Dan Trent: to live the American dream in a Ford F150 Raptor

Is it, therefore, completely hypocritical to desire ownership of perhaps the most 'America, truck yeah' pick-up ever made? Probably. Indeed, I'd probably look a complete muppet driving round in one of these.

But I don't care. My inner child just points and goes "whoah, coooool!" Indeed, my actual child does exactly this, 'bouncy trucks' (his description) to his four-year-old mind the very pinnacle of automotive cool. I've tried. But have had to face the inevitable, sharing sofa time and father-son bonding in front of YouTube videos of Raptors being ragged across American landscapes in various Ford promo vids. It may have rubbed off.

In the case of the new Mustang Ford has done a pretty convincing job of maintaining its unashamed Stateside character and heritage while translating it to a new global audience. Where would they even start with the Raptor? This is about the most unapologetically American vehicle since the M4 Sherman. From its Fox Racing Shox with 12 inches of suspension travel to its six-mode Terrain Management System (Baja Mode included, natch) and pumped up styling it does actually look like it was designed by an over-excited four-year-old.

One PistonHeads reader has set himself up in the States and has an enviable collection of BMWs, Porsches and other European cars. But he couldn't resist the pull of a truck and went from a base F-150 to a Raptor in no time. He described driving it back to New York from having a power upgrade fitted by Texan yeehaw merchants Hennessey; apparently boring stretches of back road could be livened up by just steering into the scrub, maintaining 70mph cruising speed and just bouncing about for a bit. Before rejoining the road, using the embankment to loft the Raptor fully airborne before landing back on the tarmac. I was driving down the A1 the other day and reckon there are places you could try something along those lines…

Somewhat shockingly research into Raptors reveals the 6.2-litre V8 is being replaced by a twin-turbo Ecoboost V6 for the 2017 model. OK, with 450hp it's got more power, is based on the new aloo-min-um F-150 and drives through a 10-speed gearbox. But, 6mpg or not, what is a truck without a V8? Over there they start at less than $50,000, or hot hatch money even at today's exchange rates. By the time they land here they're more like £72K, which is a ludicrous amount of money to pay for a pick-up truck. Especially one with a V6. Thankfully there's one V8 one in the PistonHeads classifieds for a still considerable £49,995. Plus VAT.

Which is nearly as daft as the idea of trying to drive one on congested British roads. As far as my boy is concerned it'd be off the scale cool though. And with him sitting beside me I'd have my excuse ready. Things we do for our kids, eh?

Photography courtesy of Pistonheads.