The New 2021 Ford Bronco Is An Incredible Thing
The Best New Car Since The Dodge Challenger?
Evidently, we all need to learn from Ford.
In the midst of the chaos that is the year 2020, they figured out how to drop the hottest new car release since maybe the 2008 revival of the Dodge Challenger. Yep. It’s that good.
Reviving old nameplates and styles isn’t new in the car world. Sometimes it works great; think the aforementioned Challenger, or BMW’s revival of Mini Cooper in 2000. Sometimes it’s just okay, like the new Camaros. (Still holding out hope, Chevrolet!)
But unfortunately us car people get a lot of Ford Thunderbirds, Mercury Cougars, and Toyota Supras that don’t really live up to their names. In the case of the Bronco, Ford’s been messing around with this for um, fifteen years or so?
Back in 2005, the boys from Dearborn rolled out a great concept Bronc’ at the Columbus Auto Show, drawing from the iconic first-generation machines that are so prized by collectors and off-roaders alike.
But in 2019 and 2020, different prototype images began to creep up online. These pics looked very different from the ’05 concept car. They were more like new versions of the 80s and 90s Broncos, big and wide and boxy and seemingly ready to be ordered in white so you could impersonate O.J. Simpson.
A definite downgrade in both style and execution.
It looked like we might have another Thunderbird on our hands, but no! What Ford actually released is both clean and tough, modern and reverent to the older models. It’s not unlike what Dodge did with their Challengers, and Ford’s latest update to the Mustang.
Both of those cars drip with brand DNA, and look both sleek and mean at the same time.
One of the biggest wins was Ford’s decision to allow both the two and four-door Broncos to have removable tops. For some reason Land Rover missed this memo with the ‘new Defender.’ Yep, that last part was written deliberately in scare quotes, because a real Land Rover Defender has a removable top.
(Can you tell we’re salty?)
So we’ve got amazing modern design that references the past, high-level off-road abilities, and the ability to go topless. Yep. Ford went hunting, and might have bagged itself a Jeep Wrangler or two, not to mention some assorted Land Rovers and Toyotas. Following along with the Wrangler-killer theme, it seems like Ford basically followed the Jeep playbook here.
The base model costs right around $30,000.
A turbocharged four-banger is the standard motor, but a twin-turbo v6 can also be ordered up. You can get the truck with a manual gearbox. Yes.
Like the Jeep flagship, there are lots of named ‘editions’ and option packages that can push the cost another ten or even 20 stacks higher. This especially comes into play if you want the 4-door version and/or a rig pre-fitted with large rock-crawler tires, skid plates, and suspension upgrades.
Once again, direct from the Wrangler universe.
What makes this car more like the Challenger or the Mustang is its body lines; the vehicle just looks tuff! Fortunately or unfortunately, the Wrangler has gotten softer and rounder over time. Some on forums think this was done on purpose to entice female or suburban buyers to the Jeep fold. Who knows. But the newest Jeeps do have less right angles compared to an old CJ7.
Land Rover swung and missed with the ‘new Defender,’ though at least the LR at least has a bit of the Range Rover futuristic sleekness to it. Either way, Ford seems to have absolutely nailed the Bronco, in three different ways.
The two-door is for the nascent Wrangler buyer. The four-door of course also grabs people interested in the bigger soft-top Jeeps, but also could snag buyers who in the past might consider a Land Rover Discovery.
The new Bronc’ seems to be a similar type of all-purpose vehicle.
There’s also a certain kind of person who really likes owning a vintage Defender or a Mercedes G-Wagen, even thought they live in a mansion or a fancy townhouse in the middle of a city.
If you were to kit out a high-spec Bronco in a more subdued, dare we say Land Rover-ish colo(u)r, or maybe ‘murder it out’ with flat-black coated accessories instead of chrome- it’s not that far away from one of those luxury off-roaders.
Finally, the Bronco Sport has some similar characteristics to the smaller Toyotas and Land Rovers. If you want something that gets a bit better gas mileage and works better for city driving, but can still ‘wheel- you can still be a part of the Bronco universe.
Did we mention that all of them look pretty good?
What is it about Ford vehicles that don’t prominently feature the Blue Oval as a design motif?
The new Mustang is now the biggest-selling sports car in America. It even moves units in Europe, where a big car from the land of Trump is a hard sell for a lot of reasons. If a ‘Stang flexes hard in Rome and Munich, you know the silhouette has legs.
If I was Ford, I’d think about giving a stronger ‘name brand’ to some of their other rides (at least the Audi/Aston Martin-style halfway cool-looking ones) and throw some more design muscle into new interiors, details, and logos for those cars.
It worked with the Mustang, and it worked with the Bronco.
Maybe social distancing is how Ford works best? Either way, get those pre-orders in.
