2021 Ford Bronco official fuel economy figures revealed
The Bronco, at its best, will return 21 mpg combined.
The Ford Bronco was likely never going to be the most frugal SUV, but now we know just how well it did when the EPA got its hands on it. On Tuesday, just after Canadian figures leaked, Ford released official fuel economy estimates for the 2021 Bronco, and in its most efficient form, it will return 21 mpg combined.
The best fuel economy, as you can imagine, comes from the 2.3-liter turbo-four engine and both the 10-speed automatic and seven-speed manual transmissions return identical figures for the base, Big Bend and Outer Banks trims: 20 mpg city, 22 mpg highway and 21 mpg combined. Moving on with the automatic, the Bronco with the big, bad Sasquatch package returns 18 mpg across the board; ditto for the Black Diamond trim. The Badlands trim comes in at 18,17,17 mpg. Opt for the manual transmission Black Diamond or Badlands trim and the figures drop to 17, 19,18 mpg and 16, 18, 17 mpg, respectively.
If you need the twin-turbo 2.7-liter V6 in your life, the best fuel economy comes from the base, Big Bend and Outer Banks trims at 18, 20, 19 mpg. Sasquatching any trim drops the figures to 17 mpg all around, while a Badlands trim minus the 'Squatch returns 17, 18, 17 mpg.
2021 Ford Bronco fuel economy
| City mpg | Highway mpg | Combined mpg | |||
| 2.3L Bronco Base auto | 20 | 22 | 21 | ||
| 2.3L Bronco Big Bend auto | 20 | 22 | 21 | ||
| 2.3L Bronco Outer Banks auto | 20 | 22 | 21 | ||
| 2.3L Bronco with Sasquatch auto | 18 | 18 | 18 | ||
| 2.3L Bronco Badlands auto | 18 | 17 | 17 | ||
| 2.3L Bronco Black Diamond auto | 18 | 18 | 18 | ||
| 2.3L Bronco Base manual | 20 | 22 | 21 | ||
| 2.3L Bronco Big Bend manual | 20 | 22 | 21 | ||
| 2.3L Bronco Outer Banks manual | 20 | 22 | 21 | ||
| 2.3L Bronco Black Diamond manual | 17 | 19 | 18 | ||
| 2.3L Bronco Badlands manual | 16 | 18 | 17 | ||
| 2.7L Bronco Base auto | 18 | 20 | 19 | ||
| 2.7L Bronco Big Bend auto | 18 | 20 | 19 | ||
| 2.7L Bronco Outer Banks | 18 | 20 | 19 | ||
| 2.7L Bronco Badlands | 17 | 18 | 17 | ||
| 2.7L Bronco with Sasquatch (all other trims) | 17 | 17 | 17 |
Compared to the Jeep Wrangler, the Bronco's about in the ballpark. A standard two-door Wrangler with a 2.0-liter turbo-four returns 23 mpg combined, while a 3.6-liter V6-powered model returns 21 mpg combined with an automatic transmission onboard. The figure, at worst, falls to 19 mpg for a four-door with a manual transmission. Then again, there's also a plug-in hybrid Wrangler. Or, if you don't care about fuel economy at all, there's the Wrangler 392 with its Hemi V8.
A Ford spokesperson said of the EPA-estimated fuel economy ratings, "With off-road competition-proven EcoBoost engines and class-exclusive transmission offerings, our all-new Bronco two-door and four-door models deliver the best four-cylinder horsepower and torque, and the best available six-cylinder gasoline horsepower and torque in its class."
All the 2021 Bronco pieces are coming together. We know its updated horsepower, off-road specs and now fuel economy. That only means one thing: we're just a couple months from the first Broncos hitting the road.
