Picked up my AG 801A SCAB with NAV, TA, TS, 4:10 Torsen front on 5/17. I had originally ordered it this past Feb. I drove my ’15 SCREW from NorCal to LA for a trade-in. For those of you who don’t know, I was under the impression Raptors had a front facing camera…Doh!
On the trip back, I was very deliberate mixing hwy and city driving, stopping every 20-60min to allow the engine to cool off a bit, as this is how I was taught to properly break-in a new or rebuilt motor. Once on I-5 back to NorCal, I wouldn’t allow the motor to spin at the same RPM for more than 25miles.
I just returned from a weeklong camping trip to Sequoia Nat’l Park. It was a 742mi round trip and I averaged 17.3mpg pulling a 1200lb camping trailer. From Fresno, it’s a 6500ft incline over 50mi to get to the park itself. In the park, your either driving up or down and I managed to get 19mpg without the trailer. I was flipping between normal and sport mode depending on the situation. Quite honestly, if it weren’t for seeing the trailer in the rearview, I would have never known it was there!
On the last full day in the park, I discovered an off-road trail that leads to place called Chicago Stump. I intentionally switched to 4H in Sport mode while off-road. A round robin loop had whoop-de-dos, rutted trails, steep inclines and declines (around 15% grade except for the 2 spots where I could have sworn it was 25) and I even crossed a creek that had tree trunks on the bottom for the crossing. Geez I wished I would have the off-road display on the dash and recorded the loop with my phone. All in hind sight… on the way out I was able to drop into Baja mode and stomp it for about 50ft. I haven’t done any off-roading in quite a long time, so the whole trail was pretty intense. Mind you, it was all trails that any other 4x4 could have made it thru, but geez…I’m in a Raptor! The only other event that eclipsed this was my dog getting caught out in the fast flowing creek and went for a Missouri boat ride for about 300 yards! LOL.
Interesting, on the way out of the park, going downhill I managed to hit 39mpg. I had it in sport mode and the engine helped keep the speeds down pulling the trailer. Despite basically “coasting at 45mph” downhill, I was pretty impressed hitting a number that high!
Overall impression of the Raptor is this is bar none the best truck I’ve ever owned. I had a ’12 Tacoma Baja for 4 years and absolutely loved it. The Raptor equals and/or bests mileage, HP, and Torque…hands down! The only reason I had the ’15 F150 because I had gotten Raptor fever, but didn’t think I’d ever be in a position to get one… A short lived 6mo life with the SCREW.
BTW, I saw a few Raptors out on the highway, but it was the guy in the GEN1 who waved at me…
On the trip back, I was very deliberate mixing hwy and city driving, stopping every 20-60min to allow the engine to cool off a bit, as this is how I was taught to properly break-in a new or rebuilt motor. Once on I-5 back to NorCal, I wouldn’t allow the motor to spin at the same RPM for more than 25miles.
I just returned from a weeklong camping trip to Sequoia Nat’l Park. It was a 742mi round trip and I averaged 17.3mpg pulling a 1200lb camping trailer. From Fresno, it’s a 6500ft incline over 50mi to get to the park itself. In the park, your either driving up or down and I managed to get 19mpg without the trailer. I was flipping between normal and sport mode depending on the situation. Quite honestly, if it weren’t for seeing the trailer in the rearview, I would have never known it was there!
On the last full day in the park, I discovered an off-road trail that leads to place called Chicago Stump. I intentionally switched to 4H in Sport mode while off-road. A round robin loop had whoop-de-dos, rutted trails, steep inclines and declines (around 15% grade except for the 2 spots where I could have sworn it was 25) and I even crossed a creek that had tree trunks on the bottom for the crossing. Geez I wished I would have the off-road display on the dash and recorded the loop with my phone. All in hind sight… on the way out I was able to drop into Baja mode and stomp it for about 50ft. I haven’t done any off-roading in quite a long time, so the whole trail was pretty intense. Mind you, it was all trails that any other 4x4 could have made it thru, but geez…I’m in a Raptor! The only other event that eclipsed this was my dog getting caught out in the fast flowing creek and went for a Missouri boat ride for about 300 yards! LOL.
Interesting, on the way out of the park, going downhill I managed to hit 39mpg. I had it in sport mode and the engine helped keep the speeds down pulling the trailer. Despite basically “coasting at 45mph” downhill, I was pretty impressed hitting a number that high!
Overall impression of the Raptor is this is bar none the best truck I’ve ever owned. I had a ’12 Tacoma Baja for 4 years and absolutely loved it. The Raptor equals and/or bests mileage, HP, and Torque…hands down! The only reason I had the ’15 F150 because I had gotten Raptor fever, but didn’t think I’d ever be in a position to get one… A short lived 6mo life with the SCREW.
BTW, I saw a few Raptors out on the highway, but it was the guy in the GEN1 who waved at me…
