#only 6 ft at the shoulder!!! (when in ~raptor mode~)

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

mods asleep post Rogers II

[cyberghost-scout]

tfa oc information: Flow

Name: Flow

Rank: Codebreaker/ Seeker

Continuity Origins: Animated (2007) {Willingly go for multi-verse. A fun story for that one.}

Faction: Decepticon (ex)

Gender: Femme

Height: 30 ft 6 in/ 9.2964 m

Sexuality:��Pansexual

Family unit: Phantasma (Amica endurae's sibling) 

Ghostwire (Amica endurae)

Fedelis (Old mech that's grumpy but he cares for her.)

Delta Queen (Past boss affectionately calls her Aunty Delta)

Function: Before defection- Decoding and encoding messages and hacking if needed for missions.

Post defection: Esursing their tracks covered with encryption. A fashionista that sells some jewelry on the side for finances.

Frame-Type: Jetformer/Seeker/Entertainment Frame

Alt mode: Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor

Forged by two carriers into Voss' artisan class. Flow's dainty and full of elegance. She's also shorter than the average seeker because she's not from the warrior/ higher caste and slightly sparked prematurely. She had spent most of her youngling-hood dressing up in her mommies' costumes when they were not on stage. Or learning to hack the computers to watch her culture's stunning shows and fashion.

While Flow growing up was very happy to dance and master her craft. Everyone around her recognized that she also had a gift with technology- hacking said tech. And they are very supportive of her hobbies, so when Flow asked if she could work in a lab. They all helped her; however, she had to move for a brief stint and get an outside job. So she took a job at a burlesque club called the Royal's Den and found a boyfriend... She worked hard on encryption, learning how to black tracers, and much more. However, it was not a pleasant experience. Sadly those working in the labs look down on her kind. And expect her to do all the work and take the credit from her. Worse, the ex-boyfriend set that up. After a final straw of the jerkwad pulling a cruel fake break-up prank-- Flow had it. She broke off the relationship by breaking the spikeless jerk's leg by kicking, and head back to the lab and took everything she had worked on that was not claimed by others. Hacked the system to release all those dirty rats' secrets out in the open. And then quite the job with registration with a lipstick kiss. And she went back to the Royal's Den and explained what happened with sparkache... and surprisingly, they were very supportive and caring for her after what happened. 

She stayed and had a lot more fun going side gigs of encrypting some security while full timing as a star dancer in the bar. So why was she in the war? Well, Decepticon recruitment noticed the seeker's proficiency in her encryption work... and not so subtle warning that refusal was not an option, yeah... She was not having a great time being in a war.

She was promoted as a seeker and stayed behind the lines to crack down codes and such. She's not as talented as Shockwave. But she kept up-- despite her emotionally breaking down and crying. She may not see the carnage, but the weight on her shoulders about who lives or dies depends on how fast she can crack down the code. She did not want anyone to die. She would have snapped like a twig if it weren't for Fedelis being around.

Then one day, Ghostwire came in. Flow was confused by this very stiff grounder, slightly around her age, maybe younger. She kind of looked like a cat- a lonely one. So she walked over, taking her somewhere where they could chat. Thus the start of the two's friendship.

Eventually, after what had happened at the war's end, Flow was the first of the three to propose to not stay when all they asked what to do next after it was clear things were not looking better- It was clear as day that no one is happy. And she had an answer to keep themselves safe. Something she took all those years ago from the lab. She noticed that bug in older generation space bridges, and all groundbrigdes have and explored it- long story short: Flow learned this bug not only acts as the last button to locations but can open up into many alternative universes. And she used it.

With what's last of the squad and later a few pets and Ghostwire's sister, somehow alive after all these vons, the clan traveled across the universe and occasionally Alternate Universe. Thanks for a fascinating quirk with old space bridges Flow exploits. 

[robertkstone]

2019 Ford Ranger First Test: Old Dogs and New Tricks

The shiny, black 2019 Ford Ranger idled up, but I could smell the brakes from across the parking lot. The window rolled down, and from inside came the determination I was expecting, not the one I was hoping for.

“They spent an entire afternoon on chassis dynamics, did they?” testing director Kim Reynolds asked, rhetorically.

Uh, oh.

