I had a cell phone with me but I was busy driving in the desert Saturday, having fun. I ran into a guy in a Ram Runner. The Ram Runner is a Mopar (factory) aftermarket upgrade to the quarter ton Ram. The cost of the Ram and upgrade is about $17K more than the stock Ford Raptor, it has 1/3 less horsepower, and the guy thought that he could take me in my Raptor. Not so much.
We talked after a brief run and he had the opinion that the $35K he paid extra over stock would make a significant difference against an off-the-showroom Raptor. He said that he would have bet pink slips that he could have beat me in a run through Johnson Valley Off-Road Vehicle Area (Southern California between Victorville and Barstow). The best he managed was a very very distant second, and thrilled that he didn’t throw down his pink slip.
The difference isn’t that there’s anything inherently wrong with the Ram Runner. It has to do with trying to after-market engineer a solution (even a factory solution) without the integrated solution that Ford took.
Here’s a video evaluation of the two rigs.
Ram Runner (1500)
Ford Raptor (150)
Jealous of your rig!
But will it make toast?
We could put bread on the exhaust manifold…but it might taste a bit dusty.
It's a fun toy.
Oh well, you 'almost' had something to sell for more guns… 🙂
Jump, jump, ZOOM.
Yes, I would have negotiated the arrangement…and could have bought a significantly enhanced arsenal.
It beats walking.
In summary, vroom zoom [insert trash talking] honkhonk zoom vrrrrroooom.
The trash talking is necessary to enjoy the whole experience.
Not much beats a Ford Pick'm Up!
So THAT'S what I saw the other day up here, a Ram Runner. Perhaps they believe exclusivity makes them faster? Raptors are pretty common up here.
OTOH the movie Two Lane Blacktop is all about how GM could NOT engineer an integrated solution (Warren Oates) like the soul-racer hot-rodders (Taylor/Wilson) in the Chevy…
Viz bread/exhaust manifold: One of my dirtbike-enduro buddies used to wrap a piece of beef (w/salt & pepper) a chunk of onion, and a half a potato in tin-foil and then wrap that around the head-pipe of his bike and after a long ride he'd open it up for lunch. Meanwhile us dumb-asses sat around chewing on some turd-like protein bar and sucking flavored-water out of our Camelbaks….
I've done the same thing many times in regard heating supper on the road, mainly in the third world.
Raptors are an off-the-lot rig. The Ram Runners are bolt on's, thus there are fewer – and they are quite expensive even by Raptor standards.
In this case, driving experience had a lot to do with it. He slacked off because he had a new truck and you can't do that if you want to win.
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