Ford Bronco Badlands Edition

Ford Bronco Badlands Edition

When is less more? Well, when it comes to doors on the all-new Bronco, less is definitely more. This is the third new Bronco I’ve reviewed since their release last year.

When it comes to overlanding or trail riding the four-door Bronco is fine. But if you’re headed out to do some serious off-roading, with sharp inclines, tight trails and marginal ground clearance, you need to pick the two-door Badlands Bronco.

When the trails are tight, think Chris Farley’s Fat Guy in A Little Coat tight, the shorter wheelbase works much better.
Let’s face it, Ford set the Jeep Rubicon directly in their sights in the production of the Bronco, and it shows. Offering the same toaster appearance and wheelbase, Ford certainly got the first shot on target. The Bronco has a tighter turning radius than Matt Stafford at a Super-Bowl parade.

Every time I’m fortunate enough to get a four-wheel-drive two door offering, I take it to Barnwell Mountain to try it out. I always get the same looks from the diehards at the off-road park, asking themselves, why does this idiot bring these brand-new vehicles out here? The reason is simple, I can.

It’s so enjoyable off-roading without much fear of getting stuck. I was on a tight schedule when I was testing the Badlands Bronco, so I took it somewhere closer than Barwell. The facility is called Rabbit Creek, and it’s just west of Kilgore, Texas. It’s more mud bog than rocky terrain, feels like you’re in a swamp, honestly.

Even though mother nature had blessed me with a recent rain, making conditions even more torturous, The Badlands Bronco performed flawlessly.

At the trails I felt one-hundred percent confident, even though I was alone. This is in no small part due to the Badlands extreme suspension, and 33” in BF Goodrich All-Terrains and 4.7 Rear Axle-Locking DIFF. In granny gear it literally craws over terrains easier than Karen’s get on my nerves.

Oh yeah, did I mention it’s a standard. Seriously, a standard 7-speed transmission, in fact. In addition to being millennially theft proof, it is incredibly fun to drive. However, off-roading as a novice I would recommend an automatic, the stick has you feeling much more attached to the task at hand. But here’s the deal, in its “Crawl” granny gear and in four-low, the badlands Bronco becomes automatically effortless. Through mud, inclines, and descents, you feel in complete control.

Although the power-plant, a 2.3 EcoBoost won’t blow you away with acceleration, it overachieves off-road. Thanks to the turbo offering high torque numbers for its size, it really is smooth off-road. It’s quiet enough to let you enjoy nature, allowing you to remember why you actually turned off of the road in the first place.

Factory Rock Rails are another great addition. Let’s face it, when you are off-road, you sometimes miss judge obstacles like the Dallas Cowboy’s miss the play-offs. It’s at this opportune time that things like Rock Rails save you thousands on body repair.

Let’s not forget, if you don’t want to scratch your new Bronco you can remove damn near everybody panel on the Bronco, before you hit the trails. It’s one of many things that impress me about the Bronco, and in my opinion, sets it a tick above a Rubicon. If you are off-road enough, you’re going to scratch your truck up. What a great choice you have to get those, expensive to repair panels off of your vehicle prior to leaving. It’s like off-roading in the buff.

With front and rear lockers firmly engaged I never once felt vulnerable. I traversed giant mud holes at low speeds, hardly even getting the Bronco dirty. Mind you I was dressed for work and on my lunch break. If I would’ve needed to step outside, I would have had to change clothes, it was a mess out there.

That’s what I want to leave you with. You know who never mouths off at the bar? That’s right, it’s the guy that can handle himself. That’s exactly what the Badlands Bronco is. It’s tough enough to handle any comers, so there is no need to overcompensate.

I left Rabbit Creek only needing a drive through car wash to clean the good time off of the Bronco. So, think about it, I took a brand-new Bronco Badlands edition off-roading, had a blast doing it, took it to a car wash and back to the office with no visual evidence of my excursion. To me this meets all my standards for a fun to drive, highly capable off-roader you can clean and take to dinner.

Lastly, Ford has quieted the hard top which makes driving to the off-road park or dinner out of town much more enjoyable.
It’s with great confidence I announce, Jeep Rubicon, your competition is here, it’s not spouting B.S. either. It’s calmly sitting there, sipping on a great bourbon, minding its own business, all the time ready to end any confrontation quickly and return to a calm state in minutes.