Kim learned in one figure-eight test what I’d been hoping  for a week wasn’t true. The new Ranger is never settled. Its body is always moving, and as a result, so is yours. Bouncing up and down, tossed side to side, thrown forward or back into the seat. And that’s the Lariat model. We drove the FX4 off-road model, as well, and it was even worse. Entering a driveway at an angle was guaranteed to send your head flying toward the door window like that viral video of the people in the speedboat getting tossed like ragdolls. You constantly feel like a buoy in rough seas. I actually crawled under the truck to verify that A) it had anti-roll bars, and B) they were connected (yes and yes). The Lariat is better, yes, but as features editor Christian Seabaugh put it, “If the FX4 is a 2/10 in ride quality, the Lariat is a 5/10. At least the Lariat doesn’t make me carsick.”

“The Ranger, being the newest truck on the market, somehow manages to feel the oldest and least refined,” road test editor Chris Walton said. “It feels like a ’90s F-150.”

This is the company that builds the F-150 Raptor, a truck that charges across deserts floating like a classic Lincoln. It’s a company we awarded Truck of the Year in 2017 and 2018 for the excellent F-Series Super Duty and F-150, respectively, with little deliberation required. Trucks are what Ford does best … most of the time. To say the Ranger’s ride, handling, and noise/vibration/harshness are disappointing is to say the Super Bowl is a football game. You can improve it marginally by putting weight in the bed, but with Ford pitching this as a “lifestyle” truck, I have to wonder how many owners are going to haul anything but air.

That out of the way, the 2019 Ranger isn’t all bad. Some enthusiasts scoffed when Ford announced the only U.S. engine would be the 2.3-liter EcoBoost turbo-four, but Ford made the right call. Turbo lag is nearly nonexistent, and the low- to midrange torque makes the truck feel quicker than it is. Whether daily driving or doing work, you’re never worried it won’t have enough guts. The 10-speed auto is generally a good transmission, but it gets confused easily in stop-and-go traffic, resulting in clunky downshifts. The automatic engine stop/start system is quick and smooth, as is the transmission in Sport mode.

The objective numbers mostly attest to this for the Lariat model we instrumented. Hitting 60 mph from a stop takes 6.8 seconds, perfectly acceptable despite being nearly half a second behind a Chevrolet Colorado V-6. A 15.2-second standing quarter mile at 91.3 mph means getting on the freeway is no chore, though you’ll still be chasing that Chevy. Things look just as good in the handling data, despite Reynolds’ subjective opinion that it’s “really bad at the limit.” He continued: “You can explain some of this away by pointing at the tires, but the truck’s damping is very absent. There’s lots of roll but too much bounding after that.” Still, it pulled 0.75 average g on the skidpad, just behind the Colorado’s 0.78 g. The Ranger was even closer on the figure-eight course, completing a lap in 27.7 seconds at 0.61 g average, just a smidge behind the Colorado’s 27.6-second lap at 0.63 average g.

Braking likewise looks good on paper. The Ranger actually out-braked the Colorado from 60 mph, 127 feet to 128. Had the brakes not been stinking to high heaven and the tester’s notes not read “big delay between pedal hit and actual slowing, as braking begins at the max dive angle—like taking up all the slack first,” it would’ve been at least one decisive victory for the Blue Oval.

The brake dive is just another reminder this is an old truck designed for a different market. Originally introduced in 2011 for countries with rougher roads and no full-size pickups, the Ranger was meant to be an old-fashioned workhorse, not an American “lifestyle” truck. The steering is slow and over-boosted, requiring constant corrections through a long corner. The idle is rough, and the mechanical cooling fan is as loud as a semi truck’s. The tailgate is completely undamped and unassisted. Old-school.

Put it to work, though, and it starts to make sense. Like I said, a load in the bed or a trailer on the hitch settles the body down somewhat and doesn’t faze the engine much. The interior of the bed is wide, swallowing more cargo than the 4-inch-narrower Colorado’s, and it offers a handy extra set of tie-downs just behind the wheelwells in addition to the usual four corners. Ford has taken the mantle of best-in-class payload and towing by small margins, but those extra safety margins count for something. The ground clearance is reassuring out in the back 40, but it does mean the bed floor is high, and the bed rails are high enough I can’t reach the bottom of the bed standing next to the truck as I can on the competitors. Work is what this truck is meant for, and what it does best.

