Speaker 1: Look, I could give you some lengthy preamble about the return of a legend to fight a legend, but frankly, it's about a hundred degrees outside and I'm dying to drive this 20, 21 Ford Bronco you're dying to hear about. So let's go get lost, get dirty and have some fun. So there's so much here to cover with this new Ford Bronco that we've actually got two days to drive [00:00:30] it both on road and off two doors, four doors, four cylinders, six cylinders, open top closed, top doors, no doors. Everything is on the menu today and everything is on the menu tomorrow. We're gonna have a good time. We're starting off here on road, which is what honestly, most people are gonna do 95% of the time. So what I like about this new Bronco is that the steering feels much more modern. It's tighter. There's no big dead spot on center, and you're not always doing those tons of little corrections that you are in. You [00:01:00] know, some of the other vehicles in this class. The other thing that I was put, wasn't really surprised with this, this vehicle is actually fairly quiet. This is a hard top model and yes, it's the luxury one that has the sound de tiles up top, but it's running around on 35 inch tires. And there's not a lot of tire roar here. In fact, it's reasonably quiet. Now, if you're doing 70 or 80 on the freeway, yes, it will be louder than a normal SUV, but you'd expect that that's part of the character.
Speaker 1: The interior is really thoughtfully laid out. It's [00:01:30] got sort of a traditional dashboard and everything is exactly where you'd expect it to be for all the functions that you need, especially when you're offroading and you really don't wanna be groping around for various things. Everything is right there. So the dashboard, it is slab sided in traditional, but that's kind of what you want in something like this, because it makes it feel like a traditional off-road SUV. And yet there's tons of technology in here. This one has a huge 12 inch infotainment touchscreen, and it's got primarily a digital gauge cluster. Plus there's [00:02:00] an analog speedometer. So this vehicle is surprisingly refined and surprisingly grown up in a lot of ways, but that doesn't detract from the fact that it feels like a truck. And you kind of want that in a vehicle like this. You want to have that feeling that you're doing some work Ford will sell you a Bronco with a 2.3 liter turbo four, good for up to 300 horses and 325 pound feet of torque.
Speaker 1: And you can even select a seven speed manual with a built-in off-road 95 to one crawler gear, or you can opt for a 10 speed auto. That's pretty powerful for a base engine, but the up level [00:02:30] 2.7 liter twin turbo V six goes even harder, dishing up 330 horses and 415 pound feet on premium fuel. It's only available with the 10 speed, which is a good setup though. It can hunt around for gears a bit under partial throtle, especially on inclines and moderate speeds. I do prefer this power train for heavy four door models, especially ones like this first edition model that comes with big tires. Now the Bronco, it may be surprisingly refined in a lot of ways, but the fuel economy is not going to sound modern at all. You're [00:03:00] strictly in the teens in this thing yesterday, we saw about 16, 16 and a half miles per gallon in mixed driving, very unscientific.
Speaker 1: But frankly, I think that's about where you're gonna be best case scenario with the smallest lightest two door, 2.3 manual rocking the skint tires. Four says to expect 20 miles per gallon, city 22 highway and 21 combined get a big old squa four door with a 2.7 T and Ford says, you can expect 17 miles per gallon in all three cycles. [00:03:30] Those are pretty lousy numbers, but they're also to be expected hybrid and full electric Broncos are rumored, but at this point, that's all they are rumors. One thing that I really like that Ford has done is that they've enabled you to configure this vehicle pretty much any way you want to. If you want a really basic model around $30,000 and maybe add a few offroad bits like the Sasquatch package, you can do that. If you want a high speed offroad with some luxury bits, you can do that.
Speaker 1: If you want the full house thing, [00:04:00] you get a first edition like this and you get it all, but you can get pretty much all the offroad gear wherever you want. You can get the Sasquatch on a base model. You can get it on the range, topping trim of your choice. That's something that you can't get with the competition. And speaking of hunting around for gears, I really wish you could add paddles back here instead of using little rocker switch on your selector. I don't like those one thing that's actually pretty brassy for is that they actually have a couple of Wranglers for us to drive. So I notice right off the bat that not only is this quieter and more refined, [00:04:30] but it's got a different view out the hood. And that's mostly because of the trail sites in the front corners. It just feels a little bit broad shoulder, but you know exactly where the corners are instead of having drop off vendors of the Wrangler. And frankly, I like both views. So onroad comfort and usability is really important in a vehicle like this, but not as important as offroad ability. And I don't know about you, but I think it's time to get dirty. Now, before I get behind the wheel for myself Ford thought, I might enjoy a quick spin with pro shoe V getting Jr in a four [00:05:00] door wild track S known as a formula D drifter with monster energy. Kiton also competes in ultra four off-road racing, driving. You guessed it. A Bronco.
Speaker 1: Getten was actually a consultant of the production model. So he knows how to wheel this thing. Like few others, as you can see V wastes, absolutely zero time flat out pounding on the wild track for a high speed run. What most impressive is the suspension compliance. It almost lands like a trophy truck after catching air, which we do a lot. Don't look at [00:05:30] the tree on the right. We won't hit it. The Bronco departs from convention with an independent front suspension, which really helps soak up the whoops and keep the body level. It's also amazing how gutsy the 2.7 fields and how much fun Baha mode lets you have hanging the tail out. In fact, it's so much fun. I actually convinced Von to gimme a second run before I grab the wheel of a two door wall track for myself.
