I'm buying a Ford Ranger Raptor! We're starting a playlist that will house all of my ownership videos and this will kick it off! Last year I joined Ford on a development drive in the Victorian High Country for some final validation testing on the Everest, Ranger Raptor and Ranger, along with the ARB accessories you can fit to the car. I also explain some of the content we have coming up with my new Ranger Raptor!
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Why I bought a Ranger Raptor: 00:52
The development story: 02:34
Interview with Justin: 04:44
ARB accessories: 07:31
Verdict: 10:05
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
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#ford #ranger #raptor
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Why I bought a Ranger Raptor: 00:52
The development story: 02:34
Interview with Justin: 04:44
ARB accessories: 07:31
Verdict: 10:05
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.
Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1
You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.
Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!
Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!
CarExpert:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarExpertAus
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au
Paul Maric:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulMaric
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric
#ford #ranger #raptor
Category
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MotorTranscript
00:00 G'day, I'm Paul.
00:01 So I told you recently that I'm buying a Ford Ranger Raptor
00:05 and I'm very excited about that.
00:06 And this video is going to explain why I bought it
00:09 and it's gonna be part of an ownership series.
00:11 And that whole ownership series is gonna be in a playlist.
00:13 You can watch them all back from the start if you want to.
00:15 Today's video is gonna focus on a development trip
00:18 I did with Ford ages ago.
00:20 It was like last year
00:21 and I'm finally allowed to talk about it now.
00:23 That was a development trip
00:24 for Ranger Everest and Ranger Raptor.
00:27 So we're gonna go through the details there
00:29 and I'll run you through exactly why I'm buying this vehicle.
00:32 Now stay tuned as well next week
00:34 because we're gonna do a live Q&A
00:36 and I want you guys to help me choose a color
00:38 and also a fun registration plate for the car.
00:41 So if that has already gone live,
00:43 you can see a link for it up here,
00:44 but if it hasn't,
00:45 make sure you subscribe to our channel anyway
00:46 so you'll get notified each one of these
00:48 ownership videos goes live, but let's get started.
00:51 Now, if you have been following me on social media,
00:55 you'll know that when I bought my Tesla Model 3
00:57 and the Toyota Supra,
00:59 I bought them because there was kind of a story
01:00 and a connection behind the cars.
01:02 Didn't just buy them because I wanted a new car
01:04 and the Ranger Raptor is kind of similar.
01:06 So with the Tesla,
01:08 I was the only Australian journalist
01:10 that was invited over to the Fremont factory
01:12 when that car was launched
01:13 and I had a chance to interview
01:15 the lead program manager for that car
01:17 who was an Aussie bloke
01:18 and he had a connection back to Australia
01:20 where he worked on things like the Ford Territory
01:22 and the Falcon.
01:23 So there was kind of this Australian tie.
01:25 I then had a chance to drive a car from Los Angeles
01:28 through to Las Vegas for the SEMA show
01:30 and that was just such a cool experience
01:32 and I gelled with the car so much
01:34 that I bought the exact same car in Australia.
01:36 So same color, same interior, same spec, everything.
01:39 And it was the same story with the Supra.
01:41 I really love that BMW three liter turbocharged six.
01:45 When I heard that they were putting it in a body
01:48 that was gonna be co-developed with Toyota
01:50 and that Toyota would be doing the ride and handling work
01:52 and BMW would be doing the infotainment,
01:54 it was kind of like the perfect car.
01:56 I then had a chance to join the Toyota team in Spain
02:00 for a pre-development drive
02:01 and I don't know, I just really sort of gelled with it
02:03 and just felt at one with the car
02:05 and I knew that I had to buy one.
02:06 So the Ford here is kind of the same thing
02:09 and you'll see here in this video
02:10 that the Ford Australia team,
02:12 they've been behind the majority of the work
02:14 for Ranger and Everest and in particular Ranger Raptor,
02:17 they've put a lot of effort
02:18 into completely differentiating this vehicle
02:20 from the rest of the Ranger range.
02:23 I think that's what really excited me about it.
02:25 It made me want to drive one
02:26 but it was all solidified when I went
02:28 on this development drive with the Ford team.
02:30 So let's get stuck into that
02:32 and I'll run you through exactly how it all worked.
02:34 (upbeat music)
02:37 Why does Ford do development drives?
02:40 Well, the whole concept of a development program
02:43 is that you do all of your work on a computer,
02:46 they then build these prototypes by hand,
02:49 they're sent to Ford.
02:50 Ford does a lot of development work
02:52 then at the proving ground in closed condition
02:54 so no one can see what the car looks like
02:56 but at some point they have to hit the public roads,
02:58 they have to really see what these vehicles are like
03:00 when they are driven in and around suburbia
03:02 and on off-road tracks,
03:03 especially for things like Ranger,
03:05 Ranger Raptor and Everest.
03:07 And in this particular development drive,
03:08 Ford wanted to do some, I guess,
03:10 final validation work on ARB accessories.
