The Ford Bronco Sport: A Crossover Wannabe Off-Roader?

Now I'll acknowledge that some people might hate this kind of move and I get it, I thought it was weird too. But there's a certain sense to the idea that a Mustang must be a coupe and not an electric SUV, and a Bronco must be a real truck, but it's also a smart hedge by Ford to position the new SUV between the big off-road focused Bronco and the smaller, more city-friendly Escape, while still capitalizing on the excitement of the revived Bronco brand. Now, I get it though. Looks like crossover wannabe off-roader, whatever.

Now with all these different models under the Bronco banner, and all of them performing so well, you can see Ford understood how important the Bronco would be to the future of the company, and the only option was getting it right. Generally speaking, the new Bronco is freaking ripping, all right. Ford absolutely nailed a modern, yet ultra-retro design. It doesn't just eat up the original; it elevates it. They pulled this off thanks to a process that Ford calls "minimal working prototypes." Rather than focus on creating multiple, expensive, fully working prototypes, the Bronco was mostly designed using cheap foam core models. This sped up the design phase significantly.

Ford spent about three years designing the new Bronco, which is pretty typical, but they were able to cycle through tons more design options than you normally can. And this gave engineers and product planners time to reach out to 4x4 enthusiasts, us, and find out what we really wanted and also what we really didn't want. That was time well spent because the off-roading world is on fire with the new Bronco. Production literally can't keep up with demand, and people are happily absorbing crazy, crazy dealer markups for these things. I'm talking over $100,000 for one, which should be illegal.

It seems like these foam core design models were a total game changer, and Ford agrees because they use it for all their product developing now. Hopefully, that means that Ford will keep cranking out awesome new versions of other old badges. And I want a fricking Ranchero. Now it's a sad fact of life for car enthusiasts that lots of intensely anticipated new cars don't live up to the hype. The new Bronco is a real exception.

This sequel is so good, that it might actually top the original. Once they figure out their ongoing problems with the hardtop, the body-on frame construction shows that Ford really wanted the Bronco to appeal to real off-roaders. But, there's lots more, all right. Real four-wheel drive with a transfer case, waterproof upholstery and interior stuff. You can even get it with a manual. In fact, the Bronco is the only Ford truck or SUV available with a stick. Ford is a truck company now. At least in the US, and that's the plan for the foreseeable future.

That's why it was so important for the new Bronco to tick all the boxes. If they messed it up, it would have been a huge blow to their new business plan, and much more importantly, their image, but good thing, they didn't mess up. They took a gamble on a retro flagship to lead them into the future, and they nailed it. Bronco (beeps).

Now, you wanna get buff this year? We'll listen up pasta arms, Donut just released the ultimate gym attire, and I'm here to show you how to get it workout ready. So pay attention.

Step one, buy this beautifully designed shirt for just $29.98. That's way less than $30. Step two, get some scissors out of the drawer, the one that we all have in our kitchen. Step three, carefully cut off the sleeves like so. You'll notice with each snip that this shirt is made from high-quality cotton. Now doing this will help airflow, as well as highlight your soon-to-be sculpted arms. So go to donutmedia.com and get all sweaty in this new Buff Horses shirt today.

Thank you for watching this video and everything else on Donut. Make sure to hit that subscribe button so you don't miss anything. Go to donutmedia.com. We're really, really, really focusing on merchand stuff; we'll drop in a new item almost every week. Get on the mailing list, so you know about it. Follow me on Instagram @jamespumphrey. I post eight times a year. I love you.

(upbeat retro music)

