Starting MSRP: $52,855

Engine: Twin Turbo V6

Horsepower and Torque: 450/510

0-60: 5.7 Seconds

MPG: uhh not good

Text: Yousef Alvi

This is the 2019 Ford Raptor.  You know what it is. It came leaping into our consciousness back in 2010 and it has never left. 2016 found the next generation Raptor and it was a complete paradigm shift.  Here was a twin turbocharged, aluminum bodied, lifted desert runner with fender flares along with an exhaust note that will wake the dead.  But that was almost 3 years ago.  Does the Raptor still have the ‘awe’ effect?  Or has the passage of time tempered the beast?

To quickly answer the above question…the answer is ‘no’.  The Raptor still garners attention from anyone and everyone.  From the elderly, to the soccer mom, to my own mom and my children.  There is something about a Raptor that brings out the ‘0o0o0o’ in people.  It’s bravado rolling on wheels.  It’s not powered by mere gasoline…it is powered by a sense of esteem and confidence.  It’s just an experience on wheels.  

Brush aside the ego boost that it is.  The Raptor itself is just a damn good truck.  Hell, calling it a truck seems wrong in some ways.  The Raptor is just a damn good automobile.  It’s absurdly comfortable, the steering actually provides plenty of feedback, it handles extremely well (for being 25 feet up in the air) and it has torque for days. 

This has to be one of the best engineered trucks ever made.  It can do anything you throw at it.  It can go muddin’, travel the desert at 100 mph, travel the interstate at 100 mph, carry your family in supreme comfort, tow your house and putter around town without a care in the world.  You want the jack of all trades…this is it. 

Now everything is not perfect.  The exhaust note is slightly cringe inducing.  Don’t get me wrong.  If anything…I prefer a boosted motor over a non boosted motor but the EcoBoost 3.5 V6 in this Raptor sounds like a leaf blower.  And not a good one.  Like 15 year old leaf blower from a garage sale.  Hear me out.  You can tune a turbo 6 to sound amazing.  Just look at Mercedes and BMW.  Their engines (minus the M3) sound sublime.  So there is hope that Ford can tune the exhaust to match the character of the truck.  The saving grace is when the windows are down…you can hear the sweet sweet sound of the turbos spool up.  That in and of itself pays for the price of admission. 

So what do I think of the 2019 Ford Raptor?  It still lives up to the hype and after spending time in it…I will reiterate the following:  “The best truck ever made’’.