Test drive the Ford F- 150 Raptor in the yellow sand. Is this an American muscle totem?

In the primitive society of 1.7 million years ago, our ancestors were helpless about the harsh living environment, so they feared heaven and earth and created totems. In modern times, totem, the worship of divinity, is one of the symbols of that history. Moreover, in every culture, there are long and profound symbols like totems.

In China, cross-country is a minority sport that tests financial resources, and pickup truck cross-country is extremely rare. But human beings are born with a worship of power, especially men. Everyone wants to control bigger and stronger machines if conditions permit. Among many models, Ford F- 150 Raptor is the totem of muscle and strength. This full-size pickup truck, which was born in America, has the purest cultural pedigree of muscle car.

Recently, Ford held a new F- 150 Raptor test drive in Wuhai Buhe Desert, which was the first test drive of a new car in China. In the continuous hum of wheat, we feel an immersive professional off-road experience.

F- 150 Raptor itself, as a classic model that has been selling well for many years, its image has already been deeply rooted in people's hearts. Just listening to the name of the car, an outline has already appeared in my mind. The appearance of the new generation F- 150 Raptor has not changed much compared with the previous generation, and the tough body lines and simple design language are retained. The front face is the consistent honeycomb net of the Raptor family, embedded with the huge Ford logo; Both sides of the stacked headlight group are decorated with chrome rings; Steel front and rear bumpers are used, and a very thick bottom guard plate is installed under the front bumper.

Regardless of the special models such as the RV, the body size of the F- 150 Raptor is definitely the top among the models allowed to drive with the C-class driver's license. Its length, width and height are 5930x2 199x 1992mm respectively, and its wheelbase reaches 3694 mm. There are only a handful of competitors in the same class, and the car has rich seating space and rear bucket loading capacity. The rear bucket is equipped with a metal fixing ring, a tailgate picnic table, a three-fold soft cover of the rear bucket, and a 400W external power interface is provided to facilitate the external connection of high-power appliances.

F- 150 Raptor was originally defined as a fully functional family car, and the first choice of interior aesthetics naturally depends on the needs of American consumers. The overall interior style of the new F- 150 Raptor is still original, retaining a large number of physical buttons; When parking, the handle will be hidden automatically, and the table behind the armrest can be unfolded forward to form a simple workbench.

However, under the trend of pickup trucks, Ford has also made changes simultaneously. The new F- 150 Raptor adopts 12.4 inch LCD dashboard+12 inch central control screen, which replaces the old pointer dashboard and small screen. The materials used are also advanced materials, such as leather steering wheel, front and rear rows of leather+fabric stitching seats and so on.

With the upgrade of the interior, there is also intelligent configuration. The new car is equipped with L2 assisted driving, 360 panoramic image, voice wake-up, OTA upgrade, wireless charging and other scientific and technological functions, which makes this car more suitable for the mainstream demands of the times.

The strength of muscles and totems naturally requires experience to "kneel down".

Due to the particularity of the terrain, a large part of the power of the car will be consumed by sand when driving in the desert. It is a great test for the power system to be unimpeded in this field. The F- 150 raptor is equipped with a 3.5T V6 twin-turbo engine, with a maximum power of 3 1 1kW and a peak torque of 684n·m, which is very fierce. Matching it is 10AT gearbox. According to the actual measurement, even on the normal road, the acceleration of this car can easily break through 7s, which is very good for a 2.7-ton giant.

In actual driving, the shift clearance of this 10AT gearbox is very small, which is comparable to the dual-clutch gearbox of mainstream performance cars. With such a short shift gap, the F- 150 Raptor can continuously output power even in the desert. In addition, in Bach mode, the throttle response will become very sensitive. In order to eliminate the turbo lag, the gearbox will shift up later, and the speed will always be above 3000 rpm to ensure that the engine output time is within the peak torque range.

In addition to abundant power, chassis, suspension and tires are also very important if you want to be comfortable in the desert. The shock absorption performance of the F- 150 Raptor surprised us. It tested the chassis rigidity and suspension stroke in the ups and downs such as climbing over the flying slope. Under full load, the car can still maintain good stability, and the car will not feel too violent impact. When passing through the sand beam, there will be road conditions similar to the horizontal axis; The F- 150 Raptor relies on the extended front double wishbone suspension and the customized super-long trailing arm to ensure that the wheels touch the ground as much as possible when encountering potholes and sand beams.

The new F- 150 Raptor is also equipped with many advanced off-road auxiliary functions, which can be easily controlled even by inexperienced novices. The live valve shock absorber can obtain real-time body data through multiple electronic sensors, thus adjusting the suspension performance of the vehicle and weakening the off-road difficulty; After starting the crawling cruise mode, the vehicle will automatically distribute the required torque, and the crawling speed can be adjusted by SET+/-, which is more delicate than manual operation when going down steep slopes or getting out of trouble.

In addition, the original F- 150 Raptor is equipped with Bailuchi KO2 all-terrain off-road tires, with the size of 3 15/70R 17. Exaggerated patterns can provide better traction in bad road conditions, and the wide tire contact area makes the engine power "targeted".

F- 150 Raptor is a pickup truck with clear positioning and unique functions, which belongs to the "unique file". Even if compared with the same price, it can not reach the comfort and comprehensiveness of luxury SUV; As a tool cart, the cost is a bit too high. But only by going to the most challenging places can the potential of the F- 150 Raptor be truly brought into play, which is why it has remained popular for 40 years.

Objectively speaking, users in China are not short of spending power. The strong appearance and excellent off-road capability of the F- 150 Raptor are enough to arouse consumers' interest. However, objective factors such as road environment congestion, tight parking space resources and harsh vehicle policy are really embarrassing. Redouble efforts to expand your wallet is the best way for most people to have a "muscle totem".

This article comes from the author's report on cars, and the copyright belongs to the author. Please contact the author for any form of reprint. The content only represents the author's point of view and has nothing to do with the car reform.