If you can forgive the ‘let’s off-road’ image, the Ford Ranger Raptor is one of the most likeable performance cars currently on sale in Britain. Fact. Granted, that says something about the dearth of options available to anyone not shopping for a new supercar - but it also says much about the oversized pleasure of piloting a cleverly sprung and moderately fast pickup around a crumbling network of B roads. Even allowing for the Ranger’s bum-puckering size, the Raptor is impressively well-suited to life in the UK.
Of course, to be able to sell it in the UK (and in Europe generally), Ford had to fire a pretty big party pooper at it: in Australia, where the Raptor was engineered, the Raptor’s 3.0-litre V6 pumps out 400-odd horsepower. In this country, it doesn’t even get to 300hp. So rather than a full-throated roar to 60mph in five-and-a-bit seconds, you’ll get to 62mph in a more leisurely 7.9 seconds. Brisk for a British pickup, certainly. But not nearly as spiritedly as the trick chassis was obviously designed to cope with. Which does tend to put a limiter on the fun.
It gets worse, too. In the States, where the emissions noose is as accommodating as a Doctor Who scarf, Ford has apparently spent what little time it's had with the Ranger (the Raptor was only introduced in North America last year) fiddling around in the bonnet. As a result - and presumably to rival whatever the aftermarket is already doing with the engine - it will now sell you a new Ford Performance Parts-branded software calibration that liberates another 50hp. Oh and 106lb ft of torque, taking it to a warm and fuzzy 536lb ft peak. In the UK you must make do with 362lb ft.
On top of the numbers, the manufacturer reckons you’ll get improved throttle response and an optimised shift schedule for a ‘more powerful driving experience’. And you’ll only pay $825 (around £625) for a tweak that can be installed by a local dealer, meets all of Ford’s durability standards and is still covered by the three-year warranty. It all sounds brilliant (probably literally) and very much up our street - and about as distant as getting an In-N-Out burger for lunch. The closest Ford gets to tweaking its cars for the better in Europe is fitting coilovers to the (time-limited) Focus ST. The prospect of a fire-breathing Raptor - one to finally put memory of the V8-powered Vauxhall Maloo to bed - seems terminally unlikely. Shame.
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