2018 F-150 vs. Raptor: Battle of the Turbos

Brother versus brother as two EcoBoost-powered trucks square-off in a short drag race.

The Raptor versus the EcoBoost F-150: it’s the drag race we didn’t know we wanted to see. The Fast Lane Truck YouTube channel was clever enough to think up this friendly competition between stablemates. It’s definitely food for thought.

It’s obvious that the Ford Raptor is a much more capable high-performance rig than the standard F-150. Both are available with the same twin-turbo V6. However, the F-150 is lighter than the Raptor. With the F-150 being lighter, will its weight savings be enough to best the mighty Raptor in a drag race? The Fast Lane Truck opted to find out.

Of course, those twin-turbo EcoBoost engines are different. The Raptor’s powerplant has been massaged to deliver 450 horsepower and 510 ft./lbs. or torque. Those are impressive numbers, but it’s important to note that the Raptor weighs a whopping 700 pounds more than the standard F-150. Despite the substantial power increase, that’s a tremendous amount of extra weight to be carrying around.

The standard F-150 delivers 375 horsepower and 470 ft./lbs. of torque. That’s a sizeable amount of power, but it’s still at a considerable disadvantage compared to the Raptor. The trucks were lined up twice, giving both drivers a shot at drag-racing glory in an attempt to eliminate the human element from the results.

For the first run, the standard F-150 got the holeshot and never looked back, gradually pulling further ahead and giving itself a trucks length on the Raptor. The second run proved to be more of the same.

While we’re assuming that the Raptor would eventually pull ahead during a longer race, we’re still quite impressed by the base F-150’s performance. Still, if having a fast pickup truck meant more to us, we’d rather have the Raptor. It’s simply a better all-rounder.

Chime in with your thoughts on the forum. >>

Cameron Vanderhorst

Cam VanDerHorst has been a contributor to Internet Brands' Auto Group sites for over three years, with his byline appearing on Ford Truck Enthusiasts, Corvette Forum, JK Forum, and Harley-Davidson Forums, among others. In that time, he's also contributed to Autoweek, The Drive, and Scale Auto Magazine.

He bought his first car at age 14 -- a 1978 Ford Mustang II -- and since then he’s amassed an impressive and diverse collection of cars, trucks, and motorcycles, including a 1996 Ford Mustang SVT Mystic Cobra (#683) and a classic air-cooled Porsche 911.

In addition to writing about cars and wrenching on them in his spare time, he enjoys playing music (drums and ukulele), building model cars, and tending to his chickens.

You can follow Cam, his cars, his bikes, and his chickens at @camvanderhorst on Instagram.

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