Australian ute fans' lust for power has been massively rewarded by Ford, with the new Ranger Raptor more powerful in Australia than almost anywhere else.
In good news for local Raptor buyers, the new ute's prodigious power outputs aren't a global standard. In fact, in some markers, the ute is actually less powerful – in terms of torque – than the model it replaces.
While Ford is yet to officially confirm zero-to-100km/h times, CarsGuide understands the number should be below 5.5 seconds - making it not just fast for a ute, but fast period.
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Those performance car numbers come courtesy of a new 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 (which will also appear in the the Ford Bronco Raptor), which in our market will deliver 292kW and 583Nm when using 98RON fuel.
Those are big numbers, and they'll have our European cousins looking on in envy. In markets like the UK, for example, the Raptor gets the same engine, but detuned to a less impressive 288PS (or around 212kW) and 491Nm. And yes, that means the new petrol-powered Raptor makes less torque in those markets than the outgoing model.
Score one for the Aussies, then.
But even up against markets that receive the same engine tune as us – like the USA – the Australian-delivered Raptors should be faster.
Our own Byron Mathioudakis was in the the Ford Ranger Raptor deep-dive briefing, and understands that our cars will have the wood on their US counterparts, in terms of sheer acceleration, thanks to our specifically-tuned 10R60 10-speed torque-converter automatic transmission, smaller tyres, less mass and a lower centre of gravity.
So if you're in the market for a Ranger Raptor, be thankful you're buying one in Australia.
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