Climb into the cabin, and you’re reminded of that singular focus. The dashboard looks nothing like an F-150’s but rather like a more upright version of the Focus’, also designed by engineers outside the U.S. The dash-mounted power mirror control looks straight out of 1996, and the climate control buttons are small and mounted at the bottom of the dash where you won’t be pressing them with work-gloved hands like you can in an F-150. The rear bench is the only one on the American market (midsize or full-size) that isn’t split folding, so everyone and everything needs to get out if you need something from under the back seat. Not that you’ll be storing much under there, as there are only two little cubbies good for a few ratchet straps, maybe a ball hitch, and not much else. To be fair, though, the Honda Ridgeline is the only truck in this class that gives you a flat rear floor if you fold the seat up, but others offer more storage space than Ford.

Look closer, though, and you’ll find extreme modernity hiding in plain sight. The 2019 Ranger offers standard collision warning and automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection and a backup camera, and it can be outfitted with lane departure warning, lane keeping assistance, rear parking sensors that are heinously loud, adaptive cruise control, navigation, and the only blind-spot monitor in the class that can extend to cover a trailer. Then there’s Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, Waze, and Alexa compatibility, plus built-in Wi-Fi. You also get more USB ports than the competition, plus you can get a 110-volt power outlet in the rear cabin and one in the bed.

The new Ranger is a great truck if you want an old truck with modern technology and fuel economy, and many truck guys say they want that. More power to them. If you’re getting out of a 25-year-old truck and into this one, it’ll be an upgrade. The reason we’re so down on the Ranger is because Ford completely oversold the differentiation between this truck and the world market version. To hear the Blue Oval tell it, the U.S.-market Ranger is practically an all-new truck with all-new sheetmetal, an all-new powertrain, and all-new technology. Although that’s all technically true, it’s clear most of the new stuff was a necessity for American crash and emissions compliance, not a fundamental redesign to suit American tastes and expectations. It’s a placeholder filling a gap in the product lineup until the next-generation truck arrives in a few years, designed with input from American product planners. That’s not a bad thing, but it’s not what we were promised, either. You can absolutely teach an old dog new tricks, but you can’t expect it to perform like a puppy.

2019 Ford Ranger Lariat 4×4 Ecoboost POWERTRAIN/CHASSIS DRIVETRAIN LAYOUT Front-engine, 4WD ENGINE TYPE Turbocharged I-4, alum block/head VALVETRAIN DOHC, 4 valves/cyl DISPLACEMENT 138.0 cu in/2,261 cc COMPRESSION RATIO 10.0:1 POWER (SAE NET) 270 hp @ 5,500 rpm TORQUE (SAE NET) 310 lb-ft @ 3,000 rpm REDLINE 6,500 rpm WEIGHT TO POWER 16.9 lb/hp TRANSMISSION 10-speed automatic AXLE/FINAL-DRIVE/LOW RATIO 3.73:1/2.37:1/2.72:1 SUSPENSION, FRONT; REAR Control arms, coil springs, anti-roll bar; live axle, leaf springs STEERING RATIO 17.7:1 TURNS LOCK TO LOCK 3.1 BRAKES, F; R 12.2-in vented disc; 12.1-in vented disc, ABS WHEELS 8.0 x 18-in cast aluminum TIRES 265/60R18 110T (M+S) Hankook Dynapro ATM DIMENSIONS WHEELBASE 126.8 in TRACK, F/R 61.4/61.4 in LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT 210.8 x 73.3 x 71.5 in TURNING CIRCLE 42.0 ft CURB WEIGHT 4,551 lb WEIGHT DIST, F/R 57/43% SEATING CAPACITY 5 HEADROOM, F/R 39.8/38.3 in LEGROOM, F/R 43.1/34.5 in SHOULDER ROOM, F/R 56.7/56.3 in PICKUP BOX L x W x H 61.0 x 61.4 x 20.8 in WIDTH BET WHEELHOUSES 44.8 in PAYLOAD CAPACITY 1,560 lb TOWING CAPACITY 7,500 lb TEST DATA ACCELERATION TO MPH 0-30 2.5 sec 0-40 3.6 0-50 5.1 0-60 6.8 0-70 8.9 0-80 11.4 0-90 14.8 0-100 18.8 PASSING, 45-65 MPH 3.4 IFTTT

