Motor Trend Review - 2022 TRD Pro

I just searched cargurus nationally and there are 517 Raptors listed for <$80k and many around 75k.

TRX might be a different story but I bet that changes soon unless Ram simply limits production.

 

Yeah, Raptor is built for Baja and even has unique sensors, including when it leaves the ground. The TRX is a supercharged luxury truck, capable of off-road, but not a Moab mobile.

TRD is more at4x, Tremor, Rebel, and ZR2 comparisons.

 

okay., you win

 

Yep you will find that online and when you show up at the dealer it’ll be $20k over advertised price, majority of the time the only way to buy a Raptor at MSRP is to find a dealer willing to do an order, I technically have one ordered but I decided to give it up because even $80k is a stretch for me

 

markup's are real

 

Yeah there may be 517 Raptor's listed for MSRP or less, but I'd bet you can't find more than 5-10 that are actually selling for that. They all do the bait and switch, some even wait until you to the dealership to let you know about the ADM.

 

I will say that given what the market is and what $60k gets you now that paying $90-100k for a Raptor is about right

 

I mean are there possibilities to get a TRX or Raptor brand new for under $90k? Maybe? Can you go anywhere local and pull this off? Probably not. The “base raptor cost” vs TRD Pros or anything besides those 2 trucks is kinda a silly argument

the Raptor in 95% situations (new) is fetching close to $95k+. The TRX can actually be found discounted in several places but still going for $88k+. Maybe the Raptor R will lower the turbo v6 Raptor demand some but those things are not comparably (spec wise if course) to any other truck right now. TRD Pro, ZR2, Tremor, AT4x.

tier 1 and tier 2. What TRD Pro shoppers should be comparing from a feature and price point is just that. TRD Pro, ZR2, Tremor, AT4x. Feel free to add and subtract depending on features that are important to you but those trucks are targeting same buyers from price to features. It’s what’s most important to you.


Personally, it’s TRD Pro and ZR2 for me. But that’s me. The TRD Pro is “almost raptor territory” from a price point just isn’t true. Not in the real world. Again, did someone on the Internet pull off a miracle? Possible. But not probable for most of us reading this.

 

Agreed and all in on what you stated!

But I guess Cargurus Trumps all. Lol

 

I have had a raptor 37 on order since December 2021 and got notified it is now going to be a 2023. This dealer will not mark up fresh builds but if they have one someone backs out on then they mark up 10k. Not crazy about ford but the 37 raptor is a superior truck to the TRD pro now that 2023 tundra reliability and build quality has taken a hit. Still not sure I’d get rid of my 2018 5.7 that’s reliable as they come though. As mentioned this truck gets me everywhere I need to go and I have my Honda sxs pioneer 1000 for the real trails. I wouldn’t take a 90k truck on those trails. Now I am someone that buys and holds for a while so I think people of the same mantra may not wheel a brand new truck but 5 years down the road when it ain’t new it’s probably fun to see what it has off-road.

sticker on that raptor with 37s was 76k and that was fully loaded. I was told with inflation they can increase some prices. I don’t have faith that it will be built within the next 9 months. Maybe 1 year

 

You’ll be lucky if you get the 2021 pricing hopefully they will honor it, I would love to have a 37

 

Never forget that Motor Trend awarded the 1983 Renault Alliance its Car of the Year. That car was on the list of the biggest pieces of junk in American car history, right up there with the Yugo. LOL. That discredits them forever. Period. Google it. I would not trust that rag's opinion on anything.

https://preprodv2.motortrend.com/features/why-renault-alliance-was-1983-motortrend-car-of-the-year/

And that was not a one time mistake. They picked a bunch of losers over the years (over Toyota cars), including VWs, etc. Thankfully smart folks do not listen to their biased, foolish opinions.

 

Wait until you see the long travel TRD Raptor competitor coming….. ooppps didn’t hear it from me.

 

GM needs to offer the LZ0 in the ZR2 as an option in my opinion.

 

First thought - it’s MotorTrend - that’s like saying you get your national news from the National Enquirer…As a source of motoring news - it’s more about click bait than actual quality news.

