Ford Bronco 2022 Review – It took a lot longer than I expected, but I’ve finally gotten my hands on the all-new Ford Bronco.
In this video, we’re going to focus on the 2022 bronco, even though the one right next to me is a 2021 model year vehicle.
This is because we already know what changes are coming for 2022, and since this vehicle was completely new for 2021, the changes are minor.
When Ford decided to resurrect the bronco, they did so as a family of vehicles rather than a single model, so we have the full-size bronco and then the bronco sport, which is the vehicle designed to compete directly with the Jeep Wrangler.
If that offends you, just change the channel because a review without mentioning the competition isn’t a review at all.
But if you want bronco styling, better fuel efficiency, and something that’s a little bit easier to park and, of course, less expensive, the bronco sport is the way to go.
If you want the ultimate Ford off-road vehicle, the bronco is the way to go, especially the two-door format that I’m driving today.
At first glance, the bronco and broncos sport look a lot alike, but when you park them next to each other, you’ll notice The modular bumper, which is what you’re looking at on this model and has these removable side sections and other features, is now optional in every trim if you get the badlands model.
Instead, we get the capable bumper, which has integrated fog lights and slightly different recovery hook locations than the previous model.
One of my favorite features on this new bronco is the cargo tie downs on each side of the hood.
If you’ve ever tried tying a canoe, kayak, or anything else to the top of your tiny SUV, you’ll know how useful these are.
Ford Bronco 2022 Review
They’re rated for 150 pounds each, and you can use these recovery hooks on the front to tie down your load, but if it’s a smaller load, like a kayak, that cable, wire, strap, or whatever you’re using to tie down that item would rub against the front bumper and, of course, the hood.
This solves that problem by moving that up here.
I also like how Ford decided to throw caution to the wind, and logically budget to the wind, and give us two different lengths of bronco.
They could have easily just given us a four-door model because I expect at least 90% of bronco sales to be four-door models, just like the wrangler lineup.
The two different lengths come in at 173.7 inches long, which is the one I’m driving right now, and 189 inches long.
Speaking of numbers, the new bronco The lowest factory ground clearance in the four-door basic format is 8.3 inches, and the maximum factory ground clearance in the two-door badlands, which is what I’m driving right now, is 11.6 inches.
This will also offer you the optimal angle arrangement.
43.2 approach 29 break over 37.2 departure now because of the slight dimensional tweaks that we find in the wrangler, the approach and departure angles will be better in the wrangler the two-door wrangler of course but the breakover angle that’s going to be better in this because of the tidier wheelbase one of the most important things to keep in mind is that as with any vehicle as heavily modified as a wrangler or a bronco your modifications are going to Remember that ground clearance is limited by the rear axle because it is a solid axle in this vehicle as it is in the wrangler, but front ground clearance is a little different because this is not a solid front axle design like we find in the wrangler and there are certainly pros and cons to that in general terms a vehicle with an independent front suspension is a vehicle with more ground clearance in general terms a vehicle with an independent front suspension is a vehicle with more ground clearance in general terms a vehicle with an All of these numbers go out the window once you start modifying your vehicle with things like suspension lift kits or just general suspension changes.
It’s pretty easy to make a bronco much more capable than a jeep wrangler, and vice versa.
Out back, we have led tail lights and a metal bumper with a plastic wrap on top to help improve durability.
We have a side swinging door because of course we have a removable top now if you get the two-door model we only have a hard top but if you get the four-door model it’s going to come standard with the soft top and the hard top becomes optional that’s likely due to the expected sales of the two-door model which are likely to be relatively small compared to the four-door model on the back of this door we have a full-size spare tire with the backup camera right there in The general design of the broncos three-piece hard top is similar to that of the wrangler, but this top is quieter, providing a little bit more sound insulation, and on the inside, we get something that is not available in the wrangler: side curtain airbags.
This does make these beams feel a little bit chunkier on the inside, but I really like the added protection that the side curtain airbags provide.