[eddiejpoplar]

One Week With: 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor SuperCrew

LOS ANGELES, California — I’ve just finished a nearly 400-mile stint in the 2017 Ford Raptor, and I feel perplexed. If you absorb the messaging Ford created for this truck—just take a look at it competing in and completing the Baja 1000 and then driving hundreds of miles back to home base—you might start to imagine the production truck at your local Ford dealership is a purpose-built, knobby-tire monster with enough suspension travel to mimic Baja’s more hardcore race trucks. Yet after a day that included a romp through the ruts, jumps, and the desert landscapes that make up the El Mirage Dry Lake off-road area, I realized my imagination may have gotten the best of me.

Going through the Raptor’s spec sheet, several bullet points affirm my original expectation. Key bits include a strengthened frame to cope with the stress created by off-road use, Fox Racing-sourced shocks with internal bypasses—giving the Raptor more than 13 inches of suspension travel (13.9 up front, 14.0 at rear)—an electronic locking rear differential with a 4.10 ratio, Terrain Management with six selectable drive modes including Baja mode, and 315/70R-17 BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 tires. Add a 3.5-liter twin-turbo V-6 that is related to the one used in the Ford GT supercar, here generating 450 hp and 510 lb-ft of torque.

Out among the scrub brush and loamy sand of El Mirage, however, I felt as if my fillings and every single one of the truck’s bolts would shake loose. “This couldn’t be the truck Ford took to the Baja 1000,” I thought to myself.

While El Mirage is best known for its large dry lakebed, where people come to set land-speed records, many are unfamiliar with its Off-road Highway Vehicle (OHV) area. On the outskirts of the lakebed, the desert terrain is something very much out of “Mad Max: Fury Road,” and its paths and trails are what you’d expect if someone used toad skin as tarmac, ranging from soft and sandy to rutted with slight jumps. None of it is smooth and all of it requires a firm grasp of just what your automobile—and its occupants—are capable of enduring.

Unfortunately, I took my parents along on my off-road adventure and based on the “ouch,” “ooh,” and “could we please slow down” exclamations coming from the rear-seat area, the actual experience of beating on the Raptor didn’t seem to match the idealic image I expected.

At the start of our trip, I had plenty of confidence in the Raptor. On the highway, the truck wallows and undulates with the ribbon-like freeways of the Los Angeles area. The ride is reminiscent of an old Cadillac’s—soft, supple, and squishy, to the point you might become entranced by the road’s rhythmic ripple. It felt very similar to other off-road trucks I’ve driven or ridden in. This only increased my anticipation for running in the dirt.

But unlike those trucks, the Raptor isn’t a pure race vehicle inside and out. Ultimately it is made for the real world, so its seats are almost luxurious in terms of leather quality and soft padding; very different from the hardback, fixed position racing seats in ready-for-anything off-roaders. Then there’s the working air-conditioning, a must in the slightly hellish 104-degree Southern Californian sun, which kept the entire cabin a cool 71 degrees for the entire trip. It even has a Bose-sourced stereo system, which while not as good as Volvo’s Bowers & Wilkins system (which in my opinion is the best in the industry), provided crisp high notes and seat-vibrating bass notes. It provided great backing tracks through the barren landscape.

But as we transitioned from the lakebed’s smooth, almost pavement-like texture, the squishy cadence withered away in the desert heat as we made our way onto the OHV area’s rocky and rolly terrain. We crossed the lake’s once-wet shores and the truck immediately felt out of place to me. As did my parents, who bounced up and down, nearly hitting their heads on the Raptor’s ceiling.

The terrain began with large mounds of hard-packed dirt, which we had to take slowly, then progressed to small faster ruts, and finally ended with forgiving sand and a fast little rhythm section. It was a true off-road experience, the first of my parents’ lives. But while the truck came out the other end uninjured and ready for more, the same couldn’t be said for our merry group of adventurers.

