REVIEW: 2024 F-150 Raptor R is the Greatest Performance Truck Ever Made
2024 F-150 Raptor R: for when you need to bring a fighter jet to a boxing match. The GOAT just got greater.
Full disclosure: Ford Performance provided transportation and accommodation for Ford Truck Enthusiasts to attend a two-day media drive where we spent time behind the wheel of the 2024 F-150 Raptor R, Tremor, and PowerBoost.
“Remember to keep it slow,” the Ford Performance instructor says, cracking a grin. “You know, under 70. Now go drive it like you stole it.” And so I drop the hammer. A supercharged 5.2L V8 screaming to life. Tachometer arcing toward 7,000 RPM. 720 American horses on tap, shoving me back in my seat. Sprinting through a 10-speed automatic transmission with lighting-quick shifts. But we aren’t in the latest Mustang. We aren’t even on pavement. 37-inch factory tires chew up the dirt, spraying a cloud of dirt and dust I tear through the desert, dancing and skittering across the washboards in the 2024 F-150 Raptor R.
The whole experience — a mix of sandy hills, rocky trails cut into desert fauna, and dry lake beds — serves as a playground for sensory overload. You thought these amps went to eleven? Try eleven thousand. The Raptor R effortlessly runs and jumps and slides and climbs and rips over, around, and through any and all terrain. But the suspension is such an engineering marvel that it feels more like a magic carpet hovering over the backseat of a 1972 Lincoln Continental. With a soundtrack — a glorious symphony of of internal combustion and whining supercharger rotors — from an engine that will soon find a home in the world’s first $300,000 Mustang supercar. It’s hard to process the Raptor R in the moment — I’m too busy cackling and screaming gleefully — but the only thing my melting brain can process is this:
The 2024 F-150 Raptor R is the single greatest performance truck ever made.
My Name is GROAT (Greatest Raptor Of All Time)
Fifteen years ago, Ford’s Special Vehicle Team (SVT) answered the question, what would happen if our next performance truck was inspired by the trophy trucks that run the Baja 1000 endurance race, rather than another street truck like the SVT Lightning? The result, of course, was the first generation F-150 Raptor, a V8 powered F-150 ready to run and jump in the deserts of Mexico and the American South West. Or to ask another question, what if you didn’t have to go slow when off-roading?
A decade and half later, many things have changed. SVT became Ford Performance. The base Raptors ultimately replaced the V8 with a high output version of the twin-turbo 3.5L EcoBoost V6. A new bread of EV trucks accelerate like hypercars. And the RAM TRX showed up as a Hellcat-powered half-ton pickup to troll Ford Performance and beat the Raptor at its own game.
2023 Raptor R (left); 2024 Raptor R (right)
And there’s no doubt that RAM made a pretty great truck that was shockingly fast and relatively capable. In fact, it’s the only truck in the market that ever came close to, or bested, a Raptor. But the TRX’s reign was short. First, the TRX died because RAM and Dodge couldn’t keep up with emissions regulations. And Ford Performance returned to the ring with the ultimate off-roading weapon, the 2023 Raptor R. 5.2L Supercharged V8 making 700 horsepwer. 37-inch factory tires. A 5-link rear suspension. Live-valve Fox 3.1 long-travel shocks. Recaro sport bucket seats. And much, much more.
Weighing 700 fewer pounds than the TRX — most of that over the nose — the Raptor R is quicker and more agile with better steering and more suspension travel. Sure, the Raptor R was more expensive — the 2024 model now starts at $112,360 — but the king was back on top, and sounding more like the original Raptor than the last two iterations.
And, now, for 2024, Ford Performance made the Raptor R even better.
The 2024 Raptor R Refresh
Since the rest of the 2024 F-150 lineup was due for a mid-cycle refresh, the one-year-old Raptor R also received several notable upgrades. Visually speaking, it’s probably the least refreshed in the F-150 family this yearl. But that still means new headlights, taillights, and a new standard modular front bumper. Outside, Ford Performance also revised the available graphics packages, making them relatively restrained compared to last year.
