[Captain Awesome]

Originally Posted by syr74

The fact that you feel the need to try and belittle that capability so consistently says more than any retort that I will make.

A lot of people say this sort of thing when they HAVE no retort to make.

Still, the reality is that the same superb suspension tuning which allows the Raptor to literally cruise through rough desert terrain will also allow it to make short work of old gravel pits, washed out coal camp roads, and even marshy/swampy terrain and will allow the Raptor to do so at speeds that don't resemble those encountered in a mall parking lot. This capability has real world benefits for everybody, including people in the Appalachian mountain region where I live for obvious reasons.

All the suspension tuning in the world can't make up for the car-like approach and departure angles and the limo-like turning radius.

In fact, I would argue that for people who actually use their 4wd out of necessity and not primarily for play at the local rock crawling convention Raptor is far more usable and practical for possessing that capability.

I need the capabilities to get into and off my property and never dreamed I would need to cross deep water until the day beavers dammed up the culvert and washed out the road, trapping me in the woods if I had not had the ability to cross deep water. I have NEVER been to a rock crawling convention and NEVER raced in a desert.

Yeah, you give up some break over angle and ground clearance to the H3, but the difference isn't particularly large and it certainly doesn't make up for the H3's complete inability to cross rough terrain at speed, and the same excellent wheel travel and dampening characteristics which make the Raptor so adept at high speed travel help keep all four tires in contact with the ground at all times whatever the obstacle.

Slow and steady wins the race.

If you want to tear through potentially unknown terrain at breakneck speeds with those apprach angle specs in a $38K truck, be my guest. Real people don't take such risks.

And therein lies the rub, Raptor can do all the things you claim to be so important even if there are some vehicles which are better suited to the same. H3 can't cross rough terrain at speed at all, it isn't even a player.

I can build you an Air Cooled VW dune buggy that can go fast in the sand for a lot less than a raptor, and have a lot more fun with that because it's cheap.

Hummers were overpriced Tahoes and Colorados with no overhang and a lift kit, and the market responded appropriately.

They were buying H3's as fast as they could make them until the gas crunch.

The remote shock setup employed on the Raptor is basically the same military grade stuff used by the Humvee and Supacat, so this isn't simple jargon. This brings up a great point. Raptor offers the same military grade shock setup used on the militarys Humvees but the Hummer brand wouldn't offer you the same equipment on a H2 or H3. Think about that.

Not sure how you can compare a 2010 design to 5 year old models. We'll never know what they were planning to come out with to compete with the Raptor. Even with the older design they have better offroading specs than the super military designed Raptor.

Of course, you don't need military grade hardware to crest parking lot speed bumps while rolling on twenty six inch rims, so I understand why GM didn't bother.

So now you're going to try and say that nobody is going to pimp out a Raptor? LOL!

Wanna bet that a LARGER percentage of total production never leaves the pavement and/or ends up with 26" rims????