Ford has earned its fair share of accolades in recent months with the Ford Bronco winning 2022 North American SUV of the Year honors back in January, while the Ford F-150 Lightning is also a finalist for 2023 North American Truck of the Year. Now that deliveries of the 2022 Ford Bronco Raptor are underway and the high-performance SUV is racking up positive reviews and beating its chief rival – the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 392 – in comparison tests, it makes sense that the ultimate version of the Bronco would follow suit. Now it has, as MotorTrend has nominated the 2022 Ford Bronco Raptor for its own 2022 SUV of the Year honors.
Right off the bat, the 2022 Ford Bronco Raptor impressed with how it performed at MotorTrend‘s own off-road course. “Performance of intended function [one of our six OTY criteria] is off the freaking charts. This is just a pure, unvarnished ass-kicking machine,” said digital director Erik Johnson. “It’s precision-engineered to enable tomfoolery,” added associate editor Alex Leanse.
The Bronco Raptor also proved to be incredibly comfortable on the road, mostly thanks to the same suspension that makes it so capable off the pavement. On the same token, its sheer width makes it a bit more difficult to park, while its 15 mile-per-gallon combined fuel economy rating isn’t exactly ideal, either. But the again, people don’t typically buy high-performance off-roaders for their ability to maneuver around mall parking garages or for their fuel-sipping efficiency.
“Really, it’s a shame the Braptor falters on some of the criteria, because it’s just so, so good,” Johnson concluded. “We always give our Golden Calipers to a hugely deserving and well-rounded machine – but sometimes being transcendent at one or two things equals a different kind of greatness. After all, Tom Brady, the greatest quarterback of all time, can’t catch all that well, doesn’t block, and he sure as hell can’t run, but man, can he throw.”
Source: Ford Authority
