[New post] Auto review: Ford Bronco Sport tips its hat to its heritage
gqlshare posted: "Larry Printz | (TNS) Tribune News ServiceGiven its origins, you can be excused for questioning the 2023 Ford Bronco Sport's off-road ability. After all, this subcompact SUV shares its underpinnings with the mild-mannered Ford Escape and the utilitarian Fo" Sterling Journal-Advocate
Given its origins, you can be excused for questioning the 2023 Ford Bronco Sport's off-road ability. After all, this subcompact SUV shares its underpinnings with the mild-mannered Ford Escape and the utilitarian Ford Maverick. But it wears couture that recalls the original 1966 Ford Bronco, a clever slight-of-hand made more believable with the appearance of the 2023 Bronco Sport Heritage Edition and Heritage Limited Edition.
That said, this is the smaller of the two Bronco models being flogged by Ford, and in many ways, it's truer to the original, if only because its size is closer to its famous first forebearer. In comparison, the bigger Bronco seems more an oversized cartoon.
Yet technically, the Ford Bronco Sport Heritage Editions are heritage models with no heritage. After all, if the full-size Bronco is considered the current rendition of Ford's off-road rock star, and that has its own Heritage Edition, then these smaller Broncos are what exactly? The second coming of the 1984-1990 Ford Bronco II?
Discuss among yourselves.
While the Ford Bronco Sport has already had its share of special editions, this might be the best one yet. But like all haute couture, it comes at a cost. Whereas the Bronco Sport starts at $29,215 and is available in ascending Base, Big Bend, Outer Banks and Badlands trim, these Heritage models come two ways. There's the $33,400 Heritage Edition, based on the $31,230 Bronco Sport Big Bend, and the $44,655 Heritage Limited Edition model, based on the $38,090 Bronco Sport Badlands.
Ford offered up a Heritage Limited Edition, finished in robin's egg blue with a white roof, white wheels and a white grille with red Bronco lettering. The color was fetching, enhancing its yesteryear aura, one that sets the Wayback Machine to the mid-1960s while remaining acutely contemporary. That's particularly true inside, where wicked-cool plaid-trimmed seating, offsets an instrument panel that shares its accounting department-approved bits and layout with the Ford Escape.
Being that the Heritage Edition model is based on the Bronco Sport Big Bend, it gets the same driveline, one inherited from the Escape: a turbocharged 1.5-liter 3-cylinder engine and 8-speed automatic transmission rated at 181 horsepower and 190 pound-feet of torque. In contrast, the pricier Bronco Sport Heritage Limited Edition, based on the top-of-the-line Badlands model, benefits from a larger, more powerful turbocharged 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine and an 8-speed automatic transmission with paddle shifters that unleashes 250 horsepower and 277 pound-feet of torque. All-wheel drive is standard on both models, as are five selectable terrain driving modes, which Ford dubs GOAT modes, for "Go Over All Terrain." They include Normal, ECO, Sport, Slippery and Sand.
But the Heritage Limited Edition also gets Mud/Ruts and Rock Crawl modes, as well as hill-descent control, trail speed control, 8.8 inches of ground clearance, a locking torque-vectoring rear differential, and a specially tuned suspension for added agility once the sidewalk ends.
Then again, all Bronco Sports prove nimble in the forest primeval, as the Bronco Sport is 7.8 inches shorter than the Escape, allowing for approach and departure angles of 30.4 degrees and 33.1 degrees respectively. So, not only does it look like a baby Bronco, it has the chops of one as well. OK, you will forego some things that you'd be able to get on its bigger brother, like a low range creeper gear or an electronically detachable sway bar. And you can't remove the Bronco Sport's roof or doors, as you can on the Bronco. But you do have access to more than 100 accessories as fashion as well as function is this model's raison d'ĂȘtre.
But don't be fooled. Even without the most extreme off-road equipment, the Bronco Sport can quickly climb a sand-covered hill or effortlessly traverse our deteriorating, trash-strewn interstate highway system. OK, its suspension compliance may slow you down when satisfying your inner Andretti, but it pays big dividends when playing the part of an off-road warrior. The Bronco Sport Heritage Limited Edition's off-road prowess is light years better than an Escape, for it's essentially a smaller, less costly version of the Bronco, not a lesser one
But who am I kidding?
First and foremost, the 2023 Ford Bronco Sport Heritage Limited Edition looks great, with enough style to get even the most jaded of valets talking. Capability? Sure it has it in spades; this is no designer knockoff. This is very much a truck in Patagonia gear, the fashion maven ready for trail life.
Just don't hate it because it's beautiful.
2023 Ford Bronco Sport Heritage Limited Edition
Base price: $44,655
Engine: 2.0-liter EcoBoost 4-cylinder
Horsepower/Torque: 250/277 pound-feet
EPA fuel economy (city/highway): 21/26 mpg
Observed fuel economy: 24 mpg
Length/Width/Height: 172.7/74.3/71.4 inches
Ground clearance: 8.8 inches
Payload: 1,010 pounds
Cargo capacity: 29.4-60.6 cubic feet
Towing capacity: 2,200 pounds
(Larry Printz is an automotive journalist based in South Florida. Readers may send him email at TheDrivingPrintz@gmail.com.)
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