Dry lake beds, sand, and rocks. Johnson Valley in California has them all, and elevations ranging from 2,300 to 4,600 feet are perfect for off-roading enthusiasts. The Ford Motor Company chose this area to put the all-new Bronco through its paces, and the mid-size SUV passed the test with flying colors.
Towards the end of the following video from The Bronco Nation YouTube channel, you can also hear rocks grinding against the underside of a four-door prototype. No fewer than three models are featured in the guise of two Sasquatches with 35-inch mud terrains from Goodyear and a four-door Badlands with 33-inch tires. As a brief refresher, the ever-popular Jeep Wrangler in Rubicon specification is also flexing 33-inch rubber boots.
Scheduled to enter production in March 2021 at the Michigan Assembly Plant where the Ranger is also made, the truck-based SUV is available in six trim levels. The First Edition doesn’t count because it’s sold out. From the entry-level Base to the range-topping Wiltrak, customers are able to choose the Sasquatch Package as an option.
The only limitation for the 2021 model year is the transmission. You’ll have to wait until the 2022 Bronco for the Sasquatch to be offered with the seven-speed manual, which betters the 10-speed automatic in terms of crawl ratio. On the downside, the crawler-gear manual isn’t and won’t be available with the 2.7-liter EcoBoost.
From six cylinders and a couple of turbochargers, this motor is much obliged to crank out 310 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of torque. In other words, the Bronco V6 is down 15 horsepower in comparison to the 2021 Ford F-150 with the same engine.
Fret not, though, because more suck-squeeze-bang-blow is coming to the Warthog. Pretty much the equivalent to the Raptor specification for the Ranger and F-150, this version of the Bronco is expected with the 3.0-liter EcoBoost from the Explorer ST.
The Blue Oval is developing a plug-in hybrid as well, and word has it that 450 horsepower is in the pipeline for the most eco-friendly Bronco of them all.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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