Catherina Gioino

The 2023 Ford F-150 Raptor R in all its glory

Ahead of five teams competing for the Ford Motor Company at the eighth annual Rebelle Rally this year, the automaker flew me out from my wonderfully liberal home borough of Queens to the equally liberal Los Angeles County. 

Upon landing at the spectacularly poorly-signed LAX– where a seemingly simple search for the hotel shuttle ended up with my lauding of an ousted former Queens native governor known for his propensity to pronounce a certain Queens airport in a very Queens manner– I was immediately greeted by pleasantly-timed car horns and red brake lights meant to rival a BTS concert at MSG. 

The author in the Raptor on Day One

In LA, where cars do rule above all, there are more than 65,000 registered electric vehicles in the county– that’s more than the entire population of Portland, Maine. There are 7.7 million cars registered in the county, enough to rival the entire population of New York City. For context, only one in four households in New York own a car, meaning there are less than two million cars on the city’s streets. 

On the sustainability front, LA boasts the largest number of EV charging stations in the country, with over 11,000 commercially available stations spread throughout the city. In comparison, New York City has just over 7,600 public charging stations for the 158,000 EVs registered in the city. New York shines in bike lanes: over 1,500 miles of the city’s streets have some form of a bike lane on them (here’s when I brandish my bike lobby card and decry what really constitutes “protected” in that number, but hey), as compared to LA’s less than 100 miles. Both cities, of course, still boast an unconscionable amount of pedestrian and cyclist traffic deaths that only seem to be growing in the last few years. 

The Raptor and the Ford Ranger stuck in LA traffic

Who Am I – or, Why Should We Care About This in the First Place

Although I wish it were, this isn’t a writing exercise in the New York-Los Angeles rivalry. Let me explain these seemingly out-of-context numbers: with a stats background and a master’s in urban policy, I ran for city council in the Queens neighborhood where I grew up on the line of “public space for the public good.” Unfortunately, running on a platform for increased bike and bus lanes, and removing privately-owned vehicles from certain publicly-owned streets to create pedestrian plazas aren’t the most popular policy recommendations in a city where over 200 people have died from vehicular traffic this year alone.

The cars waiting for us in the hotel driveway

But I digress. In most respects, I’m not the first person who should have been given a Ford F-150 Raptor R to drive around for the weekend. I actively denounced erroneous drivers on my #BikeNYC Twitter when it was still a thing; I volunteer at my local open street; and I have spent the last three years working in transportation policy at two different micromobility companies geared towards reducing car trips under two miles (which constitute over 50 percent of all car trips in the United States). 

The author approaching the Raptor for the first time

But on the other hand, I’m probably in good company. I’ve been driving [legally] since the second I turned 16, and as much as I hate to admit it, I have a little more than a basic understanding of cars. I grew up in my uncle’s European auto body repair shop, and at one point, knew how to differentiate between the different parts that make up a radiator. That, and being told by friends, family, coworkers, lovers, and anyone in between, whom have entered in cars in which I was at the helm in both New York and Naples to Ireland and Morocco and everywhere else in between, how unstressed they were compared to the outside environment, has all gone to my head. So sure, I’m the perfect candidate to drive a Ford F-150 Raptor R for the weekend, sign me up. 

The Ford F-150 Raptor R or: How I Learned to Stop Second-Guessing Myself and Love the Climb 

What’s traffic if you can’t hear it in the silent cabin?

Enter Ford. After waking up in our hotel room early last Thursday morning, we made our way down to the lobby for some breakfast before meeting the other journalists on the trip and our Ford counterpart– and all-around fantastic California guide and driver– Mike. We were given the home rules of the drive: each of us would drive from LA to Mammoth Lakes in our own Ford vehicles. We’ll have some pit stops on the way, and don’t get too caught up with the wonders of “the 5” or “the 14.” 

The creation of one group chat later, we grabbed our bags and were led outside to the sight of four incredibly powerful-looking trucks. Each of us called dibs on a truck, with my now new friends Tamara grabbing the Ford Tremor and Laycee and Tim climbing into a Ford Bronco. To my shock, I was given the monster out of all of them, the Ford F-150 Raptor R.

The Raptor “R” is everywhere

Mike and his Ford colleague Tony both raised their eyebrows as we neared the truck, with Tony saying “You’re going to love this” as he tossed the keys in an almost perfect imitation of any number of 1980s/John Hughes-directed films (but yes, in specific reference to that one). Entering the truck was a testament to itself: not only did you have to step on the footboard to even get close to eye level with the driver’s seat base, but there was a perfectly placed handle to hoist yourself up into the cabin. 

