Off-Road enthusiasts patiently waiting for the new 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor have a little something to whet their palate with the company’s latest release of testing photos. 

Ford recently announced it just completed 1,000 miles of testing in the Southwestern U.S. with the 2017 F-150 Raptor, a vehicle the company hails as “Ford’s toughest, smartest, most capable off-road truck ever.”

The Ford team tested over 1,028 miles of desert trail that is designed to mimic the courses of Baja California, Mexico, likely in Southern California in a similar area as the Raptor’s initial launch back in 2009. Ford says it used a 66-mile route made up of “fast sandy washes, deep-rutted silt beds, steep climbs in deep sand, and slow meticulous crawls through tight trenches.”

During testing, Ford says the Raptor prototypes reached speeds in excess of 100 mph at times while slowing down to 10 mph in others. Approximate average lap speed during testing was roughly 50 mph. Ford says the 2017 Raptor, which will be powered by the company’s 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 engine, is 25 percent faster than the current truck based on lap times. 

Ford engineers also went out of their way to push the Raptor far beyond the limits of what owners would do on a trail. One such instance of this is the new Raptor would be launched off a tabletop jump at the end of each 66-mile lap. Ford noted the prototypes used during testing are a blend of 2015 F-150 parts and 2017 Raptor components.

There will certainly be more testing in store for the Ratpor in the coming year, but Ford is proving they want to make sure this new Raptor lives up to the hype and is up to the challenge for all things off-road. The 2017 F-150 Raptor will go on sale in fall 2016.

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