2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor vs Chevy Silverado ZR2

The SEMA Show is upon us and the F-150 Raptor stole the spotlight last year and left Chevy in the dark. This year Chevy wanted a piece of Raptor and decided to take the Silverado into an off road level.

The F-150 Raptor recently received the new 6.2-liter V8 engine that pumps out 411 hp and 434 lb-ft of torque. At the same time the Raptor went into a new special edition segment with another Raptor dubbed the FR Raptor XT. The XT will be limited to a run of 50 units and is an extreme truck; it's not street legal and will sticker at $99,950. So you can see the Ford is pushing for the spotlight once again.

Not to be outdone GM decided to bring a concept to the SEMA Show with the Chevy Silverado ZR2. The ZR2 has a supercharged 6.2L LSA V-8 under the hood creating a whopping 550hp. Thanks to the cavernous space below the Silverado's hood, the LSA and its six-speed automatic transmission dropped right in with little effort and Chevrolet easily fitted a custom stainless steel exhaust system. Being that it's only a concept no price is obviously given.

So which would you take....the Raptor or ZR2???









Source: Raptor
Source: ZR2  
Life....It's not about how hard you can hit but how hard you can get hit and keep pushing forward, how much you can take and keep pushing forward. - Rocky Balboa

Right now, the ZR2 is just a one-off show special, whereas the Raptor is a genuine article, walk into your dealer and buy it truck. I think Chevy is certainly implying that it could sell a Raptor-like vehicle if there was enough demand, but I don't think you can realistically compare the ZR2 to the Raptor. Besides which, the Raptor looks a lot more purposeful and purpose-built than the ZR2 concept. I'm generally a Chevy Fan, but the ZR2 doesn't look like anything that special to me.  

I'm not a big Ford fan but I would go with the Raptor any day over the ZR2. It's a special design truck thats ready to be abused from the factory, not a one off that would just get torn up from the abuse.
Chevy threw something together to say,"Look at me, I can do it too!", but with 20" rims and a pretty paint job its just not up to the task of either the Baja style Raptor or the Mohabi style Power Wagon.  

Yeah, I actually had a chance to look at the ZR2 in-person at SEMA, and it really struck me as a slapped-together show special. Not in that it was poorly done, but that it was a bolt-on truck, not an "engineered" truck like the Raptor. Granted, the engine (essentially the same as the CTS-V) is impressive, but other than that, not really. A few carbon-fiber body panels are cool for eye-candy, but the suspension didn't look like anything had been done other than a generic off-the-shelf lift kit.

At least Chevy would have had a little more credibility with me if there were some recognizable off-road hardware underneath it, like King Racing Shocks, Bilstein, Pro Comp, or at least Rancho. Nothing. Just plain-Jane off-the-shelf black shocks. Disappointing.