Ranger Raptor

Beninbeta

Beninbeta

Well-known member
Hey all, Tim fell in love with the Ranger Raptor:


I can see why. I had the chance to drive one last weekend. It was very nice. The seats are super comfy, it drives very well and the suspension was very soft on road as well. It has lots of cool features and I was very impressed.

I didn't film it, a friend of mine was driving a few other vehicles and I got the chance to try the Raptor. The drive was short, but I got a little bit of a feeling of it.

I didn't think the power was life changing and my friend and I both felt the standard Bronco felt more powerful for whatever reason. We drove everything on the same loop. I also don't really care about changing exhaust notes, I know many do, but that feature is not a practical feature, it's more about fun.

I still very much preferred the 14 in screen in my Toyota to the vertical screen in the Raptor as well, everything felt very small and cramped on that screen in comparison. That being said if I didn't already own a vehicle with that screen, I may have felt differently. I also really didn't like having to use the screen for everything including locking the diffs and the mode selector seemed to choose a lot of things for you which I thought was strange. Like off road automatically put the truck in 4 hi and locked a diff, but that was not obvious until I got into the on screen menu. I prefer buttons for some of the features on a vehicle.

Another strange thing, again because I could can compare, was because Ford went with a shorter shifter, I couldn't comfortably rest my arm like I can in the Tacoma or other trucks with the a taller shifter. Small, but important item.

Those are all pretty small gripes though. If I had been able to drive this before I purchased my Tacoma, it would have been a much harder choice until I got to the price. It's only a couple thousand more?? $72k from that dealer and and pretty much that anywhere near me. So the MSRP is great, but I have found the Ford dealers near me to have super high markups. I also thought a bit about what Tim said in his review with things that are missing from the Raptor, great review Tm BTW,

If you picked up a Hybrid Tacoma TRD Off-Road, you'd be at the same price as the Raptor, but you'd get a moon roof and cooled seats which you cannot get on the Raptor. The suspension is way better in the Raptor, you get dual lockers (on-screen only) and the seats are little more comfortable. This segment is so hot and you just cannot really go wrong. Super crazy how good everything is. I quite sure if I had gone Ranger, Raptor or not I'd have loved that too.

But, if you can find a Raptor at MSRP, buy it!!
 
Definitely a contender in the "fun" vehicle category. And honestly, you can have it for a very small increase to the lesser configurations of any brand. Once the mark-ups die down anyway. But hell, somebody reported $10K mark-ups on Frontiers....
 
Mark-ups are still everywhere on any of the top trims from all of the Manus. The good thing is it's becoming easier to shop around and find them without. There are still some dealers marking up loaded off-road Tacomas while other dealers are already putting money on the hood because they're not moving as fast. Seems like it doesn't take too much looking around to find a Raptor at MSRP but I guess it could get tricky if you're trying to stay relatively local and not travel.
 
Beninbeta said:
I still very much preferred the 14 in screen in my Toyota to the vertical screen in the Raptor as well, everything felt very small and cramped on that screen in comparison. That being said if I didn't already own a vehicle with that screen, I may have felt differently. I also really didn't like having to use the screen for everything including locking the diffs and the mode selector seemed to choose a lot of things for you which I thought was strange. Like off road automatically put the truck in 4 hi and locked a diff, but that was not obvious until I got into the on screen menu. I prefer buttons for some of the features on a vehicle.
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I agree with you on the Ford/RAM big vertical screens but I also don't like how the Toyota's sticks up so high. I would prefer that to the larger vertical options though. I think GM has the best screens, tons of usable space, landscape oriented and blends in with the rest of the dash.
 
Dusdaddy said:
Around me, in PA, nothing is marked up right now that I have seen. Of course, no Taco Hybrids have been seen yet but even the very first 2024 Off-road had no mark-ups.
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There's a spreadsheet tracking actual sale price on one of the Tacoma formus and they're pretty easy to find without markups, but there are still a lot of dealers charging them. Also, it's not as straight bullshit as a dealer markup but a lot of Toyota dealers are requiring specific add-ons with the price passed on to the customer at time of purchase, you can't opt out of them. On average those seem to be running about $800-$1,200 but I've seen plenty approaching $2k.
 
Yeah, I checked that spreadsheet out when they first hit the market. Ben posted it. I was actually surprised how few dealers marked them up. And seemed to be mostly Cali and Texas.
 
Fightnfire said:
There's a spreadsheet tracking actual sale price on one of the Tacoma formus and they're pretty easy to find without markups, but there are still a lot of dealers charging them. Also, it's not as straight bullshit as a dealer markup but a lot of Toyota dealers are requiring specific add-ons with the price passed on to the customer at time of purchase, you can't opt out of them. On average those seem to be running about $800-$1,200 but I've seen plenty approaching $2k.
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The markup on those add-ons that you can't opt out of are ridiculous. About the same as the markups on draft beer at a baseball stadium.
 
Ben, I also agree with you on the exhaust changes. Never really saw that as something I wanted, just give me a decent sounding exhaust. I feel the same way about shocks and changing modes, I get it but again not something I would pay for.
 
I'm wondering how the rest of the Ranger's models will do? I think GM/Toyota has done better with the "well equipped", mid-range, and the very simple work models. I think the XLT could be a good seller for the one looking for the more basic, but very capable, truck. No push button start, HUD or cooled seats but ability get a locker and handle a sheet of ply may be a big draw.
 