The optional 2.7 liter twin-turbo v6 that I’m driving today has been taken from the f-150, and although the horsepower doesn’t increase up all that much above the 2.3, torque goes all the way up to 415 pound-feet.
Both engines are mated to a 10-speed automatic transmission, but if you get the 2.3 liter engine you do have the option of a 6-speed manual, well 7-speed according to Ford because it’s 6 gears plus an ultra-low crawler gear if you choose that option and you get all the right options on your badlands model you could get a crawl ratio of 94 to 1 which is pretty insane if you get all the right options on your badlands model you could get a crawl ratio The lightest versions of this, or strangely, the ones with the manual gearbox, which is a bit of a twist, will achieve 17 to 21 mpg depending on the extras that you get a powertrain.
The driver’s seat is theoretically available in the bronco, but for some reason only specific trims of the four-door model are available, not the two-door model like the one I’m driving right now.
This is a multi-way adjustable manual seat, but the seat bottom cushion adjusts for height and tilts at the same time, not separately, and we have a manual lumbar support with that knob right down there at the bottom.
The seat bottom and back cushions are more padded and just generally better hopping into the back isn’t too difficult the front seats tilt and slide forward but the doors in the bronco aren’t overly large so you do have to climb over a bit there and then once back here we find a reasonable amount of legroom 78.8 inches of combined legroom front row plus second row that’s only about half an inch less than we find in the four-door model if you’re debating between One thing that surprised me is that even though this body is a few inches wider than the wrangler, we actually have a little bit more hip room.
It has to do with the intrusion of the rear wheel wells into the rear seating area.
If you get a four-door version, you get five seats, but if you get a two-door version, you only get four seats.
That’s definitely going to be a limiting factor for some people.
That’s because the cargo space behind the second row seats varies depending on whether you get the two-door or four-door model.
This is part of Ford’s mission to try and give you more usable legroom on the inside and a more comfortable experience for the rear seat passengers behind the second row seats.
We have 22.4 cubic feet of storage space in the two-door model.
If you get the four-door model, it depends on whether you get the hard top or the soft top.
4 As we look around the interior, keep in mind that I’m in a two-door bad lens trim, so things will obviously vary depending on the version that you get I love the fact that ford gives us six full auxiliary switches right here in this overhead console area, and that they’re also illuminated the sun shades slide, which is definitely a nice touch and you can get a decent idea of the size of t There are some soft touch materials like that upper grey section and of course the armrest where you put your elbow we have some orange accents on the inside right down there at the bottom of the door and over here on the dashboard and the dashboard itself is definitely a nice piece of work because we have a really big lcd I was really curious how Ford would integrate such a large lcd into t This is the trail turn assist, which causes the vehicle to semi-lock one of the wheels to help it skip around a corner a little bit tighter traction control off hazard light button right there these are rubbery buttons with a really nice feel 12 volt power port right there at the top which is a nice touch again below there we have one of Ford’s latest lcd infotainment systems It’s a great large lcd that’s essentially taken from a Ford F-150.
One interesting feature is that carplay does not take up the entire screen.
I was hoping for a mode to expand that out to use the right side of the screen over here because these displays aren’t particularly useful, but we don’t have that yet in the software.
More orange accents for those air vents engine start stop button controls for the dual zone automatic climate control system below there are dual usb inputs.
There’s certainly enough area for some of those bigger cellphones on the hd wireless charging pad.
There’s a fairly traditional console shifter drive and manual mode to the back, but no paddle shifters.
Instead, we just get buttons right here on the shifter this is the controller for the four wheel drive system as well as the terrain mode, so we rotate this model around for the terrain modes choose these buttons right here for too high four high four auto etc, and it will automatically engage various drive modes depending on the modes that you’ve selected.
Over here are the adaptive cruise control system’s lane maintaining volume controls, and on the right side of the steering wheel are the track forward and backward buttons that operate the multi-function lcd, as well as a voice command and a phone button.
