IamNomad
Active Member
For anyone wondering about the difference and whether it is worth the upgrade, I have owned my 2023 for only 5 days and 300 plus miles. I sold my 2019 two years ago so it's not a back to back comparison, but my memory of its driving experience is still pretty clear. I live and drive at 7500 feet in the mountains, so for what its worth..........
The mostly minor quibbles I had with my 2019 have been addressed. The biggest difference is the handling. It's much more precise with less body roll and unwanted motion or float. It tracks the radius of curves better. Just look out ahead and steer to where you want the truck to go. It's closer to the feeling of a sports car in this regard. Yes there still is some understeer but it's minimal considering the Raptor is a lifted truck with a very compliant suspension.
It rides better as the rear end does not dance around as much over bumps, particularly if you are in a corner. Less chassis shudder IMO too.
It seems quieter but it's also possible I haven't had a fair wind noise test yet as I have not taken a road trip at 75+ mph.
Although sound is subjective, I think Ford made a major improvement in the sound of the exhaust.
Of course their are the expected improvements in tech, screens and camera quality. The one knock to me is that the extra wide shift lever is in the way of activating the manual mode push button right below it.
My business was audio so most factory stereo systems do not impress me sonically. Past a point the number of speakers and watts are meaningless. Give me fewer but better speakers. It's how the system is tuned and balanced that matter most. Frankly the B&O system sucked in the 2019. They have removed some of the screech and boom which has warmed up the midrange a bit. It still tends to thump too much in the kick drum region and still has a transition problem between the bass and the lower midrange. Listen carefully to a bass guitar and you can hear that notes played up the fret board into the lower midrange are quieter that ones down lower. The biggest thing they could do to fix this is simply remove 6-8db of the bass thump which is centered around a fairly narrow range of frequencies. I haven't measured it but I'm guessing 80hz.
I think they have also improved the transmission shift mapping in sport mode. It seems much more intelligent and intuitive. I live in the mountains and it seems
to know what gear to be in whether I'm going down hill or up.
My Gen 2 2019 was a hard act to follow, but overall I love what they have done.
The mostly minor quibbles I had with my 2019 have been addressed. The biggest difference is the handling. It's much more precise with less body roll and unwanted motion or float. It tracks the radius of curves better. Just look out ahead and steer to where you want the truck to go. It's closer to the feeling of a sports car in this regard. Yes there still is some understeer but it's minimal considering the Raptor is a lifted truck with a very compliant suspension.
It rides better as the rear end does not dance around as much over bumps, particularly if you are in a corner. Less chassis shudder IMO too.
It seems quieter but it's also possible I haven't had a fair wind noise test yet as I have not taken a road trip at 75+ mph.
Although sound is subjective, I think Ford made a major improvement in the sound of the exhaust.
Of course their are the expected improvements in tech, screens and camera quality. The one knock to me is that the extra wide shift lever is in the way of activating the manual mode push button right below it.
My business was audio so most factory stereo systems do not impress me sonically. Past a point the number of speakers and watts are meaningless. Give me fewer but better speakers. It's how the system is tuned and balanced that matter most. Frankly the B&O system sucked in the 2019. They have removed some of the screech and boom which has warmed up the midrange a bit. It still tends to thump too much in the kick drum region and still has a transition problem between the bass and the lower midrange. Listen carefully to a bass guitar and you can hear that notes played up the fret board into the lower midrange are quieter that ones down lower. The biggest thing they could do to fix this is simply remove 6-8db of the bass thump which is centered around a fairly narrow range of frequencies. I haven't measured it but I'm guessing 80hz.
I think they have also improved the transmission shift mapping in sport mode. It seems much more intelligent and intuitive. I live in the mountains and it seems
to know what gear to be in whether I'm going down hill or up.
My Gen 2 2019 was a hard act to follow, but overall I love what they have done.
