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The Ford Ranger Raptor – the perfect choice for South Africa’s bakkie-loving culture. Image: Supplied<\/p>\n
If the words “new” and “bakkie” or “truck” were in your list of Google Alerts, I\u2019d imagine that your mailbox would have been chockers over the past two years or so. This bakkie market has indeed been rife with competition. <\/p>\n
The launch of Mercedes-Benz\u2019s X-Class certainly commanded the headlines of 2018, but even with the introduction of a V6 X-Class, nothing has captured the media attention in 2019 as much as the Ford Ranger Raptor \u2013 and I don\u2019t think anything will attract as much hype and conversation for a while to come. <\/p>\n
Raptor revs high as ‘ultimate game changer’<\/strong><\/p>\n Raptor is the ultimate game changer. In a segment that truly defines the term “healthy competition”, the Raptor has just Usain Bolt-ed all others, completely shifting what customers expect of a double-cab bakkie. How Ford has managed this has been to give more credit to their customers’ abilities, ambitions and lifestyles. <\/p>\n The Raptor is more bakkie in just about every area. Its higher and wider than a standard Ranger. It looks more hardcore and aggressive with detail exterior elements built specifically for the Raptor that no after-market kit will quite match. The big newsmaker of course, is it\u2019s strengthened and Fox-tuned performance suspension.<\/p>\n Whatever your knowledge and experience of what the term “off-road” refers to, Raptor has way more technological talent than you need. <\/p>\n Smooth gravel travel<\/strong><\/p>\n Gravel travel is a smooth and comfortable affair and as you comb through the various Terrain Management modes which you\u2019ll learn to exploit as the going gets more rough. Of course its Baja mode is the one for the fast and dusty rally-type driving, if it ever presents itself. Of course it will and the Raptor will rip up the sand and dust, flinging stones in all directions, all the while making you look and feel like a champion driver. <\/p>\n With 30% more suspension travel, a full suite of 4×4 modes and class-leading departure and approach angles, the Raptor will also conquer the mountains and muddy ruts you\u2019ll want to throw at it. And yes \u2013 if you believe, it will truly fly. Again and again and again… <\/p>\n Argue all you like about the Ford\u2019s lack of power but there was no point in my time with Raptor where I felt let down by this. The car is so competent as an overall package that it should just about match any lifestyle, ambition or ability thrown its way. <\/p>\n You know that feathers have been ruffled when a mass of wannabe introductions from Toyota, Isuzu, Nissan and even Volkswagen have been made in a bid to level the field. <\/p>\n Stellar offering from Ford ruffles feathers<\/strong><\/p>\n The Raptor has certainly spurred on a raft of even better bakkies for you and I to enjoy, and that is exactly what healthy and perhaps surly competition is all about. <\/p>\n The Ford Ranger Raptor will shift your idea of what a bakkie can and should do – and that\u2019s fantastic for South Africa, with our bakkie-loving nature. It\u2019s the only bakkie in the running for the South African Guild’s SA Car of the Year competition, the first time a bakkie has even made it as a finalist. <\/p>\n That\u2019s the level of competence and respect that this “truck” has commanded from the industry, a fitting flagship for what was an already stellar offering from Ford. <\/p>\n SPECIFICATIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n Power: 157kW, 500Nm, 10-Speed AutoEfficiency: 8.3\/100km (Combined)Acceleration: 0-100km\/h: 10.5 secondsTop Speed: 170km\/hPrice (when tested): R803 300 The Ford Ranger Raptor – the perfect choice for South Africa’s bakkie-loving culture. Image: Supplied If the words “new” and “bakkie” or “truck” were in your list of Google Alerts,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[232,571,838,254,852],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.icaridea.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1497"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.icaridea.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.icaridea.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.icaridea.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.icaridea.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.icaridea.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.icaridea.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.icaridea.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.icaridea.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.icaridea.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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Help support journalists, the guardians of independent journalism, through our student media initiative that gives a voice to students and their generation! Find out more…Tags: bakkieFordmotoristSouth Africa <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"