2nd thought - Overall - they placed too much emphasis on perceived quality issues relative to the brand perception. I loved the line “Although we can't speak to long-term ownership,” - instead of stopping there - they proceed to speculate with an opinion. Opinions are not “reviews” - they are opinions. If you want to post opinions - that’s why newspaper/magazines have editorial sections - rant away - but articles are for FACTS.

Again - are there known issues with the truck - absolutely. Do other trucks have similar issues or worse - absolutely. So because Toyota has a brand reputation for reliability - a new product with some minor issues is a “failure” in their eyes I guess.

Infotainment issues can be fixed with software updates. Turbo issues and drivetrain problems won’t be fixed by software - but those are still the exception and not the trend. Eventually they will correct those in the manufacturing process.

The interior and quality - well, that one will likely remain a trade off - you either pay for Capstone or you get the cheaper feel/quality. No different than my feeling on its predecessor trims - the SR5 “felt” cheap to me compared to the Limited/Pro/Platinum/1794.

Overall - it’s what I expect from them - and a semi accurate review with a lot of opinion in place of hard facts. I get it - a review is a users opinion - but I’d also expect the user to be professional in writing a review for an auto magazine. I mean - complain away about something - but be prepared to make a model/manufacturer who does it better when you do. Just saying “towing capacity sucks” - doesn’t cut it when you can’t show a half ton that’s BETTER. Ditto quality complaints - so it’s got issues - Ford has ‘‘em too - GM has too many for what is in essence a relatively aged design and Ram - well, no need to go there in a quality discussion.

 

The guys at Motor Trend could not change their own oil and have zero mechanical ability (a bunch of PJ boys). In my experience, guys like that don't really know anything about cars and cannot really be trusted to give any kind of meaningful analysis or opinion about cars. Most women are the same IMO. And Motor Trend has a big anti-Toyota/Lexus bias. They almost never pick a Toyota or Lexus over a Honda or BMW or some other foreign car. They are in love with Honda and BMW. I bet they love the Honda truck. I saw a big guy with a cowboy hat getting out of a Honda truck here in TX and he looked comical (Same for the moped riders wearing a busines suit and all of the Smart car drivers driving that POS). Toyota is too boring for Motor Trend. A lot of folks have been burned by their incredibly bad advice and reviews, buying a POS VW or BMW over a Toyota or Lexus. I have met several folks who made that mistake and who found out the hard way that Motor Trend does not know what they are talking about. LOL. Think about all the suckers who bought the 1983 Motor Trend Car of the Year POS Renault Alliance (same for the VW Passat, etc., etc.).

 

To be fair, in the manufacturing world the actual numbers of blown engines, failed transmissions, and diffs on the 3rd gen is probably so low statistically that it hardly warrants too much attention needed. Everyone on here reads about that there have been 2 blown engines and 3 or 4 bad trannies and 2 bad diffs (one of the engines it is pretty apparent he drove it through a lake) and out of 80000+ trucks that is a phenomenal run rate.

I am sure that there are a few more bad engines/transmissions/diffferentials we don’t know about, but even so, the numbers are staggeringly on the side of Toyota here.

I also suspect most of the folks who complain have never been in the manufacturing world. It’s tough.

Now, the flip side, you are the one with the bad truck, then it sucks, it really sucks and most of those individuals are more than happy to run off to every forum they can and spout off the bad news. What you are not hearing from is the other 99% who did get a great truck.

Are they perfect trucks? No way! Are they pretty solid and comparable with everything else out there? (Apples to apples!) Yes!



“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

 

One of the +/- of today's internet and the communication abilities across a wide audience. We (the readers) have no idea to effectively weight the issues or the actual message within news or posts. News posts are weighted via polls that are only accurate within the targeted audience and responders' demographics.

Under TQM, I am certain Toyota is 100% aware of the failure rates and impact over the 1st 80K or so build CY22 models. Changes seen on the CY23 models are directly related to their TQM systems driven by these documented failure rates.