A good question, I think both GM/Ford closed the gap quite a bit on Toyota in the value segment. I remember when an SR5 Toyota was the way to go. The top end models are great to look at and chat about but sales numbers come from Trail Boss, Elevation, XLT and SR5. I think with the addition of Trail Hunter and Limited Toyota now wants the bulk seller to be the TRD sport and OR.

With a couple more cheap options Andre's Trail Boss is a great value for what you get.
 
Fightnfire said:
I agree with you on the Ford/RAM big vertical screens but I also don't like how the Toyota's sticks up so high. I would prefer that to the larger vertical options though. I think GM has the best screens, tons of usable space, landscape oriented and blends in with the rest of the dash.
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Agreed 100%. The screens in the Colorado and Canyon are much better than the other screens for sure.
 
Fightnfire said:
A good question, I think both GM/Ford closed the gap quite a bit on Toyota in the value segment. I remember when an SR5 Toyota was the way to go. The top end models are great to look at and chat about but sales numbers come from Trail Boss, Elevation, XLT and SR5. I think with the addition of Trail Hunter and Limited Toyota now wants the bulk seller to be the TRD sport and OR.

With a couple more cheap options Andre's Trail Boss is a great value for what you get.
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He needed one more package but at $41k, still a solid deal. Would have been nice with cruise control and sliding rear window.
 
Fightnfire said:
With a couple more cheap options Andre's Trail Boss is a great value for what you get.
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And I think that's where the Ranger will suffer, against trucks like the TrailBoss. They just don't look like that inexpensive fun off-roader for the younger crowd. More the older dad-mobile. Fleets nationwide, autoparts stores, etc., used to buy the WT and XLs in droves. But now that there is no reg or extended cab, many may push more towards Nissan/Toyota. The Maverick fills in for many on that roll right now.
 
I meant to say this the other day but I've been traveling a ton for work lately. One thing that seems to really inflates the Toyota sales numbers are rentals. I regularly fly into LAX, Seatac, Sacramento, San Jose, Austin, Portland and Vancouver B.C. I always try to rent a mid-szie truck (cheaper by a lot usually than a mid-size SUV and I prefer a truck to an SUV) and it's ALWAYS a Toyota. I've never received a Colorado, Ranger or Nissan. It use to be an SR5 Tacoma, the last few have been 2022-2023 TRD OffRoads. I have been subbed a Gladiator and Wrangler and some full sizes here and there which are usually Silverado's or RAM's.

@testerdahl Do you have any data that would show vehicles sold to rental companies, quantities etc? I only travel the west coast and Canada, so I have no feelings about the midwest or east coast.
 
Dusdaddy said:
And I think that's where the Ranger will suffer, against trucks like the TrailBoss. They just don't look like that inexpensive fun off-roader for the younger crowd. More the older dad-mobile. Fleets nationwide, autoparts stores, etc., used to buy the WT and XLs in droves. But now that there is no reg or extended cab, many may push more towards Nissan/Toyota. The Maverick fills in for many on that roll right now.
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I kind of feel that way about Ford's styling in general, other than the orange you can't tell a Tremor from a regular F-150 unless you really know what you're looking for. Even the new Raptor is pretty tame compared to what's out there. Styling is so subjective I don't get into it much I just think Ford's trucks have become more rounded and a little boring looking in general.
 
Fightnfire said:
I meant to say this the other day but I've been traveling a ton for work lately. One thing that seems to really inflates the Toyota sales numbers are rentals. I regularly fly into LAX, Seatac, Sacramento, San Jose, Austin, Portland and Vancouver B.C. I always try to rent a mid-szie truck (cheaper by a lot usually than a mid-size SUV and I prefer a truck to an SUV) and it's ALWAYS a Toyota. I've never received a Colorado, Ranger or Nissan. It use to be an SR5 Tacoma, the last few have been 2022-2023 TRD OffRoads. I have been subbed a Gladiator and Wrangler and some full sizes here and there which are usually Silverado's or RAM's.

@testerdahl Do you have any data that would show vehicles sold to rental companies, quantities etc? I only travel the west coast and Canada, so I have no feelings about the midwest or east coast.
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Sadly no details. Most brands don’t talk much fleet sales publically.
 
Fightnfire said:
I meant to say this the other day but I've been traveling a ton for work lately. One thing that seems to really inflates the Toyota sales numbers are rentals. I regularly fly into LAX, Seatac, Sacramento, San Jose, Austin, Portland and Vancouver B.C. I always try to rent a mid-szie truck (cheaper by a lot usually than a mid-size SUV and I prefer a truck to an SUV) and it's ALWAYS a Toyota. I've never received a Colorado, Ranger or Nissan. It use to be an SR5 Tacoma, the last few have been 2022-2023 TRD OffRoads. I have been subbed a Gladiator and Wrangler and some full sizes here and there which are usually Silverado's or RAM's.

@testerdahl Do you have any data that would show vehicles sold to rental companies, quantities etc? I only travel the west coast and Canada, so I have no feelings about the midwest or east coast.
Click to expand...
I travel, but on the east coast of Canada and Toyota trucks are not part of any rental fleet around here. They rust too much with the amount of salt we put on the road. It’s mostly Ford’s and Chevy’s with very little mid size trucks.
 
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