MARYVILLE, Tenn – Including a Sasquatch package deal to the 2025 Ford Bronco Sport sounds a contact foolish at first blush. If you happen to actually need off-road functionality, simply go purchase the common Bronco, proper? Nicely, sure, that is nonetheless the reply I’d provide you with, however the Bronco Sport is undeniably extra tantalizing this 12 months for the sunshine off-roading crowd who won’t wish to take care of the compromises of a body-on-frame, single-minded, off-road SUV.
You may get the total skinny on what Ford’s modified for 2025 right here, however alongside telling us about what’s new, Ford allow us to drive the Sasquatch in prototype kind. It was just for about 20 minutes on the corporate’s Tennessee Off-Roadeo property, however it was sufficient to find that the Sasquatch goes to shock you with the kind of terrain it will probably clamber over.
The Sasquatch builds upon the Badlands, one in every of two trim ranges it may be added to, however we’ll get to the opposite in a minute. The checklist of added options is prolonged. Ford tacks on Bilstein rear shocks with position-sensitive damping and piggyback reservoirs that higher take up extra excessive, high-speed occasions. New entrance and rear springs enhance floor clearance by 0.6 inches over the Badlands to a really Subaru-like 8.7 inches, and extends suspension journey by the identical quantity. Trim-specific 29-inch Goodyear Territory all-terrain tires come customary and had been developed particularly for this mannequin with rather more aggressive tread – they certain do look the half. Safety is ramped up considerably with a entrance brush guard, entrance and rear bumpers with metal bash plates, much more underbody skid plates, and extra, stronger restoration factors. Stated bumpers at the moment are modular, too, with the flexibility to suit a spread of equipment to them like mild bars, dune flags and extra.
The entire above comes along with the Badlands’ additional tools, which suggests most of that (with one huge exception) can be added to the opposite Sasquatchable Bronco Sport: the Outer Banks. That features the twin-clutch, torque-vectoring rear drive unit and locking rear differential that had beforehand been unique to the Badlands. It doesn’t embrace the two.0-liter four-cylinder engine improve, nevertheless. The Outer Banks continues to have the 1.5-liter turbo three-cylinder, however no matter powertrain (each of which obtain a slight downgrade in complete output resulting from emissions necessities), Ford says the rear differential is upgraded for 2025 with higher thermal capability. That’s an particularly good factor for anybody who cares to play off-road.
In addition to having the identical additional Sasquatch tools, the Outer Banks model positive factors a full inch of floor clearance over the common variant to a complete of 8.8 inches (that’s appropriate, it has greater than the Badlands by one tenth of an inch), and equally higher jumps in strategy, departure and breakover angles. In brief, it’s a a lot greater deal for the Outer Banks.
That mentioned, maybe unsurprisingly, Ford put us in a Badlands with the Sasquatch package deal. On the recently-rained-upon muddy trails of southern Tennessee, these all-terrain tires slipped and slid the little Bronco Sport via each gentle and middling off-road occasions. The 8.7 inches of floor clearance means that you can clear obstacles that simply don’t appear throughout the realm of risk for such a small, unibody crossover. Some obstacles meant to problem the suspension’s articulation (of which there’s little or no) as a substitute highlighted the brand new rear dampers, exhibiting off their skill to land the Bronco Sport again down on Earth with out sending shockwaves via the cabin. That mentioned, Ford wasn’t going to throw something at us the Bronco Sport couldn’t do in such a brief time frame behind the wheel, nor did we get an opportunity to see how these extra excessive off-road components translate to on-road utilization (we had the identical lament concerning the Ford F-150 Raptor and Ranger Raptor first drives).
The chunkier off-road tires may result in a louder freeway driving expertise and worse braking distances. It was primarily unimaginable to get a learn on how the brand new Bilstein rear dampers would possibly fare on the street, however we’ve excessive hopes contemplating the damping know-how in query. Ford engineers inform us the objective was to not compromise the on-road habits with these off-road upgrades, however we’ll want to attend and see what the top result’s with additional drive time.
What is well discernible is how a lot of an improve the new-for-2025 tech is contained in the Bronco Sport. The brand new 13.2-inch Sync 4 infotainment system lined up alongside the 12.3-inch absolutely digital instrument panel is a gigantic improve over the middling-to-meh tech suite it featured earlier than. Animations and responses are each clean and fast. The instrument panel adjusting to the precise drive mode is a candy trick to get you within the temper for the kind of terrain you’re tackling. Plus, the upgraded path cameras that show at any velocity whereas driving off-road couldn’t be executed any higher, now with pointers in your two entrance tires and a high-res video feed.
We even tried out the brand new one-pedal drive mode that means that you can management the velocity of the Bronco Sport in slower sections with simply the throttle pedal, appearing somewhat like an EV with regenerative brakes. The objective is to make off-roading extra approachable for the newbie, letting you divert higher consideration to the path and your steering as a substitute of hopping between the throttle and brake.
It’s troublesome to seek out many (or any) arduous conclusions a few prototype car after only a brief stint solely on off-road trails, particularly whereas we’re nonetheless ready on official pricing that might make an enormous distinction in how extremely we might suggest the package deal. Whether or not or not we’d go for the Sasquatch would additionally rely lots on the way it behaves on pavement, since that’s seemingly the place a Bronco Sport goes to spend most of its time. For these on the fence between the large Bronco and the little Bronco Sport for concern of the Sport not being succesful sufficient in your use case, this Sasquatch may very well be the model that suggestions it into favor. There’s no denying it’ll be the popular trim for the “energy person.” And even when you don’t use its added functionality to the fullest, there’s no denying the Sasquatch is now formally the coolest-looking Bronco Sport of all of them.