Out on the road, you’ll note the tremendous amount of low-end torque that this 2.7 liter twin turbo produces, as well as the fact that this 10-speed automated gearbox has a lot of ratios and rattles them off rapidly.
For the first zero to 40 miles per hour or so, it’s kind of like a machine gun firing gears, and that’s really important to remember because when you’re off-roading or towing, all those gears are really going to pay dividends.
First through fourth are pretty close together in this transmission, which means that if you’re rock crawling or towing a trailer, this vehicle is much more likely to have the right gear for your situation than a correspond vehicle.
On the downside, the bronco is relatively heavy, which is why it took this vehicle six and a half seconds to go from zero to sixty.
You’ll notice that a six cylinder wrangler, despite being significantly less powerful than this engine, doesn’t take that much longer.
Of course, there are versions of the wrangler that are going to be faster because you can get a 6.4 liter v8 in that model, or you can get a plug-in hybrid with a The bronco’s average curb weight will be about 400 pounds higher than the wrangler’s average curb weight, depending on how the models are configured.
In fact, the heaviest version of the wrangler with a 6.4 liter v8 engine under the hood, which isn’t a lightweight engine, is still about 100 pounds lighter than the heaviest version of the bronco, but the bronco has an independent front suspension and a more modern design period.
The bronco’s independent front suspension is immediately noticeable because the ride is much more civilized and the body motions are much more controlled than what we see in the wrangler.
If you’re the type of person who absolutely demands a solid front axle and a solid rear axle in your next off-road vehicle, they’ll be compromises for you, and Ford realized that putting an independent front suspension in the bronco would be a bit controversial.
If you want to save money on gas, you could get a plug-in hybrid Jeep Wrangler, but if you’re not plugging it in, this is going to give you very similar mileage because the format of these off-road vehicles just doesn’t allow for high fuel economy numbers.
You shouldn’t expect to get more than 25-30 mpg even if you drive these gently because I’m driving a brick with metal bumpers.
Lots of gaps, not much aero treatment, and big knobbly all-terrain tires on it all add up to 15 to 16 miles per gallon in real world driving, and whether you’re looking at a bronco, a wrangler, a tacoma trd pro, a 4runner trd pro, or anything along those lines, you should expect similarly low fuel economy, but if I had to choose between all of these options, I think the 2.7 Yes, they’ll be quicker alternatives.
Yes, there will be more fuel-efficient choices, but this has a nice engine sound.
The 2.7 liter turbo is quite smooth, and I enjoy Ford’s 10-speed automatic gearbox.
You may be asking why I haven’t taken the bronco off-roading in the video yet.
There are a few reasons for this.
The route that I typically use has a lot of trees down due to a recent windstorm up here.
Another reason is that off-roading tricky off-roading situations don’t appear as tricky on camera as they are in person, which is something many people complain about, and the next logical reason is that in order to find the true difference between this and a wrangler, you’ll have to push things to their limits, which isn’t something I want to do with Ford’s brand new bronco, which other journalists expect to be able to drive.
Before we go, let’s talk about the trail turn assist feature.
It’s activated by pressing the button on the dashboard.
It can be used in four high or four low.
If you’re in four low, it can be used with the front locker but not the rear locker because it needs to be able to break one of the wheels on the rear differential while it’s open to try and tighten that circle.
Now let’s take a look at price, presuming you can locate a bronco and a dealer willing to sell you one for the MSRP.
That’s what we’re going to speak about here.
The basement starts at 29 300 as well.
You’ll receive a two-door car with 30-inch all-season tires for that price.
Steel 16-inch rims headlights with leds 8-inch synchronization system Standard is a 7-speed manual gearbox.
Keep in mind what I said earlier about some of the differences between the two-door version and the four-door version.
Not all of the same tops are available on either model likely because the two-door version is not going to be the best-selling version of the bronco if you want the four-door version that is going to be the best-selling version of the bronco if you want the four-door version that is going to be the best-selling version of the bronco if you want the four alloy wheels with 32-inch tires The four-wheel drive system gains the goat modes that you saw in the model that I was driving, as well as an upgraded interior and a manual transmission, so if you want all of that and a manual, don’t worry, you can get it.
