
- head-turner, thumbs up everywhere, sometimes creating a traffic situation, since other drivers loos focus on where they are driving....
- very easy to drive in the city, parking etc. 360 camera and large mirrors makes this super easy despite size. I tried an F-150 SCREW with 6.5 bed and it was terrible and difficult to park, compared to SCAB.
- extremely comfortable on dirt roads, just flies over massive bumps, rocks and larger potholes.
- have plenty of power for overtaking and safe driving
- never gets stuck
Driving experience:
- driving on normal tarmac covered highway or expressways, that here in Myanmar are very uneven, have patched/repaired potholes in the thousands, the Raptor seems to struggle a lot. It side-slips in the turns when going normal or fast speed and sometimes hard to keep in lane. First times very scary, since feel of total loss of control. Then one gets used to it and the traction/stability control normally takes care of it. Feels funny though, having sudden retarding and loss of power, when systems kick in, driving on a fairly normal but wobbly road doing 60 miles/hr. I have reduced air pressure to front 36 psi and back 32 psi and it has made the ride smoother and less sliding, but still of the scale of what one would expect.
- when going fast on narrow and winding roads, the electronic systems does a good job at keeping on the road
- when getting air on normal tarmac rods, the landing is not exactly soft and load bang from suspension when car is off the ground.
- due to constant need for passing other cars/trucks (old and slow), normal mode is not ideal, since slow response and less power. Sports mode in automatic could have been nice, but since it hangs and dont shift gears when needed, I have stopped using it and now only drive in manual and sports mode, most of the time in 4A.
- when going fast on the poor and bumpy gravel roads, it seems a bit nose heavy and my front skid plate already have many scars on it, from hitting top of bumps on the way up, when suspension still compressed.
- driving to the sites I normally go to, now takes 6.5 hours instead of 9 hours (still staying within speed limits). A 100 mile drive here, can take 5-6 hours, so roads are as you can imagine in poor condition and other vehicles blocking.
Then the negative and unexpected:
- Starting the car for the first time, the dashboard gauge cluster went black and blinking in and out. After restart and waiting, it came back, but have kept blacking out up to 10-15 times in a day and also keeps restarting. Lately, also the radio infotainment screen has gone black and stays off for hours.
Haven't found fix yet. Screen also restarts if alarms comes up. Low wash fluid, makes the system restart.
- Last week, when car was about 3 weeks old and had 2.500 miles on it, the Low Oil Pressure warning came on. Immediately stopped and checked oil level, since gauge display showed 0 and moments before showed normal. Could not find any oil on the dip stick and after a lot of stress late night in the middle of nowhere, I managed to get hold of a can of Shell Helix 5W-30 Synthetic oil. I filled 3,8 Quarts (3,.5 litre) to get back to normal level. I have no idea why the car in 3 weeks had used such a huge amount of oil. Have contacted Ford and say there are no TSB out for my car (03/2019) in relation to excessive oil usage. Reading these Forums and see many that have the same with solutions for fix ranging from new car, engine swap or engine upgrades (valve covers etc.)
- After the Low Oil Pressure and 3.8 Quarts of oil gone, the car is not the same. Acceleration as uneven and definitely less power. Feel unsafe now overtaking other cars, since I am not sure if I have the power needed or not. When cold engine (not really possible, since average temperature here is in the high 90's), power delivery seems to be better. When warm less. Not happy about this one, since some of the joy of feeling the power is replaced with constant worry about having the right power or not when needed.
As mentioned, I live in Myanmar and the Raptor is not a common car here.
Ford are doing well here and do local assembly of several models, such as the Everst, Ranger etc.
For my car however, not much expertise at hand I guess.
So, all in all, I finally feel safe on Myanmar roads (except for the crazy side-slipping on certain road types....) and can definitively go a lot faster than before. Time is money in my business (logistics) and I can now go to all and any remote site in Myanmar in style, being safe and don't get stuck.
We have 5 months of rainy season and can now get to places I could not due to only possible for cars with lift kits, snorkel etc.
Hopefully Ford will come up with a solution for the two above issues, one being annoying and the other a bit scary, since I am now filling 1 quart per week.
If anyone has similar problems or found solutions, please share.
Will in a month or two post some pictures of everyday driving in Myanmar. Its certainly a handful.
