The Ford F-150 Raptor has spent years as the loudest kid on the playground, but torque bragging rights are not locked up in Dearborn anymore. Toyota’s latest hybrid pickups quietly stack more twist than the blue-oval desert racer, turning the old power hierarchy on its head. The surprise is not just that a Toyota pickup clears the Raptor’s torque figure, but how casually it does it while still playing the daily-driver game.
Instead of chasing shock value with oversized engines, Toyota leans on electric assistance and smart packaging to get there. The result is a truck that can out-muscle a Raptor off the line, tow with confidence, and still feel civilized in traffic. For buyers who care more about real-world shove than exhaust theatrics, that is a compelling shift.
The hybrid Toyota that out-torques a Raptor
The key player in this torque upset is the Toyota Tundra i‑Force Max, a hybrid full-size pickup that pairs a twin-turbo V6 with an electric motor to deliver a wall of low-end pull. In its current form, the hybrid system is tuned specifically to boost torque, which is why it can surpass what the Ford F-150 Raptor brings to the table. Reporting on Unstoppable Toyota Pickup a Raptor highlights how the Toyota Tundra i‑Force Max is available in both standard and TRD Pro configurations, with output that is described as healthy for a six‑cylinder and strong enough to eclipse the Raptor’s torque rating.
To understand why that matters, it helps to look at what the Raptor is working with. The current Ford F-150 Raptor Performance package lists an Engine rated at 700 hp and 640 lb-ft of torque, backed by a 36 g fuel tank and a maximum payload capacity of 1,400 pounds. Those are serious numbers, and they explain why the Raptor has long been treated as the benchmark for high performance pickups. Yet the hybrid Tundra’s torque figure climbs past that 640 lb-ft mark, which means that in the spec-sheet arms race, Toyota’s six-cylinder hybrid now has more twist than Ford’s flagship off-road bruiser.
How Toyota’s torque strategy shows up across the lineup
Toyota is not just flexing in the full-size segment. The same philosophy shows up in the midsize Toyota Tacoma, where the i‑FORCE MAX hybrid powertrain is tuned to deliver stout torque and towing muscle. The latest Toyota Tacoma midsize truck comes into the new year equipped with the same updated powertrains introduced with the 2024 redesign, including the i‑FORCE MAX 2.4‑liter turbo hybrid powertrain that is engineered for strong towing capacity and confident low-speed pull. That hybrid setup is central to why the Tacoma can punch above its weight in torque, even when it is lined up against dedicated off-road specials.
Independent testing has already shown how that plays out against Ford’s midsize performance entry. Coverage of how the 2024 Tacoma and Ranger Raptor stack up notes that Tacoma and Ranger Raptor comparisons keep circling back to torque, with the hybrid Tacoma beating the Ford on that metric and setting up quarter-mile drag races that are expected to rack up plenty of views. That same truck, in TRD Pro trim, pairs its hybrid system with serious suspension hardware, as seen in a Filmed drive of the 2024 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro that highlights its 2.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder iForce Max engine and an MSRP starting from $63900, blending real off-road capability with hybrid punch.
Where this leaves the Ford Raptor dynasty
None of this means the Raptor suddenly became irrelevant. The truck still sets the tone for high-speed desert running, and its hardware remains deeply impressive. A detailed Review Methodology of the current model points to a Four Wheel Drive layout, a sophisticated Drivetrain, and a Transmission tuned for aggressive off-road work, all of which keep the Raptor at the sharp end of the segment for buyers who live for whoops and jumps. Another deep dive into the truck’s evolution notes that Now for the latest model year, several updates promise increased rugged capability, and the section labeled What New and What We Think makes it clear that Simply put, the Raptor still delivers a wild, high-speed experience that few rivals can match.
Where Toyota is gaining ground is in how it blends that kind of capability with everyday usability and hybrid efficiency. Earlier comparisons between the Tundra TRD Pro and the F-150 Raptor pointed out that the Tundra TRD Pro served as the basis for the Desert Chase Tundra concept, with Mar coverage describing how Working from the all-new Tundra TRD Pro, the Desert Chase Tundra featured an aggressive wide body frame and several visual upgrades that signaled Toyota’s intent to play in the same sandbox as Ford. A later head-to-head between the two brands’ off-road flagships underscored that the Raptor uses Ford’s high-output 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6 to produce 450 hp and 510 lb-ft, while the hybrid Toyota counters with its own twin-turbocharged sixes and electric assistance to smooth out power delivery at the least opportune times.
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