Speaker 1: All right. So we're on the ghost pepper trail, which is the toughest of the three trails [00:06:00] kind of stitching together. What we've learned in the previous two trails. Um, we've played around with some of the technology, the disconnecting sway bars, the front rear lockers trail turn assist. There are a whole lot of electronic assists that you can use or you cannot use depending on your skill level and how much you wanna be. Uh, manual trail turn assist is a fancy way of saying the Bronco can lock its inner rear wheel on demand, hit the dash top button in a tight corner and you can dramatically tighten your turning radius [00:06:30] by as much as 40%, it works best in loose stuff. When it feels like you can practically spin around in your own wheel base. Now this isn't the high tech solution, but it's clever.
Speaker 1: And on a tight trail, it could be invaluable. Sometimes when you're offroading, it helps to drive with both feet using your right foot to accelerate and your left foot to avoid any rolling back. That's especially true. When you're climbing obstacles in low range trail, one pedal drives simplifies this by automatically applying the brakes. When you ease off the throw auto, not unlike what you might have experienced in [00:07:00] an EV, it takes a little getting used to, but it's great when you get the hang of it, there's also trail control, which is basically offroad, low speed cruise control, and it works both climbing and descending Hills. While I'm sitting here waiting for someone else to go up a steep part of the trail. One thing I really like is that everything is within easy reach here. So I've got the law lockers, I've got the trail turn assist.
Speaker 1: Um, I've even got my hazards up here. If I need them all Broncos come with four wheel drive, but there are two different setups, lower end trims come with a part-time system with a two speed electronic [00:07:30] shift on the fly transfer case. While more advanced models come with an automatically engaging electro mechanical box, you really need both front and rear lockers in conditions of like this, especially when climbing steep, slick rocks that are taller than your hood or even your roof with so many systems impacting performance. It's great to have a drive mode selector knob to put it all together, packing up to seven modes, including mud and ruts, slippery and sand rock crawl and Baja. The goat mode selector optimizes everything from throtle mapping and gearbox shift schedule to stability control steering [00:08:00] field torque factoring the diffs and so on. So yesterday when we started this thing, it was dry and dusty and close to a hundred degrees today.
Speaker 1: It's much more palatable around 75, super humid, but we got a whole ton of rain last night and it's absolutely changed the dynamics of the trail out here. It is super you out here. We're going through more water, uh, makes everything more challenging and uh, way more fun. Now right now, I can't even see what's ahead of me unless I look at this screen here, [00:08:30] I get this great 12 inch touch screen and I can see with a bunch of different views cause otherwise I'm just looking at hood, not at Blake. Thank you. You thank you, Blake. Here I go. All right. Again, front locker, rear locker for low. This is how the magic happens. People about to go up a slippery rock that is higher than the hood as steady as she goes. Steady throttle, [00:09:00] Remarkably easy. Thank you now, a more prolonged slope, but also super slick. One, one will get out and walk, but the SAS watches feet are bigger than mine, so it makes it a lot easier. Again. Can't see anything ahead unless I have this forward facing camera and then I can see my spotter [00:09:30] Now in the two door, we have the easier task of things because we've got the better arrival departure and breakover angles than those guys in the four doors. But either way, both body styles can do this, which is really impressive, but I'm cheating a little bit. You know, the next obstacle is good when your cameraman can see it first and just says whole.
Speaker 1: [00:10:00] Now it's not all about fancy electronics out here. You need a lot of air between you and the sharp stuff underneath and Bronco delivers on a two-door squat. The Bronco's best case scenario numbers are as follows. Ground clearance is a 11.6 inches approach angle 43.2 degrees breakover is 29 degrees and departure is a tidy 37.2. Now those beefy 35 S are a bit like cheating on a high school geometry exam, but they do get [00:10:30] the job done and they should help to put, to rest most concerns. Hardcore offroad have about the limitations of an independent front suspend hell. You can even forward 33 and a half inches of water, easy peasy, lemon squeezy.
Speaker 1: The one thing that seems to be pretty great about Bronco is you can have as many electric assist as you want, or as few as you want, depending on how you option your model and can have the Sasquatch package with the 35 inch tires [00:11:00] and the front rear lockers, even on the base model. So if you want a simpler experience, you can do that. If you want something more Luxe, you can do that. I think that's really, really smart of Ford and a really good thing. If you're trying to spec it out and just get exactly what you want because you can spec Barco so many different ways. Pricing varies wildly starting at around 30 K for a base two door and more than doubling to just over a 63 K for a four door first edition. That's a lot of cash on [00:11:30] the high end, but it's also about even money for a similarly equipped Wrangler Rubicon, which has a lot less tech and refinement after some pandemic related delays, the first Broncos are just now hitting dealers, but there's already a huge list of orders that stretches well into next year. So if you want one, you better be patient. The only thing better than spending two days offroading in the new Ford Bronco is not having to clean up when we're done. This has been a hell of a day. The new Bronco has amazing technology and brings new on-road refinement [00:12:00] to this class, but it can still really kick butt off road. I'm really impressed with what Ford has done here. In fact, I'm so impressed. I think I might buy one.
