A Bronco for the hunter gatherer crowd
It’s so endearing to look at, the Ford Bronco. With a body shaped like a pound of butter, and four big wheels puffy as a donut, it seems like every little boy’s image of the perfect vehicle.
It is not your imagination that you see it everywhere, at the mall, at the wedding, and at the cottage. The Bronco is a bombastic hit for Ford, and its appeal has a wide audience from burly men to well shod women executives.
The Bronco was reincarnated by Ford in 2021. The retro styling has the charm of a well made tool, timeless and packed with purpose.
However the Bronco is not a toy it’s a tank. With beefy construction it’s eager to climb rocks, roll over obstructions, and wade through water. There is nothing flimsy about its off-road credentials.
My test vehicle was the two-door Bronco Badlands edition. I also tested the 4-door Outerbanks which is the more popular choice.
To me the 2-door is vastly better looking. It’s perfectly proportioned, where the 4-door appears ungainly and better assigned for duty as a shuttle at an adventure theme park.
Many people will disagree with me on this, the 4-door is seen as a better family hauler and cargo delivery vehicle.
While smitten by its good looks, the 2-door Bronco Badlands does require athletic moves to get into the seat and behind the wheel. There are no steps to help boost you in. I’m 5’4” and I had to hold on to the steering wheel and hoist myself upward and in to the cabin.
The big wheels and lack of steps are key to making it a good off-roader by equipping the Bronco with excellent ground clearance on serious off-road trails. The 4 x 4 system is robust with terrain settings for hum drum city driving right up to hostile wilderness trails.
While the Bronco Badlands starts at $56,749, options that beef up performance and a load on the campfire luxury send the price up to another altitude. My tester with the additional $6,350 Sasquatch and the $5,745 Lux package came in at $74,289. All prices have risen for the 2023 model year.
The generous ability to option up the Bronco and to choose between 2-door and 4-door versions is nearly overwhelming. Shoppers this year can consider more models including a super groovy, retro Heritage edition.
Before eager purchasers assume that the selections are splayed out for consumption like food at Mandarin buffet, check out the caution on any Ford Website that warns-“due to high demand and supply chain shortages not all models and trims are available.”
I had the Bronco Badlands to test for a week. It’s juiced up with 330 horsepower and 414 lb-ft. of torque delivered by the Ford EcoBoost 2.7 lite V6 engine.
The 10-speed automatic transmission is cornstarch smooth, but I really never had any urge to drive it fast.
Just as people drive pickup trucks as a lifestyle and image choice, so too people will drive the Bronco Badlands for its warrior vibe. But if you are transitioning from a sweet Land Rover or Audi to the Bronco-beware, it’s like leaving the Four Seasons hotel to sleep in a Yurt.
Rapidly as I started driving I started dictating notes, “Drafty, noisy, sides mirrors impinge on visibility, pinched view out the rear, beware crosswinds, gummy switches, less than graceful on potholed city roads, feels like 1970 all over again.”
But that doesn’t mean I didn’t like it.
The seats are comfortable, the black and brown leather upholstery reminds me of a friendly dog, controls and menus are well sorted out, the stereo is rich and the touch screen crisp, I liked driving it on the highway, and I really liked looking at it.
The Bronco touches the emotions, retro looking with modern flair, and a side of virility.
It’s a Bronco-saurus for the big sky crowd.