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Short Tenure - 2025 Ford Ranger Raptor

spazzyfry123

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Welp, it's a disappointing thing to type out, but I have stepped away from my 2025 Ranger Raptor I purchased new after only about six months of ownership. This isn't written out to be a "goodbye" but rather a place to collect my experience and thoughts for any other potential buyers. Certainly not to sway from a purchase as these are my specific experiences, but as Primus would say, "They can't all be zingers."

I've owned a lot of vehicles over the years of varying brands; 30+ for sure. This one may just take the cake on the shortest I have had a vehicle registered to my name. I will preface this with that I genuinely liked this truck. It is absolutely a do everything and check all the boxes type of vehicle. It's the right size. It's the right fun. It's the right cool. It's the right capability/versatility. That said, it has been a bumpy road of ownership with dealerships and Ford Corporate alike doing little to mitigate the blows.

My ownership began with a failed passenger tie-rod with I believe less than 900 miles on the odometer. No "hooning", no off roading, no nothin'. Just a paved B road with a 40 mph speed limit dropping my father off at his home and pop, off I go into the ditch. I've got a long play-by-play thread I started on this last year should you need a morning coffee read. Incredibly poor customer service with the give-a-damn meter not even registering. I have asked numerous times to be provided a root cause analysis of what happened. Crickets. Steering concerns have been present since with the only real response being "yeah that doesn't seem right" but no actual action.

My driver's seat had effectively failed - at least that's how I would put it. With maybe 2k miles on the truck you could visibly see that the supporting structure of the seat had failed. The seats look like they had 150k miles on them, and I am not a big dude - whatever the middle of the bell curve is for a young male, they probably have a picture of my face there. Two dealerships acknowledged that it wasn't right, but Ford shot it down indicating typical wear patterns. One of my Land Cruisers has 140k miles and looks leaps and bounds better than this truck with break-in miles.

I have three different interior rattles that all have been identified by the service manager, but none of which can be rectified citing an inability to reproduce - despite multiple people saying they can hear it every single time it is driven. Effectively left with "yeah man, we hear it, but we can't find the source. That sucks..."

The infotainment screen has gone out on me on four separate occasions. Just driving down the road and then blank. I've pulled over to restart the truck with only one of those instances resulting in a "reset" that brought it back. The other three I just had to drive without as it didn't reset.

Whatever the main wiring harness that connects the front to the back (probably diameter of someone's wrist?), the factory uses electrical tape evidently. That failed and began to unravel - could see it hanging under the vehicle.

I received four or five recall letters in the mail for the truck. In six months of ownership.

I gave up when a skid plate bolt just fell out on the highway going 70 mph.

Maybe I got a 5pm on a Friday truck. I don't know. I don't care at this point. I traded it in for a couple grand less than I paid for it and got something new. I really do hate to see it go. Truck was rad. It absolutely was the perfect setup to do 95% of what I need out of a vehicle to compliment the rest of the fleet. Real shame that this is the case and I really do wish there could have been a slight uptick in QA and customer service; I'd still have it otherwise.

Enjoy your trucks folks! I still snap my neck when I see one in the wild...

Ford Ranger Short Tenure - 2025 Ford Ranger Raptor 1780522613616-6k
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bigb

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Sorry you had these issues. No real issues with my 7 month old XLT but I only have 2,800 miles on her. I do remember your tie rod thread.

I am curious what you traded for?
 

dpAtlanta

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Sorry to hear that @spazzyfry123 …I had an ‘03 Cobra that was a nightmare as well.
18 months old and it was in the shop 18 times for generally big issues.
I held on for that long because it was a Terminator..
 

HighDesertRanger

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Sorry to see you go. I do remember the tie rod thread...

Fair winds and following seas.
 

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YukonRanger

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I have literally not had a single problem lol

this just seems crazy to me

My raptor ran flawless in -50 Below this winter!!!

To be fair I did upgrade interior to leather katzkins
 

dpAtlanta

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My Ranger Raptor has been absolutely FLAWLESS since the day I picked it up from the dealer.
Of course I’m not a good gauge of long term reliability since I still have 67 miles of fuel left since the dealer filled it for me on the day of purchase.
I think the fuel tank door is on the driver’s side.
 
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got3fords

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I hate hearing these stories. The only Ford I had that gave me any real issues was my '12 Focus. It had a tans that did some weird things but never stranded me. I sold it to my friend who got it to well into the high 200k miles. Then he sold it to a coworker's son. I had traded that in for the '21 XLT, put almost 78k flawless miles on it, and traded it in for my '26 Raptor. And with less than 2500 miles is doing great. Except for the weird jumping in RPM at highway speed that lasted only a couple of minutes. I could watch the tack jump a couple hundred RPM and feel it. Hope that is not an omen.
 

