The Waiting Is the Hardest Part, but These Ford Bronco Interior Pics Should Tide You Over
It’s been a rough go for Ford Bronco fans. Just when they thought they’d get to feast their eyes on a real, physical, reborn Bronco, the pandemic arrived and pushed everything back. No glitzy premiere at the now nonexistent Detroit auto show, just tears.
The returning model’s debut is now set for sometime in July, likely early in the month, but photos of a manual-transmission model leaked to the web are better than nothing.
A source sent revealing photos of a pre-production Bronco’s cabin, engine bay, and underbody to The Fast Lane Car this week, providing us with a glimpse of the entry-level model’s seven-speed manual shifter. In this case, the seventh gear is something you’re not likely to use in day-to-day driving. A crawler gear positioned below first, it will provide the low gearing you’ll need to navigate exceptionally rough off-road sojourns.
Buttons on the dash reveal locking front and rear differentials, as well as a sway bar disconnect, to aid in those future adventures; they’re also necessary to position the new Bronco as a true rival to the Jeep Wrangler — a model that’s had the market mostly to itself for an eternity.
Beneath the hood of this stick-shift SUV lies a 2.3-liter Ecoboost four-cylinder, good (in other applications) for 270 horsepower and 310 lb-ft of torque. A source told us that the seven-speed manual would only be an option on the base 2.3L model; uplevel Broncos make do with a 2.7-liter Ecoboost V6 and a standard 10-speed automatic. That same tranny can be had with the four-banger.
Elsewhere, the Bronco sports springs of seemingly endless height and shocks outfitted with external reservoirs — just what you’d expect to find in an SUV that’s not faking it.
Offered with two or four removable doors and a roof that needn’t stay in place, the Bronco won’t go on sale late this year as originally planned. Thanks to the pandemic, buyers should be able to get their hands on one early in 2021.
[Image: fullsizebronco.com]
More by Steph Willems
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Yawn. It’s taken far too long to come up with an inferior, overpriced, poorly designed, low quality Wrangler clone. Nobody really cares about this or the butch Escape version anymore. Both are major letdowns.
Art, yes the new mini truck is not the subject of this article but I am just stating the Ford product that I would buy now a real compact pickup. The Ford compact pickup is probably going to be based on the Escape and not the Focus and I doubt it will have a double clutch transmission. Those of us who don't need or want a large pickup or an over sized intermediate would like a smaller more affordable option.