Every bit of heaved and rippled substrate made itself known through the chassis and jolted its way into the cabin. My right shoulder ached by the end, reminding me of the motorcycle wreck it took the brunt of some years ago. My dad was giggling but his back hurt. And both my mother and my wife checked to see if half a day’s worth of trail driving rearranged their internal organs. At one point during the drive, the truck bounced, rattled, and shook everyone inside the cabin so much that my mom asked me to stop along the rutted path for a moment as she was getting a headache. All of us felt like we had just gone through a tumble cycle in a rock-filled dryer with knives added for good measure. Of course, the experience of riding in a real honest-to-goodness Trophy Truck across Baja is also a long, long way removed from being chauffeured around town in a Rolls-Royce Wraith. So yes, I might have, ahem, misrepresented to my family what they were in for. I suspect they would have preferred the Wraith route, had it been an available alternative.

The rest stop and momentary spinal reprieve it provided gave me a chance to contemplate the Raptor’s real-world manners. I recognized how I allowed those initial marketing campaigns to convince me the Raptor would be a Trophy Truck-style, race-ready off-roader that could soak up ruts, pits, rocks, crevices, jumps, and any other type of geographic protuberance with aplomb. And actually, it did well to cope with all I threw at it. But if you have ever, as I did, imagined what the ride is actually like, know that it feels more akin to an off-road modified street truck, although with noticeably more capability than your average road-going F-150.

That’s not to say we didn’t have fun—we hit the outskirts of the lakebed and drifted through its soft surface layer, kicking up a rooster tail and caking the truck’s undercarriage with enough fossilized animal material to start our own natural history museum. We also found a small jump, which is when both my mom and dad decided to exit the rollercoaster as they didn’t want any other Raptor-induced aches. But not unexpectedly, the truck, and both my wife’s spine and mine, handled the small jump well, although my dad told me I could’ve gone bigger. Funny how quickly bravado returns when you are no longer suffering its effects in real time, isn’t it?

At the end, I admitted I let my own perception, and love of all things off-road, get the best of me. By the time I finally drove the Raptor in its “natural environment,” I foolishly expected a trophy truck experience. I was wrong. Way wrong. While the Raptor is definitely capable of taking an absolute beating, it’s still very much a road-going truck with some very good off-road credentials. It’s also a hell of a deal compared to true race-ready Baja machines which retail in the mid-to-high six figures, or just six to seven times the price of the $54,065 Raptor SuperCrew seen here. Regardless, I had a great time playing off-road hero for a day. I just have to accept the fact a showroom-stock Raptor and I won’t be challenging Robby Gordon for the Baja podium without some additional assembly required.

2017 Ford Raptor F-150 SuperCrew

ON SALE Now PRICE $54,065 (base) ENGINE 3.5L twin-turbo DOHC 24-valve V-6/450 hp @ 5,000 rpm, 510 lb-ft @ 3,500 rpm TRANSMISSION 10-speed automatic LAYOUT 4-door, 5-passenger, front-engine truck EPA MILEAGE 15/18 mpg (city/hwy) L x W x H 231.9 x 86.3 x 78.5 in WHEELBASE 146.0 in WEIGHT 5,694 lb 0-60 MPH 6.1 sec TOP SPEED 105 mph

IFTTT

[jesusvasser]

One Week With: 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor SuperCrew

LOS ANGELES, California — I’ve just finished a nearly 400-mile stint in the 2017 Ford Raptor, and I feel perplexed. If you absorb the messaging Ford created for this truck—just take a look at it competing in and completing the Baja 1000 and then driving hundreds of miles back to home base—you might start to imagine the production truck at your local Ford dealership is a purpose-built, knobby-tire monster with enough suspension travel to mimic Baja’s more hardcore race trucks. Yet after a day that included a romp through the ruts, jumps, and the desert landscapes that make up the El Mirage Dry Lake off-road area, I realized my imagination may have gotten the best of me.

Going through the Raptor’s spec sheet, several bullet points affirm my original expectation. Key bits include a strengthened frame to cope with the stress created by off-road use, Fox Racing-sourced shocks with internal bypasses—giving the Raptor more than 13 inches of suspension travel (13.9 up front, 14.0 at rear)—an electronic locking rear differential with a 4.10 ratio, Terrain Management with six selectable drive modes including Baja mode, and 315/70R-17 BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 tires. Add a 3.5-liter twin-turbo V-6 that is related to the one used in the Ford GT supercar, here generating 450 hp and 510 lb-ft of torque.

Out among the scrub brush and loamy sand of El Mirage, however, I felt as if my fillings and every single one of the truck’s bolts would shake loose. “This couldn’t be the truck Ford took to the Baja 1000,” I thought to myself.

