Why does the Ford Ranger Raptor only have a 2.0-litre engine?

Ford has fired back at media and customer criticism over its decision to fit a smaller 2.0-litre diesel engine in its new off-road flagship, the Ford Ranger Raptor.

Priced at $74,990 plus ORCs, the first Ford Ranger Raptor is available to order now ahead of first delivers in October (2018).

At its heart is a new twin-turbo 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel engine dubbed Panther producing 156.7kW and 500Nm.

That’s just 10kW/30Nm more than the 3.2-litre Duratorq five-cylinder ‘Puma’ turbo-diesel that’s common to the rest of the Ranger range, and the same peak torque as Holden’s class-leading Colorado.

Newly released performance figures include a top speed of 170km/h and 0-100km/h acceleration in 10.5sec. This is about half a second quicker than the Ranger 3.2 but about a second slower than the Colorado and two seconds down on the Volkswagen Amarok V6.

Importantly, however, thanks in part to the Raptor’s 10-speed auto and auto stop start, fuel consumption has been reduced to 8.2L/100km.

Speaking to Australian and New Zealand journalists at the first wave of the regional launch of the Raptor in Darwin yesterday, Ford Asia Pacific’s vice-president of product development Trevor Worthington said no other engine was considered for the desert-ready Raptor 4x4 dual-cab.

Read a review of the new Ford Ranger Raptor

“We looked for the best overall power pack that our global customers are going to want,” he said.

“If you look at Ranger, the vast majority of them sold around the world are sold with diesel engines. You look across the 200-plus markets the Ranger is sold in and 99.3 per cent of them are diesels.

“So this was the best diesel power pack that we could find, with the best combination of all the attributes it needs – including the 10-speed gearbox. We knew that this was the one we wanted,” Worthington stated.

According to the latest sales figures, up to 75 per cent of Rangers sold in Australia are powered by 3.2-litre engines and only 20 per cent of Volkswagen Amarok customers opt for that maker’s 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel option.

In a prickly, well-rehearsed rebuttal to questions about potential resistance to the smaller engine from Australians (who traditionally opt for the largest engines available), Worthington was unequivocal in his defence of the Raptor’s more efficient Bi-Turbo engine.

“The point about power packs is that there are things that customers need to be delivered. And those things relate to performance, fuel economy and all the other attributes such as NVH [noise, vibration and harshness].

“And so as we look to the future and given all those challenges and CO2, we look at what the best overall outcome for the customer is. So this power pack has got more performance, more fuel economy and better NVH and it’s lighter, so it ticks all the boxes -- it’s got everything customers want,” he stated.

“There’s this thing called engine capacity, which some customers get hung up on and some customers really don’t care,” Worthington commented.

“At the end of the day people have got to drive the car and really experience it and we’re very, very comfortable that as the industry globally moves toward downsizing, boosting and putting technology into that cars that delivers the attributes that customers are looking for, this is an inevitable fact and just another part of that journey,” he added.

Chief engineer, Damien Ross, said an extensive durability testing program ensures the longevity of the Raptor’s 500Nm 2.0-litre engine is equal to that of any Ford diesel. The Raptor comes with the same five-year, unlimited-km warranty and 12-month, 15,000km service intervals as all other Ranger.

Ross added that anybody who focusses on engine capacity is missing the point about the Ford Ranger Raptor.

“The thing about Raptor is the off-road DNA and we have a set of ingredients that we’ve got to meet to achieve that off-road DNA.

“This is a vehicle that right from the factory is fitted with all of the things you need to head straight off-road.

“We look at the whole package, not one particular thing. It has more power and torque, it flatters novice drivers and it’s as much fun as anyone could probably handle,” Ross stated.

Ford is yet to reveal its Ranger Raptor for North America, which is tipped to be powered by a turbocharged six-cylinder petrol engine.

Worthington dismissed suggestions the Australian-engineered, Thai-built Asia Pacific Raptor could have been offered with a larger-capacity engine in Australia – the world’s fourth biggest pick-up market.

“That question never occurred to us. It’s a very Australian perspective and that question was never part of our process,” he said.

Ford’s Asia Pacific product chief also batted back questions about the uniqueness of the Raptor engine, which is available as a $1200 option in the MY19 Ranger XLT and Wildtrak.

“I think when you drive Raptor in the way that it’s intended you’ll discover it’s got the level of uniqueness that a Raptor needs to have,” he said.

“The level of technology, performance and fuel economy that this engine offers, married to the 10-speed gearbox, we are convinced will make it the [Ranger] powertrain of choice.

“Different markets have asked for different things so as we looked at all the different engineering that we have to do, the opportunity to continue to make the Puma [3.2-litre] engines available at the same time as the Panther just seemed to be the right thing to do.”

Ford says the Ranger Raptor is ideally suited to beach-goers, off-roaders and outback trekkers alike.

“A satellite picture of Australia reveals that in a country of 25 million people there’s lots of dirt and sand and places to go off-road,” said Worthington.

“This vehicle significantly increases the capability and the safety because it’s such a competent vehicle and it flatters people whether you’re driving on a bit of blacktop or off-road.

“If people are looking for a vehicle to do all those things at speed, this vehicle removes all those obstacles.

“For those that are looking for traditional performance, there’s Mustang.

“For those people that are looking for a different version of performance… that’s more related to the lifestyle they have and to get out of the big city, this vehicle perfectly caters for that,” Worthington stated.