The Ford Bronco has always held a special place in the hearts of adventure enthusiasts, and its recent resurrection after a 25-year hiatus sparked immense excitement. While not exactly a blank slate with history dating back to 1966, Ford’s engineers have clearly enjoyed reimagining this sixth generation of the Bronco, and not to mention spoiling you for choice — there are nine models to choose from, in both two- and four-door variants. We spent a week with one of the more serious off-road builds, the four-door 2023 Ford Bronco Badlands, to see what it’s like to live with one of these brutes.
In any trim, the Bronco is just brimming with personality, paying homage to its rich heritage while embracing modern aesthetics. The boxy yet aerodynamic silhouette, prominent wheel arches, and distinctive round headlights instantly invoke a sense of nostalgia. The removable doors, along with the retractable soft top or removable roof panels (depending on the model you choose), not only add to the Bronco’s rugged charm, but also enhance the open-air experience.
Ford offers the Bronco in a wide array of colours, so we’re a little disappointed our test vehicle is finished in a somewhat bland shade of Carbonized Grey Metallic. Equipped with the Sasquatch Package, we have some serious off-road gear like 17-inch beadlock-capable wheels, 35-inch mud-terrain tires, and a lifted Bilstein suspension with aluminum control arms. We also have Ford’s heavy-duty modular front bumper with steel bash plates, which delivers a rugged look and function.
The tall tires and high suspension make getting in and out of the Bronco a bit of an adventure in and of itself. Without running boards for maximum ground clearance, it’s quite a big first step to get into the vehicle. Thankfully, there are a set of beefy rubber grab handles to help. When finally seated, you’re treated to a commanding view with amazing visibility through the large frameless windows. A quick glance of the interior and we can’t help but smile at all the little design touches and Easter eggs throughout. The Bronco certainly feels more spacious and offers better visibility than its main competitor, the Jeep Wrangler.
The interior is weatherproof with marine-grade vinyl seats that don’t feel sticky, unlike some others we have tried. Rubberized flooring is washout-capable with drain plugs, and most of the switchgear is covered in rubber, giving you the sense that you can drive the Bronco with the roof off through a torrential downpour. A set of chunky, also-rubber switches on top of the dashboard lock the differentials, engage trail turn assist, and disconnect the sway bar in one click, while another bank of blank auxiliary toggle switches with pre-run accessory wires just beg to be flipped in the overhead console.
Like just about any modern vehicle, the Bronco has two big screens, one for the gauge cluster and another for infotainment. We weren’t kidding when we said this vehicle was fun; even the graphics in the gauge cluster display look straight out of a Nintendo 64 game.
It may not look it, but our tester was also equipped with the Luxury package, adding such amenities as the 12-inch touchscreen running Ford’s excellent Sync interface, a heated steering wheel, and a wireless charging pad. Best of all is the 10-speaker Bang & Olufsen sound system, including a subwoofer. It belts out tunes with the roof down, and it’s able to drown out wind and road noise from the mud tires throughout the cabin with remarkable clarity.
The Bronco Badlands is as fun to drive as it is to look at. Piloting this big hunk of machinery is a joy with its light steering and big hooks on the edges of the fenders, which do a fantastic job of relaying where the tires are, therefore making road placement a breeze. The beefy suspension doesn’t soak up bumps so much as it seems to roll over them. It truly feels like the Bronco can handle anything you throw at it. Sure, the road noise from the mud terrain tires and rattles from the frameless windows are comically bad, but riding with the top down and blasting tunes drowns all that out with a sheer sense of freedom.
Under the hood lies a 2.7-litre EcoBoost inline-four under the hood, pushing 330 horsepower and 415 pound-feet of torque when running premium fuel, or 315 hp and 410 lb.-ft. on regular. That’s about an extra 100 pound-feet of torque to enjoy over the base 2.3L turbo-four engine, and it’s plenty to get the Bronco moving. A seven-speed manual is only available with the base engine, while the 2.7 is mated to a beefier 10-speed automatic. The Bronco’s advanced 4×4 system finds the best balance of fuel economy and traction if left in 4A (automatic) mode, but you can take greater control by switching to high or low modes.
Fuel economy is about what you would expect from a boxy vehicle as large as this, rated at 14.1 L/100 kilometres in the city, highway, combined. We observed a better-than-expected 12.1 L/100 km through commuting at sensible speeds, with an even mix of city and highway driving. Our biggest issue with the Bronco is the woeful towing capacity for such a large body-on-frame vehicle. Built on the same platform as the Ranger, it’s puzzling and hugely disappointing that fully equipped with a tow package, the Bronco is only capable of 3,500 pounds, versus the 7,500 for the Ranger.
The four-door Bronco starts at $47,360 for the base model, if you are even lucky enough to find one. All that serious off-road gear comes with an equally serious price tag — the Badlands starts at $62,990 before options, but with the $7,100 Sasquatch package and $6,495 Luxury package, plus some other bits and bobs, our Bronco Badlands tester tallies up to $79,780. If you are never going to hit an off-road trail, the Badlands is probably overkill for daily use with its excessive road noise, extreme ride height, and poor fuel economy. The Outer Banks may be a better fit, offering a similar sense of sheer enjoyment and still being fun-to-drive, but with better road manners at a lower price tag.
The 2023 Ford Bronco Badlands is a triumphant return of a legend, designed to ignite the passion for exploration. It’s absolutely a contender in the rapidly growing market of truly off-road-capable SUVs. We can tell it was built with passion and purpose, and it deserves strong consideration from anyone looking for adventure.
See Also
2023 Ford Bronco Badlands 2-Door