While El Mirage is best known for its large dry lakebed, where people come to set land-speed records, many are unfamiliar with its Off-road Highway Vehicle (OHV) area. On the outskirts of the lakebed, the desert terrain is something very much out of “Mad Max: Fury Road,” and its paths and trails are what you’d expect if someone used toad skin as tarmac, ranging from soft and sandy to rutted with slight jumps. None of it is smooth and all of it requires a firm grasp of just what your automobile—and its occupants—are capable of enduring.

Unfortunately, I took my parents along on my off-road adventure and based on the “ouch,” “ooh,” and “could we please slow down” exclamations coming from the rear-seat area, the actual experience of beating on the Raptor didn’t seem to match the idealic image I expected.

At the start of our trip, I had plenty of confidence in the Raptor. On the highway, the truck wallows and undulates with the ribbon-like freeways of the Los Angeles area. The ride is reminiscent of an old Cadillac’s—soft, supple, and squishy, to the point you might become entranced by the road’s rhythmic ripple. It felt very similar to other off-road trucks I’ve driven or ridden in. This only increased my anticipation for running in the dirt.

But unlike those trucks, the Raptor isn’t a pure race vehicle inside and out. Ultimately it is made for the real world, so its seats are almost luxurious in terms of leather quality and soft padding; very different from the hardback, fixed position racing seats in ready-for-anything off-roaders. Then there’s the working air-conditioning, a must in the slightly hellish 104-degree Southern Californian sun, which kept the entire cabin a cool 71 degrees for the entire trip. It even has a Bose-sourced stereo system, which while not as good as Volvo’s Bowers & Wilkins system (which in my opinion is the best in the industry), provided crisp high notes and seat-vibrating bass notes. It provided great backing tracks through the barren landscape.

But as we transitioned from the lakebed’s smooth, almost pavement-like texture, the squishy cadence withered away in the desert heat as we made our way onto the OHV area’s rocky and rolly terrain. We crossed the lake’s once-wet shores and the truck immediately felt out of place to me. As did my parents, who bounced up and down, nearly hitting their heads on the Raptor’s ceiling.

The terrain began with large mounds of hard-packed dirt, which we had to take slowly, then progressed to small faster ruts, and finally ended with forgiving sand and a fast little rhythm section. It was a true off-road experience, the first of my parents’ lives. But while the truck came out the other end uninjured and ready for more, the same couldn’t be said for our merry group of adventurers.

Every bit of heaved and rippled substrate made itself known through the chassis and jolted its way into the cabin. My right shoulder ached by the end, reminding me of the motorcycle wreck it took the brunt of some years ago. My dad was giggling but his back hurt. And both my mother and my wife checked to see if half a day’s worth of trail driving rearranged their internal organs. At one point during the drive, the truck bounced, rattled, and shook everyone inside the cabin so much that my mom asked me to stop along the rutted path for a moment as she was getting a headache. All of us felt like we had just gone through a tumble cycle in a rock-filled dryer with knives added for good measure. Of course, the experience of riding in a real honest-to-goodness Trophy Truck across Baja is also a long, long way removed from being chauffeured around town in a Rolls-Royce Wraith. So yes, I might have, ahem, misrepresented to my family what they were in for. I suspect they would have preferred the Wraith route, had it been an available alternative.

The rest stop and momentary spinal reprieve it provided gave me a chance to contemplate the Raptor’s real-world manners. I recognized how I allowed those initial marketing campaigns to convince me the Raptor would be a Trophy Truck-style, race-ready off-roader that could soak up ruts, pits, rocks, crevices, jumps, and any other type of geographic protuberance with aplomb. And actually, it did well to cope with all I threw at it. But if you have ever, as I did, imagined what the ride is actually like, know that it feels more akin to an off-road modified street truck, although with noticeably more capability than your average road-going F-150.

That’s not to say we didn’t have fun—we hit the outskirts of the lakebed and drifted through its soft surface layer, kicking up a rooster tail and caking the truck’s undercarriage with enough fossilized animal material to start our own natural history museum. We also found a small jump, which is when both my mom and dad decided to exit the rollercoaster as they didn’t want any other Raptor-induced aches. But not unexpectedly, the truck, and both my wife’s spine and mine, handled the small jump well, although my dad told me I could’ve gone bigger. Funny how quickly bravado returns when you are no longer suffering its effects in real time, isn’t it?

