Real-World Walk-around: 2021 Ford Bronco

2021 Ford Bronco Gallery — 2021 Ford Bronco

There’s at least month or so to go before Ford’s revived Bronco starts hitting dealerships in earnest, but at a recent special-preview event we had the opportunity to check out a pair of nicely equipped 4-door Broncos: a First Edition model in Cactus Gray, and a Badlands model in Area 51 (a military/industrial-looking medium gray-blue).

Though this was strictly a static display, we were able to crawl in and around the vehicles and kick a tire or two. These were early-production prototypes, so there are likely a few minor details that will change on regular-production model. (One of those is the design of the accessory grille guard—you’ll notice it blocks the BRONCO lettering in the grille.)

Based on our initial impressions, the Bronco’s interior feels a bit more like a traditional SUV than the rival Jeep Wrangler’s—there’s noticeably more horizontal dashboard “depth” at the base of the windshield, and the seating position felt a tad more conventional to us. However, rugged-looking design touches and functional details abound: There’s a sturdy grab handle on the far left-hand side of the dashboard and on the right side of the center console, mesh storage pockets in the front and rear door panels, and an available built-in storage “grid” (for attaching carabiner hooks and the like) on the front seat backs. Though we didn’t have a chance to play with the infotainment system, the central touchscreen is generously sized and easy to access.

We weren’t able to operate the convertible soft-top mechanism to find out how simple (or not) that process is, but we noted that the integral roll bar’s cross-bar section is located aft of the rear-seat area, instead of in between the front and rear seats like it is on a Jeep Wrangler 4-door. This placement gives the Bronco a more genuine open-air feel with the top down.

Speaking of an open-air feel… like the Wrangler, the Bronco’s doors are removable, and Ford representatives gave us a quick demonstration. The process involves sliding a special felt-lined carrying bag onto the door while the door is still attached to the vehicle, and then undoing the hardware (a relatively simple two-bolt process) using the special tool kit that comes with the vehicle. The front doors weigh 61 pounds each and the rears 48 pounds apiece, so it will take a little practice to pop them off gracefully, but the carrying bags help—they’re smartly designed and feature multiple grab handles to make them easier to maneuver.

Also like the Wrangler, the Bronco uses centrally located power-window switches (to avoid complicated wiring and such in the doors themselves). The Bronco’s window switches are located on the leading edge of the center-console armrest bin, which strikes us as a more-convenient, easier-to-access spot than the Wrangler’s dashboard-mounted switches.

We’ll obviously know more once we get behind the wheel of the Bronco for our first test drives, but it appears that these rugged off-roaders have what it takes to lure at least a few Jeep-brand intenders away from the Wrangler… and perhaps bring in a few traditional-SUV shoppers as well.