How and why you landed on the RR? And why it was for me

[SyphioD]

I'd wager a vehicle in this segment with this price fulfills pretty specific needs for most folks. I'm curious about how and why people land on the RR and how it stacks up against the way I did. I believe that there is a "right tool for the job" in every case... but also that sometimes wants vs. needs win.

I've owned a full-sized pickup since 2019 when hauling motos to tracks and pulling trailers became a normal need. I went from sedans to a Silverado 1500 Z71 Midnight Edition with a glorious 6.5 ft bed and front bench seat. I really loved the truck during my years hauling motos and toys around. In 2021 we made a move which ended up sharing my truck as a daily for the past 3 years. During that time it became apparent how much of a downside it is to have an almost 20' long vehicle as a daily driver with terrible gas mileage (it was running wrangler duratracs).

My rabbit hole to the RR started when I bought my wife a Bronco Sport Badlands that had an $8500 leftover incentive. We absolutely loved the small size and weight, power, modern amenities and capabilities of it. I decided now that I was not hauling motos every weekend, and that my hauling method moved to hitch haul a single moto, it would make life a lot easier if my primary vehicle were smaller and easier to daily drive. The big 5.3L on the chevy was also starting to feel long in the tooth and sluggish. I knew a midsize pickup was the right downsize and upgrade.

I was aware of the RR from AUS and it coming to the states, but I was more interested in the lower spec 4x4 2024 Rangers. I went and test drove an XLT trim with the FX4 package and loved it. I could absolutely see it as my daily and it had only 200 lbs less payload than my Chevy. Naturally I started down the "self-upsell" path when I realized that the 2.7L was on the horizon, and it would make sense to wait for a bit more power. After pricing out what I wanted with the 2.7L, I realized I was close enough to the RR msrp that it made sense to seriously consider it.

I was surprised when the dealer 3 miles away from me received an early RR. They wanted an unacceptable $10k over msrp, but it sat for 3+ weeks. After a lot of negotiation and follow up I ended up coming home with my preferred color (azure grey) at the end of June, totally unexpected.

Why this is my right tool for the job:

This scratches my performance or sports car itch that I've had brewing. I can park anywhere. I have the ability to hitch haul or tow motos. I have every modern amenity on a vehicle that I desire. I believe the value is the best of the high spec midsize offroad class trucks currently competing (read: $20k more for a TRD pro?!). I feel 10x more enabled to put together offroad expeditions than I did with my big chevy. It simply looks great, sounds great, and drives amazing.

I really would not have ever imagined myself being able to make a ride like this (or this high cost) happen the way it did. I feel grateful for landing one so quickly after starting to seriously search. I am aware of how many people are waiting on orders. I landed mine about 5 weeks from the day I decided to seriously consider one, with the convenience of picking one up in my current home town.

Some after purchase thoughts flooded my mind: did I buy too much truck? My car buff friend reminded me; you can never have too much truck.

Should I have just pursued a reasonable XLT with FX4 package for more payload and tow capacity? Time will tell; but I don't use either anywhere near capacity anymore.

Is a 5 ft truck bed a real truck? I only store moto tires, gas cans, and camp gear in my prior bed since moto hitch hauling, and I don't think I will miss the 3 feet of extra length on the vehicle.

Was this the right truck purchase with my goal to put a wedge camper on the bed for overnights at track days and MTB exploration? This one I am conflicted on. I don't want to ruin an agile, fun, fast offroad truck by weighing it down permanently. But it could also be an awesome choice with how capable it is.

Anyway, how the heck did anyone else land on this crazy thing?!

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[Clump]

For many years I had a driver, a separate "fun" car and a motorcycle. It's expensive and has a bunch of logistics to deal with. The motorcycle isn't going away. A few years ago I sold my fun car and started looking for something I could daily, but provide some fun factor. I was driving a Ranger Tremor at the time. I settled on an Explorer ST. For the most part it was great, but it lacked any off road capability at all. Like most, I'm 95%+ on road, but I missed the occasional off road excursions.