At the end, I admitted I let my own perception, and love of all things off-road, get the best of me. By the time I finally drove the Raptor in its “natural environment,” I foolishly expected a trophy truck experience. I was wrong. Way wrong. While the Raptor is definitely capable of taking an absolute beating, it’s still very much a road-going truck with some very good off-road credentials. It’s also a hell of a deal compared to true race-ready Baja machines which retail in the mid-to-high six figures, or just six to seven times the price of the $54,065 Raptor SuperCrew seen here. Regardless, I had a great time playing off-road hero for a day. I just have to accept the fact a showroom-stock Raptor and I won’t be challenging Robby Gordon for the Baja podium without some additional assembly required.

2017 Ford Raptor F-150 SuperCrew

ON SALE Now PRICE $54,065 (base) ENGINE 3.5L twin-turbo DOHC 24-valve V-6/450 hp @ 5,000 rpm, 510 lb-ft @ 3,500 rpm TRANSMISSION 10-speed automatic LAYOUT 4-door, 5-passenger, front-engine truck EPA MILEAGE 15/18 mpg (city/hwy) L x W x H 231.9 x 86.3 x 78.5 in WHEELBASE 146.0 in WEIGHT 5,694 lb 0-60 MPH 6.1 sec TOP SPEED 105 mph

IFTTT

[jonathanbelloblog]

One Week With: 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor SuperCrew

LOS ANGELES, California — I’ve just finished a nearly 400-mile stint in the 2017 Ford Raptor, and I feel perplexed. If you absorb the messaging Ford created for this truck—just take a look at it competing in and completing the Baja 1000 and then driving hundreds of miles back to home base—you might start to imagine the production truck at your local Ford dealership is a purpose-built, knobby-tire monster with enough suspension travel to mimic Baja’s more hardcore race trucks. Yet after a day that included a romp through the ruts, jumps, and the desert landscapes that make up the El Mirage Dry Lake off-road area, I realized my imagination may have gotten the best of me.

Going through the Raptor’s spec sheet, several bullet points affirm my original expectation. Key bits include a strengthened frame to cope with the stress created by off-road use, Fox Racing-sourced shocks with internal bypasses—giving the Raptor more than 13 inches of suspension travel (13.9 up front, 14.0 at rear)—an electronic locking rear differential with a 4.10 ratio, Terrain Management with six selectable drive modes including Baja mode, and 315/70R-17 BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 tires. Add a 3.5-liter twin-turbo V-6 that is related to the one used in the Ford GT supercar, here generating 450 hp and 510 lb-ft of torque.

Out among the scrub brush and loamy sand of El Mirage, however, I felt as if my fillings and every single one of the truck’s bolts would shake loose. “This couldn’t be the truck Ford took to the Baja 1000,” I thought to myself.

While El Mirage is best known for its large dry lakebed, where people come to set land-speed records, many are unfamiliar with its Off-road Highway Vehicle (OHV) area. On the outskirts of the lakebed, the desert terrain is something very much out of “Mad Max: Fury Road,” and its paths and trails are what you’d expect if someone used toad skin as tarmac, ranging from soft and sandy to rutted with slight jumps. None of it is smooth and all of it requires a firm grasp of just what your automobile—and its occupants—are capable of enduring.

Unfortunately, I took my parents along on my off-road adventure and based on the “ouch,” “ooh,” and “could we please slow down” exclamations coming from the rear-seat area, the actual experience of beating on the Raptor didn’t seem to match the idealic image I expected.

At the start of our trip, I had plenty of confidence in the Raptor. On the highway, the truck wallows and undulates with the ribbon-like freeways of the Los Angeles area. The ride is reminiscent of an old Cadillac’s—soft, supple, and squishy, to the point you might become entranced by the road’s rhythmic ripple. It felt very similar to other off-road trucks I’ve driven or ridden in. This only increased my anticipation for running in the dirt.

