Ford is serious about making Bronco
an actual sub-brand family of vehicles
and has given us not only the big, bad, ultimate off-roading
Bronco two-door and four-door models, but also this.
A smaller, more everyday friendly,
crossover-based, off-roader, the 2021 Bronco Sport.
It doesn't have the crazy off-road systems of the bigger
Bronco or the desert runner shock absorbers,
or the twin-locking differentials,
or the removable doors, or convertible topper
or any of the serious equipment meant to make the Bronco fight
the Jeep Wrangler.
Think of it more this way.
The big Bronco is what you have an adventure in.
It's a base camp, an overlander, a machine
that becomes an integral part of whatever it is you're doing.
The Bronco Sport is what you use to get
to where the adventure starts.
Take it to the beach, load it up with surf equipment,
or to the trailhead full of mountain bikes,
but don't necessarily take it out on the trail itself.
The Bronco Sport can go deep into the wild, just not quite
as deep as the bigger Bronco two-door and four-door.
That makes sense?
On the outside, the same designers
that worked their magic on the big Bronco
were also the ones charged with making the Bronco Sport look
like it fit into the family.
And they've done an admirable job of it.
It shares the same design cues as its bigger brother,
such as round headlights flanking a one-piece script
grille, peaked fenders, single-piece taillights,
and a squared-off body.
That upright profile is no accident.
It's meant to help maximize interior room for passengers
and cargo, with that safari roof treatment translating
into room for the cargo area to stuff in two
full-sized mountain bikes.
Roof rails are standard, enabling owners
to mount racks or even a rooftop tent.
And the liftgate is a two-piece affair,
marking the return of flip-up back glass
for adding things into the cargo area
without having to open up the entire door.
It also features floodlights and an optional work
table in the cargo area for helping set up camp at night.
A selection of 17- or 18-inch wheels is available with 28.5
and 29-inch all-terrain tires available on higher
trim levels.
Powering the Bronco Sport is a standard, turbo-charged,
1.5-liter eco-boost, three-cylinder engine,
making a Ford-estimated 181 horsepower and 190 pounds feet
of torque.
A turbo-charged, 2-liter, four-cylinder engine
making 245 horsepower and 275 pound feet of torque
will be optional.
Both are made into to an eight-speed automatic
transmission, with the 2-liter engine getting the SelectShift
paddle function and the transmission cooler for more
strenuous off-road work.
If these powertrains sound familiar,
it's because they're largely the same as the ones
found in the Ford Escape, on which the Bronco
Sport is loosely based.
The four-wheel-drive system gets a central differential cooler
and the twin-clutch, rear-drive unit
for the top, off-road trim level with the ability
to direct torque independently to each rear wheel.
Good for high-speed, sandy, off-road conditions.
Depending on trim level, you can also
specify a more robust off-road suspension
with uniquely tuned front struts with hydraulic rebound stops
and 45-millimeter diameter monotube rear shocks, some
of the largest in the class.
Combined with a softer spring setup,
it's meant to help the Bronco Sport be
more capable and comfortable out in the wild.
It may not be the ultimate adventure machine
that the bigger Bronco is, but it's still likely much more
capable than just about any other compact utility
vehicle out there with the possible exception
of Jeep's various trail-rated trim levels.
Bronco Sport features a number of
best-in-class off-road statistics, 8.8 inches
of ground clearance for one.
It also features best-in-class suspension articulation
according to Ford, as well as a maximum 23.6
inches of water fording ability, a 30.4 degree approach
angle, 33 degree breakover, and 20.5 degree departure angle.
It's also built to survive when those angles don't quite
line up with the obstacle in front of you,
featuring four steel bash plates and available frame-mounted
front tow hooks.
Like the bigger Bronco, the Bronco Sport
features the GOAT system, which stands
for "goes over any type of terrain," according to Ford.
It's a selectable electronic terrain response system
that adjusts a number of vehicle features automatically
to optimize the Bronco Sport for the conditions in which it
finds itself.
Those modes include Normal, Eco, Sport, Slippery and Sand,
with the top off-road trim also adding
mudded ruts and rock crawl.
It can tie-in the onboard cameras to help
you spot what's around you.
And it can automatically engage the four-by-four lock
and rear differential lock when needed.
Inside, this is definitely not an escape.
The ruggedized chunky industrial Bronco look
carries down into the Bronco Sport really quite well.
Front and center is an 8-inch touchscreen, curiously running
SYNC 3, not the latest SYNC 4, like a lot of the new 2021 Ford
models are receiving.
It does feature Apple CarPlay and Android Auto,
with available Ford+Alexa and Sirius XM satellite radio.
The interior also receives a ruggedized washout rubber
flooring option, and another for the cargo area that
extends the rubberized floor covering to the second row seat
backs.
An available Molly strap and hook kit
is also available for attaching accessories
to the front seat backs for easy access via straps
or carabiners.
The Ford Co-Pilot360 safety system
is included with the Bronco Sport,
including automatic emergency braking, forward collision
warning, blind spot information system, lane-keep assist
and more.
Two additional levels of Co-Pilot360
are also available, with increasing levels
of semi-autonomous driving ability.
Like Jeep, Ford has decided to call its Bronco Sport
trim levels something other than simply XL, XLT, Limited, et
cetera, and is instead going for a naming convention
based on American national parks.
There will be five trim levels to start with for the Bronco
Sport, starting with the base model
and upgrading to the Big Bend, Outer Banks,
and the ultimate Bronco Sport with all
the top off-road capability, the Badlands model.
It's the one that gets the more powerful 2-liter engine,
advanced four-by-four system, upgraded suspension
with a 1-inch lift, larger diameter off-road dampers,
GOAT 7-mode drive system, underbody bash plates
and second row under-seat storage bin.
Additionally, Ford will produce 2000 first-edition units
that combine the Badlands powertrain
goodies with the Outer Banks luxury
interior and some unique first-edition trim accents.
Starting price for the new Bronco Sport
will be just a few hundred dollars less
than the bigger Bronco, $29,650 including destination fee,
to start.
And like the bigger Bronco, you can reserve your Bronco Sport
right now at ford.com for the grand total reservation
special price of just $100.
It'll be arriving in showrooms considerably sooner
than the Bronco II, with an expected delivery
date of later this year, as opposed to spring 2021
for the big Bronco.
So if you're looking for something
not quite as burly and beefy as a full-on Bronco off-roader,
but still like to adventure places with lots of gear,
smaller, more efficient, reasonable Bronco Sport
might just be your speed.
If you'd like to learn more about Ford's new family
of four-by-four SUVs, you can look everything up at Cars.com.