2023 Ford Bronco review: International first drive (2024)

Meet the Ford Bronco, a new take on a classic name.

There are two Bronco models in the US. A five-seat family SUV based on the same car-like underpinnings as the Ford Escape. And the gnarly off-road version we have here.

Underneath the bold design is the same heavy-duty frame that shares its DNA with the Ford Ranger ute.

The Ford Bronco is designed to compete with the Jeep Wrangler. And, just like the Jeep Wrangler, the off-road version of the Ford Bronco is available in three-door and five-door body styles.

What we have here is the five-door version of the 2023 Ford Bronco Heritage Edition.

That means it gets massive wheels and tyres – for the off-road fans these are 35-inch mud terrains, fitted to the vehicle on the Ford production line rather than the local tyre shop.

Although these look like steel wheels – to complete the retro look – they are in fact painted alloys.

Just like the Jeep Wrangler, the Ford Bronco off-roader is available with removable roof panels. And the doors can also be removed if you really want to soak up the sights and smells of the great outdoors.

For now the Ford Bronco is a North America-only model, even though it shares its architecture with the Ford Ranger ute – which was designed and engineered in Australia and is built in Thailand.

For all its off-road ability and tough-truck looks, there are for now no plans to bring the Ford Bronco to Australia. Here's why.

The Ford Bronco Heritage Edition is priced from about $US47,000 to $US47,500 in North America before on-road costs and optional extras are added. That equates to about $AU72,000 and $AU72,500 in Australian currency. And that’s before it has been built in right-hand drive.

Ford has for now deemed it prohibitively expensive to manufacture a right-hand-drive version of the Ford Bronco on the US production line given the relatively small numbers it would sell in Australia.

Jeep only sells about 1500 examples of the Wrangler in Australia each year.

Ford would need to sell more than 15,000 Bronco four-wheel drives in Australia before it could get close to justifying a factory-built right-hand-drive program.

There is another option: a local right-hand-drive conversion (as per the Ford F-150). The challenge then becomes the cost of the conversion. That would push this $US72,000 Ford Bronco Heritage Edition north of $AU100,000.

Perhaps the Ford Bronco Raptor is the answer? But it costs more than $US86,000 in the US, which would push the price beyond $AU130,000 in Australia. More on this later in the review.

The interior has a basic but functional design, with hard-wearing materials and plenty of oddment storage and grab handles.

The dash has a rather plain, industrial design. But Ford has given it a lift with white accents and rubber finishes on some of the touch points.

Opening the rear window requires a bit of patience. The tailgate must be opened all the way first, before the glass can be raised.

There is seating for five, but it is a bit of a tight squeeze in the back.

And the amount of space in the cargo hold is average rather than huge.

An optional rubber floor mat is available for the cargo area, as are rubber floor mats for the front and back seating positions.

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard, as is a wireless smartphone charging pad on this model.

The test car was also equipped with embedded navigation maps, so you can find your way home if you get lost when out of mobile phone range.

We translated the fuel consumption miles-per-gallon average on the Ford Bronco's official rating label to litres per 100 kilometres and came up with an ambitious 11.2L/100km.

But during our test drive – mostly freeway driving with people and luggage on board – we saw closer to 15L/100km or higher.

The bluff design and squishy tyres really sapped energy and fuel. We also needed to row through the gears to get up some gentle freeway inclines.

The two-tonne weight of the Ford Bronco Heritage Edition is a big ask for the turbocharged 2.3-litre four-cylinder petrol engine.

Fuel Consumption - brought to you by bp

Fuel Useage	Fuel Stats
Fuel cons. (claimed)	11.2L/100km
Fuel cons. (on test)	15.0L/100km
Fuel type	95-octane premium unleaded
Fuel tank size	79L

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Under the bonnet is the same turbocharged 2.3-litre four-cylinder petrol engine also fitted to the Ecoboost Mustang and Ford Focus ST hot hatch.

The Ford Bronco Heritage Edition we tested was equipped with a seven-speed manual transmission – paired to a heavy-duty four-wheel-drive system – though one of the seven ratios is a low-range gear for gnarly off-roading. A 10-speed automatic transmission is optional.

The suspension was supple over bumps and the 35-inch Goodyear mud-terrain tyres didn't 'hum' too loudly until reaching freeway speeds.

Car park manoeuvres are a chore because the turning circle is huge. Despite lengthy searches online, we could only find the standard turning circle listed (a fair 11.4m). Perhaps Ford was trying to conceal the real turning circle for this variant on these tyres.

The turning circle on a Bronco equipped with these bad boys felt more like a truck.

Although the turbocharged 2.3-litre four-cylinder petrol engine is perky enough in other applications (Ecoboost Mustang and Ford Focus ST hot hatch), it struggled in this configuration.

The combination of the Bronco having the aerodynamics of a brick – and the extra tread squirm from the mud-terrain tyres – blunted acceleration and sapped fuel economy. It meant we were rowing through the gears to keep with the flow of traffic, especially on long hilly sections of freeway.

Outward visibility was restricted by the relatively narrow window area and almost upright windscreen pillars.

The spare tyre on the tailgate – and large head rests on the back seats – also blocked the rearward view.

Fortunately, wide-view side mirrors, blind-zone warning and rear cross-traffic alert help keep the driver aware of the vehicle's surroundings.

The Ford Bronco is also available with a turbocharged 2.7-litre V6 petrol engine, while the flagship Raptor version of the Bronco comes with a twin-turbo 3.0-litre V6 – the same engine fitted to the Ford Ranger Raptor ute.

We would love to sample the Ford Bronco with a bit more power. It might make more sense. The example tested cost $US47,595 in the US or about $AU72,500 in Australian currency.

The Ford Bronco Raptor would be a no-brainer, except it costs more than $US86,000 in the US. That’s more than $AU131,000 in Australian currency.

So even if Ford did go ahead with a factory built – or a locally converted – version of the Bronco, it wouldn't be cheap no matter how it was done.

Just how much money would customers be prepared to pay?

If the Ford Bronco were available in local showrooms at $60,000 to $70,000, it might have a chance.

But given the price for a right-hand-drive example – either factory built or locally converted – would easily exceed these estimates, the Ford Bronco remains a long shot for Australia.

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