Aurelia Butler

The 2022 Ford Bronco Raptor is a high-performance off-roader that features long-travel suspension and the biggest tires you’ll find on any SUV. Prices start at $69,995 (destination included), and deliveries begin this summer. Shoppers with existing Bronco pre-orders will be able to upgrade, if desired. The 2022 Ford Bronco Raptor has arrived, and it looks like something we might have drawn as children. Beyond the massive fender flares, the Raptor transformation includes more power from a 3.0-liter twin-turbo V-6 and similar hardware to Ford’s F-150 Raptor pickup, from long-travel suspension and 37-inch tires to adaptive Fox Racing shocks.

Internally named Warthog, the Raptor has massive tires and beefy suspension to augment the already capable Bronco hardware, including locking front and rear differentials and a disconnecting front anti-roll bar. Ford says this package was inspired by the combination of high-speed desert racing and rock crawling that happens at Ultra4 racing events like King of the Hammers. Tires, Suspension, Clearances If you trace an imaginary line up from the center of the 37×12.50R-17 LT BFGoodrich KO2 all-terrain tires, you’ll find it’s roughly in line with the bodywork. To accommodate the 8.6-inch-wider track, there are 85.7 inches between the Raptor’s fenders, making this Bronco nearly as wide as the F-150 Raptor and also necessitating amber marker lights in accordance with Department of Transportation regulations.
While optional on the F-150 Raptor, the tires come standard on the Bronco Raptor, bringing dramatic improvements in clearances and capability. Approach, breakover, and departure angles increase by 3.5 to 4.5 degrees. As on the F-150, the tires are mounted on 17-inch wheels that accept an accessory beadlock rim. The 37-inch tires and additional suspension travel introduced a variety of challenges for Ford engineers. Mounting the heavier spare wheel and tire on the tailgate required additional carrier reinforcement. The size also meant Ford had to push the taillights outward. Look on the backside of the new center taillight housing and you’ll see “RAPTOR” printed backward so it reads correctly in the rearview mirror. The standard Bronco’s independent front and solid rear axle setup has been upgraded to withstand durability needs for serious off-road performance, with a Dana 44 front and Dana 50 rear axle with a 235-mm ring gear. The 3.1-inch diameter Fox Racing shocks are the same setup as the F-150 Raptor’s, with external reservoirs in the rear but Bronco-specific valving. The brakes, wheels, and tires will even bolt right up to the F-150, though the wheel offset is different. New shock mounts and control arms enable longer wheel travel, up to 13 inches in front and 14 inches in the rear, like the F-150 Raptor. The upper front control arms even have a small bend to clear the body as they pivot through the range of travel. Additional front and rear jounce dampers help absorb the load after landing sweet jumps, while new braces on the trailer hitch help increase the tow rating to 4500 pounds. Engine, Gearing, and Exhaust It should be no surprise that the Bronco Raptor doesn’t have a V-8. Instead, the power upgrade comes from a twin-turbo 3.0-liter V-6 like what you’d find under the hood of a Ford Explorer ST. The engine features some additions and changes for the Raptor, including new turbochargers.
Ford did not specify horsepower and torque but says the target is 400 horsepower. In the Explorer ST, the engine makes that amount of power and 415 pound-feet of torque. This might be the only thing Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 392 owners have remaining to brag about against the Bronco.A new Baja drive mode joins the Bronco’s stable of settings. Among other settings, this mode has an anti-lag system that lets exhaust flow when you’re off the throttle to keep the turbos spinning, so that there’s boost when you reapply the gas pedal. Baja mode also opens the dual exhaust system’s electronically controlled valves wide open. These valves adjust depending on the drive mode, from neighborhood-friendly to The Terror on Nextdoor. The transmission is a 10-speed automatic with unchanged gear ratios. And the low range is 3.06:1, netting a 67.8:1 crawl ratio that matches the standard Bronco with the automatic and a 4.7:1 final drive. Removable End Caps and Side Steps The Raptor’s new steel bumper features a large steel front bash plate with integrated tow hooks and four Rigid LED foglights. Two of the inboard fog lights come covered from the factory; Ford says the combined lumens of all four are too bright for legal on-road use.
At each end of the bumper are end caps that, when removed, provide more clearance in front of the wheels. A steel side step is installed onto factory rock rails and can likewise be jettisoned by undoing a few bolts. The rear fenders have replaceable front sections, as Ford found during development that they would get damaged by flying debris. Interior and Tech In a nod to the more practical-minded aspects of desert racing, the entry Bronco Raptor features vinyl seats and rubberized flooring that you can hose out. A Premium option adds more plush materials including floor carpeting and suede seats with leather-wrapped bolsters.
Regardless of covering, the Raptor-specific seats feature additional bolstering to keep you secure, and Ford engineers also considered headroom with a helmet included. Behind the driver’s helmet is a new aluminum B-pillar cross bar, while the C-pillar gains a carbon-fiber reinforcement structure. Combined with other structure improvements, these parts help increase torsional rigidity by a claimed 50 percent. Like higher-end versions of the standard Bronco, a 12.0-inch center touchscreen comes standard, as does a comprehensive exterior camera system. The optional Lux package adds a 10-speaker Bang & Olufsen audio system and adaptive cruise control.Pricing and Availability The Bronco Raptor starts at $69,995, destination charge included. For comparison, it costs $78,470 to equip a 2022 F-150 Raptor with 37-inch tires, and a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 392 starts at $76,395. Orders open in March and deliveries begin in the summer. Ford will also let current Bronco reservation holders upgrade their order to the Raptor, if desired. Fair warning: Ford says they expect most of the 2022 Bronco Raptor SUVs to be snapped up by those existing reservation holders.
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The 2022 Ford Bronco Raptor carries a starting price of $69,995.Ford has yet to release option prices or details about trim levels, but we imagine a fully equipped model will be considerably more expensive.Ford says deliveries will begin this summer, and those with an existing Bronco order can choose to upgrade to the Raptor.The new 2022 Bronco Raptor is the ultimate version of the Ford Bronco (at least for now), and it carries an appropriately heady base price of $69,995—nearly $20,000 more than a standard Bronco Wildtrak four-door model. Ford has yet to release details on options and trim levels, but we imagine a fully loaded model will reach above $80,000. The Raptor comes only as a four-door with a twin-turbo 3.0-liter V-6 engine that Ford claims will make around 400 horsepower.