I had placed a Bronco reservation in December 2020. It finally came through last summer and I got a Heritage edition with a 2.3 and manual. Even with the lack of power it was a pretty fun truck and incredible off road. I traded the ST on it.

As soon as I saw the Ranger Raptor I knew it would be trouble. It's pretty wild that a vehicle in the $60K range can look like a bargain, but with what you get and what the competitors cost it looks really good.

I took my Bronco to the local dealer for a "free" oil change with Ford pass points. Wandering the lot I saw the RR and was immediately smitten. They had it marked up $10K, which made it a no go for me. The next day I couldn't stop thinking about it and called. They agreed to sell it at sticker and gave me a fair trade for my Bronco. The most expensive free oil change I've ever gotten!

I had a couple of trips planned and have put about 1500 miles on the RR so far. I'm really pleased with it. 2 days after I bought it I left home with 90 miles on it and got back 5 days later with 900+. Compared to the Bronco it's SO quiet. Loving the power and handling. I've logged a couple of 8 hour drives and it's very comfortable and not fatiguing.

 

[SubaruRaptor]

We currently have 3 cars, a 2016 Honda HRV, a 2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STI, and a 2019 Subaru Forester Sport. The STI has been parked for several years, due to it needing some TLC (the salt had gotten to some components that needed replacing, but the car is mechanically sound) and at the time I was having to commute a decent haul so the Forester was the more natural choice instead of the STI.

As all the cars are paid off, I was looking to get a new toy, but the wife said I needed to fix the STI or sell it. I arranged the STI to go my brother, and I started looking between the Civic Type R, GR Corolla, and the Rivian R1.

While electric is the future, the charging situation is still a freaking mess. With out access to the Tesla Charging network and the fact that at least twice a year I have an 8 hour drive to make, I ruled the Rivian out.

Researching the GR Corolla some more, it became apparent that while the car is fun, it has some mechanical issue that need to be sorted in the next variant / year model. Also due to it being a sports car, it was pretty low on amenities.

The Type R checked all the right boxes: Fast back, big dumb wing, nice interior, all the amenities I wanted; but as I continued to look at it, the wife cant drive stick. So this would be another issue of the car can only be used by me.

About this time I saw the Ranger Raptor. It has everything that the original 3 cars had and then some. I went to my local dealer to just test drive a Ranger in general to make sure I fit (6'3) and that I was comfortable driving a larger vehicle and the dealer mentioned they had an un-ordered allocation for the Raptor. So I placed the order. Now its just a waiting game.

 

[JustNick]

I got rid of my last Ranger (2019 Lariat) in Jan 2023 and picked up a 2019 Audi A6 Prestige, mostly because I was jealous of the interior of my wife's Q5. Every time I got in that Ranger, I was surrounded by plastic and leather-looking stuff, not to mention the grossly outdated tech. After driving the A6 for about a year, I realized how much I really needed to have a truck for my other hobbies (metal working, camping, etc) but I didn't want to give up the modern interior. I attempted to scratch the itch by getting an '87 Bronco II and camping out of that, but it was quickly apparent that I wouldn't be bringing my 1 year old on any trips and feel safe about it. Time to find a new daily!

I drove my dad's GMC Sierra and confirmed that a full size still wasn't for me since I didn't need something that's big for the sake of being big. Back to the midsized truck category! I was very interested in the Trailhunter until they announced the price, which was an immediate no for me. I was actually leaning more towards a ZR2 Colorado until I test drove one. It was floaty, didn't really soak up bumps any better than my A6 sedan on sport suspension, and felt oddly large for how small it was. Cumbersome is a good one-word summary of my test drive with it. I wasn't a huge fan of the Canyon AT4X's white accent interior since I knew I was going to be camping and offroading in it and that wouldn't be white for very long. Enter the RR. I found one to test drive and within a 10 minute test drive I was obsessed. It ate up the Louisiana roads, had plenty of power in stock trim, was more comfortable to sit in, and all around was everything I wished my 2019 Lariat was.