I’ll let you Google more well-versed auto writers who can detail all of the features of the truck, of which there are many, and frankly, this isn’t the publication to mention the truck’s 37-inch tires or the 5.2L Supercharged V8 with 700 horsepower engine. Indeed, The Knockturnal is not the publication that can detail at length why the 5-link coil rear suspension type with a Panhard rod and the 640 pounds of torque make the F-150 Raptor R so fun to drive, which it does. 

A barely miniature Raptor flashes on the driver’s dashboard when entering the vehicle

Also, having just three days with the car wasn’t enough to even get through the quick guide user manual let alone explore all of the features in the car itself. Instead, I’ll discuss what I, a normal layperson, found so fascinating with the vehicle. After you immediately step into the seat, you’re welcomed with the Ford Raptor “R” logo flashing across the driver’s dash, with a miniature replica of the car doing a show-model 360 before the screen flashes to the speedometer and user controls. The “R” comes across all over the car, inside and out. Its trademarked “Code Orange” color is seen on accents inside the car as well as on the R in the car’s grille and the decals near the pick-up bed.

There’s a giant screen that lets you multitask where you can set one-third of the screen to music or some other entertainment and the other two-thirds to the map. 

Plenty of elbow room on the console

The cupholders, like everything else with this car, run big, so our small coffee cups were quickly enveloped by the sheer depth of the holders, but it was nothing some wiry fingers couldn’t handle. That, and the surround sound brought to you by 18 Bang and Olufsen speakers (including two in the headrests!) made the Bad Bunny pop.

The coolest tech part about the car might be the wireless charging pad that acts as a cable without having to go through the process of adding our phones via Bluetooth. We knew we only had the car for a weekend and I for one hate when I rent a car and have to add my phone for the short 24 hours the vehicle is in my possession. Ford truly thought through every person who enters a car and wants to be on aux– just toss the phone on the pad and you have the phone connected to the car– all wirelessly. 

Perhaps the most exciting aspect found in the interior cabin was less the trinkets and gadgets but more, the extra-wide

The back is pretty spacious too

elbow room on the console that opened up and doubled as a lay-flat table and writing desk. If you’re using good ol’ fashioned paper maps (of which the drivers of the Rebelle Rally are reliant– read more about the rally here and here), or if you’re like me and carry a pen and notepad with you always, and especially for last minute notes, that table makes you question why flat surfaces are so scarce in cars today. 

To be forthcoming, this is certainly one of the most expensive vehicles you can buy, but it certainly is cost-effective for the features you get. Not only was the MSRP of the truck we were driving nearly $110,000, but every time we stopped to fill up on gas, it would cost over $150 just to fill up the 36-gallon tank. I know, we were driving in California, land of the $6.50 gallon, and boy did I try to get the average MPG over 12 (I hit 12.3 at my finest hour!), but it’s a lot for the average person, especially in an urban environment where I wouldn’t even consider driving, let alone parallel parking on a cobblestone street in Brooklyn. (I’m not going to lie though, the electric Ford F-150, with a price tag a fraction of its gas-powered cousin, does seem enticing given how much fun I had driving it around this weekend.). 

You can split the 12-inch screen between maps and entertainment

That being said, if you have a need for all of the specs of the truck (again, of which there are many), there are so many practical ways to use the Ford F-150 Raptor R, from towing upwards of 8,700 pounds (the most of all F-150 variants), to climbing up steep terrain (which I’ll get to below), this is a fantastic car. More importantly, if someone gave me $100,000 to buy a car, I would 100 percent go with the F-150 over any equally priced sports or luxury car. Move over, the 2023 Porsche Panamera 4 with an MSRP of $97,000, I want this American-made beast that makes me feel so safe even when driving with any number of jerks on the road in any number of foreign-made sports cars with an equal or larger MSRP. 

Hitting the Road– and Nothing Else

Driving through the Eastern Sierras

After our initial five minutes to get acquainted with the vehicle, we were gathered by Mike who gave us instructions on our intended drive from LA to Mammoth Lakes. We were going to follow him from the hotel to the expressway, and then get to a meeting point for coffee and a bathroom break. With the agreed-upon destination set on the car’s 12-inch screen, we hit the road– slowly.

I mean this seriously: I’m a … defensive driver, according to my driving instructor when I was 15 with a learner’s permit. And according to most, not-too-cautious individuals who enter a car with me, I’m assertive when I need to be but never overly confident. That all went out the window when we started driving the truck. To say I was cautious of making wide turns in this 96-inch wide car– a full 10 inches wider than its non-Raptor F-150 counterpart, which in itself is 14 inches wider than the average car (72 inches)– is an understatement. 

