If you like your off-roading with a side of swamp, Ford has created a Bronco variant just for you. Called the Everglades (presumably, Bronco Bog and Bayou didn’t track too well in focus groups), it comes standard with a snorkel to help with water crossings and integrated Warn winch to haul you out of the mire.
Or, to simply show off at the trailhead. Your call.
The new Everglades is apparently the first Ford vehicle ever equipped with a snorkel right from the factory. Mounted on the A-pillar and plumbed right into the Bronco’s breather, it has a pair of reversible plates to direct air intake forward or rearward. The latter is important when driving headlong into heavy rain or snow and is a creative solution compared to the sad-sack Tacoma unit which must be publicly and embarrassingly swiveled rearward lest it suck in all kinds of water in inclement weather. And – note that Ford, unlike Toyota, did not succumb to bedwetting lawyers and actually called this thing a snorkel instead of a ‘desert air intake’.
Water fording jumps to 36.4 inches, about six inches higher than the desk at which you’re sitting reading this article instead of working. Anyone who’s modified a side-by-side UTV or other off-road rig knows other air intakes also need to be moved northward to avoid damaging critical drivetrain parts when driving through water – Ford has raised vents for both axles, transfer case, and transmission.
Speaking of power teams, the Everglades will be available with the 2.3L EcoBoost engine, good for 300 horses and 325 lb-ft of twist, mated to a 10-speed automatic. Those clamoring for a stick should recall the auto permits Bronco to execute the trick Rear Dig (Trail Turn Assist) which locks up one rear wheel at very low speeds to help the brute pivot itself around a corner.
Those are 35-inch Goodyears at each corner as part of the Sasquatch package, plus steel bash plates from the Badlands. A set of rock rails line the SUV’s edges, while a unique-look grille peeps out from behind that burly safari bar. Anyone blessed with the gift of sight will have noticed the Warn winch by now, one which is rated for 10,000 pounds and has 100 feet worth of synthetic line. Ford offers an integrated winch as part of an off-road package on some of its Super Duty pickups, so they surely used some lessons learned from that project.
And if you noted the square-ish wheel arches, go ahead and give yourself a gold star. For apparently wanted to give the Everglades an immediately recognizable look and this is a smart way to do it. The black fender graphics are unique to the Everglades and are meant to pay homage to this SUV’s namesake. As for the interior, look for marine-grade vinyl seats and rubberized washout flooring for easy swamp management. Still, don’t splash around too much bog water since a 12-inch infotainment touchscreen is also part of the deal.
Bronco Everglades will join the Bronco lineup this summer. Ordering begins in March, exclusively for existing Bronco reservation holders, and pricing will start at $54,495 including destination and delivery charges.
[Images: Ford, © 2021 Tim Healey/TTAC]
Editor’s note: We snuck a pic of the Bronco Raptor in here. It’s the orange one.
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I’m not normally a CUV or SUv fan, but I am a fan of what I’ll call honest SUVs. An SUV that is built for a purpose – rugged, looks the part, beat the hell out of it on a Saturday, clean it on Sunday, and drive it to work on Monday. And I’m glad to see that Ford has done this with the Bronco, Toyota sticks with the 4Runner (where’s a replacement FJ???), Land Rover with the Defender, and Jeep with the Wrangler. (Nissan…the market can handle a new Xterra, hint hint.) Kinda makes you wonder how GM missed this so badly when they had both the Blazer and Trailblazer names available and then nailed themselves in the crotch by applying them to anonymous CUVs.
However, at over $54,000 (let’s be real here and say $70,000, memo or no memo from Ford is going to stop that), I need to ask Ford something. Have you started buying your switchgear inside the Bronco from the same supplier who supplied the switchgear for Pontiac around 2003? I get the whole easy clean seats – you don’t want to muck up good cloth or leather after a muddy day of hiking. Ford, man, you had me until I saw the dash. I can just hear the hollow plastics rattle and squeak after 10,000 miles from here. Luxury doesn’t mean big screens, and for $50,000+, that’s tough. Toyota did the FJ right over a decade ago with an interior that can hold up with good materials. I can tape an iPad to the dash and run my own mapping app and Amazon Music. It’s how things look and feel – it’s the first impression test where you sit down in it at a car show or dealer and touch everything.