Watchdog62

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I hate hearing these stories. The only Ford I had that gave me any real issues was my '12 Focus. It had a tans that did some weird things but never stranded me. I sold it to my friend who got it to well into the high 200k miles. Then he sold it to a coworker's son. I had traded that in for the '21 XLT, put almost 78k flawless miles on it, and traded it in for my '26 Raptor. And with less than 2500 miles is doing great. Except for the weird jumping in RPM at highway speed that lasted only a couple of minutes. I could watch the tack jump a couple hundred RPM and feel it. Hope that is not an omen.
Sorry that really sucks! My 2019 lariat was flawless except when you shifted into reverse and felt like the cdc drum was going to explode. Hence wht I traded it in as my extended warranty was expiring. So far my RR had been perfect, hopefully stays tgat way.

So....what did you trade it for?
 

got3fords

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Sorry that really sucks! My 2019 lariat was flawless except when you shifted into reverse and felt like the cdc drum was going to explode. Hence wht I traded it in as my extended warranty was expiring. So far my RR had been perfect, hopefully stays tgat way.

So....what did you trade it for?
You quoted the wrong guy.
 

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Lion77

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Genuinely sorry to hear that, sounds like my Found On Road Dead Mustang GT experience.

Bought a 2016 GT Performance Pack, a no frills track pack bare bones for 27k with 100k extended warranty. Had only 3500 miles on it. Already had a Corsa Cat Back and tinted windows too! Mind you this was 2017 so cars were waaayyy cheaper then.

Soon after getting it and hooning around a bit the clutch pedal got stuck to the floor...started looking into the issue and found out it was somewhat common issue. It continued to happen periodically whenever id drive it hard until 30k when it happened and it jist stayed. Couldn't shift, all I could do was force it into neutral, stop and pull the brake to keep from rolling back down a hill.

6 weeks later....the dealer took the trans off and on 4 times to get the new clutch properly installed. The original one just broke, it looked immaculate and 1/3 of the friction pad just separated at the rivets, broke clean off. The "mustang mechanic" was out due to a broken arm so the diesel mechanic did the work.

Got it back and now its leaking oil, he damaged the main bearing seal, broke interior trim around the shift stick and glued it back together. Then I bring it back, the acknowledged and replaced the rear main seal then I suddenly start getting multiple cylinder misfire...had zero engine issues prior to the clutch failure. Now I know why Ford Performance sells a braided stainless steel clutch hydraulic line for manual GTs...cause the poly lines get hot, expand and your clutch doesnt work.

Traded that thing in for a 2018 CX-9 with only 2k miles on it and 100k extended warranty and I started driving her Prius C....talk about a 180! 470 hp to just 70 hp lol. After couple of years we gave the prius to our daighter and I got a 23' Mazda 3 Carbon as my daily, thank the Lord! Sad time for me and cars, but hey, it got me to work to pay the bills.

Finally got the Raptor last spring in late March, brand new as a 3rd vehicle. Mine has been trouble free thus far and I just hit 24k, jumped it at 84mph, did baja in my uncles corn field with 4 passengers. Pro Cal tuned since 5k miles, did OHV park, towed my daighters boyfriends car back home on a car dolle after his car crapped out over labor day in 25, drove through freezing snow / ice, 90F+ hot summer days, so far mine has been great aside from the two open recalls for airbag and seat bolts. The over the air update fixed the trailor brake module issue.

Way better experience than my Found On Road Dead Mustang and I really love the versatility of the truck too. It does everything I need it to and then some.
 

Lion77

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Ford Ranger Short Tenure - 2025 Ford Ranger Raptor 1000003829


Oh and I had already put some work into it myself like RTR Tech 7s on a square 275/35R19 tire setup with brand new Pilot Sport 4s and threw on Pilot Sport AS3+ on the factory track pack wheels for winter. I had BMR IRS bushings, lowering springd and adjustable front and rear bars. I also had steeda roll center correction rear links up front to get proper roll center for the lower ride height. FP short throw and next was going to be GT350 struts with higher damping rates to better match the springs. Also had a FP Stage 2 Power Pack with the GT350 intake and throttle body with their cal.

That car sounded absolutely killer. Got complements all the time, the wife even loved it (although she likes the Raptor too). But it was a dud once the clutch failed and I had clutch issues from day 1. And unlike the RR, it was absolutely useless for anything but driving fast or cruising around with 1 passenger, but pur younger children fit in the back fine for short trips.
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