In fact, on most bronco trims, the manual transmission will be standard and the automatic transmission will be optional, though there are exceptions.
Next, we have the black diamond trim, which is a touch more tough and includes steel bumpers.
beneath the vehicle’s tow hooks, a comprehensive skid plate system Rock rails and the auxiliary switches that you saw on the interior that I was driving this week will set you back at least $36,450, which compares favorably to the competition.
The outer banks, which is the bronco family’s version of the Sahara, will set you back $39,350, which includes the automatic transmission, standard body color painted components, and tube steps.
I like the look of the bronco with all the body color bits, but if you plan on taking your bronco off-roading, you’re probably not going to want the body color components.
Thankfully, Ford has stated that some of these components are easy to replace yourself, so if you do end up with say in the outer banks and you decide you want to take it off-roading and you end up scuffing it up, you can replace them yourself.
Next up is the particularly off-road competent Badlands variant, which begins at 42 495 dollars and includes a front sway bar disconnect function that you won’t find on the other grades, as well as an off-road tuned suspension with even wider tires.
The wild track isn’t just the dune-running version of the bronco it’s also the pinnacle of the bronco lineup I guess you can think of it as the bronco raptor basically the twin turbo v6 becomes standard as is the sasquatch package which is available on some other trims and many of the features that we find on both the outer banks and the badlands model so the wild track isn’t just the dune-running version of There is a mid-sized pickup vehicle that provides that choice, but there aren’t many others that come me close to competition.
Obviously, we have to talk about the Jeep Wrangler.
The wrangler starts at $27,000, which is very similar to the bronco’s starting price.
However, you should know that a wrangler is a little easier to find on the dealer lot than a bronco, so you might be able to get a slightly better deal on the jeep.
The bronco is quite popular right now, and finding one on a dealer lot, much alone one for msrp, is extremely tough.
The wrangler sahara costs $39,715 and is only available in four doors.
If you want some of the features found in the outer banks version of the bronco or the sahara but want a two-door version, you’ll have to go with the bronco because there is no two-door wrangler.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Ford decided to reduce the options available on the two-door model two or three years down the road because the two-door model The rubicon version of the wrangler starts at 39 765 dollars versus a bad lens at 424.95 dollars, so it’s a little bit less expensive, but we do find more standard equipment on the bronco thanks to the wrangler’s age the infotainment systems are a little bit smaller in the dashboard the interior does feel a little bit smaller it’s a little bit more compact, which can be a pro and a con depending on exactly what you If you want something that is more capable on the road, the bronco is the way to go.
The bronco performs well on the trail, with some of the more novel features such as trail turn assist, but that’s a bit less important when you have a smaller vehicle.
The wrangler’s gearboxes may have less gears than the bronco’s, but we do have a larger range of engine choices.
A normally aspirated 3.6-liter V6 with or without the mild hybrid system is available.
a 2-liter turbocharged engine mated to a plug-in hybrid powertrain with an off-road electric range If you want the absolute craziest engine available in this segment, there’s also a 3-liter turbo diesel and a 6.4 liter v8 engine, but the big difference between the wrangler and the bronco is going to be the solid axle design.
If you’re interested in ramp travel index, you’ll get a better rank travel index in the wrangler comparably equipped to the bronco because it doesn’t have that independent front suspension, but for most people out there, Let me know what you think in the comments section below about the bronco versus the wrangler.
I suspect if I were shopping right now, I would buy the bronco even if I had to pay a little bit more than msrp because the bronco is a little more unique it’s newer it’s flashier than the wrangler let’s be perfectly honest there and I like the independent front suspension yes it may give up a little bit in terms of traditional What would you acquire if you were shopping in this sector, particularly if you were seeking to spend roughly $40,000 somewhere in the meat of this group, a sahara or an outer banks version somewhere in that price range, and why? Tell me in the comments area below.
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