But they’ll sell everyone they build and have a 12 month waiting list.
Yoh Flyer:
GM has a response. Hummer !
8 feet wide. 9250 pounds. You wanted MOOOOOOORE ! DID I SAY NINE THOUSAND POUNDS OF ROAD HUGGING WEIGHT ?
GM misses slow grounders all day- every day. They nail cheese.
Over styled, over stretched, over done origami Corvette.
A Blazer that has NO relation to a real Blazer (thereby destroying a precious historic brand name)
Non defeatable aggressive Start/Stop on every vehicle.
Brutal CUE on Cadillac for TEN YEARS NOW.
Beat your suppliers into the dust.
Treat your 5 and 6th levels worse than hourly.
Evil horrible company and products.
With a horrid product history and pissed off salaried, do you really think they d build a good product?
My 2019 Blazer has an off switch for the start/stop right next to the start button. Is that unusual for GMs?
Actually they do have a stop/start button on many of their current vehicles after 5 years of constant complaints from customers. Many of their trucks and SUV’s have a 50 dollar credit with stop /start deleted too.
As for the rest, the woke SJW running this company (into the ground currently) totally lost me as a customer killing off the two best vehicles they made- the Impala and the Regal hatch/wagon! There are a total of 6 coworkers I know with Silverado’s from 2019-2020 that spend more time in the shop than in their driveways siting 8 speed troubles, V8 issues and numerous quality control glitches. You would think that after making Silverado’s for so many years they could at least get that right. But no it’s all hog in on EV’s and screw our current buyers. I wouldn’t buy a dog from these idiots
@redapple. You forgot the crab walk. It isn’t a real truck unless it has the crab walk. That’s gotten more overblown hype than most of their vehicles.
I’m with you – I probably wouldn’t buy an off road vehicle, but I respect the ones that are built to do it.
The only people who will ever utilize that snorkel will be the automotive press and perhaps some downstream used buyer 10-15 years down the road, but I guess it moves the metal.
Maybe 15 years from now when Fred or Dave (Dirt Every Day) buys one and cuts it up to put 40s under it and upgrades the axles and suspension, like the Pond Scum 4Runner.
The best thing about snorkels isn’t water fording but keeping your air intake up in clean air. A fellow I know says he rarely ever needs to change his air filter. It’s nice to have in very dusty conditions.
Yours for only $10,000 over sticker!
“presumably, Bronco Bog and Bayou didn’t track too well in focus groups”
So, probably no Bronco Deliverance coming, either.
I think Ram had the “Deliverance” name copyrighted.
So when can I get a base 2-door with a 7-speed manual and no options for $30k? That’s what I want.
Ford, you have never built anything so good that it deserved more than list price and even that is a stretch.
“With quality still absent from the Ranger SUV, Ford introduces another “version” hoping people will be fooled.”
Better headline.
I do appreciate your consistency.
The truth happens to be very consistent.
Three feet of water fording…wowsers…
@indi500fan
And there’s handrails on the roof to hold while waiting for rescue.
Looks cool but the full-size Bronco doesn’t actually exist.
What is the snorkel’s effect on power and fuel economy?
That interior does not look befitting of a vehicle costing 55 large on up. Did Ford contact Mary Barra’s supplier for GM’s interior dating back to the 90’s or what?
The interior forms do look annoyingly simplistic, but I have to give this Bronco the edge over those GM truck interiors from the mid-1990s. Those were just a special kind of ugly.
Let’s do a kickstarter to buy O.J. a white one.
Maybe the second-gen MX-6 was more sporty, aggressive and American (not to mention better looking), but I disagree it was of worse quality. Take it from someone who put close to 300,000 miles on his.
Not sure why they didn’t go with Bronco Mar-a-Lago.