2021 Ford Bronco | Review & Road Test

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Most buyers are going to be driving the Bronco whether two or four doored on the road. Even for a storied off-roader, that’s an important part of a vehicles dynamics.

Let’s start with the basics. The Bronco only comes as a 4WD vehicle. There are two engine options available.

Standard, and the one I’m driving, is a 2.3-liter turbo EcoBoost 4-cylinder. You can get decent power numbers with this engine.

If you put in premium gas those number increase.

How that translates for you on the road is with decent acceleration. The turbo takes a bit of time to spool up but once you’re going it feels well decent.

That torque number helps get you up to speed quickly enough, and of course, when you are off-roading that will help propel you over some tough terrain in the low part of the rev range.

The second engine, a 2.7-liter Turbo V6 (310 hp/400 lb ft torque) is actually my engine of choice here. That’s the only thing I would have changed in this tester.

Yes, it’s heavier, thus making the Bronco a bit less agile, and to most folks it won’t be noticeable, but bigger power and that huge torque number for my money is more important. When I drove them back to back i could feel the difference and it’s one spot I wouldn’t want to compromise.

But getting that engine you will have to compromise. Your fuel economy performance will take a hit And probably a bigger deal especially for those trucking off-road the manual transmission is only available with the smaller engine.

Let's talk about the manual transmission for a sec. It’s a 7-speed box, that’s 6 speeds and a crawl gear. What the crawl gear gets you is an incredibly insane crawl ratio. When you’re going over steep or tricky stuff (graphic: 94.77:1 crawl ratio) that means your truck can basically propel itself.

On the road of course, you’re not going to be using that crawl gear. No, not even in rush hour traffic, though, hmmmmm. But the manual gearbox on the Bronco is solid. The throws are a bit long but it’s smooth and easy to operate.

I am stunningly surprised at how much I like the way this feels on the road. The steering is my first one in the win column. There is a nice steering feel and not so much play in the steering wheel that I feel as though I have to babysit it the entire time. As a commuter I appreciate that very much. Not because you’re not paying attention, but because if you have to monitor every minute move you make, by the end of an hour long commute, you’re exhausted.

For an off-road vehicle, the Bronco displays good on-road composure. It’s got a comfortable ride. No, not SUV-like, there is some body roll around turns, which I’d expect, but it’s not overly worrisome. Ford absolutely nailed both the Standard and more advanced HOSS off0-road suspension. To me the Bronco is a very liveable daily driving experience.

The terrain select GOAT modes really are for off-roading and those all change up throttle mapping, shifting points on the automatic transmission and steering weight.

So, there are a couple of thorns on this rose.

As hard as it is for me to find faults here, I have a big one. It’s very loud in the cabin and while some people might get used to it, others, well, they might want to stick with the Bronco Sport. That doesn’t have a removable roof.

When it comes to interior design, I really appreciate the way the Bronco looks. It’s got minimal styling, it’s rugged and looks really utilitarian but in a modern way. These auxiliary switches are great for adding aftermarket parts. It’s incredibly well thought out for someone who wants to customize.

There’s plastic everywhere. Okay I get that. But There are some construction issues that are no doubt going to contribute to that noisy driving experience and there is a general feeling of, let’s say economy of materials in here.

Yes, this is an expensive vehicle and yes, I can see that Ford needed to save money somewhere as they’ve put so much other great stuff into this vehicle. And I’m not saying it’s a huge problem, but I’m saying be aware that what you get in great off-roading tech, you might sacrifice a little bit in interior quality.

Standard on all Broncos you’ll get an 8-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto technology. There are some good safety features as well including automatic emergency braking and a pre-collision warning. A tilting and telescoping steering wheel.

For this test, the Bronco performs well on the road, delivers great tech for it’s commuters and we didn’t even talk about its “take my money” good looks. See, so much more to talk about!

00:00 2021 Ford Bronco
1:28 Engine
3:02 Driving Impressions
5:00 Interior
10:09 Competitors