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And here we go, up the hill, this is glorious okay.
Lift the nose in, catch the side, pop around this corner, big air.
Whoa [LAUGH] it really well takes the punch with this And surprisingly driveable, you just have to be prepared to grab it by throat, that's all.
You can't be afraid of it.
Otherwise, it will eat you for breakfast and you'll find it doing things that you don't want it to do.
Positive on the brakes, positive on the throttle, and be prepared for it to move around.
[LAUGH] And then it's a whole lot of fun.
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We'll come back to the Ford F150 Raptor in a moment, but first I think I ought to introduce what is arguably the star of the show.
This is the Hungry Valley State Vehicular Recreational Park.
Just off interstate five north of LA, which is spread out over 20,000 acres and has 130 miles of trails, graded and severity like ski runs from green through blue to black, but vast though this place seems, which is only the third largest in the state of California
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The state purchased the land about 40 years ago.
This is brilliant.
We've hardly seen anybody here today.
And it's the perfect environment for this car.
Sorry, truck.
[LAUGH]
It's very definitely a truck.
Recently back in the UK I tried the Ranger Raptor.
I really rather enjoyed it.
That is the smaller brother of this, the F-150 and I was really keen when we came across it in America.
Try the bigger brother.
The biggest difference really He's right away is the fact that under the Bonnet instead of having a 2-liter diesel.
We've got the engine.
[UNKNOWN]
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[LAUGH] [UNKNOWN] That means it's a Turbo Charged V6 Obviously you need reminding with 450 Break Horsepower.
Now, it's not the most characterful Engine.
It's still not a V8 as used to be, and still does It's a shame because it's not the most [UNKNOWN] in terms of [UNKNOWN] but certainly pretty effective.
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The figures for the turbo charged three and a half liter V6 at 450 breakhorse power and 510 pounds foot, which sounds like quite a lot, but actually only feels adequate in such a big vehicle.
However, as with the smaller Ranger Raptor, the star of the show is the suspension pair into the gigantic arches and lurking behind the wheels you'll see rather beautiful my eyes anyway, folks live valve racing shops with 13 inches of travel at the front and 14 at the rear.
These electronically controlled units are an update for this generation of F150, and give continuously variable compression damping.
[SOUND]
Now, perhaps I've built it up too much in my mind.
I was perhaps expecting a little more of this.
I don't think it's actually any better than the Ranger In terms of what it can cope with, and it is a sort of big, heavy, heavy car that's 2,600 kilos, which is a lot off-road to manage [SOUND] We're going to sort of some big, wide open area for this but I like the sort of tracks will find more challenging Sony for the car.
And for me hence me not looking at the camera too much.
[SOUND] It's a wrap [INAUDIBLE]
And just be confident with it when moving around it's always gonna be just slipping besides the thicket is quite sandy surface.
You really need to read exactly what it can cope with, Because it won't just steamroller everything and outside what I'd imagine from sort of things I've driven the past things like the Koehler which really can take everything that is thrown at them.
Having said that, this is still perceived.
Extraordinary.
One reason this f150 might feel a little firmer than expected is that the numbers have been recalibrated in this latest model so that when you jump it's two and a half tons, the shocks different up in order to offer more support on landing.
[SOUND]
Anyway, there are seven driving modes that adapt the suspension, gearbox, steering, etc to try and tear the Raptor for everything from fast road driving.
To rock crawling.
Now, I've got this in the Baja mode so that's in four wheel drive.
And I will actually show you, slow down a bit.
Here.
I'm just putting it into two wheel drive so that, adjust this here up to two wheel drive because you think right well that's gonna be even more fun putting into two wheel drive.
But as you completely see just right here yet it does, Tow but trying to get traction in this, is really very difficult as soon as you put it into two wheel drive.
Doesn't feel anything like as composed and it's just you're fighting.
Noticing it much more, it's really just not as enjoyable, actually.
So I'm gonna go back into Baha mode.
What we should probably talk about is what it's like on the road.
Because you might be able to tell, there is a lot of shuddering in here.
And now we've got the sort of shorter cab with the suicide, rear doors.
I can only assume that because we have done any sort of big pillars there that's why there is quite so much shuttering because it does feel pretty Flexi which is this alarm and doesn't do much for the city of ride quality on the road.
Ride quality aside, it actually felt rather luxurious inside.
The optional BnO stereo was fitted to our Raptor, and it deserves a lot of credit for doing a fine job of overcoming road noise and making music or podcasts pleasurable to listen to.
The big [UNKNOWN] in the car seats are also in your option for this model and as well as doing the much needed job of holding you in place during your enthusiastic driving.
The fact that they were both heated and ventilated was at times greatly appreciated.
There's a ten speed gear box in here and also one of those big, lovely titanium petals.
Which is sort of a shame because actually you don't end up using it, it's dd much better just to leave it to get on with its own thing.
Of all our days in the USA, this one in Hungry Valley was definitely one of the most fun.
It reminded me of a day skiing or mountain biking with the same sense of freedom and escape the fact that it only cost five dollars to get in seemed extraordinarily good value the Raptor to feels like rather good value certainly in the US if you don't intend to go off road than I'd certainly look elsewhere for fun because it's definitely compromised on tarmac.
But with this sort of place on your doorstep, it's a different matter.
A SuperCrew like this starts from around $55,000.
And given that for your bucks, you get an engine related to one in a supercar costing over $500,000.
You get looks that turn heads as much as a supercar and some suspension that allows you to do this.
It seems like A picture of a [UNKNOWN]
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