03:13 So they're the off-road partner that Ford has chosen
03:15 to supply aftermarket accessories to these Ford vehicles
03:20 but they also wanted to do some final checks
03:22 on the four-wheel drive systems as well
03:23 to make sure that when a customer takes these vehicles
03:26 off-road and they push them to their limits
03:28 that they're actually going to work and they don't break.
03:31 So that was the whole point of this development drive.
03:32 So I was invited by Ford to attend with them
03:35 on one of the loops through the Victorian High Country.
03:38 Now keep in mind, it was mid-November at this point,
03:40 two weeks away from summer and it was snowing.
03:43 So the conditions were treacherous.
03:45 It really is just some of the worst off-road conditions
03:48 I've seen in this particular part of Victoria.
03:50 So it was a real good test for these cars
03:52 to make sure that all of the systems work.
03:54 Why are they all covered in camo?
03:56 Well, when we got to the hotel,
03:57 the development cars were all under tarps
03:59 with special codes on them.
04:00 And that's simply there so the public can't see
04:03 exactly what's under the tarp.
04:04 When they do take the tarp off,
04:06 the cars are then covered in camouflage.
04:07 They have these sort of fake bits on them.
04:09 And we've actually shot a separate video
04:11 explaining some of the camouflage in finer detail.
04:13 So we will run through that when that goes live.
04:15 But it's all basically to stop prying eyes.
04:17 Often these vehicles are still one or two years away
04:20 from being released and Ford doesn't want to affect
04:21 their current sales, which is why they cover everything up
04:24 as much as they can.
04:25 But let's kick things off with a bloke
04:27 called Justin Cappuccino.
04:29 He's the Ford Performance Program Manager for Ranger Raptor.
04:32 I went for a drive with him in one of the development cars
04:34 to talk through some of the engineering processes,
04:37 what has changed on the Ranger Raptor
04:39 and the surprising amount of mileage
04:41 that was on the car that we're actually driving.
04:43 Okay, so we have hit the road in the Raptor
04:46 and I'm joined by Justin.
04:47 Justin is basically in charge of the Ranger Raptor,
04:51 both here in Australia and also globally.
04:54 Justin, tell us, what has changed with this Raptor
04:58 compared to the current one
04:59 that sort of people see out on the road?
05:01 - A lot.
05:02 I suppose the big difference that everyone's gonna notice
05:05 is the step up in the powertrain.
05:07 So we're moving from a two litre bi-turbo diesel
05:09 to a three litre twin turbo petrol V6.
05:12 And within that, there's obviously a lot of other things
05:14 that we've changed downstream
05:15 to manage the additional power, right?
05:18 So it's quite torquey low down
05:19 and it's also got a pretty good top end.
05:22 So you kind of get the best of both worlds
05:23 when you're wanting to go low range,
05:25 you're getting that torquey, big stroke motor.
05:28 And then when you're really revving it out,
05:29 you've got a sort of a V6,
05:31 which does really like to rev.
05:32 - And I think suspension is another thing
05:35 worth talking about as well.
05:36 The suspension in the current gen Ranger Raptor
05:38 is pretty awesome.
05:40 This has stepped it up a notch though
05:42 and kind of relates to the F-150 as well, right?
05:44 - Yeah, similar family of suspension systems.
05:47 So it uses Fox's live valve damping system,
05:49 which is an active damping system.
05:50 So it's electronically controlled
05:52 and you can actually control that
05:53 from inside the vehicle as well.
05:56 So what it means is it controls the compression side
05:58 of the damping stroke
05:59 and it allows you to have a bigger tuning window
06:02 from a dynamics perspective,
06:03 opens up that ability to have something that works
06:07 really fast flying surfaces and also on say,
06:10 you know, just your normal public roads as well.
06:12 - Yep.
06:13 And just in terms of drive modes,
06:15 I think that that was one of the things people enjoyed
06:17 and had fun with Ranger Raptor.
06:20 What's changed now?
06:21 How are the drive modes different?
06:23 Like what can you do now that you couldn't do before?
06:24 - Yeah, so we now have seven drive modes
06:27 and within that you have a customisation ability as well.
06:30 So previously, whatever you had, you've had.
06:34 It didn't offer you any ability to change
06:36 too much outside of that.
06:37 What we do now have now is a system called MyMode,
06:40 which enables you to change things like steering.
06:42 So you can go through this,
06:44 there's different modes within your steering.
06:46 You can also change the damping from sort of a road focus
06:48 to an off-road focus.
06:50 And you can also change your exhaust.
06:51 So you can have an unquiet, normal, sports or Baja.
06:55 - Now this poor car has done like 150,000 Ks
06:59 in the period of six months.
07:01 How do you put that many Ks on a car like this?
07:03 Like what's involved in doing that kind of mileage?
07:07 - Well, you know, at Ford, everyone shares vehicles.
07:10 This doesn't belong to just one person.
07:11 It gets shared amongst a number of different departments
07:14 and divisions.
07:15 So this car has gone through like a durability cycle,
07:17 going to Dubai in about two weeks time.
07:19 So couldn't ask for a different thing
07:22 for this car to go through.
07:23 Snow this week, and then in two weeks time,
07:26 it'll be 50 degree heat in Dubai.
