2022 Ford Bronco Raptor Walk Around

2022 Ford Bronco Raptor Walk Around

Transcript

Hi, everyone. I'm Joel Stockdale for Autoblog, and we are taking our very first look at the all new Ford Bronco Raptor. This has been a very highly anticipated SUV. It is the second Raptor model available in the United States, third one globally, since the Ranger Raptor preceded it. And we're just gonna to take you for a little tour around the truck.

And we'll start out from the front, which features a completely new grill. Obviously, it reads Ford. And it's got the extra-wide. legally-mandated clearance lights in the grill. And the additional ones for the edges are on the mirrors. The daytime running lights are a amber color, which is unique to the Raptor. The regular Broncos have a white one. And obviously, it's a much wider vehicle. The track has been widened by over 8 inches. And some of that is, most of that, is due to the revised suspension, features much bigger, much heavier duty control arms that add more wheel travel and also make the whole vehicle a lot wider.

It sits on 37-inch tires, also. And that means that it needs wider fenders and wider fender flares. And I highlight that separately because, indeed, the body-painted fender is wider. And the black-painted fender flares are also wider, all to encapsulate these tires to help keep dirt and mud from getting kicked up, and also for legal reasons. The vehicle has fully functional vents everywhere. It's got vents on the fenders. And it's got vents on the hood. And they do genuinely pull air out from underneath for better cooling and to reduce air pressure under the hood.

As we move along the side, the Bronco Raptor also gets rock rails with side steps. And these side steps are removable. They have the screws on the outside, so they're more easily removed for better clearance, in case you're knocking your shins into them, whatever. And the tool kit that comes with the truck includes the necessary equipment for removing them, so that you're all set with that. The wide fenders also have a removable rubber section toward the front. And that's because that's the area where most rock chips will show up. And so, by making that rubber, it's less likely to be damaged. But if it is damaged, it can be separately removed from the rest of the fender so that you aren't replacing an entire Fender. Or repainting it. You're just changing out one piece of it.

At the back, there are a number of changes that were a result of having to go to 37-inch tires, which I'll mention are a standard feature on the Raptor. The larger spare tire meant that they had to adjust the tail lights for visibility. And so, these are exclusive to the Raptor. And as Ford designers noted, they're designed to look similar to, kind of, the off-road pod lights that you'll find on race trucks. You also have a different center high mount stoplight, which incorporates the clearance lights that are required. It sits higher because of the tire. And the tailgate features a magnesium reinforcement brace that the spare tire mounts to because of the extra weight.

The Bronco Raptor will be available with three different types of wheels, and two of them are B-block capable for extreme off-roading, that you don't lose your tires under low pressure. And at the front, it's got Rigid Industries LED fog lights. And what's interesting is that when you get the truck, the outboard fog lights will have covers on them. And that's due to US lighting requirements that you can only have so much brightness come off of them for on-road use. So that's why those caps are there. But they're easily taken off for when you're off road and you have no limits on how much lighting you can have.

And we're gonna take a quick peek under the hood. There we go. But what we do know about it is that it is a twin turbocharged 3-liter V6, as opposed to the 2.7 liter that you get on higher trim regular Broncos. We also know that it will make more than 400 horsepower, but that's all that Ford is telling us right now. Besides the engine, there are lots and lots of other performance upgrades on the Bronco Raptor. So it's got new control arms up front for the independent front suspension. And the rear suspension has been tweaked also. It all rides on the adjustable Fox 3.0 shocks that are for the Raptor. That suspension is mounted to stiffer shock tower bounce.

There are additional jounts bumpers to help dissipate heavy impacts when off-roading and at a very high speed. It's got thicker lugs. It's got heavier duty axles. The transfer case has heavier duty clutches. And the steering rack and the steering knuckles have also been upgraded. And those are very similar to what you find in the Ford F-150, a larger truck. It also has plenty of protection. It's got skid plates up front that are kind of blended into the front steel bumper. And those skid plates go underneath. And they protect the engine, they protect the transmission, the transfer case. And there's also protection for the fuel tank, as well.

The body is stiffer also. Inside, they've added braces to the roll cage structure. There's one that runs around where the b-pillar is, and one toward the back, in kind of the cargo area. The front one is made of aluminum. The rear one is made of carbon fiber. And the addition of those increases body rigidity by over 50%.

Speaking of the interior, let's check it out. So the Bronco Raptor gets quite a few interior tweaks. And it gets a couple of different interior options. This one has a blue and orange trim interior. And this is a much higher spec version. It has a dash top that's covered in, kind of, this rugged, leather-like upholstery. It's got orange stitching. And that blue color that you see there extends to the seats, which, in this case, are leather, and a suede-type material with orange underneath that shows through the perforations. These are unique seats that were designed for the Bronco Raptor.

You'll also find carbon fiber accents on the grab handles, the shifter, and on the steering wheel. And it is real carbon fiber. It's not any kind of, like, vinyl wrap made to look like it. The Raptor also comes standard with a 12-inch infotainment screen, and exclusive to it, a 12-inch instrument panel. And that instrument panel has a couple of different display modes, including one specifically for high-performance driving that prioritizes the tachometer over other stuff, as well as also provides some information on, like, oil temperature and such.

Another nifty touch on the Bronco interior is down here in the center console, where the usual Bronco badge has been updated to include the little clearance lights that show up in the grille. There's also an American flag on the shifter, in addition to the Bronco logo. And there's also reddish orange accents on the vents. Oh and, of course, it's got paddle shifters, which is another special thing for the Raptor, and makes perfect sense for a performance vehicle.

Also note, the Bronco Raptor is only available as the four-door, five-passenger body style. Now, the reason for that, Ford gave a few reasons. Part of it is for additional stability. The longer wheelbase helps going over very bumpy surfaces. And also, they found that Ford buyers that are looking at a more premium, more performance-oriented vehicle are looking to also bring along friends. And so, the four-door makes a lot of sense.

As we mentioned, one of the performance upgrades of this vehicle is the added bracing that they've added to the roll bar structure. So one of them is this aluminum piece here. And there's another in the cargo area made of carbon fiber. And as we mentioned previously, they add more 50% body rigidity to the Bronco Raptor. Another area that has been braced is actually in the back under the body. The Bronco Raptor gets a completely different exhaust system that moves the muffler further up into the vehicle and opens up some space behind the rear axle. And that means that Ford was able to add additional bracing there for the trailer hitch. And that has increased towing capacity up to 45,000 pounds. On top of that, they've also added a tow haul mode to the Bronco, which was not available on other ones. So in addition to going fast off road, this is also the best towing Bronco.

So that's our first look of the Bronco Raptor. It looks like a mighty impressive piece of machinery. And there's still a few details that we have yet to learn, and we're looking forward to that, and even more so when we'll have the opportunity to drive one. And you can catch it all on Autoblog. Thanks for joining us.

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