Now Raptor lets driver choose exhaust sound

Want to stay in your neighbour’s good books, but still have the option to dial up your exhaust sound out on the open road?

Ford’s Next-gen 292kW V6 Ranger Raptor is equipped with a 2.5-inch active valve exhaust system that allows owners to select the exhaust sound they want. Starting up in Quiet mode early in the morning, it moves through Normal and Sport to Baja, the loudest setting, for off-road use only.

The Baja mode is also available for your phone: users can download the Ford Ranger Raptor Baja exhaust file to create an unusual ringtone.

The Ranger Raptor 3.0L twin-turbo V6 model’s new active valve twin exhaust system and four drive modes are designed to control the noise emitted by opening valves – much like a saxophone or a large pipe organ – to change the sound of the car based on the driver’s mood.

“For the next Ranger Raptor we wanted to really make the character of the car come alive, to emphasise the power and define the presence of the vehicle, but not make the car tiring when it didn’t need to be,” says Justin Capicchiano, Ford Performance and special vehicle engineering manager. “We spent hundreds of hours tuning and developing the sound of the vehicle and really think we have something that sounds right for the bakkie.”

The system can be controlled by the driver based on their preference using the ‘Exhaust Mode’ button, or automatically according to the drive mode they’ve selected: Quiet, Normal, Sport or Baja.

By selecting Quiet mode, owners can keep the exhaust sound to a minimum. Even better, the next-gen Ranger Raptor allows the scheduling of a “quiet start”, which allows owners to set the Ranger Raptor to always start in Quiet mode, or set a quiet time (with start and end times) to help owners stay on the good side of their neighbours.

To change the exhaust sound, the driver presses a button on the steering wheel that looks like an exhaust pipe. The first press displays a pop-up message on the digital instrument cluster of the selected mode while pressing the button again allows one to change the selected exhaust mode.

Modes:

• Quiet – Quietest setting for all driving conditions.
• Normal – Default setting provides a balance of comfort and feedback. Applied by default to Normal, Slippery, Mud/Ruts and Rock Crawl drive modes.
• Sport – Slightly louder than normal for spirited driving.
• Bajaⁱ – Loudest setting for off-road use only. Maximum exhaust noise under all driving conditions.

“There’s a lot involved in the science of sound, and we wanted Ranger Raptor to sound the way it looks and drives,” says Capicchiano. “The team had to consider and model everything from the whistle produced by the turbochargers to filtering out prolonged tones when driving at a constant speed.”

“From computer modelling to physical prototypes, the intention was to create a distinctive and emotionally exciting engine note that will have the hair standing up on the arms of those who hear it. We want you to know it’s a Ranger Raptor driving down the road before you see it.”

The distinctive Baja exhaust note ringtone can be downloaded from the Ford South Africa website at Ford South Africa.