I know I'm reanimating an old thread here, but I was thinking about the last 200 I drove and did a web search. As a long time Toyota guy (and member of this forum) who now drives a Raptor I thought it would be nice to post some actual owner impressions.
The Raptor is a very different vehicle from ANY Toyota SUV, and whether you'd want one or not really depends on your use case. In that respect there are some areas of overlap obviously with offroading and possibly towing with a 200 specifically. And moving a lot of people/gear.
The raptor is FAST, on and offroad. For a truck of course. If you haven't managed to convince someone to take you out and go 40-80mph offroad you owe it to yourself just for the experience. It's also mega-comfy with nice seats that are heated/ventilated, carplay, panoramic sunroof, CAVERNOUS rear seat room for kids/dog/gear. It's shockingly comfy offroad, even at speed over bumpy terrain because of what it's designed for. You can haul a lot of gear. It has a nice big gas tank that gives you a 600+ mile freeway range. And that range is real, I got 19mpg on a recent 1700+ mile road trip. The wide track and soft suspension make it stable and drama free on twisty mountain roads. It's amazing in the snow (I live in tahoe) with selectable AWD and 4WD assuming you respect the weight/stopping distance. Its super fun doing high speed offroad. It has the traction and offroad tech to crawl with a rear locker, Torsen front diff, front and 360 camera, etc. It can also tow, whether than be a camper, offoad trailer, boat, etc. Keep in mind it will not be bothered by the gear you carry in terms of acceleration, but by the relatively small (by 1/2 ton truck standards) payload and tow ratings which are mostly due to suspension.
All the baja wannabe footage kind of covers up the fact that the raptor is an amazingly good DD/family hauler and ultra easy to build overlanding platform. It needs nothing in terms of engine mods, has great range, can carry a lot of gear (and carry it lower to the ground!) has prewired aux switches and the suspension is near perfect though some swap leaf springs if they're schlepping a ton of gear.
But it's not all fun and games. The truck is BIG compared even to something like a 200. It's very wide. If you live in a city you might be doing a bit of driving around to find parking. It does have a 360 view camera which is nice but a prius sized spot is a prius sized spot. On the trails that size is even more apparent. While it's made for bombing FS roads and wide open desert tracks on tighter stuff you've gotta get used to careful tire placement and hopefully you wrap or otherwise protect the paint. The size issues extend to clearance. Because it's much longer than an SUV both wheelbase and total, it's going to have breakover and departure angle related issues. Very easy to scrape. And the raptor side steps are *NOT* rock sliders, haha! I've scraped them on pretty mild humps and rocks.
Most of this thread is about quality. We all know Toyota is legendary for it's longevity. I personally have a 260k mile 4runner in the family and had a 12 year old FJC that might as well have been new for it's lack of rattles or lack of mechanical issues. The 200 is built on an even longer run cycle than those. I haven't had the raptor that long, it's an '18 with only 26k miles on it. But to date no rattles, wear or anything other than trouble free fun, and mine isn't a pavement princess. Given my experience with turbo motors in sports cars I would not expect this thing to be running well at 200k miles. I also don't expect to be driving it that long. 100k mile platinum extended warranties for raptors are available to $2k. 100k miles for me is 12-15 years. Will I keep it even that long before I'm tempted by something else? Probably not to be honest.
So that's it. I'm not trying to convince anyone what vehicle they should drive. But I will say that the Raptor is very fun, capable and worthy of the hype around it.
