By The new generation of the world’s best-selling pickup is here and we are now eagerly waiting for the famous off-roader. At the moment, the company is taking orders for the standard Raptor, while the launch for the V8-powered version has been delayed for the second half of the next year. This model will hit the market as the 2023 Ford F-150 Raptor R and we have huge expectations from it.
At this point, the exact details are still unavailable but we expect that the only major difference between Raptor and Raptor R will be under the hood. On the other hand, things like suspension, brakes and off-road hardware shouldn’t be much different. Instead, they should be pretty much the same.
2023 Ford F-150 Raptor R Design
As we’ve just mentioned, the overall design should be pretty much the same as for the standard Raptor. This means an overall layout that’s the same as in the case of base F-150, but also all kinds of upgrades. Of course, the first upgrades that come to mind are those regarding suspension setup. The 2023 Ford F-150 Raptor R will come with a five-link rear suspension, long trailing arms, and a Panhard rod. Furthermore, you may count on Fox with 3.1-inch bodies and 24-inch coil springs. As a result, the ground clearance goes all-away up to 14 inches at the front and 15 inches on the rear end.
Also, there are additional pieces of off-road hardware, such as standard four-wheel drive, locking rear differential, skid plates and more. Finally, you may count on lots of exclusive styling details, which accentuate the model’s performance character. Those are things like unique grille design, hood, bumpers, tailgate etc.
Interior
The 2023 Ford F-150 Raptor R interior should also come with lots of upgrades. At this point, we don’t know the details, but we expect to see things like orange stitching, carbon trim and similar stuff. Also, the new Raptor will most likely use the same paddle shifters as the Shelby GT 500. As we are talking about one of the most expensive variants of the F-150, we are pretty sure that the list of standard features will be very long. This would include, Ford’s new, massive infotainment screen, as well as goodies like power-adjustable front seats, heated and ventilated front seats, leather upholstery, a heated steering wheel, adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert, a surround-view parking camera etc.
Just like the previous version, the new one should also come in the crew cab layout only.
2023 Ford F-150 Raptor R Engine
We finally came to the most interesting part of the truck and the major upgrade over the standard Raptor model. The standard Raptor model will continue in the same way, with a 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6, which puts out around 450 horsepower and 510 pound-feet of torque.
The 2023 Ford F-150 Raptor R will be way more powerful. It will use the same V8 engine as Shelby GT500 and the latest reports suggest a max output between 725 and 750 horsepower, which would make this truck notably more powerful than the Ram 1500 TRX, which will be the Raptor’s biggest rival. With all this power, we expect that the new truck will be able to hit 60 mph in a little bit more than four seconds.
Of course, the engine will come in pair with a 10-speed automatic transmission, while four-wheel drive will be standard.
2023 Ford F-150 Raptor R Release Date and Price
We expect that the 2023 F-150 Raptor R will hit the market in the second half of 2022. We still don’t know the exact price, but we know it will cost notably more than the standard Raptor, which goes around 65.000 dollars.
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