Ford Australia Preparing Ranger Raptor With 5.0-Liter Mustang V8: Report
[record scratch]
As great as it is to have a truly rowdy off-roader in the midsize truck segment, the Ford Ranger Raptor has two principle problems we would like addressed. First, we'd like to see it sold in the United States, and second, with an engine a bit more aggressive than a twin-turbo, 2.0-liter diesel. Ford reportedly has plans to address one of these grievances, but it's not the one you're hoping for as the Ranger Raptor will reportedly get the thumping V8 heart of a Mustang, but not be sold on American shores.
According to Australia's Which Car, the Blue Oval's operation in the Land Down Under has outsourced the development of a Ranger Raptor with the 5.0-liter Coyote V8 to an external engineering company. Said firm will also reportedly handle the trucks' manufacture, performing five-liter transplants on completed Rangers before delivering them to showrooms, where they'll be sold with five-year factory warranties.
These trucks are expected to make power similar to that of their engine donor, the Mustang, which produces 460 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque; major improvements over the 2.0-liter diesel's 210 horse and 370 torque.
Unfortunately, the good news ends there, because the V8 Ranger Raptor will reportedly be an Australia exclusive. That's probably Australia's way of giving America its comeuppance for not selling the Mustang Shelby GT500 there and forcing them to make their own version, the 700-horsepower Mustang R-Spec.
Either way, it's a bittersweet feeling knowing the perfect truck might be out there, and that you can't have one. Not for at least 25 years, that is. If your heart's set on a five-liter Ranger Raptor, rather than an EcoBoost-powered American replica, you can either start squirreling away your acorns, and ask Siri or Alexa to remind you to start the import paperwork 25 years from today, or you can pick up a crate Coyote from Ford and get out your angle grinder, Sawzall, and tig-welder and do the work yourself. We're definitely not going to stop you.
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