My use case is I wanted something comfortable for my pothole-ridden commute with a couple of really rough railroad crossings, occasional camping with a family of 3, occasional light towing, kayak carrying, and general outdoor tomfoolery. But I wanted something that was really capable out of the box, was at least a little luxurious to sit in, and could go down the forest trails without needing a 3 point turn to make it around every bend.

TLDR; its perfect (for me)

 

[chasvs]

I used to have old Rangers as a 3rd knock around vehicle and looked forward to the return of the Ranger in 2019. I bought a 4x2 Lariat in Lightening Blue Metallic, and it turned out being so good that it became my daily driver for 5 years.
I was looking forward to the 2024 Ranger but was disappointed in the colors offered which did not include my Lightening Blue. I the saw what they were going to cost and was not interested in replacing my 2019 which only had 40K miles with a 2024 at $10K more than I had paid for the 2019.
When I heard that the 2.7ltr Twin turbo engine would be added mid year, I hoped it would include a new color or option not available on the 2.3ltr models. unfortunately that didn’t happen and the price of the 2.7ltr 4x4 Lariats were nearly $50K, so I decided to skip the 2024 Ranger and wait to see what was offered in 2025.
I had called around to local Ford dealers about ordering a Ranger Raptor only to be told there were only a couple allocations available for each dealer and that they would be hard if not impossible to obtain. So I put that out of my mind.
one day in May I was surfing FB and saw an ad from a nearby Ford dealer with Azure Gray RR available and Ifilled out the online query form they had posted. Lo and behold the Sales Manager called me an hour later and we struck a deal! RR was scheduled to be built the week of May 20th fir late June or early July delivery. Put a deposit down and waited. Got a call on May 30th that it had shipped! The a week later a call that it had arrived and would be ready to pick up on June 8th!
so, from not looking any longer fir any Ranger of any type to taking delivery of my FANTASTIC Ranger Raptor is less than a month was an unexpected event but one I am thrilled to have

 

[Phlfwd22]

I’ve always been a midsize truck guy. I love the ease of driving and maneuverability of them, plus I’m never towing anything crazy large so as far as a work truck I can still do everything in need with the smaller bed (I always buy a bed extender too to get the extra couple feet when needed)

Started with a 2013 Nissan frontier as my first truck, upgraded that to a 2017 Colorado which I loved until a lady decided to rear end me at a red light doing 40mph. That truck was totaled so I ended up ordering a 2019 ranger xlt to be built. About a month later I realize I was only $1-2k off of a lariat price tag so I called and had them change my order to that, and bought just a little beater car while waiting for it to be built. I ended up buying A LOT of mods even before having the truck itself because I wanted to “raptorize” the Ranger once I got it. Well… because of the microchip shortage I ended up waiting almost a year for the truck - eventually got the point where I needed a truck again for work and ended up canceling my still pending order and buying a new 2022 frontier prox. I absolutely love my frontier but…. Now that the actual raptor has arrived I couldn’t not be drawn back to that so ordered one and will traded in the Nissan once it arrives

 

[Critical Habitat]

Long story - I don't buy cars often. I had an old F-150 5.2L shortbox singled-cab flareside that was customized for an auto show (paint, striping, wolves mural on tailgate, supercharger). I also have an escape titanium that has had 0 problems.
I also had, until recently donated to charity for parts/scrap, a mazdaspeed3 - factory 3" exhaust upgrade and down-pipes, BOV, upgraded intercooler and cobb cold air intake, plus a couple factory-allowed tuning improvements. I really liked that little car but didn't like the really scary torque steer when trying launch all that power with a front wheel drive.
This car eventually had a catastrophic mechanical failure - through a rod through both the oil pan and engine block.- a mazda known defect that they would not address. Decided not to spend the almost $8K on a new engine and more. because it wasn't worth much more than that.
Started looking at new vehicles in late 2023.
Looked at Nissan Frontier and 2024 Taco - wasn't sure I needed a truck that bad.
Got invited to test drive the Nissan Z Nismo (3L, twin-turbo, 420HP, launch control 3.9sec 0-60MPH). Would have to pay around $70K+. I really like much of it, except the 9-speed did not seem the right fit for the car and the ride was rough because of a tight suspension/brakes designed more for the track.
Ranger Raptor - first knew about the RR in early 2024. Started lurking on this forum, eventually joining. Learned how to track builds and search for dealers/allocations. First time buying without a test drive.
Had 0 luck finding an available allocation locally, but finally found one in northern Iowa and confirmed MSRP offer with small internet sales discount, then put down a deposit to hold it.
Then got hooked on tracking the build. Truck finally arrived in April. Since then, I was able to locate an in-stock black RR for my younger brother (buyer backed-out and I was on the dealer's notification list). We both are very happy with our trucks (so far).

