2025 Ford Ranger Raptor Review: The Right-Sized Raptor

The 2025 Ford Ranger Raptor is the newest, and smallest, member of the Raptor family as it joins the venerable F-150 pickup and Bronco SUV. The amped-up midsize truck could’ve easily been a money-grab to capitalize on the Raptor moniker, but instead, the Blue Oval delivered a massively capable machine ready for Baja straight off the lot. Truly, it might be the best of the bunch—and that’s saying something here.

Our staff voted the Ranger Raptor as The Drive’s pickup truck of 2024, so I wasn’t surprised when I found it to be stellar. However, while my coworker Andrew’s original review focused on the pickup’s flawless off-road chops, that’s not really what I’ll be talking about here. I drove it every day for a week to see how it balances all that go-go desert gadgetry with qualities that make mundane tasks more exciting. And as much as any Ranger Raptor owner would like you to believe they only use theirs for driving fast on sand, most will end up doing daily duty like this.

The Basics

As its name suggests, the Ranger Raptor is the high-po version of Ford’s medium-sized pickup that sits above the Maverick but below the full-size F-150. It shares the same platform with the regular Ranger, it has the same cab layout, and to a certain extent, it’s the same truck. That said, the changes Ford made to the Raptor are pretty significant.

Come across both a Ranger and Ranger Raptor on the road and you’ll quickly tell them apart thanks to the latter’s macho styling. Up front, there’s one of those bulging plastic grills with the big “F O R D” lettering that stock F-150 owners love to buy for their trucks. The centerpiece is flanked by trim-specific LED headlights with “C-Clamp” DRL signatures. Down below, there’s a large steel bash plate, fog lights, and widened lower fascia that extends into oversized fenders. My tester’s profile was spruced up with Raptor graphics on the bedsides and 17-inch wheels wrapped in 33-inch BFGoodrich KO3 all-terrain tires. Out back, there are Raptor-specific taillights and two big ol’ exhaust pipes that let you know the truck means business.

Inside, the theater is turned up big-time compared to the non-Raptor truck. The focal point is definitely the unique Ford Performance front seats with oversized bolsters and a cool black and orange color scheme with Raptor badging. Then there’s the sport steering wheel with its colored centering mark, which is also borrowed from the bigger Raptors. It even features cast magnesium alloy paddle shifters that feel phenomenal when you click ’em. The rear remains the same as the standard Ranger, though the bench seat is also dressed in the fronts’ two-tone scheme.

Onto the exciting stuff: A 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 engine developed specifically for the Ranger Raptor in the Land Down Under puts out 405 horsepower and 430 pound-feet of torque. It pairs with a 10-speed automatic transmission and a clever four-wheel-drive system with an on-demand, electronically controlled two-speed transfer case, plus front and rear locking differentials.

Raptors are all about their suspension, and the baby of the lineup is no exception. Fox 2.5-inch Live Valve internal bypass shocks are located at all four corners and the rears have piggyback reservoirs for better cooling—a big improvement over the regular Ranger’s leaf springs. Ford made the upper and lower control arms out of lightweight aluminum, while the long-travel rear suspension employs a Watts link and trailing arms. You can read our full breakdown on the rig’s Baja-blasting setup here.

Driving the Ford Ranger Raptor

The first thing you notice is how punchy the 3.0-liter V6 is. Acceleration is brisk but not overwhelming, at least not until 3,500 rpm or so. If your foot is still buried, that’s when you feel the turbos come alive and give you enough boost to spin the rear tires if you’re not careful—especially if it’s slippery out or if you have the wheel cranked. That said, the engine is smooth enough to not be obnoxiously peaky during everyday driving. Like in the F-150, the accelerator is nicely calibrated in a way that you have enough play in the pedal travel so it’s not overly responsive. Switch to Sport or Baja mode, however, and that threshold narrows, making throttle response much quicker while the engine also gives you more revs and more boost earlier on.

Compared to the normal Ranger, the brakes are slightly on the grabby side, but that’s to be expected from the performance version of the truck. However, the 12.2-inch rotors up front and 12.1s out back feel confident under heavy braking and mesh well with the truck’s overall driving dynamics. Should you, I don’t know, trailbrake into a damp roundabout to kick the tail out and spin the rear tires, the brakes and traction control system will play along with you just enough to let you have some fun. Switch to Baja mode and that leash will become considerably longer.

One annoyance I encountered during my weeklong test was the steering’s heaviness in Normal mode. Like the other Raptors, you are able to customize not just performance driving modes, but also steering feel and exhaust loudness. However, I found Normal just too heavy for daily duty, especially at low speeds around neighborhoods or parking lots. Furthermore, these settings reset every time the engine shuts off, so I found myself having to set it to Comfort every time I got in the truck.

Perhaps it’s no surprise that the Ranger Raptor is extremely comfortable during daily commuting since its suspension is tuned to absorb big jumps. I didn’t have the opportunity to add any considerable weight in the bed, let alone tow anything, but ride quality remained phenomenal during my test—something that I can’t say about similar off-road trims of the Toyota Tacoma.

Another area where the Ranger Raptor has its competitors beat is in overall interior comfort. The cabin is practical and easy to get in and out of. I’d personally ditch the running boards my tester was equipped with as they were good for getting the back of my pants dirty and that’s about it. In terms of infotainment, the truck runs Ford’s Sync 4A which is intuitive enough. That said, I found several of the on-screen buttons to be extremely small, so much so that I had to really pay attention to make sure I actually tapped them. If this is tough with bare hands, imagine while wearing winter gloves.

Quick Verdict

Take the Ranger’s perfect size, give it the Raptor treatment, and what you get is a badass truck that’s a blast to drive Monday through Friday and even more so during weekend adventures. It doesn’t take itself as seriously as the F-150 Raptor, and it’s much more manageable in pretty much every situation. As much as I hate to say it, the Ranger Raptor is just less douchy than its big brother. I say that despite being a big fan of the full-size truck.

The best part of all is that my tester came in at a (relatively) digestible price of $59,045. That includes the optional 17-inch beadlock wheels, $495 spray-in liner, and a $1,595 destination charge. While it’s obviously no economy pick, the value proposition is definitely there given that a Ranger Lariat with all the trimmings comes in at $55,060. I’ll happily spend an extra $4,000 and bring home the Raptor.

Quick Take

Good luck trying to drive it without a stupid smile on your face.

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