But unlike those trucks, the Raptor isn’t a pure race vehicle inside and out. Ultimately it is made for the real world, so its seats are almost luxurious in terms of leather quality and soft padding; very different from the hardback, fixed position racing seats in ready-for-anything off-roaders. Then there’s the working air-conditioning, a must in the slightly hellish 104-degree Southern Californian sun, which kept the entire cabin a cool 71 degrees for the entire trip. It even has a Bose-sourced stereo system, which while not as good as Volvo’s Bowers & Wilkins system (which in my opinion is the best in the industry), provided crisp high notes and seat-vibrating bass notes. It provided great backing tracks through the barren landscape.

But as we transitioned from the lakebed’s smooth, almost pavement-like texture, the squishy cadence withered away in the desert heat as we made our way onto the OHV area’s rocky and rolly terrain. We crossed the lake’s once-wet shores and the truck immediately felt out of place to me. As did my parents, who bounced up and down, nearly hitting their heads on the Raptor’s ceiling.

The terrain began with large mounds of hard-packed dirt, which we had to take slowly, then progressed to small faster ruts, and finally ended with forgiving sand and a fast little rhythm section. It was a true off-road experience, the first of my parents’ lives. But while the truck came out the other end uninjured and ready for more, the same couldn’t be said for our merry group of adventurers.

Every bit of heaved and rippled substrate made itself known through the chassis and jolted its way into the cabin. My right shoulder ached by the end, reminding me of the motorcycle wreck it took the brunt of some years ago. My dad was giggling but his back hurt. And both my mother and my wife checked to see if half a day’s worth of trail driving rearranged their internal organs. At one point during the drive, the truck bounced, rattled, and shook everyone inside the cabin so much that my mom asked me to stop along the rutted path for a moment as she was getting a headache. All of us felt like we had just gone through a tumble cycle in a rock-filled dryer with knives added for good measure. Of course, the experience of riding in a real honest-to-goodness Trophy Truck across Baja is also a long, long way removed from being chauffeured around town in a Rolls-Royce Wraith. So yes, I might have, ahem, misrepresented to my family what they were in for. I suspect they would have preferred the Wraith route, had it been an available alternative.

The rest stop and momentary spinal reprieve it provided gave me a chance to contemplate the Raptor’s real-world manners. I recognized how I allowed those initial marketing campaigns to convince me the Raptor would be a Trophy Truck-style, race-ready off-roader that could soak up ruts, pits, rocks, crevices, jumps, and any other type of geographic protuberance with aplomb. And actually, it did well to cope with all I threw at it. But if you have ever, as I did, imagined what the ride is actually like, know that it feels more akin to an off-road modified street truck, although with noticeably more capability than your average road-going F-150.

That’s not to say we didn’t have fun—we hit the outskirts of the lakebed and drifted through its soft surface layer, kicking up a rooster tail and caking the truck’s undercarriage with enough fossilized animal material to start our own natural history museum. We also found a small jump, which is when both my mom and dad decided to exit the rollercoaster as they didn’t want any other Raptor-induced aches. But not unexpectedly, the truck, and both my wife’s spine and mine, handled the small jump well, although my dad told me I could’ve gone bigger. Funny how quickly bravado returns when you are no longer suffering its effects in real time, isn’t it?

At the end, I admitted I let my own perception, and love of all things off-road, get the best of me. By the time I finally drove the Raptor in its “natural environment,” I foolishly expected a trophy truck experience. I was wrong. Way wrong. While the Raptor is definitely capable of taking an absolute beating, it’s still very much a road-going truck with some very good off-road credentials. It’s also a hell of a deal compared to true race-ready Baja machines which retail in the mid-to-high six figures, or just six to seven times the price of the $54,065 Raptor SuperCrew seen here. Regardless, I had a great time playing off-road hero for a day. I just have to accept the fact a showroom-stock Raptor and I won’t be challenging Robby Gordon for the Baja podium without some additional assembly required.

2017 Ford Raptor F-150 SuperCrew

ON SALE Now PRICE $54,065 (base) ENGINE 3.5L twin-turbo DOHC 24-valve V-6/450 hp @ 5,000 rpm, 510 lb-ft @ 3,500 rpm TRANSMISSION 10-speed automatic LAYOUT 4-door, 5-passenger, front-engine truck EPA MILEAGE 15/18 mpg (city/hwy) L x W x H 231.9 x 86.3 x 78.5 in WHEELBASE 146.0 in WEIGHT 5,694 lb 0-60 MPH 6.1 sec TOP SPEED 105 mph

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