 

[SyphioD]

A lot of points mentioned so far I am realizing are big benefits - super quiet and planted ride compared to the constant 70+db "woobwoobwoob" of wrangler duratracs I had on the chevy. Almost car-like manners on the highway, unless you want that exhaust note it's so quiet that I was surprised to read someone lining their doors with kilmat, but to each their own.

I also checked out the new taco and a colorado ZR2. It probably doesn't help that I already test drove the XLT FX4 ranger, but I immediately knew walking through the lot and looking at the interior of the tacos that it wasn't for me - and the length on a 6' bed was within inches length of my chevy too.

The ZR2, while cheaper, also just did not resonate with me from an interior and ergos perspective. It also had a 1k lb payload which I just found unacceptable. Ford did a great job with these interiors, I would have been totally pleased with the XLT trim.

 

[HyperM3]

Ive been driving sports cars/sedans my entire life. Also have had a motorcycle for the past 20 years. Finally got tired of driving the same thing all the time but didnt want an SUV since I have no family needed to cart around.

When my last lease was about a year out I found videos of the RR on Youtube and how it was eventually coming to the US. Never had a truck before but figured why the heck not. My goal is always to drive something sporty but also unique where I wont see it everywhere. My local dealership was able to take my order and I got it back in May.

So far I havent found any performance Ive given up, its super fun to drive. Its a never ending project with things I can do/modify. And I dont care about crappy NJ roads anymore.

Guess Im a truck guy now.

 

[dguffin]

I don’t need a full size truck and have been waiting for the Ranger to come back to the US market. I bought a 2019 Ranger when they came back and had it for 5 years. It was a great truck. When I saw the 2024 Ranger Raptor I had to have one. I think the price is reasonable for what you get compared to the F150 and Bronco Raptors. I’ll never use the truck to its capabilities. It’s more of a show off piece for me, and to add some Raptor style accessories.

 

[NASSTY]

My 87 year old dad can no longer drive so I have to get him to his appointments. It was getting harder for him to get in and out of my 2020 F150 Raptor so I decided to downsize for a while. It made it easier for him and I really enjoy the Ranger Raptor. It also saved me about $20K because I probably would have bought another F150 Raptor.

 

[Dingus83]

I came from a 2022 Tacoma 6MT. Loved the stick shift but lackluster power was leaving me wanting more.
I test drove the new Canyon, new Tacoma non HV, and honestly wasn’t super impressed with either. I’m constantly looking for something fun and unique to own and drive so I’ve been lurking here to see what markups were.
When I test drove the TRD OR Premium it was drowning in so many PIO that it was $1,000 less than my Raptor. When I found one on a dealer lot at MSRP I jumped on it.
The one nice thing about the Tacomas is their perceived reliability, and high resale value. 24k miles and 2 years later it cost me $1,200 overall.
Wouldn’t change my mind ever, Raptor is much more refined, interior is 10x better than anything on the market and the power makes me giddy everytime I jump on it.

 

[Peter949]

I don’t need a full size truck and have been waiting for the Ranger to come back to the US market. I bought a 2019 Ranger when they came back and had it for 5 years. It was a great truck. When I saw the 2024 Ranger Raptor I had to have one. I think the price is reasonable for what you get compared to the F150 and Bronco Raptors. I’ll never use the truck to its capabilities. It’s more of a show off piece for me, and to add some Raptor style accessories.

This described me also. LoL picked up mine last Weds and got rid of the 2019 today.

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