Bronco Raptor

Make
Ford
Segment
SUV

When the Ford Bronco Raptor blasted onto the stage with its EcoBoost twin-turbo V6, we were all pretty impressed by its 418 horsepower and 440 lb-ft of torque performance figures. Sometime after its reveal, Hennessey announced that it had devised a VelociRaptor package to increase this to 500 hp and 550 lb-ft.

You can imagine Hennessey's surprise after placing the Bronco Raptor on the dyno and discovering that it only produces 323 hp and 384 lb-ft. Before applying its upgrades, the tuning firm took the performance SUV to DynoJet for a standard benchmark test, but the power recorded at the rear wheels just wasn't what the engineers were expecting.

We have to clarify that this isn't an accurate test because when you apply off-road tires to a traditional dyno platform, the results are never 100% accurate. We've also seen dyno tests of standard Bronco models that appear to be a bit more accurate regardless of the tire configuration, so there's no clear explanation as to why we are seeing a reduction in this particular test.

Regardless, Hennessey may have a bit more work to do to achieve its desired power output. Its claimed 20% power increase will be provided using an upgraded air induction system, intercooler with a blow-off valve, and engine management system.

A loss of power on the dyno is not an unusual occurrence but a deficit of as much as 20% is a concern, even if chunky off-road tires are strapped to the rear axle. The Ford F-150 Lightning we covered two months ago, which had more road-biased tires fitted, conducted a dyno test with a fairly minor deficit of around 15 hp. However, this same test showed a more generous torque figure. Considering this is a dyno test of an EV, the two situations cannot be directly compared.

Over in Germany however, we've seen the likes of the BMW M4 CSL best its power claims by 40 hp. Bear in mind that this car comes standard with a grippier and thinner profile tire to the Bronco Raptor, so again a direct comparison is a bit unfair but interesting nonetheless.