Last week, Ford invited me (and a bunch of other automotive journalists) out for a socially-distanced “Bronco Day” at an off-road vehicle park north of Detroit, in celebration of both the recently revived off-roader’s 55th birthday and the new 2021 Bronco and Bronco Sport’s forthcoming arrival. We didn’t get to drive the new rigs, but we did — with a congregation of cargo shorts-wearing Ford minders hovering around us — get up close and personal with and do off-road ride-alongs in both the Bronco and Bronco Sport.
The SUVs on hand were still pre-production vehicles, so we weren’t permitted to take photos of the interiors that were nowhere near up to production snuff — but we were, of course, free to take notes. Below are a few very preliminary thoughts from our first dance with the new Broncos.
The Bronco seemed confident on the trail
Ford’s drivers seemed happy to bomb the Bronco around mildly challenging Michigan ORV trails. We went across sand, up and down grades and through water; the engineer I rode with demonstrated the locking differentials, Trail Control and Trail Turn Assist features, even though the Bronco probably could have done fine without them. We didn’t do anything resembling serious rock-crawling or seeing the manual transmission’s crawler gear in action.
Many Bronco owners will go off-roading with the doors off, at least once
That open-air feeling is great, in theory. I’m not sure how pleasant people will find it in practice. My ride was in a Bronco with the doors on, but no roof; I still had to remove my sunglasses mid-ride and left coated in a fine layer of dust. (My COVID-19-spec face mask came in handy.)
To be fair, Ford offered me a roofed Bronco; I inflicted the Built Wild treatment on myself. Still, if I were to buy one, I’d test out the full door experience before plunking down for some fancy half doors, unless the most hardcore you get will be cruising onto a beach.
Ford