Mechanically, Ford Performance updated the steering rack with a tighter steering ratio for more control. The team was able to manage this thanks to the new dual-valve Fox active live-valve shocks. While the original iterations are still incredible, the new 2024 dual valve shocks allow the engineers to monitor and adjust both compression and rebound. While we’ve yet to test both versions back-to-back for a direct comparison, Ford Performance claims the new system is more sensitive, accurate, and refined, making it quicker to adapt to all conditions, and therefore more nimble overall. Three firmness levels remain — Normal, Sport, and Off-Road.
From a performance perspective, the engineers also managed to fit a larger air intake under the Raptor R’s hood. And with more air, comes more power. Twenty more, to be exact, than last year at 720. The R’s exhaust system was also revised to be equal length for both engine banks. It remains an active-valve system with four modes — Quiet, Normal, Sport, and Baja.
Inside, the Raptor R looks identical — black, heated and ventilated Recaro sports seats up front with a few Raptor logos, the last R a flash of orange, an easter egg for those who know what’s under the hood. Plus, there’s all the roominess, storage, and power ports from every F-150. And this 2024 model is the first Raptor to offer a head-up display. The Raptor also features Adaptive Cruise Control with Lane Centering Assist and the (subscription based) BlueCruise 1.2 hands-free driver assist.
Okay, Fine, a Couple Caveats
Make no mistake, if you put a Raptor R into a drag race with any number of EV trucks, this brawling internal combustion monster is going to lose to the likes of the Rivian R1T, Hummer EV, and Tesla Cybertruck. It’s also quite possibly the most gluttonous, excessive, wasteful, oversized pickup in history (well, outside of the Hummer brand), so there’s that to consider. And if you’re looking for a tow-rig, and standard F-150 and every single Super Duty ever made is going to be a better option.
So if you want those abilities and/or bragging rights and don’t mind having to buy truckloads of gasoline, have at it.
But as a person who routinely drives 400, 500, and 600 horsepower sports cars, super wagons, and SUVs, the Raptor R is faster than it needs to be by good measure. This much weight and width and height shouldn’t be this fast. But it is and it’s exceptional, even if it’s not The Very Best at Everything Ever.
Because the Raptor R has more soul. And, although it’s a hoot on the road, it still reigns supreme over its EV rivals where it counts: off-road.
Shut Up and Take My Money
A few hours after reluctantly handing back the Raptor R’s key fob, I had dinner with Carl Widmann, Chief Engineer of Ford Performance. Before this job, Widmann helped run the S550 Mustang program, delivering a greatest hits of special editions like Bullitt, GT500, and Mach 1. This is a man who lives and breathes fast Fords. We talked about many things, but Ford Performance’s engineering standards stood out to me. Widmann explained that Ford’s performance vehicles — the Tremor, a Boss 302 or Mustang GT — are developed to survive hours of constant abuse. I think the number was around eight hours. If those vehicles can survive that amount of time, they’re strong enough to go out into the world for the general public.
But Ford Performance branded vehicles are engineered and tested to survive at least 24 hours of constant, punishing abuse. It’s why the engineers do things like take a street legal truck like the Raptor R… and literally run it in the actual Baja 1000 endurance race. (The very thing that inspired the brand in the first place.) And so Ford Performance trucks are engineered with as much cooling and durability as the team can manage…
Which might represent the Raptor R’s greatest (yet subtlest) trick of the day. We flogged these monsters for hours on end. Racing up sand dunes. Jumping them at over 65 miles an hour. Drifting around a dry lake bed. Flat out on a rugged course. And whooping up and down in drainage culverts tucked in the desert to maintain the trails during the rainy season. All with the A/C blasting, ventilated seats running, and a B&O Unleashed Sound system blasting tunes.
And the Raptor R barely noticed. No overheating. No heat soak. Just a happy truck ready to run and jump and play all day.
What a glorious machine. Now does anyone have a spare $112,360 laying around?
Images: James Lipton for Ford Performance (the great shots), Michael S. Palmer (the other ones)
