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A sharp-eyed reader caught this and sent it to me on Monday. There’s been a variety of speculation about the “2017.5 Raptor” ever since a few Raptors with camouflaged rear ends were spotted on public roads late last year — but this truck, as you’ll see, isn’t wearing any disguise.
According to this blogger, who interviewed a Ford employee last month, there won’t be any updates to the Raptor for 2018. So why run a vehicle around clearly marked “PP” and “2017.5”? Is Ford playing games with us, or is there really that fanboy-rumored twin-turbo Voodoo V8 under the hood?
37 Comments on “Reader Spots 2017.5 Ford F-150 Raptor, But Is There Any Difference?...”
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17.5 isn’t an “official” model year, but there were probably some late additions or changes that didn’t make the MY17 launch. “PP” is just a pre-production build phase. That actually looks like a DEMS vehicle out on a drive route. nothing to see here.
As the exalted Dr. Perry Cox said, “when you hear hoofbeats, think ‘horsies,’ not ‘zebras.\'”
Wikipedia says (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra_(medicine)) it was Dr. Theodore Woodward, professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
/nit
Agreed….kinda like how the 2010 Raptors switched to the 6.2 from the 5.4 in mid-year.
Regarding the re-introduction of the V8 back into the Raptor, I’m holding out that will turn out to be true…I still loves me my v8! But, I took a new one for a test spin last week and it’s quicker than my ’12 and has a MUCH nicer interior. No adjustable perch front shocks though like mine…
It has the aux lights on the top that are only for the Chinese Raptors, so if there are any differences it is for that market. May be testing something that is late availability there, or it could just be an old pre prod vehicle on a run.
The newsbot must be taking a day off if Jack had to write this. No sex, no violence, no politics…
Jack could have wrote this on his phone while dropping his son off at school.
You’ve got it backwards, I write all the sex stuff looking at the 29-year-old moms
Should have picked that one up.
First teaching job was at a charter school in Detroit (7 mile Road) and of course there was a high percentage of single mothers. I wish I had been the 160 lbs I am now instead of the 220 I was at the time.
I would have gotten much more attention.
What is DEMS? Are the D and the E about drivability and emissions?
drive evaluation management system.
Anyone know what intersection and city the first photo was taken at/in?
Thanks.
The exhaust is positioned poorly for an off road orientated vehicle.
This must be the hairdresser model for use in strip mall parking lots.
This is a nothing vehicle. Now, a Lion diesel powered Raptor would be better.
it’s a “Baja” truck, not a rock crawler.
Ever watch the Dakar?
You have a very inner city, latte sippers view of vehicles and race cars.
Careful there. That almost sounds like a personal attack. We wouldn’t want that.
It’s an opinion or more accurately, an observation of a particular view one holds.
A personal attack degrades a person, via bullying and harassment.
But was it necessary to use a loaded term like “inner city, latte sippers [sic]” when the previous commenter just stated a fact?
@BAFO – the Raptor is a modified F150. So it follows that it will have most of the components from the F150.
I personally think that exhaust straight out the back is dumb. Ram has a few trims like that. You can’t even back up against a dirt bank to unload a dirt bike or quad.
JimZ….don’t even bother, it’s a waste of typing. I take the opinion of BAFO as one who hasn’t owned, or let alone driven, a Raptor …EXTREMELY lightly, pretty much non-existent.
Ihatecars,
I don’t need to have driven a Raptor to understand it mainly a one show pony or to know its strength and weaknesses.
As marketing data shows the Raptor is targeting the show pony crowd-hairdresser set. This is good for Ford.
Another reality is Baja style racing is not US only. Many nations around the world have desert racing.
In the case of the Raptor it’s full size pickups. They are not competitive outside of the US, unless they are racing another full size pickup.
Like I mentioned, just watch the Dakar.
The Raptor looks pretty and is capable off road …… in limited situations.
Where ever a Raptor can go most any other 4×4 can go.
Could we see this marketing data?
“Where ever a Raptor can go most any other 4×4 can go”.
Sure, where a Olympian can go, I can go as well. Similar example I think.
BTW – On a production vehicle that can be used for desert running, that has to meet safety and CARB guidelines, where do you think is the most appropriate place to put the exhaust?
Somewhere else, out of harms way.
I don’t view the Raptor as an Olympian, they are as common as dog sh!t.
Now, a MB AMG 6×6 G Wagon is the “elite” player, or an Olympian in your words.
The Raptor is a College player.
Drzhivago138 – he left the data at the beauty salon.
@BAFO – you just don’t get it or are trolling.
Sure, almost any 4×4 can go where the Raptor can go but the Raptor is about covering that terrain at a faster rate.
Raptors have competed in Dakar but unless big companies like Ford are willing to spend tens of millions on that race, you don’t stand much of a chance of winning on a privateer’s budget.