This starting price makes the Bronco Raptor slightly more expensive than the F-150 Raptor pickup, which starts at $67,070. The F-150 is powered by a larger-displacement twin-turbo 3.5-liter V-6 that makes 450 horsepower, giving it a power advantage over the Bronco. But it’s worth noting that the Bronco Raptor comes standard with 37-inch tires, whereas a 2022 F-150 Raptor requires adding some expensive options to get equivalent 37-inch rubber: the $5250 37 Performance package and $6150 801A package, which together bring the truck’s price to $78,470.The other important point of comparison is with the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 392, which has a 6.4-liter V-8 that makes 470 horsepower. The Rubicon is more expensive than the Bronco Raptor, starting at $76,395, which is to be expected given its extra power. Tire-wise, the Wrangler 392 comes standard with 33-inch tires and offers a 35-inch tire option as part of the $3995 Xtreme Recon package.Ford says that deliveries of the 2022 Bronco Raptor will start this summer. Customers with an existing Bronco order will be offered the chance to upgrade to a Raptor.
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There are no self-driving cars available to own today, but that isn’t stopping automakers from hyping that these Level 2+ systems are offering more than they’re capable of.Now, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) wants to see just how good these “partial automation” technologies are at identifying distracted drivers, the ones who are supposed to be actively participating even if the car can change lanes or drive the speed of other cars automatically.IIHS will issue its first ratings later in 2022 and doesn’t see any automaker’s system getting top marks just yet.Some drivers might call it Level 2+ autonomous driving, or perhaps a partially self-driving vehicle. Companies call the technology these cars use things like Autopilot (Tesla), Pilot Assist (Volvo), and Super Cruise (GM). Whatever name you give the fancy driver assistance systems in today’s cars, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is going to start figuring out just how safe they really are, especially when it comes to reducing intentional or unintentional misuse.IIHS announced this week it will create “safeguard ratings for partial automation” technology and will rank these features with one of four ratings: Good, Acceptable, Marginal, and Poor. The reason, IIHS said, was because the group has not seen all of the benefits in safer driving that partial automation promises. In 2020, a study of 2013–2017 BMW vehicles by the IIHS’s Highway Loss Data Institute, for example, found that front crash prevention sensors and the addition of adaptive cruise control did reduce the amount of property damage and bodily injury, but “the further addition of lane centering as part of the company’s partially automated driving package had little impact,” the group said at the time. When Car and Driver tested driver-assist features in 2021, we found that all of them had problems identifying inattentive drivers.

