Saturday, February 6, 2010

Road Test Review: 2010 2011 New Ford F-150 SVT Raptor

Road Test Review: 2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor









That is a really awesome truck, but who in their right mind would buy one before the 6.2L is introduced?people who have never driven it don't have a clue about how good the 5.4 propels this truck. The traction control has to be turned OFF on it already. The only place the 6.2 will truly be able to stretch it's legs is on clean dry pavement where it can hook up. If Raptor owners wanted a pavement queen, they'd buy a used SRT10. The 5.4 coupled with the awesome 6 speed is completely adequate for the Raptor. THe 6.2 will be icing on the cake, but those 5.4 owners will have been enjoying their Raptors for almost a half a year before those wanting 6.2s ever touch the steering wheel of theirs. The difference isn't going to be that astoundingRoad Test Review: 2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor




Some of the most fun we had was trying to get the Raptor sideways. As much as we gripe about wanting more power from the 5.4-liter V-8 in the F-150, in the Raptor it lets you tail-slide with precision instead of overpowering the truck if you’re accidentally too strong with the throttle. You simply angle the wheel, hit the throttle and enjoy the tail-slide. In flat stretches, you can really let the Raptor rip and drift through the bends. The grippy 315/70R17 BF Goodrich tires and wide stance (about 6.5-inches wider than a standard F-150) add to the stability. Body control is excellent.The F-150’s weight played against it a bit as it sunk into sticky mud, but the truck’ never let us down when we needed extra power to scoot out of a slick situation.
Though it wasn’t as dramatic as power sliding in a wash, we played with the Raptor’s Hill Descent Control. Several times we let the truck crawl its way down some very steep hills. The HDC walks the truck by modulating the antilock braking system automatically so you can keep your foot off the brake and simply steer the truck in the proper direction. The Raptor’s HDC is the quietest we’ve experienced. The ABS modulations were smooth and unobtrusive. Once, the Raptor started to slide a bit going downhill because of the slick mud, but it quickly regained its footing as the tires bit into more solid dirt.
Each time we started crawling the truck down the grades, a small group of spectators and passing dirt bikers stopped to watch, and each time we gave what was probably a less dramatic show then they thought they’d see.

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