Hennessey Velociraptor 2025 review – A Ford F-150 with Bugatti Veyron power

The first time you see a Hennessey VelociRaptoR 1000, you laugh out loud. To British eyes it’s an absurd machine. At more than 20ft long and standing as tall as Tyson Fury (that’s 6ft 9in in case you’re wondering) it makes a Defender Octa look like a Suzuki Jimny. With 1043bhp it has hypercar power, yet it performs as well on rugged off-road trails as it does on the road.

Trucks are big business for Hennessey. When we first visited the Texan tuner’s HQ, back in early 2013, the workshops still featured lots of muscle cars. Now trucks and SUVs account for the lion’s share of its output. Of those the Raptor (now in its third generation) has been the runaway success, with 3500 built in the last 15 years. 

This year Hennessey expects to build more than 200 of its most powerful model – the epic VeliciRaptoR 1000  – plus at least 350 of its less extreme (but still wild) Raptor-based offerings, such as the R’s Godzuki-like sibling, the VelociRaptor 600. In the interests of vital consumer journalism, we’ve driven both.

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To appreciate the performance upgrades, first you need to know Hennessey’s starting point. For the VelociRaptor 600 the base truck is Ford’s stock F‑150 Raptor powered by the 3.5-litre twin-turbocharged EcoBoost V6 (a version of which powered the Ford GT supercar). The VelociRaptoR 1000 begins life as the Raptor R, which runs a supercharged 5.2-litre V8 also found in the nose of the Shelby GT500 Mustang. 

Straight from the factory they have 450bhp/510lb ft and 720bhp/640lb ft respectively. In the US there’s a 40 per cent price difference between the regular Raptor ($81,000) and Raptor R ($112,725), but as you get 60 per cent more power, Man Maths® and the all-important Bang:Buck ratio decree it’s the R that represents better value. 

In truth both the six- and eight-cylinder Raptors are incredible things fresh from the showroom. With a spacious crew cab, huge load bed and hefty towing capacity they are ultra-practical for work and play, while their big-output engines and chassis tuned for extreme off-road performance make them the ultimate high-performance expression of Ford’s biggest-selling vehicle, the F-Series truck. Think pickup equivalent of the 911 GT3 and GT3 RS. 

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It’s hard to imagine why you’d need more than a factory Raptor, but Hennessey trades on the fact that most Raptor buyers are already hooked on high outputs and enhanced capability so they aren’t going to need their arms twisting to make the next step. As such the VelociRaptor is a bit like eating at a Texas BBQ, where more beats less every time. 

Hennessey boosts the turbo six-cylinder engine to 558bhp and 672lb ft by improving breathing, cooling and fuelling via a high-flow induction system, air-to-air front-mounted intercooler and engine management programming. The R’s supercharged V8 receives similar treatment, plus fitment of a larger 3.8-litre Whipple supercharger and heavy-duty belts for a hypercar-humbling 1043bhp and 824lb ft of torque. Gearshifts are handled by Ford’s smooth and responsive ten-speed auto.  

The 600 will hit 60mph from a standstill in 4.2sec, the 1000 in 3.1 on its way to covering the standing quarter-mile in 11.4sec at 122mph. We don’t tend to use the standing quarter as a benchmark in the UK, but that’s on a par with a 992 GT3 RS or Cayenne Turbo GT. 

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Considering the VelociRaptor weighs more than 2.5 tons, the physics at play are fearsome, whether it’s propelling it down a straight, slowing it down or asking it to change direction. The 600 is swift with a pleasingly guttural engine note, but all that weight means performance isn’t as wild as its looks suggest. By contrast the 1000 is like an avalanche. Floor the throttle and it romps away with disconcerting urgency. The soundtrack is spectacular; a rich and bassy cross-plane V8 howl overlaid with a demonic dive-bomber whine from the supercharger. It’s so relentless you can feel horns growing from the top of your head every time you gun it.

Ford offers a set of trick Fox Dual Live Valve adaptive dampers on the Raptor. With separate control of compression and rebound, they possess a prodigious breadth of travel and control whether you’re on or off-road. Hennessey adds a set of 20-inch rims mounted with 37-inch tyres. They lift the VelociRaptor by three inches for extra ground clearance with the bonus of gargantuan road presence. Even with the electric fold-out side steps, you need a mounting block to get into it (and rappelling ropes to get out), but the cockpit is big and extremely comfy, with endless stowage space, charging points and cup holders.  

The driving position is commanding but with no dynamic frames of reference to prepare you for what’s to come, the VelociRaptoR experience requires a period of acclimation to get comfortable with the amount of squidge in the off-road tyres and compliant suspension. It feels odd at first but doesn’t take long to discover you can drive with surprising precision.

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Steering inputs translate into encouraging response, and though the steering itself is light there’s plenty for your internal gyroscope to judge how hard you’re working the tyres and suspension. The composure and consistency are the biggest surprise. You won’t be slicing into corners as you would in a GT3 RS, but considering its ride height and kerb weight the VelociRaptoR is something of a marvel. 

In much the same way a GT3 feels at one with the Nürburgring, the VelociRaptoR is perfectly evolved for the wide open space to be found in Texas. It cruises brilliantly and shrugs off extreme weather (we battled through a biblical thunderstorm during our test) yet rips off-road like a Baja racer. It even enjoys being hustled around Hennessey’s test track in two-wheel-drive mode. Big (optional) Brembo brakes do a good job of containing the beast. The same can’t be said for the rear tyres, which yelp and smoke under the onslaught of 800-plus lb ft, but then drifts and burnouts are very much part of the VelociRaptoR’s MO. Downsides? As you might imagine, it likes a drink. Use the performance and you’re unlikely to see 10mpg.  

With Hennessey Performance models now being sold directly through US Ford dealerships, the link between manufacturer and tuner is closer than ever. Sadly, Ford of Europe doesn’t import the full-fat Raptors this side of the Pond. The good news is Hennessey will sell you one. Exchange rates and import costs make it hard to say how much it might cost (c£200,000 seems realistic for the 1000), but if you’re a lover of plus-size performance and comfortable with a Sasquatch-sized carbon footprint, the Hennessey VelociRaptoR is an unlikely but extremely capable and highly entertaining slice of evoness.

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