2023 Ford F-150 Raptor R walkaround

The 2023 Ford F-150 Raptor R is the ultimate Raptor, because it’s rocking the 5.2-liter supercharged V8 out of the Mustang Shelby GT500. Here, we take a walk around the Raptor R to point out everything that’s different between it and a standard V6 EcoBoost-powered Raptor. There are a number of changes made on both the exterior and interior, but most of the effort for the R has been put into the powertrain and what’s under the skin. This is going to be one quick truck both on-road and off-road.

Video Transcript

ZAC PALMER I'm Zac Palmer with Autoblog, and sitting right behind me here is the 2023 Ford F-150 Raptor R. Yes, they did it. They put a V8 in a Raptor. So let's take a walk around and see what this Raptor R has in store for us.

So right in front here, I see that there are a few pretty obvious differences between this and a normal V6 Ecoboost-powered Raptor. The R directly under the Ford in the grille so you'll know it's an R coming at you pretty easily there. But in general, everything has been blacked out in front.

So you notice a fully blacked out front bumper, fully blacked out grille. And then there's a lot more orange accents too. So you'll see the tow hooks down here are in code orange just like the R.

And then the biggest difference of all between the R and the standard Raptor is the hood. So this hood bulge is actually about 25 millimeter taller than a normal Raptor's to indicate that, yes, there is the GT 500's V8 under there. And you'll also notice it says supercharged V8.

And the little graphic has a bunch of eights in there to signify, of course, there's a V8 under the hood. As we walk around to the side, you will notice that it is still rocking the 37 inch tires off of the regular Raptor. There are a whole lot of similarities between the Raptor R and the standard one.

But it also has the Black wheels to carry on that theme of blacking things out. Totally blacked out Fender flares, and then you get to the back here, your standard Raptor graphics. But they're not the standard Raptor graphics. They're a little bit different.

You'll of course see Raptor R. See the R is in the code orange, which I think is a really nice and somewhat subtle touch to call this the R. But in and amongst this graphic, you'll see a lot of eights again.

And one small little Easter egg right in the back here on both sides-- see, there's a V there for the eight. There's two V's in and amongst all of the eights on this truck, and they're both by the box right here. As we come around to the back, there are just a couple small changes here between the Raptor R and the normal Raptor.

Once again, the theme of blacking everything out continues in that this massive Ford logo here, which is normally carbonized gray on the Ecoboost 1 is blacked out. And then once again, you have a Raptor with the code orange R. And then below, you have your exhaust. And yes, of course, it's a different exhaust. Ford went and designed a new muffler with some new valves and technology to give you a pretty much pass-through exhaust system when you put it in its loudest mode to make sure that everybody hears that enormous V8.

All right, so moving back here, I want to show you guys some of the mechanical changes between the Raptor R and the normal Raptor underneath. So this has the same live valve Fox shock technology as the regular Raptor, but Ford has retuned and revalved those live valve dampers to accept the extra about 80 to 100 pounds weight and the extra power that comes from this supercharged V8 engine.

They've also done some things to fortify the drivetrain to handle the extra power. So up front, you have a new axle. You have a new aluminum driveshaft, and the 10 speed automatic transmission has been fortified to handle the extra power as well. And Ford claims it's the fastest shifting 10 speed that they have made yet.

So I know you guys have been waiting, but under this hood here is the 5.2 liter V8 from the Shelby GT 500. Now it's not exactly the same because it has 700 horsepower and 640 pounds feet of torque. That's less horsepower, more torque.

Ford has said that it has made some changes to the supercharger, changed the pulley to make sure you have more low end and mid-range torque because that's where this truck will be used the most as opposed to a sports car like the Mustang. It has a new intake system on it. It also has a new exhaust system on it.

So a number of changes here that end up giving you the 700 horsepower and 640 pound feet of torque number. So yeah, lots and lots of horsepower. Not quite as much as the Ram TRX, but I imagine it won't really matter that much.

So hopping on into the interior of the Raptor R, if you're familiar with what the normal F-150 Raptor is like, it won't look a whole lot different to you. But just like the outside, the inside is fully blacked out. This is the only interior option.

So you'll notice the dash is fully blacked out. There are no blue seat inserts like the normal Raptor. You, get the same orange accents as you do on the outside.

So you'll notice a Raptor R in orange on the center console, also the Raptor R in orange on the seats. And the Raptor R gets a new trim. You have this tri-weave carbon fiber that you find on the dash and on the doors. It's an exclusive trim just for the Raptor R.

So some of the things that are the same-- you'll see this whole center stack just the same as a regular Raptor. You get this big 12 inch infotainment system that looks quite nice. You have a fully digital instrument cluster as well, same as the normal Raptor.

And if you're looking to spec one, well, there's only one big option that you can choose from, and that is moonroof or no moonroof. Besides that, you can delete the graphics on the outside and choose your paint, and that's it. And it's all for a price of about $109,000.