Complaints of “catastrophic engine failure” involving the 2021 Ford Bronco have led to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) initiating a Federal Safety Investigation.
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The popular image of Henry Ford must be rolling over in its gilded grave at the proliferation of option packages and customization choices available these days. Of course, I’m talking about his ode to speeding up mass production – “Any color, so long as it is black” being the supposed mantra to make the Model T line move more efficiently.
While most automakers don’t let you run quite as wild with the options list as one might have in the Sixties, some cars do offer a dazzling array of options packages and standalone features allowing you to “customize” your vehicle to your anticipated needs. The 2022 Ford Bronco seen here is one of the most prolific in that regard, offering (by my count) eight different trim levels taking the offroader from mild to Wild(trak) and beyond.
This two-door Outer Banks trim sits somewhere in the middle of the lineup – it offers more luxury and convenience features than the base trims while wearing a set of road-focused, somewhat low profile all-terrain tires and 18” wheels compared to the sixteen and seventeen inchers found on the more hardcore models. Could the Outer Banks be the Goldilocks package?
Just about every automaker has committed itself to going “all-electric” at some point in the next decade, and whether you think that’s a good thing or a bad thing, it means that the internal combustion engine (“ICE”, for the purposes of this article) is dead tech walking. Death and discontinuation are usually one-way tickets to the scrap heap for cars – but some cars are different. Some cars are special, and being made rare or obsolete just makes them more appealing.
The Great Jack Baruth once called this The Grand National Problem, and I think there are a few ICE cars out there that will be more appealing to car guys and gals than others in 20- or 30-years’ time. As such, I’ve taken some time to look at the automotive class of 2022 and pick my 5 future ICE Age Classics. Enjoy!
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.
After plenty of speculation and spy shots – plus a healthy dose of rumor – Ford has whipped the sheets off what they’re calling the most powerful street-legal Bronco ever to roll out of a Blue Oval factory. Shod with FOX shocks which permit yawning wheel travel, 37-inch all-terrain tires, and heavy-duty bash plates, this thing is ready to jump a few dunes and tear across wide-open spaces.
Under the hood is an engine not currently found in any factory Bronco – and it isn’t the mill your author thought would be residing between these flared Raptor fenders.
While the full-size Bronco might be one of the hottest games in town, its performance in some key safety measures failed to wholly impress the IIHS crash test dummies. Their major beefs? Headlights and whiplash.
You may recall the brouhaha surrounding the Ford Bronco hardtop, a piece of the SUV that held up the initial rollout of the much-awaited model before causing a recall thanks to odd wear patterns. Specifically, certain roof units had a manufacturing deficiency which caused them to discolor and expose a honeycomb pattern after being subjected to particular levels of water and humidity (read: everyday conditions for some types of customers).
Now, it appears Ford is done like dinner with the issue, electing to destroy every single hardtop collected through the recall.
Did that headline grab your attention? As proponents of unmuffled V8 engines, it certainly grabbed ours. Gearheads have been shouting for an eight-cylinder Bronco ever since the first sketches of the Wrangler-fighter appeared all those years ago. Yesterday, in the desert near Las Vegas, Ford finally introduced such a rig.
There’s a catch, of course: the Bronco DR is strictly meant for off-road racing. And it’ll cost a cool quarter-mil.
Think you have a hard time keeping track of all the trims and bodystyles on the Ford Bronco now?
Well, get ready for more. At least one more trim is on the way for 2022.
An order guide for the 2022 Ford Bronco confirms that the Sasquatch off-road package will be available with a manual transmission.
Ford had already indicated it would listen to consumer demand and give three-pedal fans the option of rowing their own, but now it’s official.
PONTIAC, MICH. — Ford confirmed that Bronco Raptor is on the way during the introduction of the 2022 Ford Expedition at the Motor Bella auto show in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac.
Motor Bella is the shrunken, outdoors version of the North American International Auto Show.
As the 2021 Ford Bronco shares a platform with the midsized Ranger, it’s long been assumed that the SUV would eventually receive a Raptor variant. North America already enjoys access to the F-150 Raptor and the smaller Ranger Raptor (which is already available in other parts of the world) is said to make it our way by the 2023 model year. Considering the Bronco is supposed to rivaling Jeep’s Wrangler, having the ability to add a zestier motor, gnarly tires, a beefed-up suspension, badging that denotes enhanced off-road capabilities, and a loftier MSRP seems like an obvious course of action for the Ford Motor Company.
While the automaker has yet to officially confirm such a vehicle, leaks have resulted in numerous positive rumors. The latest are of particular interest, as they show the manufacturer adding a Raptor-edition Bronco to its dealership ordering system for the 2022 model year. (Read More…)
Ford had been rumored to be developing a pickup variant of the Bronco with the assumed strategy of competing with the likes of Jeep’s Gladiator by 2024. However, reports have surfaced that Blue Oval is notifying suppliers the program is being abandoned. While we knew that there was supposed to be another Bronco vehicle in development, Ford never confirmed it and it was unclear exactly how far along the program had managed to get. But as the company continued introducing new trucks (e.g. Maverick and Lightning) we were over here wondering how far the pickup market could realistically be stretched.
Apparently, so did Ford. (Read More…)
Ford is continuing to have hard-top issues with the Bronco. So much so, that according to Bronco6G via Autoblog, the company will replace all the molded-in-color hardtops it has built up to now.
Car buyers and market observers are used to seeing large dealership markups on models that are tough to get — first editions of popular cars, usually, or models that are produced in small numbers, or both.
It’s no shock to see the Ford Bronco or Chevrolet Corvette marked up by thousands of dollars. Motor Trend reported markups of $30K on Broncos, for example. C8 Corvettes are also being marked up like crazy.
While annoying, it’s somewhat understandable, given how the franchise-dealer system works, as well as how basic capitalism and supply and demand work. You don’t have to like the phenomenon, but the logic behind its existence is sound.
Still, we draw the line at an almost $6K markup of a Mitsubishi Mirage.
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