07:28 - That's crazy.
07:29 While the Ranger Raptor is cool,
07:33 some people need to be able to tow
07:34 and carry a greater payload.
07:36 So they're gonna skew more towards things
07:38 like the Wildtrak or perhaps an Everest
07:40 with their bigger towing capacities.
07:42 But you still can fit accessories to these vehicles.
07:45 And what Ford has done is partnered with ARB.
07:47 It's an Australian four wheel drive company.
07:49 They basically supply accessories to the aftermarket.
07:53 But Ford has taken a slightly different approach.
07:55 They're warranting all of the accessories
07:57 that ARB will fit to the Ford Ranger and Everest.
08:00 And that means that you get full warranty coverage
08:02 on any accessories you fit to the car.
08:04 You can order them from the dealer.
08:05 And they've actually been engineered
08:07 to work with the vehicle as well.
08:08 So while we were on the high country trip,
08:10 I thought I'd give you a quick walk around
08:11 in one of the cars with ARB accessories,
08:13 just to give you an idea of some of the changes they've made
08:16 and the way that they've allowed these accessories
08:18 to integrate with safety and cooling systems.
08:21 This just looks like a standard bull bar,
08:22 but what they've done as part of this package
08:24 is move the 360 camera from under the Ford logo there
08:27 down to the bumper so that it works sort of fully
08:29 as it would and as you would expect it to do on the road.
08:32 They've also moved all the parking sensors as well.
08:35 And then in addition to that,
08:36 you have the radar down here,
08:37 driving lights there as well.
08:38 And all of this is warranted too.
08:40 So as part of that Ford five-year warranty,
08:42 any ARB accessories that are fitted to the car
08:44 are completely warranted.
08:46 Now under here, you've got radar recovery points.
08:48 What they've also been able to do
08:50 is a full cooling analysis.
08:52 So this has been on the dyno with a trailer attached
08:54 to make sure that all of these accessories
08:56 don't affect the vehicle's natural cooling.
08:58 And that includes stuff like here,
08:59 you've got veins under there
09:00 that direct air into the cooling equipment.
09:03 And it means that if a customer
09:04 is actually doing some serious off-roading
09:05 or going across the country while they're towing,
09:08 that it is going to accommodate all of their needs.
09:10 Have a look under the bonnet though,
09:11 because under here you've got all of the electrical work
09:15 that an owner will be able to take advantage of.
09:17 So that includes things like a second battery
09:19 that comes with all of the mounting brackets
09:21 and the framing that you need
09:22 to actually put the battery in there.
09:24 The H7 battery as well.
09:25 So you actually have a fair bit of capacity there
09:28 to run additional components.
09:29 In addition to that, under here,
09:30 you've got an extra terminal to plug into.
09:32 So you don't need to go doing work
09:34 on the existing terminals.
09:36 And you have a separate fuse box as well
09:38 that you can plug into.
09:39 DC to DC converter that's integrated
09:41 into the front end here as well.
09:43 So it really is fully thought out
09:44 in terms of the accessories you'll be able to fit to the car
09:47 as it comes out of the box.
09:49 You won't need to do any hacking to make it all work.
09:51 So from what this looks like,
09:53 it's a pretty impressive setup.
09:54 This is just a prototype.
09:55 So it means that all of this stuff
09:56 is going to look better in the production vehicle,
09:58 but certainly a good start.
10:00 And this engineering trip will give the guys
10:02 a better understanding of what works
10:03 and what needs to be changed ahead of the car's launch.
10:05 Now, I hope you enjoyed that.
10:07 What are my plans for, I guess, this content series?
10:10 Well, I want to take you through everything
10:12 to do with owning the car.
10:13 So that's ordering it, the pre-delivery process,
10:16 delivering the car, running it in,
10:18 all that sort of fun stuff.
10:19 Then we have other content planned
10:22 with one of the other cars that I've bought as well.
10:24 So we're going to tie that in together a little bit.
10:27 And then I want to be led by you guys as well.
10:29 What do you want to see us do with my Ranger Raptor?
10:32 Now, please don't say dropping it out of a plane or something
10:34 'cause I've spent my own money on this car.
10:36 But let me know in the comment section below,
10:37 is there anything in particular you would like to see us do
10:40 with the Ranger Raptor to give you a better idea
10:42 of what the car's like and what it's capable of?
10:45 So let me know down there in the comment section below.
10:47 Now, remember, we do have a live Q&A taking place.
10:50 So make sure you subscribe to the channel
10:52 and enable notifications.
10:53 That will let you know when that goes live.
10:55 If you do miss that, you will be able to shoot me a message
10:57 on social media or any other platform
10:59 that I'm on at the moment
11:00 to get a better idea of what is going on.
11:02 Now, if you did enjoy this video,
11:03 please make sure you like it
11:05 and you share it with your mates.
11:06 And if you haven't done so already,
11:07 subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon
11:09 so you can find out when we do these things
11:11 plus the live stuff that we're gonna try and do
11:14 in the future as well.
11:15 But until next time, take it easy.