Ford Bronco reborn in style
The Defender gets a new American rival as the Ford Bronco returns – in some style.
Mustang, Corvette, Camaro… Bronco? Ford’s 4x4 has a place deep in US automotive legend, and the affection felt for it is being milked to the max with the unveiling of the Blue Oval’s retro-modern 2021 version.
The Bronco has been around since 1965, but went out of production in 1996, its image not helped by its starring role in OJ Simpson’s police pursuit two years previously. But now it’s back, ready to battle the new Land Rover Defender, Mercedes G-Class and Jeep Wrangler.
There’s a two-door, plus for the first time ever a four-door, and a softer, more road-biased Bronco Sport. With each version, the scope for personalisation is huge; there are five trim levels for the chunkier 4x4 models with cringeinducing names like Big Bend, Outer Banks and Badlands.
Four-wheel drive is standard, via three different systems with varying degrees of off-road seriousness.
Drive modes are all collated into a terrain management system named GOAT, a nod to the original Bronco’s nickname, which Ford used to say meant ‘goes over any terrain’ (but didn’t object to ‘greatest of all time’).
For the two- and four-door Bronco, you can choose from a 2.3-litre fourcylinder making 270bhp and a 310bhp 2.7-litre V6, with either a seven-speed manual or 10-speed auto. The Bronco Sport uses a 245bhp 2.0-litre fourcylinder engine, with a 181bhp 1.5-litre version coming later.
US prices start at $30k. Will it come to Europe? Not likely. ‘I’d love it to,’ says Ford’s European boss, Stuart Rowley. ‘It’s a great product with a great history.’