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Close your eyes and take your mindon a journey to the distantpast, the year 2021.A year when everything old was new again,Taylor Swift released an old album,Keanu Reeves reentered the Matrix,COVID rebooted itself a bunch of times.It was also the year thatFord completely re-introduceda line of SUV's that used to be oneof their signature vehicles.It was a two-door truck, made infamousby OJ Simpson and your redneck cousin.But the new Bronco is acompletely different animaland Ford bet so big on this flagship SUV,that if it failed, the wholecompany might've been screwed.This is everything you need to knowto get up to speed on thesecond most popular vehicle,named after a horse,that Ford has ever made.I'm talking about the Bronco (neighing).Pet my nose, it's velvety soft.(upbeat digital music)- Big thanks, what amI doing with his hands?Big thanks to Nord VPN forsponsoring today's video.Absolutely, sir. I'll take care of it.That was Mr. Nord onthe phone and he told methat you aren't taking youronline safety seriously.What is this? 2021?Protect your internet privacytoday by using Nord VPN.It's easy to use and keepsyour browser hidden and safebehind a wall of high powered encryption.That's right. There's no tracking,no tracing, no sharing, nodata collecting whatsoever.So don't worry, no onecan see you Googlingcheap Toyota mega cruisernear me, right now.Choose from over 5,200servers in 60 countriesand the best part is, Nord VPN is fast.This isn't some granny shifting VPN, okay?This is the internet equivalentof slapping a horsepowersticker on your carand getting 10% more horsepowers.You can download it on Windows, Android,iOS, Mac OS and even Linux.And right now, if you go toNordVPN.com/DonutNordVPN,you'll get a two-year plan,plus one additional monthwith a huge discount.It's all risk-free thanksto Mr. Nord's 30 day money back guarantee.Man, he's a real great guy.Now, let's get back to the show.(digital chiming)(beep)- The brand new Bronco isdesigned to harken backto the very first Bronco,on sale from 1966 to 1977.That Bronco was the brainchildof Ford product manager,Donald Frey, the same dudewho came up with the Mustangjust a few years earlier.I don't wanna speculate, all right,but I'm pretty sure that this guydefinitely kissed ahorse or two in his day,on the lips, French style.Frey called this new idea an MPVor a multipurpose vehiclebecause the term SUVdidn't exist yet.In fact, American car companiesweren't really making many cars like this,apart from Jeep andInternational Harvester.Now Frey envisioned a truck, okay?That would match the Jeepsoff-road capabilities,but could be more comfortably drivenfor normal daily use,i.e. on the pavement.A coil spring frontsuspension helped providea smoother ride than Jeeps leaf springsand the Broncos shorter wheel basegave it a smaller turning radiusthat helped navigatetight traverses off-road.The Bronco was animmediate success for Ford,was a fricking smash hitand it helped usher inthe era of the American SUV.And if you wanna knowmore about the historyof the original Bronco,we made a video about it,you're in luck, it was a few years ago,so I'll put a link in thedescription down below.Now to make a long story short,by the 1990s Ford had fourgenerations of Broncosunder its belt.Plus the short-lived BroncoII, a smaller version,that's mostly known for itslove of surprise roll overs.And this thing rolled over morethan an obedient dachshund.(dog barks)Now around that time, the demandfor two-door SUV's plummeted,in favor of larger,more family friendly vehicles.More doors, more chores.Okay? And it looked like the Bronco's timeas Ford's flagship SUV was over.The Bronco was shot in the headand turned into glue andthey pivoted their focusto the four-door Explorer,eventually it's biggerbro, the Expedition.More SUV's followed asthe segment explodedin popularity in the early 2000s.At that same time, a wave of retro designsand model resurrectionslike the new Beetle,PT Cruiser and even Ford's own Mustang,took the car industry by storm.(thunder crackling)It's honestly surprisingthat Ford didn't bringthe Bronco back then, but,the time just wasn't right.And it's a good thing they waitedbecause in the late 2010s, The Blue Ovalmade an announcement, thatshook the automotive worldto it's core.And they need a flagship,an exciting vehicleto lead them in their new direction.What was that announcement?No more cars. Okay?All trucks, all the time.In 2018, Ford announced, they'd phase outpassenger cars from theirAmerican lineup by 2022,that's this year, excluding the Mustang,of course, 'cause youcan't get rid of that.People love it and it'sa pretty smart movebecause Americans reallydon't buy sedans anymore.They buy SUV's, they buytrucks, they buy crossovers.The F150 is like the best-sellingvehicle on the planet,so Ford had the truck game on lock,but what about their SUVs? Okay?Where's the icon?All they had to do's was,bring it back from the dead.Dare I say, beat a deadhorse, in a good way?Now reviving a classic car badgeis not a completely original ideaand you can definitely,definitely do it wrong.In fact, Ford failed massivelywhen they tried the exact same thingwith the Thunderbird in the early 2000s.First few T-Birds from the '50sare some of the mosticonic cars in history.They are the Space Age.The 2002 Thunderbird,there's very good reasonthat this car flopped.Now, I usually say,that every car is cool,but this car is not cool.It's one of the worst looking thingsI've ever seen in my22 years on this earth.It's like two differenttoddlers started drawing itin either end and met in the middle.I digress. For a more direct comparison,just a couple of years beforeFord dropped the new Bronco,Chevy reintroduced the classic two-doorsport utility vehicle, the Blazeras a mid-size four-door crossover.The original Blazer was actually designedin response to the successof the original Bronco,but the reaction to thenew Blazer was like this.Now for some reason, Chevy didn't feelthat it was necessary to make the Blazeranything like the original,which was a really cool, truck based SUV,with off-road chops.Instead, Chevrolet