triggerfish
Active Member
- Joined
- May 14, 2014
- Posts
- 93
- Reaction score
- 73
I've never seen such a mass exodus from a specific car forum as I've seen with owners trading their Ford Raptor in for a Dodge TRX! I've been a Raptor owner since Gen1 and the Raptor following has always been strong.. but there was no real alternative until the TRX.
Now with the TRX, I see Raptor owners leaving in droves.. and I totally get why.. the TRX is what the new G3 Raptor should have been. To offer us the same old engine with ZERO HP increase and just hope the 3-link suspension and new tech would be enough to make us happy just seems ridiculous.. or a cop out. You mean to tell me that after all this time they couldn't improve the engine... even just a little bit on the 3.5? Then just tease us with what it should have been in the R? Come on!!
So with talking with a buddy today we pretty much came to the conclusion that Ford will have to up the production of the "R" in far greater numbers than at least I have assumed they would be producing or what dealers are telling us they will be producing (1 to 3 allocations at the dealers I've inquired with) in order to be competitive and to keep selling the Raptor in the numbers they want to. Why do I say this?
I can get a TRX on order from a Jeep dealership I know at MSRP and can have my truck in about 3 months time, according to the GM there. They are producing the TRX in really strong numbers and individual dealers are getting far more TRX's than any individual Ford dealers I've inquired with (or, at the minimum, the predicted Raptor R numbers they are telling me they will get). The TRX I specced out comes out to $86K, only $6K more than my '21 specced 35" 3.5L Raptor!
So if Ford drops the GT500 motor in the Raptor, it's safe to assume that a loaded out R will run $95K, right? And, on top of that, every single Ford dealer I've dare to mention the Raptor R to immediately fires back with $10K-$20K ADM because of the limited production. So to that, I have to ask myself and others.. is the Raptor R really going to be worth an extra $20,000 to $30,000 more than a TRX? Personally, I'm not paying $105K-$115K for a Raptor R. Nope. Nada.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm a Ford guy and I bleed Oval Blue! I've been a long time SVT owner, going back into the 90's and through the GEN1 SVT's, and onto Ford Performance releases. I personally see the pros of the Ford Raptor and that's what I really want in the future (I haven't put in my MSRP TRX order but I have a 2021 Raptor order in). But to jump into a 700HP bad *** truck... for the money, the TRX is it if Ford limits production and in turn dealers continue to mark them up (as we know they will).
But if Ford produces the R Raptor in much greater numbers to be competitive, this will level off the playing field (I do believe the Ford will be superior as a true baja truck, but if I'm being honest I live in the southeast and won't be jumping mine or running at speed in a baja setting). I'm not convinced the 3.5 will hold sales vs the TRX moving forward at it's price (Again, my 2021 3.5 Raptor will sticker at $80K). I also believe that the fact we already have what, 100,000 (wild guess lol) Gen 2's with 3.5 motors running around and baja guys not necessarily caring about the new tech, there's not a lot of motivation to move to a 3.5 Gen3 for A LOT OF PEOPLE.
So the only thing that makes sense to save the Raptor and keep the sales Ford expects would be to just give us the R motor and move forward with that as the standard! Kind of like how back in 2010 Ford initially released the Raptor with the 5.4L and within a year, made the 6.2L the only option.
I'm not trying to stir the shitpot here, only open this up for disussion and opinions. I know some will say there's no way they'll make the R motor the standard because it's scarce, but all they have to do is up the motor production line
.
Now with the TRX, I see Raptor owners leaving in droves.. and I totally get why.. the TRX is what the new G3 Raptor should have been. To offer us the same old engine with ZERO HP increase and just hope the 3-link suspension and new tech would be enough to make us happy just seems ridiculous.. or a cop out. You mean to tell me that after all this time they couldn't improve the engine... even just a little bit on the 3.5? Then just tease us with what it should have been in the R? Come on!!
So with talking with a buddy today we pretty much came to the conclusion that Ford will have to up the production of the "R" in far greater numbers than at least I have assumed they would be producing or what dealers are telling us they will be producing (1 to 3 allocations at the dealers I've inquired with) in order to be competitive and to keep selling the Raptor in the numbers they want to. Why do I say this?
I can get a TRX on order from a Jeep dealership I know at MSRP and can have my truck in about 3 months time, according to the GM there. They are producing the TRX in really strong numbers and individual dealers are getting far more TRX's than any individual Ford dealers I've inquired with (or, at the minimum, the predicted Raptor R numbers they are telling me they will get). The TRX I specced out comes out to $86K, only $6K more than my '21 specced 35" 3.5L Raptor!
So if Ford drops the GT500 motor in the Raptor, it's safe to assume that a loaded out R will run $95K, right? And, on top of that, every single Ford dealer I've dare to mention the Raptor R to immediately fires back with $10K-$20K ADM because of the limited production. So to that, I have to ask myself and others.. is the Raptor R really going to be worth an extra $20,000 to $30,000 more than a TRX? Personally, I'm not paying $105K-$115K for a Raptor R. Nope. Nada.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm a Ford guy and I bleed Oval Blue! I've been a long time SVT owner, going back into the 90's and through the GEN1 SVT's, and onto Ford Performance releases. I personally see the pros of the Ford Raptor and that's what I really want in the future (I haven't put in my MSRP TRX order but I have a 2021 Raptor order in). But to jump into a 700HP bad *** truck... for the money, the TRX is it if Ford limits production and in turn dealers continue to mark them up (as we know they will).
But if Ford produces the R Raptor in much greater numbers to be competitive, this will level off the playing field (I do believe the Ford will be superior as a true baja truck, but if I'm being honest I live in the southeast and won't be jumping mine or running at speed in a baja setting). I'm not convinced the 3.5 will hold sales vs the TRX moving forward at it's price (Again, my 2021 3.5 Raptor will sticker at $80K). I also believe that the fact we already have what, 100,000 (wild guess lol) Gen 2's with 3.5 motors running around and baja guys not necessarily caring about the new tech, there's not a lot of motivation to move to a 3.5 Gen3 for A LOT OF PEOPLE.
So the only thing that makes sense to save the Raptor and keep the sales Ford expects would be to just give us the R motor and move forward with that as the standard! Kind of like how back in 2010 Ford initially released the Raptor with the 5.4L and within a year, made the 6.2L the only option.
I'm not trying to stir the shitpot here, only open this up for disussion and opinions. I know some will say there's no way they'll make the R motor the standard because it's scarce, but all they have to do is up the motor production line
.
