Score!
i picked up my black 2017 Raptor last night. 802A with most of the options.
Pics later.
impressions
1) LOTS of tech, way more than I’ve purchased on previous vehicles. Button overload for sure. Although I like having all the tech, it will take a bunch of getting used to. Generally, I don’t like stuff distracting me from driving. I don’t drive and yak on the cell, but they offered to pair my phone and I accepted. I can use Siri more effectively than in the previous aftermarket unit. Lane keeping was all over me ... I like to color outside the lines sometimes. Plenty of options to mess with.
2) Power is effin’ awesome. It’s everywhere. They have done serious work and testing. Turbo lag? what is that? You have enough power to spin in 4A if you want it. On pavement. if you’re rolling and get into it, it’s literally like have a big @$$ V8, but for the sound.
3) Who elfin’ cares about the sound? it’s freakin fast. Not fast for a truck, fast.
4) Trans hunting for an upshift. Um... yeah, because I stuck it into manual, one click past drive. My bad. I thought the trans did admirably at predicting my somewhat aggressive / defensive driving.
5) Ride quality is great. My barrio has ’traffic enraging speed bumps’. I no longer have to slow for them
bumps are absorbed well, and the suspension feels well sorted. cabin noise is minimal. Not quite Lincoln Town car quiet, but quite good.
6) I am having trouble with the radio; figuring it out, etc. I’m sure it will get better, but after heading out I had to let the CFO figure out the tunes. Challenging to navigate. Only downside so far. stereo has enough power to impair your hearing with sustained use. Bass is responsive and good. It’s not ‘vibrate the whole truck loose’ like 500w subs, but it’s balanced and makes enough clean music up top to be satisfying.
7) CFO spent a bunch of dealer time on Facebook, pretty much killing the iPhone batter. we plugged her into the truck and I stupidly accepted sync, which completely punked my navigation and it seemed impossible to get out of until I got frustrated and yanked out the damn phone. I eventually got the route back, plugged the phone in and declined the sync settings. much better.
8) This thing is PONDEROUS. Limits are easy to find if you come from a car. I generally put equal or more miles on 2 wheels, but my previous car was a turbo outback. It actually stuck pretty good. by way of comparison, the Raptor is quicker than the 250 horse OBXT to 60 easily, but the Raptor is not equipped to knife through corners. If you come from another truck, probably not an issue but this thing ain’t no sports car. steering is a little on the vague side, but you’ll hear the tires howling if you’re moving through a turn too brisk.
8a) people whining about the exhaust note: try driving a subaru flat 4 for a few years, you will love the ecoboost sound after that.
9) the cameras are cool for sure and parking this behemoth is much easier. it will take a while to learn to trust the cameras for me.
I did a walk around, crawl under, and gave the truck a good going over. the roof will need some polishing but otherwise the prep looked really good. Underneath, some surface rust in some places of exposed metal - front shafts but the diff looked dirty - as in mud, but not wearing any fluid. Front of the pumpkin also dry.
I ran in regular and sport mode, 2 and 4a. No appreciable NVH increase in 4A. You can tell it’s there, but otherwise, it just runs good.
I got on it and I don’t just me an a little goosing the gas; I had it sideways twice on the test drive before going into 4A
the power’s addictive, what can I say. No shift hunting, pausing before shifting, etc.
Whatever the sticker mpg estimates are, I’m probably well off if I get half that. Did I mention the power is addictive ?
Pics later.