Case in point, the Mini Cooper Countryman has won Dakar 4 years in a row.
Can I go buy a Mini Cooper Countryman at a dealership that I can drive off-road?
NO……….
Care to guess how much one of those Dakar Mini Cooper’s cost?
$1,400,000
Ford advertises the Raptor as a Baja pre-runner because most buyers have NEVER heard of the Dakar.
Lou,
As I pointed out the Raptor is a very capable off roader. If you read my comment it is not flexible as an off roader.
Also, the Raptor mainly entices those yuppie redneck types (and older).
The Raptor is just too large has limited range and payload. I’ve mentioned this a number of times before.
First and foremost the Raptor needs to look pretty to sell to the vast majority who never see the dirt.
I also stated this is good for Ford. I also view the MB AMG 6×6 G Wagen as the best ever pickup for the pretty crowd that is capable, but it is way too large as well.
I love that rear bumper, tow hooks and all.
Were there rear tow hooks on earlier Raptor models? If so, I never noticed them!
I don’t think so, I’m pretty sure it’s new, and I like it a lot.
Yes, tow hooks under the front and rear bumpers on the 1st gen. They’re bolted directly to the frame not the bumper.
Ahh ok
I wonder why Ford changed the lighting pods for the 2017 units. For MY2015 and 2016, F-150 units that included the upgraded rear LED lighting pods and blind-spot monitoring had the blind-spot radars contained in the rear lighting pods. Those cars’ lighting pods are actually adorned with a small white graphic that highlights the BLIS sensors located there. Cars with the upgraded LED lights, but without BLIS, seem to have the same lighting pods; they just don’t have the “BLIS” graphic on them.
However, it looks like for 2017, Ford made an all new rear-light-pod design for the cars that have the LED rear lighting, but no BLIS. So now there are three separate pod-housing designs…the base pod, the LED pod, and the LED / BLIS pods…where previously the second two were identical, but for the actual BLIS radars within and the BLIS graphics.
Anyway, for reference:
2015 – 2016 lighting pod with BLIS:
http://www.salernoduaneford.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Screen-Shot-2014-01-22-at-12.05.43-PM.png
2015 – 2016 lighting pod without BLIS.
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/DSC03338.jpg
2017 lighting pod without BLIS (same as in the feature pic for this article) :
http://www.f150forum.com/attachments/f118/379418d1428443384-tail-lights-dangerous-363821d1422231007t-finished-pics-my-2015-king-ranch-2015-01-25_155607.jpg
And, just for the heck of it, here’s a 2018 with BLIS:
http://www.ford.com/campaignlibs/content/dam/ford_com/en_us/f150/gallery/overlay_1250/18F150_Gallery_11_1250.jpg
I’ve always like the Raptor. I am starting my search for a replacement vehicle and a used Raptor was on the list. But when MY2012 vehicles with 100k are still commanding $40k, I don’t think that its in the cards.
I can easily afford a new one, but I now have a mental block spending more than $30k for a car. When I was younger I did lease an FX35 when they first came out, but that was my last foray into cars over $30k (it was $42k, got employee pricing that dropped it down to around $38k IIRC). Hell, my last 4 cars were all right around $22k.
Kyree,
There has always been 3 separate part numbers for the F150 tail lamp as there’s a standard halogen bulb as a “base” part. 1.Halogen 2.Non BLIS LED 3.BLIS LED
Shown in the photo above is the lamp introduced on the 2017 King Ranch model, it’s an all LED lamp that is non BLIS which I believe has an amber signal in it which would allow it to be used in export markets.
Edit* Well that didn’t go where I wanted……
I knew they were separate parts (because the lamp pod would have come pre-assembled with the sensor), but the housing designs of #2 and #3 were almost identical until MY2017. The thing about the export market is interesting, though.
Jalopnik.com did an article recently on China-bound Raptor and the difference between US and Chinese versions.
http://truckyeah.jalopnik.com/theres-really-just-one-difference-between-ford-raptors-1791982625
The Chinese Ford website shows the same design:
https://www.ford.com.cn/performance/raptor/gallary/
A quick googling returned this from the rumormill:
http://horsepowerkings.com/the-f-150-raptor-will-receive-the-ecoboost-5-0-twin-turbo-v8-in-2018/
From what I’ve heard from folks associated with Ford, there’s going to be a reduced displacement V8 (4.8l?) in the trucks. My conjecture is that any reduction in capacity will be compensated with forced induction, prob. serving to replace the 6.2 and put a V8 back at the top of the model-line heap. A V8tt might also help a little with EPA mpg mandates, vs the normally aspirated 6.2.
And who knows, if (when?) the EPA is dismantled & dismembered, we might find a version of the 4.8tt in the Expedition (and/or a Lincoln flavor) and some sort of GT500 (if the GT350 is phased out). May we wish for a new hotrod Lincoln based on Mustang underpinnings and an honest to heaven V8?