Following Mike started as a semi-arduous ordeal given that the regular LA driver found my speed-limit driving a bit slow for their taste (and to be fair, you’d expect a truck of this size to go slightly over the limit, I give), and so, I soon found it comical people in puny sedans would try to cut off a 6.5 foot-tall truck to beat the light for the expressway onramp. But to reiterate, I felt safe in this car. I knew no matter what dumb shenanigan that driver was going to pull, the Raptor R’s immense size and safety features would keep me as coddled as a 21st-century baby boomer executive asking someone to convert a document into a PDF. And so, I got more comfortable.

As we approached our turn for the onramp, I was waved on by another Ford F-150 owner, who gave a slight smile as I signaled and got onto the expressway. Granted, I’m not the first person one expects to see commandeering the Raptor, but as Mike later explained, F-150 drivers in the know would recognize the sport package of the car we’re driving and tip their hats in our direction. And lo and behold, not only did we get smiles and head nods the whole way up, but we even got a little honking serenade from another Ford F-150 Raptor R, in an Azure Gray Metallic color that perfectly complemented our Antimatter Blue exterior.

Baja mode on the F-150 Raptor

Now getting the hang of the full body of the vehicle, the drive up was pleasantly exhilarating. Drivers gave us space, let us merge when needed, and again, no dumb shenanigans as I was used to when driving smaller-bodied vehicles. It’s something that has been studied time and time again: the impression of a big vehicle affects both the driver of said vehicle and those around it. While this can sometimes have a detrimental effect on the driver of a vehicle (namely having been studied in sports car drivers engaging in reckless driving and taking more risks), it can also have the opposite effect. I for one was constantly aware of every square inch of the vehicle, and that came in handy on the road and off it– which is the exciting part below.

A Small Roadtrip in a Big Truck

It takes about five hours to get from LA to Mammoth Lakes, and the F-150 had me yearning for a longer drive. On the seats alone, the lumbar support reached so far it could practically offer you a chiropractic visit in itself, and could be so far removed that you could mistake it for a Herman Miller chair. The Raptor is the best road trip vehicle: it’s beyond roomy, both in the front and rear row seats (which also come with heated and cooled seats), and it’s surprisingly smooth and quiet. By the time we reached our first pitstop and regrouped, all of us were exclaiming about the wonders of our new rides and how we couldn’t wait to hit the road again.

The truck went up steep hills like a hot knife gliding through butter

The rest of the ride did not disappoint. The Raptor R somehow made the traffic that would be found on a typical California drive relaxing. We were beyond elated that of the few traffic jams we found ourselves in, we barely noticed them because we were so comfortable in the cabin. Maybe the answer to road rage is just getting a car with a relaxing interior, or maybe it is just getting an F-150, who knows?

Once we left our first pitstop, we made our way onto SR 14, passed by the third largest onshore wind energy project in the world in Mojave and drove through historic settlements along US Route 395 (including passing by the Museum of Western Film History given how many movies were filmed in this area) before grabbing lunch at Copper Top BBQ in Big Pine. One tri-tip and pulled pork meal later, the group and I made our way to the next destination: an unnamed hot springs site. Mike, who played tour guide not only while in the cars but also when we exited for hikes, stressed an important aspect of sightseeing in nature: keep it as is, or the adage goes, take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but photographs. For city slickers like me and Alex, the hot springs site was a phenomenon in itself, leaving us in awe of all of nature’s wonders, and we couldn’t agree more with Mike’s take. 

Hot springs in the middle of the Eastern Sierras

Women Drivers Make Their Own Roads in the Eighth Annual Rebelle Rally

What better way to emphasize such appreciation for Mother Nature than meeting with nearly 130 women who were going to turn off from all of the technological wonders of the 21st century and drive in the Rebelle Rally without a phone or means of outside communication? You can read more about the Rebelle Rally here and here, but in essence, these women drivers were told to literally [not] get lost in nature, all without a phone, which in case you needed a rundown of a mobile device’s functions, here are a few: map, watch, compass, calculator, speedometer, timer, forecaster, flashlight, measurements, and more. 

The Ford Mustang Mach-E driving through the Rebelle Rally gate

We went around Brown’s Owens River Campground, met with Rebelle Rally founder Emily Miller as well as drivers on the Ford team (and got intimate with their respective cars), before returning inside for a run of show from Miller addressing the whole lot of drivers on the eve of the Rebelle Rally prologue– a practice dry run of the competitors can expect for the rest of the rally. With previous competitors taking to the stage to share funny anecdotes and words of caution and with Miller going through the roster of all staff members and volunteers that made the rally possible, dinner was served. Michelin Chef Drew Deckman, who has been cooking at the Rally for all eight years, introduced everyone on his team, many of whom work with him at his other restaurants and have themselves been repeat visitors to the rally as well.

