Ford has taken the wraps off the much anticipated Bronco SUV. The highly awaited product marks the return of the most iconic off road product from the American automaker.
A little history
The Bronco first came into existence way back in 1965 and went on to be sale in 1996. Initially the Bronco was offered in three body styles – open roof top Roadster, Sports Utility with Pickup bed and Wagon with two doors, tailgate and full top. Ford says the Bronco was an immediate favourite with many people favouring the wagon bodystyle, which came with seating for up to 5 people with a full length hardtop roof and a rear bench seat.
The Bronco in modern times
Fast forward to 2020 and Ford has relaunched the Bronco in the automotive market which in itself is modern but dates back to its heritage model. The Bronco can be had in two versions –
Bronco SUV – which is built on a body on frame chassis and is a hardcore off roader
Bronco Sport – which is built on a Monocoque chassis and more of an urban road going SUV
Design – Bronco SUV
The Bronco SUV is sold in two body styles – 2 door and 4 door body styles. It retains the upright boxy look from its past but gets many modern touches. These include vertically placed daytime running lights placed within the grille itself, horizontally placed LED taillights and alloy wheels.
Adding to the ruggedness are the removable bits like the doors and roof, it also features best in class departure angle of 37.2 degrees and departure break over angle of 29 degrees. It also has an aggressive approach angle of 43.2 degrees along with a ground clearance of11.6 inches and water wading capability of 33 inches.
Design – Bronco Sport
The Bronco Sport is more of an urban SUV and comes in a single hard top body style and has an upright body with short overhangs for better ramp break over and departure angle. It gets the trademark Bronco grille upfront with the circular headlights and vertical LED daytime running lights and side air vents. There are also safari style roof meant to liberate headroom on the inside and a clean look with large squarish taillamps and Bronco written in bold on the tailgate.
Interior – Bronco SUV
The interior of the Bronco SUV comes with an upright dashboard with a large integrated 12-inch touchscreen infotainment system that comes with Synch4 connectivity. The dash also gets Bronco badging on the co-passenger side finished in bold letters. The interior also comes with rubberized flooring for ease of cleaning when the owner ventures off road.
Interior – Bronco Sport
The Bronco Sport features a high placed 8-inch touchscreen that takes centre stage on the dashboard along with a few quick shortcut buttons set below. The Bronco Sport boasts of offering best in class first and second row headroom along with cargo height enough to accommodate two standing 27.5 inch wheelbase mountain bikes.
Engine options – Bronco SUV
Powering the Bronco SUV are two engine options, 270hp 2.3 litre four cylinder petrol and a 310hp V6 2.7 litre engine, the engine comes mated to a new 7-speed manual gearbox and a 10-speed automatic transmission.
Engine options – Bronco Sport
Powering the Bronco Sport on the other hand are two engine options, 181hp 1.5 litre three cylinder petrol and a 245hp 2.0 litre petrol motor. Transmission options are limited to an 8-speed automatic only in either powertrain choices.
4×4 Hardware – Bronco SUV
The Bronco SUV being the hardcore model comes packed with FordPass performance app with off road navigation that integrates – sand, slippery, sport, eco and normal apart from two additional – mud/ruts and rock crawl modes. There’s also 4×4 hardware and terrain management system with go over any terrain (GOAT) modes. The terrain response system also has –
Trail control – Trail control driver is driver activated cruise control system standard on the automatic transmission that helps you navigate more easily over rough terrain, it manages throttle and braking at individual wheels while maintaining a constant speed so you can focus attention on steering over demanding terrain.
Trail turn assist – Available trail turn assist reduces the turning radius in low speed off-roading environments by applying the brakes to the inside rear wheel of the turning vehicle.
Trail 1 pedal drive – Trail 1- pedal drive enables low speed crawling which lets you bring the vehicle to a stop without using the brake pedal, rendering two footed driving obsolete by bringing the vehicle to a half while letting off the accelerator.
4×4 Hardware – Bronco Sport
The Bronco Sport being the more road going version gets 7-mode equipped driving modes that are sand, slippery, sport, eco and normal apart from two additional – mud/ruts and rock crawl modes. It also gets
Off road suspension – optimized to help drivers maintain vehicle composure while aggressively taking on the rugged terrain with uniquely tuned front struts with hydraulic rebound stops designed to provide a quieter less jarring off-roading experience.
Water fording – Bronco Sport challenges 23.6 inches of water fording capability and turn the path into a fun one.
180 degree camera and trail control for off road – works just like cruise control, lending the owner control of setting the speed during the course of an off road drive. Also whenever the rock crawl or mud/ruts mode is engaged the 180 degree split rear view camera turns on and helps boost visibility during the drive.
Customization – Bronco SUV
The Bronco SUV can be customized with several unique accessories to meet the adventure interests of each customer. Seven unique Broncos are offered with matching colour & trim combos which when can be combined with 11 colour choices and more than 200 dealer installable accessories
Customization – Bronco Sport
The Bronco Sport can be had in 100 factory backed and aftermarket accessories; however buyers can opt for four lifestyle accessory bundles many of which can be outfitted for each owner’s needs and preferences. They are –
Bike
Snow
Water
Camping
Should an India debut happen in the future?
The Ford Bronco has already achieved success with the tremendous response in the international markets. Bringing the model to India however would really spell another success chapter for Ford, however having said that Ford could use the Bronco nameplate on its upcoming models while getting the real deal here might be a distant dream.
