2019 Ford Raptor Fights Dirty Against the Ram 2500 Power Wagon
No 0-60 mph tests here. Edmunds evaluates the Ford Raptor and Ram Power Wagon in the mud and on the rocks of Southern California.
Over the past few years, Ford and Ram have been duking it out for the top torque and towing figures. Ram reached 1,000 lb-ft with the Cummins turbodiesel I6 in its all-new 3500 Heavy Duty early this year; Ford recently topped that with the newest version of its Power Stroke turbodiesel V8, which cranks out 1,050 lb-ft and makes the 2020 Super Duty capable of pulling up to 37,000 pounds. The two truckmakers are also rivals when it comes to hardcore off-road pickups. Whereas Ford bases its Raptor on the F-150 and made it to fly across deserts and over dunes at high speeds, Ram used its 2500 Heavy Duty truck as the foundation for the Power Wagon, a high-riding beast that can get over almost any terrain it encounters.
Edmunds recently took the 2019 models of both trucks out to the wilderness of Randsburg, California to see how they would perform in a variety of conditions, ranging from high-speed driving on wet dirt roads to whoops to rocky inclines and declines. Even though both trucks look at home out there, they do have their obvious differences. The broad-shouldered Raptor is wider than the Power Wagon, but the Ram rides higher on 14.2 inches of ground clearance – 2.7 more than what the Raptor offers. With 450 horsepower and 510 lb-ft of torque from its high-output 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6, the Raptor trumps the Power Wagon, which has a naturally aspirated 6.4-liter Hemi V8 with 410 horsepower and 429 lb-ft.
Ford’s street-legal Baja racer uses fancy Fox shocks that can take a beating over rough high-frequency surfaces, whereas Ram’s brawny trail master has an electronic front sway bar disconnect that gives it better articulation. The Raptor can lock its rear diff for better traction; the Power Wagon has front and rear lockers, as well as a winch in case it gets really stuck. As Edmunds puts it, you can think of the Power Wagon as “a three-quarter-ton truck version of a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon.”
Co-hosts Dan Edmunds (in the Power Wagon) and Carlos Lago (in the Raptor) blow through miles of watery trails, giving their trucks proper – and multiple – mud baths. Lago says, “What I just love about this truck is that you can go this fast on road this rough and really have a good time. This is what the truck is for and it’s so good at that.” The whoop section of their journey is not a competition, but Lago seems to win when it comes to ride quality. Neither truck has a problem whipping up some dirt donuts, although Edmunds feels his look more like croissants.
The next day, Edmunds and Lago go out to a more technical trail to see how their test trucks do on slower, more challenging surfaces. That’s where the Raptor’s width becomes a liability. Lago says, “I don’t get a lot of room for error. So if I’m coming around a corner and there’s a big rock in the center, I’ve got to be very decisive about how I tackle it.” Edmunds is more concerned about rubbing the Power Wagon’s sidewalls against sharp rocks and popping one of them.
Both trucks make it down and up the jagged paths through the wilderness without incident – or any apparent struggle. They’re just that capable. But they do represent two different approaches to off-roading. You can either get your thrills in an overbuilt work truck or the sports car of four-wheel-drive pickups. We know which way we’d go.
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