Ford Raptor vs Chevy Reaper: The Winner

This Ford/GM performance truck rivalry is one hot competition as both sides push for superiority on-road and off

Ford versus Chevy. Mustang versus Camaro. Viper versus Corvette. Which of these great performance cars offers the best bang for the proverbial buck?

Those are long-standing debates among gearheads and bench racers loyal to their brands.

Such questions elicit heated arguments fueled by specs and performance numbers, and drive vehicle manufacturers to keep stepping up the game of one-upmanship with each model year.

Pickups also fall into those “best performance” debates. The most recent is Ford Raptor versus Chevy Reaper – the two hottest drive-off-the-dealer-lot half-ton pickups on the road.

Although Ford stopped 2014 F-150 Raptor SVT production earlier this year, don’t think for a moment that’s the end. (Rumors have it SVT is well along making the next-generation aluminum body version, which will be lighter and faster yet.) 

Even though new Raptors are o longer in production, there are still plenty out there. And that keeps the which-is-best arguments alive and well.

It started in 2010 when Ford’s racing arm, SVT, took the CrewCab F-150 4×4 and set about giving it the personality and performance of a street-legal off-road race truck. It had no rival. The SVT Raptor ruled.

Earlier this year, the GM performance aficionados at Lingenfelter Performance Engineering (LPE) and Southern Comfort Automotive took up the performance-pickup challenge in producing a Raptor rival – the Chevy Silverado Reaper. 

The Reaper, which is a special performance package available across most of the Silverado pickup line, comes stock with a RideTech 3-inch long-travel suspension, body and graphic mods, Fox Racing Shox (same as on Raptor), special wheels with General Grabber AT2s and custom bumpers with LED lighting.

But SCA and LPE wanted to do more than just be a wanna-be performance truck. They wanted the Reaper to dominate the Raptor.

So power-hungry Reaper buyers have the option to get an LPE 475hp supercharged 5.3L or  a 550hp supercharged 6.2L under the hood along with custom headers, exhaust and other upgrades to the base performance package.

(Note: The top speed of the Reaper is computer-limited to 100mph, which is the speed rating for the tires, and it gets there in a 1/4-mile with the supercharged engine packages.)

While the Raptor was limited to 4×4 SuperCab and CrewCabs, the Silverado Reaper is available for any cab-style Chevy 1500 that rolls off the assembly line according to Reaper Performance USA, the joint venture that puts it all together.

Raptor’s were production-line Fords. 

Reapers, are shipped off-site to be upfitted/transformed. But they are still covered by the normal GM warranty as well as a three-year warranty covering the custom additions done by Southern Comfort and LPE.

So which pickup do you think is the hottest ride in the four-wheel-drive pickup world: the Ford Raptor F-150 or the Chevy Silverado 1500 Reaper?

Which is the best performer off-road running across the desert, plowing through mud or powering up sand dunes?

Which one would make the ultimate work truck for your business? Commuter truck? Weekend play toy?

Look at the Reaper specs. Look at the Raptor specs.

Check out the photo gallery.

Then let us know what you think.