“Partial automation systems may make long drives seem like less of a burden, but there is no evidence that they make driving safer,” said IIHS president David Harkey in a statement. “In fact, the opposite may be the case if systems lack adequate safeguards.”To earn a Good rating, a driver assist system will have to be able to track where a driver is looking, and it needs to make sure drivers are watching the road with their hands on the wheel—or are ready to grab it—during the entire drive. IIHS will also require a car to offer “escalating alerts” and have “appropriate emergency procedures” in place whenever the driver isn’t paying attention. IIHS said that different kinds of warnings—”chimes, vibrations, pulsing the brakes or tugging on the driver’s seatbelt”—are better than just one type, and that a driver who fails to respond to these alerts “should be locked out of the system for the remainder of the drive, until the engine is switched off and started again.”IIHS doesn’t expect any automaker’s system to get a Good score when the first ratings are assigned later this year. “While most partial automation systems have some safeguards in place to help ensure drivers are focused and ready, none of them meets all the pending IIHS criteria,” the group wrote in a statement.

IIHS

IIHS

This would be a good place to mention that there are no fully self-driving vehicles available to buy in the U.S. today, even as some automakers hype their systems’ capabilities beyond what’s real. “Some manufacturers have oversold the capabilities of their systems, prompting drivers to treat the systems as if they can drive the car on their own,” IIHS wrote. “In egregious cases, drivers have been documented watching videos or playing games on their cellphones or even taking naps while speeding down the expressway” before citing a 2018 example of a fatal crash involving a Tesla Model X where the driver was likely playing video games while “driving.”
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Koenigsegg takes its carbon fiber seriously. One look at any of the Swedish supercar company’s creations up close, and you’ll understand just how much effort is put into each and every weave. Whether we’re talking about monocoques, body panels, or even wheels, Koenigsegg’s carbon is perfectly aligned and masterfully crafted. It’s a major reason why all of the company’s cars sell out so quickly. Previously, if you wanted a car with carbon fiber made by Koenigsegg, you’d have to shell out several hundred thousand dollars to buy a Koenigsegg. Now, though, all you’ll need is a Tesla to make use of Koenigsegg’s ultra-high-quality carbon. That’s thanks to a new collaboration between Koenigsegg Advanced Manufacturing and Tesla tuner Unplugged Performance. Unplugged Performance is one of the most popular suppliers of aftermarket Tesla parts, offering things like high-performance braking systems, suspension upgrades, and exterior modifications. It’s also the company behind that highly modified Model S Plaid that attacked Pikes Peak in 2021. Furthermore, Unplugged Performance is an officially authorized service provider for Tesla vehicles, according to Electrek. So it’s only natural Koenigsegg would team up with it to provide parts to customers.

As a part of the launch, Unplugged Performance is offering a handful of carbon-fiber spoilers for the Model S, Model 3, and Model X. Additionally, carbon-fiber front fenders are available for the Model 3. Pricing for the spoilers range from $1745 to $2495, while the fenders come in at $8895 per set before taxes and shipping. That sounds like a whole lot of money for body panels, we know. But once you consider the parts are made from Koenigsegg’s proprietary carbon-fiber weave and built on the same assembly line as the aerodynamic parts destined for Koenigsegg’s newest hypercars, it starts to make sense. Unplugged Performance says it plans to debut more parts in collaboration with Koenigsegg later in 2022, so if you don’t see anything you like just yet, stay tuned.

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