built a car based SUV,AKA a crossover, that prioritizespaved road practicalityover off-road action.And then they slappeda Blazer badge on it.The Blazer is the worstselling vehicle in its class.Now this kind of thing can happenwhen a car company bringsback a beloved brandlike the Blazer or the Broncoand if you screw it up,people are just gonna be like,you guys don't even understand your brand.You just wanna cash inon our love of nostalgia.It's a bad look.We'll get into how Fordavoided this, in a minute.So resurrecting the belovedBronco seemed like a great idea,but Ford already builds a dozen SUV'sand crossovers, right?Where would the Bronco land? Jeep country.For the last decade, Ford sat twiddlingtheir big fat thumbs, as salesof Jeep Wrangler skyrocket.They more than skyrocketedwith the releaseof the four-door Wrangler in 2007,Jeepers have become maybe the biggest,or definitely one of the most visibleautomotive subcultures in America.This could have been Ford with the Bronco,but the past is dead.The only time we have is now.With this in mind, Ford found a placeand a purpose for the new Bronco.The bucking horse would take onthe undisputed heavyweight champion,one of the coolest carsnamed after jeans, Wrangler.That was the only partof the plan. All right?Ford saw an option to make the Broncointo a whole fricking herd of horses.They figured that as longas big daddy landed well,besting the Wrangler inperformance and looks,the Bronco brand could expand to includea more street friendly option as well.Now the new Bronco family includesthe traditional two-door,body on frame Bronco,built on a Ford Ranger pickup platform,that's right body onframe, it's a real truck.And then there's alsothe four-door version,built on the same platform.And those are legit 4x4'swith fricking transfer casesand everything, which I only mention'cause fricking off-roadguys love transfer cases.They also have a thirdmodel, the Bronco Sportand it looks kinda likea cross between a Broncoand an Escape because, it's basicallya Ford Escape with someBronco looking crap on it.Now I'll acknowledge thatsome people might hatethis kind of move and I get it,I thought it was weird too.But there's a certain sense to the ideathat a Mustang must be acoupe and not an electric SUVand a Bronco must be a real truck,but it's also a smarthedge by Ford to positionthe new SUV between thebig off-road focused Broncoand the smaller, morecity friendly, Escape,while still capitalizing on the excitementof the revived Bronco brand.Now, I get it though.Looks like crossover wannabeoff-roader, whatever.Now with all these differentmodels under the Bronco bannerand all of them performing so well,you can see Ford understood how importantthe Bronco would be tothe future of the companyand the only option was getting it right.So let's talk about how they did that.Generally speaking, the newBronco fricking rips, all right.Ford absolutely nailed amodern, yet ultra retro design.It doesn't just ate theoriginal, it elevates it.They pulled this off thanks to a processthat Ford calls, minimalworking prototypes.Rather than focus on creating multiple,expensive, fully working prototypes,the Bronco was mostly designedusing cheap foam core model.This sped up the designphase significantly.Ford spent about three yearsdesigning the new Bronco,which is pretty typical, butthey were able to cycle throughtons more design options,than you normally can.And this gave engineersand product planners timeto reach out to 4x4 enthusiasts, uh, usand find out what they really wantedand also, what they really didn't want.That was time well spentbecause the off-roading worldis on fire, with the new Bronco.Production literallycan't keep up with demandand people are happily absorbingcrazy, crazy dealermarkups for these things.I'm talking over $100,000 for one,which should be illegal.It should be.Now it seems like thesefoam core design modelswere a total game changer and Ford agreesbecause they use it for alltheir product developing now.Hopefully that means thatFord will keep cranking outawesome new versions of other old badges.And I want a fricking Ranchero.Now it's a sad fact oflife for car enthusiaststhat lots of intenselyanticipated new carsdon't live up to the hype.The new Bronco is a real exception.This sequel is so good,that it might actually top the original.Once they figure outtheir ongoing problemswith the hard top, the bodyon frame construction showsthat Ford really wanted the Broncoto appeal to real off-roaders.But, there's lots of more, all right.Real four wheel drivewith a transfer case,waterproof upholstery and interior stuff.You can even get it with a manual.In fact, the Bronco is the only Ford truckor SUV available with a stick.Ford is a truck company now.At least in the US and that's the planfor the foreseeable future.That's why it was soimportant for the new Broncoto tick all the boxes.If they messed it up, itwould have been a huge blowto their new business planand much more importantly,their image, but goodthing, they didn't mess up.They took a gamble on a retro flagshipto lead them into thefuture and they nailed it.Bronco (beeps).- Hey, you? You wanna get buff this year?We'll listen up pasta arms,Donut just released theultimate gym attire,and I'm here to show you,how to get it workout ready.So pay attention.Step one, buy thisbeautifully designed shirtfor just 29,98.- That's way less than $30.- Step two, get somescissors out of the drawer,the one that we all have in our kitchen.Step three, carefully cutoff the sleeves like so.You'll notice with eachsnip that this shirtis made from high quality cotton.Now doing this will helpairflow, as well as highlightyour soon to be, sculpted arms.So go to donutmedia.comand get all sweaty,in this new Buff Horses shirt, today.- Thank you for watching this videoand everything else on Donut.Make sure to hit that subscribe buttonso you don't miss anything.Go to donutmedia.com.We're really, really,really focusing on merchand stuff, we'll drop in anew item almost every week,get on the mailing list,so you know about it.Follow me on Instagram @jamespumphrey.I post eight times a year. I love you.(upbeat retro music)