2022 Ford F-150 Raptor

At a time when all half-ton pickups seem to have an air of menace about them, the 2022 Ford F-150 Raptor’s mission is to be the biggest and baddest off-roader you can buy straight from the factory. Within the Ford family, it succeeds, but its 450-horsepower twin-turbo V6 pales in comparison to the power brandished by its only direct competitor, the 702-horsepower V8 Ram 1500 TRX. Ford redesigned the Raptor for 2021 but its full response, the Raptor R, likely powered by a version of the Mustang Shelby GT500’s 5.2-liter, 760 horsepower V8, won’t enter production until late this year.

There’s only one configuration for the Raptor, a crew cab (Ford calls it SuperCrew) with a 5.5-foot bed. All Raptors are powered by the same engine, and all use a ten-speed automatic transmission with terrain management modes (normal, sport, tow-haul, slippery, rock crawl, off-road and Baja), all have a 4.10 electronic locking rear axle and all are four-wheel drive.   

Including destination, the 2022 Ford F-150 Raptor starts at $70,370. That’s more than $7,000 below the starting price of the Ram TRX ($77,475), but there are customers who would gladly pay that for the extra 250 horsepower. It’s also about $5,000 to $8,000 more than less-capable off-road themed trucks like the Toyota Tundra TRD Pro and GMC Sierra AT4. Beware of options, however. Tick enough boxes and the Raptor’s tab can soar to $80,000, but that’s still about ten grand below a comparable TRX.

The Raptor’s 3.6-liter Ecoboost High-Output V6 generates 450 horsepower and 510 pounds per foot of torque. The combined city/highway EPA fuel economy average is 16 miles per gallon to the TRX’s 12. A standard 36-gallon fuel tank will help lengthen the time and distance between the Raptor’s trips to the gas station, but it will also make fill-ups from near-empty a wallet-draining proposition.

The surprising thing about the Raptor and the TRX is that, despite all their ferocity, they offer drama-free around-town driving. You might expect a rough or loud ride on the Raptor’s standard 35-inch tires, but it’s not so. We drove a Raptor equipped with the optional 37-inch all-terrains and around town or on the interstate, the experience was very much like driving a standard F-150—just taller. Punch it, though, and you’re greeted with an immediate and increasing roar and are shoved back into your seat.

Beyond brute strength, the Raptor’s mission is off-road driving. With the standard 35-inch tires, the Raptor offers 12 inches of ground clearance, edging out the TRX by 2/10ths of an inch. Opting for the 37s, the Raptor’s ground clearance jumps by more than a full inch—to 13.1 inches. The underside is protected by three skid plates, and a Class IV trailer hitch and sway control are standard.

Performance: 14/15

The Raptor succeeds in its mission of being a very fast, very capable off-roader. The 450 horsepower and 510 pound-feet of torque are good for zero to 60 runs in the low five-second range. Only the existence of the TRX with 702 horsepower, 660 pounds per foot of torque and its ability to knock that 0-60 time down to 3.7 seconds makes the Raptor seem anything less than amazing. The Raptor’s off-road abilities are herculean, and it provides good traction and a decent ride even on truly rough terrain. It’s equally at home crawling rocks and bashing dunes.

While the TRX offers more power, on the rocks the Raptor still has some advantages. Even on the standard 35-inch tires it tops Ram on ground clearance (the TRX offers 11.8 inches) and offers slightly superior approach, departure and breakover angles on the stock tires and even better ones with the 37-inchers.

Despite a 252 horsepower and 150 pound-foot of torque disadvantage, the Raptor’s maximum towing capacity of 8,200 pounds beats the TRX’s by 100. The Raptor also edges out the TRX in maximum payload capacity, 1,410 to 1,362 pounds. The TRX wins the bed space contest by 1.1 cubic feet. The two trucks have the same bed length, but the TRX’s bed is wider.

