Trucks have been altered, upgraded, dropped, tilted, and customized to meet exactly what owners want them to be. Some trucks are built for racing and head to the track to prove they can handle like sports cars, but these racing trucks aren’t made to pull a trailer. On the other end of the spectrum, most trucks that are made for hauling big trailers don’t have the handling and quickness of a sports car. If you’ve ever driven a diesel-powered truck with a trailer, you know it takes three to five business days to reach highway speeds. There happens to be one pickup truck that provides the balance of hauling and offering impressive quickness and handling to make driving it fun.Should pickup trucks handle like sports cars? If history is any indication, a segment of drivers thinks they should. When trucks receive added performance features, the towing capability is reduced, but one truck still has enough towing power to handle a useful-sized trailer, making it possible to do truck stuff and still enjoy the handling and power that rival some sports cars. The Ford Ranger Raptor Hauls Like A Truck And Handles Like A Sports Car 0-60 MPH: 5.3 Seconds | Quarter Mile: 14.1 Seconds Lyndon Conrad Bell | TopSpeed A truck that reaches 60 MPH in 5.3 seconds easily rivals many performance cars. It might not be as quick as well-known names like a Porsche 911 or a Chevrolet Corvette, but this model is faster than smaller sports cars like the Toyota GR86, Subaru BRZ, and Mazda MX-5 Miata. Considering it’s a truck, that’s pretty impressive and worthy of attention. That speed is the result of the impressive 3.0-liter V6 engine, which sends 405 horsepower and 430 pound-feet of torque to the wheels. The pickup is also an off-roader, which means it comes with standard 4WD, giving drivers the desired feeling of control with power going to all four wheels. The Chassis Was Engineered For Speed, Not Just Utility The Ford Ranger Raptor Was Made To Drive Hard Trucks are made to tolerate high levels of abuse, but it’s generally a different type of abuse when compared to sports cars. The Ford Ranger Raptor was designed to perform in all conditions. When taken to the track, the longer, forged-aluminum control arms, wider track, fortified steering rack, and Watts-link rear suspension provide the toughness and setup to handle quick sprints and blow some sports cars away. These tough features also help the Ranger Raptor perform well in its natural environment: off-road trails. A wider track means better traction on trails and tarmac. Who would have ever thought that off-road features would translate to the track so well? FOX Live Valve Shocks Give It Real High-Speed Composure Settled At Higher Speeds Lyndon Conrad Bell | TopSpeed Like the larger F-150 Raptor, the Ranger Raptor is designed to perform at high speeds on desert trails. The 2.5-inch Fox Live Valve shocks are key to ensuring this truck can hunker down and remain composed and settled at higher speeds. When the pace rises, this Ford rises to the occasion and drives confidently on trails. The same can be said when it heads to the track. While the shocks don’t make it a track car, the stable feel and composure let drivers push the Ranger Raptor hard on a track without worrying it will spin out of control.10 inches of suspension travel will make the features of even the roughest of terrain feel like minor annoyances.- Lyndon Conrad Bell, TopSpeed Journalist It’s One Of The Few Pickups That Feels “Right-Sized” To Drive Aggressively It Fits On Tighter Trails Ford Many performance trucks are much bigger than the Ranger Raptor. Automakers focused on creating performance trucks out of half-ton and larger trucks, giving the market the F-150 Raptor, Ram 1500 TRX, and Ram Power Wagon. These trucks are much bigger than the Ranger Raptor. The Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 and Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro paved the path for the baby Raptor, but Ford took things to a new level. The midsize build of this Ford truck feels like it should be pushed hard, and it certainly can be. It's easier to fit on tight trails than larger pickups, making it easier to drive fast and much less intimidating than the F-150 Raptor. This is a sports-car-like trait that no other performance truck matches. The Steering And Turn-In Are More Deliberate Than You Expect From A Truck Better Response Than A Standard Ranger Ford Testing tells the story, and when the Ford Ranger Raptor was put through the paces, it came out shining bright on the other side. The steering isn’t vague and floaty like a work truck, but direct and assured, making it much more responsive than most trucks, including the standard Ranger. While it won’t give you sports-car-like steering and handling, mostly because of the large tires and ride position, it is much more controlled than you might expect, making it feel more like a performance vehicle than a workhorse pickup truck. It Can Still Do Real Truck Work Reasonable Towing And Payload Lyndon Conrad Bell | TopSpeed Can the Ranger Raptor do truck stuff? As a high-performance truck, it doesn’t tow as much as its regular counterpart, but it's still capable of towing up to 5,510 pounds and can carry up to 1,411 pounds of payload in the bed. This means you can easily tow a small boat or utility trailer and carry the stuff you need for a weekend project or some fun near your local lake. The entertaining and performance qualities make this truck fun, but the towing and payload capabilities keep it a real truck, ready to handle the work you need to get done. The 10-Speed Automatic Helps It Feel More Performance-Focused The Right Setup For This Truck Garret Donahue | TopSpeed Some driving purists might argue that a performance vehicle should have an RWD and a manual transmission. The Ford Ranger Raptor has neither, but that doesn’t diminish its performance qualities. The ten-speed automatic transmission is ideal for this truck. It keeps the engine in the sweet spot much more effectively than older transmissions with fewer gears, and much better than most drivers could with a manual transmission. The automatic also ensures you don’t have to focus on which gear to be in when taking on challenging off-road trails. If you want manual control, you’ll see a pair of magnesium paddle shifters and dedicated performance/off-road modes to give you the engaged feel you want. It’s One Of The Few Trucks Where “Fun” Is Part Of The Mission Statement The Playful Nature Lyndon Conrad Bell | TopSpeed Many high-performance pickup trucks can leave the Ranger Raptor behind in a straight line sprint test, but few are designed to feel as playful as this midsize Ford truck. It’s easy to enjoy and builds your confidence from behind the wheel in various environments. You’ll realize just how easy it is to get up to highway speed, push it hard at high speed, or enjoy off-roading when you take the Ranger Raptor out for some fun wherever you go. It was explicitly engineered by Ford Performance to be a high-speed, off-road-oriented performance truck, making it a midsize monster that can show off at the track, too. It’s More Athletic Than Its Capability Numbers Suggest The Drive Is Rewarding Ford Can you have a truck that does what sports cars do? If you’re looking for a pickup that prioritizes driver engagement and experience over utility, that’s exactly what you’ll find in the Ranger Raptor. In this sense, it follows a sports-car formula, ready for some fun on the trails and capable of showing off on the track when desired. The trade-off is reduced payload and towing capacity compared to the standard Ranger, but for some drivers, that’s a reasonable compromise. It Feels Like A Niche Product For People Who Want One Vehicle To Do Everything Rewarding Indecision Ford Do you want your truck to tow a trailer? Are you looking for a pickup that is fast and powerful? Do you want to head out on the trails during your weekends? If you want all of these things, not every truck will give you the whole package, but the Ranger Raptor will. It’s a compelling truck because it's considered a niche, but it does everything. While it doesn’t do everything like other trucks, it excels at some things. This Ford truck was designed to be an off-road performance pickup, and it excels at that while also handling your truck needs.Sources: Ford, Edmunds