Immediately, the tent erupted with conversations of the ride ahead– and what these ladies were leaving behind. Work, family, friends, and anything in between was put on hold when the women brought their phones to the campground to be sealed away for the remainder of the rally. As we chatted with a few about their nerves, or lack thereof, we dined on burgers and hot dogs, and later on as the temperatures dropped in the campsite (that is after all, in the middle of an open expanse in nature), the crowd was enticed with s’mores around an open fire. 

Nearly 130 women are competing in this year’s Rebelle Rally

While the competitors had to survive the night in just their tents as temperatures dropped to a chilly 14 degrees the night before, the group of journalists was sent to The Westin Monache Resort in the town of Mammoth Lakes to stay for the remainder of the press trip. There, I pulled possibly my only lapse in judgment with the truck: I decided to forgo the valet parking in favor of self-parking the car in the hotel’s underground garage. A few wide turns later, I started to question my ability to parallel park over simply pulling in inside the lines. Thankfully (and only slightly embarrassingly) a very supportive Mike, who was driving his personal Ford Ranger, had parked right in front of me and informed me of the sheer width of the truck making it larger than the lines in the hotel’s garage. 

Competitors are tasked with finding markers without phones or GPS

An early morning wake-up the next day had us catching the sunrise through the rather stoic Ponderosa Pines as we ate breakfast in the hotel lobby. Once the team regrouped, we made our way back to the campground where we would be seeing off the competitors as the prologue started– and then we would be driving part of the rally ourselves. Excited, we exchanged waves and wishes of luck to the racers as they passed the Rebelle Rally’s blue gates and made their way to their markers, all before climbing into our respective vehicles to make the same route ourselves.

This Truck Eats Other Trucks for Breakfast

The F-150 Raptor handles off-roading like a champ

Reader, I have never driven off-road in this sense. Sure, my cousin taught me to drive stick in our hometown in Italy at the bottom of a mountain with a narrow (but paved) two-way road, but I’ve never truly driven off-road– that is, until this past weekend. And frankly, I don’t know if I would have been this confident if it wasn’t for the power and comfort of knowing I was in the Raptor, a car I had already gotten used to driving at this point, and knowing what it could do– or so I thought until I put it to the test and that horsepower proved I had just seen a fraction of what it could do. 

It just ate giant rocks and drops like jello; it climbed steep 20-degree hills like we were a hot knife gliding through butter; it sucked up all of the dirt and dust from the car in front of us like a sous vide; it – okay you get the food-induced points. The Raptor handled everything we threw at it, and I’m convinced even if you tried to push it to its limits, you would never get close. The Raptor truly is an off-road race truck with luxury car creature comforts.

Quite literally leaving everyone and everything in our dust

Don’t take just my word for it, listen to the truck itself. The driver has the option to fine-tune the car to your needs. I hate the machismo-compensating sound of a revving engine and exhaust, so you can set the exhaust to “quiet mode” which tapers that sound down a bit. And because the inside cabin is so well insulated, we barely heard any of the ATV riders in the area doing donuts on the next road over. 

That isn’t even half of it: with six different driving modes on the Raptor, you can even specify what surface you’re on and the truck will follow suit. The truck has the usual sport and normal driving modes, but it also has one for towing and another for slippery conditions. For these dirt roads, we stuck to just two: Off-Road and Baja. When we first approached the rocky conditions, we figured hell, this is off-roading after all, let’s go with the Off-Road driving mode. And it blew our minds, but it was nothing compared to the surprise that was in store for us when we switched to Baja mode. Clouds of dirt and dust might have well-been nothing for the undercarriage camera that conveniently showed every obstacle ahead of us– and that proved little challenge for the massive clearance of the Raptor. Baja mode, or as all of us came to call it, beast mode, is meant for high-speed off-roading, switching the car into a more aggressive suspension to handle those fast turns and speeds on uneven terrain.

The author on the last day of the trip, unwilling to give up the keys

With dust clouds behind us and the sunset along the horizon, we made our way back to the campground to catch up with the competitors and then to the hotel, where we would once again have an early morning before setting off to see California’s changing leaves (one thing I can say as an East Coastal-elitist that we have more to be in awe of) as the sun rose. As the women competitors of Rebelle made their way through Day One of the rally, we made our way south. We had a pitstop at the esteemed and almost untouched by time Erick Schat’s Bakery just after stopping to catch the solar eclipse. As the group parted ways, we headed through Manzanar and to Alabama Hills, where once again, the Raptor ate dirt roads like nothing. As we had to pry the keys from our hands to return the car at LAX, and were once again greeted with the delightful sounds of traffic we so dearly ignored in the silent Raptor cabin, we knew this trip fundamentally changed our views on pickup trucks, and were so glad to have to experience off-roading in a true Ford nature. 

To read more about the Rebelle Rally, its founder Emily Miller, the competitors, and how they’re powering fully electronic trucks, check out the articles here and here.