Fuel Economy: 8/15

Fuel economy is at best an abstract concept when dealing with high-performance trucks, but Ford’s Ecoboost V6 helps this hard charger eke out okay numbers for such a vehicle. The Ecoboost delivers a stronger EPA combined city/highway average (16 mpg) than a V8 making the same power would or could. The 3 mpg advantage over the TRX adds up to 108 more miles of travel from the Raptor’s 36-gallon fuel tank.

Safety & Driver Assistance Tech: 13/15

The Raptor, as part of the F-150 four-wheel-drive crew cab truck line, gets a five-star overall crash rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and is an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) top safety pick.

Standard active safety features include blind spot information with cross-traffic alert, which extends to trailer towing, pre-collision assist with automatic emergency braking, lane-keeping system, automatic high-beams, automatic high beams and adaptive cruise control.

Infotainment: 12/15

The Raptor’s 12-inch color touchscreen is bright and readable. It includes Ford’s SYNC 4 system with enhanced voice recognition, a free trial of SiriusXM Satellite Radio and connectivity for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The extra-cost B&O Unleashed audio system (part of the $4,755 Raptor High Equipment Group) dials up the entertainment quotient with 18 speakers (including subwoofer) and 1,080 watts of power.

Comfort & Room: 12/15

The Raptor’s interior is huge. That said, the TRX manages to beat it in rear seat legroom by about an inch and a half. We’re giving the Raptor some extra credit, however, as it gives the driver and front row passenger 43.9 inches of legroom, a full three inches more than the TRX. All other interior measurements are within a fraction of an inch. The Ford wins on some of these stats, and cedes others to Ram, so we’ll call it a wash.

Cargo Space & Storage:  10/15

Raptors have one bed length—5.5 feet. The TRX wins the bed space contest by 1.1 cubic feet, but that’s a pretty tiny win thanks to the TRX’s slightly wider bed. Inside, there are the expected door pockets, center console box and glove compartment. The regular Ram 1500’s clever Rambox in-bed storage system is not offered on the TRX, so there’s no advantage to it in that regard.

Style & Design: 9/10

The 2022 Ford F-150 Raptor makes a strong first (and second, and third…) impression. Raptors get a unique black grille with three amber lights above the radiator opening a massive “FORD” molded into the center. Fog lights are faired into the edges of the lower bumper.  

All this is much more impressive because it’s two and a half inches taller than a stock F-150, and taller still when equipped with the optional 37-inch tires. Blacked-out trim, black wheels and those aggressive off-road tires complete the image of the toughest truck on the block, which is exactly what Ford was going for.

Is the 2022 Ford F-150 Raptor Worth It? Which Ford F-150 Raptor Is the Best Value?

Value and worth are tricky propositions when dealing with such a specialized vehicle. The Raptor may be a 2022 Ford F-150, but it’s not competing in a crowded class of competitors like most other F-150s, and off-road versions of regular trucks, like Ford’s own F-150 Tremor and the Tundra TRD Pro, aren’t really in the same league as the Raptor or TRX. The all-new Rivian R1T offers even more speed, but it’s a very different experience and still limited in availability. 

If you want a Raptor, then you want a Raptor and the price is on the sticker. If you’re good with spending $8,000 more for an additional 252 horsepower, then the Raptor suffers in comparison to the Ram TRX, until it comes time to fill up the gas tank, anyway. Your other option is patience, and waiting to see if the Raptor R one-ups the TRX in late 2022.

How Much Does it Cost to Insure the 2022 Ford F-150 Raptor?

An expensive, high-performance machine designed to be used hard, the F-150 Raptor is also expensive to insure. Our research suggests that a typical 30-year-old female driver with a clean record can expect an average annual premium of $3,091, though this averages all 50 states. That’s quite a bit higher than $1,970 for the Rivian R1T, $2,030 for the Ram TRX, or $2,020 for the Jeep Gladiator, but individual drivers’ numbers will vary. To get a more accurate picture of your potential insurance expenses, visit our car insurance calculator.