2026 Ford Bronco Review

Although it looks extreme, the 2026 Ford Bronco’s true strength lies in its balance.

Despite its bulbous tires, crazy capability, and endless customizability, the Bronco remains a calm, comfortable cruiser, and even a practical hauler when you need it to be. Carefully (if not cheaply) priced, this not too hot, not too cool SUV aims for the Goldilocks zone, and succeeds because of it.

Design 9/10

An elegant blend of retro design cues inspired by the Broncos of the 1960s and modern touches, the sixth-generation Bronco looks as delightfully correct as ever. This Heritage Edition and its big, ballooning 35-inch tires lend this SUV some off-road bona fides and give it cartoonish proportions that help it look like as much of a toy as it is daily driver. Meanwhile, aluminum wheels painted white only lend further to our tester’s appeal.

The Bronco Heritage Edition features a white roof and white dashboard with red Bronco lettering on the passenger side to match the wheels. It also gets cloth seats with a plaid-like pattern, although it’s a little subtle. The Jeep Wrangler 85th Anniversary Edition’s plaid seats commit much more to the bit and are much more successful because of it. Still, the overall design is a rousing success, especially for this trim level, which proves that rugged capability can be matched to friendly colourfulness, not just aggressive ferociousness.

Equipment 9/10

The Heritage Edition is matched to the Sasquatch package (which is standard on this and the Stroppe trims, but is an $8,075 optional extra on the Base, Big Bend, Outer Banks, and Badlands trims) that adds a high-clearance suspension with Bilstein shock absorbers, high-clearance fender flares, a 4.7:1 final drive ratio with electronic-locking front and rear axles, and a front stabilizer disconnect on trims that don’t already come with that. Long story short, it makes this SUV more capable off-road, which previous testing has proven the Bronco to be.

In terms of higher tech toys, this tester was also equipped with Ford Connectivity package, which includes a year of unlimited Wi-Fi, connected navigation, and video streaming. For another $995, buyers can extend that to seven years. Heated seats are also standard, though they’re manually adjustable. While that’s acceptable given the rugged nature of the Bronco, it may come as a shock to some that a $77,000 vehicle doesn’t have power-adjusting seats nor a wireless phone charger.

Driving Dynamics 9/10

While the majority of the Bronco’s features are geared towards off-roading, what’s most impressive is how calm and comfortable this model remains on the road. By comparison, the Wrangler’s dedication to off-road capability can make it a handful on the highway.

While it’s not surprising that buyers will accept some discomfort as the price of capability, even some less capable SUVs’ off-road suspensions can cause them to wallow. The Honda Passport TrailSport, for instance, is a decidedly less intense vehicle than either that Jeep or this Bronco, but its soft suspension makes it feel all flippity around corners and floppity around town. Although it’s no BMW 3 Series, this Ford maintains a sense of on-road composure despite its off-road capabilities.

Comfort 8/10

Similarly, it’s no Mercedes-Benz S-Class when it comes to comfort, but it’s fine — high praise when compared to the Wrangler. Despite having a roof that’s light enough to be removed (in many pieces) by a single person (two would be more comfortable), the Heritage Edition’s top is equipped with some insulation. During this summertime test, temperatures inside the cabin did not climb uncomfortably high and the volume of the road was not so loud that the sound system could not overcome it.

This remains an off-roader, though. Tire roar, while acceptable, was significant, and wind buffeting at highway speeds, especially when driving past big rigs, was notable. It also suffers from Ford's unfortunate knack for tuning clunky transmissions (in this case, the 10-speed automatic). Buyers should remember that the Bronco is a hollow brick with off-road tires. Considering those limitations, the Ford team did remarkably well, but the limitations remain.

User-Friendliness 6/10

While this Bronco is capable of easily handling off-road environments, unlocking its full potential can be quite tricky. As I wrote after a visit to the Bronco Off-Roadeo in Nevada last year, turning on something as simple as the SUV’s hill descent control mode can be surprisingly complicated. It requires a driver to stop, depress the Bronco button in the centre of the drive-mode select wheel, then set a speed using the cruise control buttons on the steering wheel before turning on the parking brake. Think of the Bronco as the Microsoft Excel of driving: capable of doing more than you’d ever imagined, but not for novices due to its Byzantine controls.

Fortunately, doing all of the boring stuff you need to on a normal on-road drive isn’t as difficult. Ford’s Sync infotainment system remains relatively simple to use if not particularly impressive, and there are plenty of physical buttons to make changing the temperature or turning up the volume a cinch.

Safety 6.5/10

This Bronco comes with a reasonable amount of safety technology. The Heritage Edition is equipped as standard with Ford’s Co-Pilot360 suite of technology, which includes automated high-beam control, blind-spot monitoring, a lane keeping system, and pre-collision warnings with automated braking. Unfortunately, the package is only available as an option on the Big Bend and Badlands trims.

While we prefer to see safety tech come as standard, it’s particularly important here, because this Bronco is part of a segment that’s not known for its crashworthiness. Like the Wrangler, it gets middling scores from America’s safety institutions, including a “Marginal” — or, the second worst — score from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) for its moderate overlap front crash test, its headlights, and its standard front crash prevention system. The Wrangler is similarly flawed in terms of safety, and while the Toyota Land Cruiser isn’t perfect either, it does at least seem to be raising the bar a bit.

Out on the trail and in its element, this Bronco is well protected. Equipped with powder-coated steel bumpers, bash plates, and recovery hooks, it should at least survive the expensive noises that occur when it’s trying to climb over a fallen tree limb or squeeze between boulders.

Power 8/10

Drivers will have plenty of power to do either, plus a lot more. As standard, the Heritage Edition (and the wider Bronco range) comes with a turbocharged 2.3L four-cylinder engine that makes 300 hp and 325 lb-ft of torque. Those are respectable numbers that are about 30 hp and lb-ft more than the four-cylinder Wrangler. Toyota manages to squeeze more out of the Land Cruiser’s hybrid four-cylinder powertrain (326 hp and a whopping 465 lb-ft of rock-crawling torque), but buyers who want to get closer to that figure can opt for Ford’s twin-turbocharged 2.7L V6.

Installed in this tester, the engine kicks out a hearty 330 hp and 415 lb-ft of torque. While the torque figure is lower than the Toyota’s, it remains a perfectly useful figure and puts this Bronco ahead of the V6 Jeep, which makes less than 300 of both horsepower and torque. On the road, meanwhile, this Ford’s powertrain never feels like too little, ably overcoming the inertia of those big, 35-inch tires, dragging this brick of an SUV up to highway speeds comfortably. At the very top of the Bronco lineup is the Raptor, whose larger twin-turbo V6 makes 418 hp and 440 lb-ft of torque.

Efficiency 5/10

The downside of competing with Toyota on power without offering its hybrid powertrain (something the brand just announced it would add to the Bronco lineup) is that it’s quite thirsty. The Land Cruiser won’t win any environmental awards with its combined fuel economy rating of 10.1 L/100 km, per Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), but it does at least match the much less powerful Jeep Wrangler’s rating of 10.2 L/100 km for the four-cylinder engine and 10.5 for the six-cylinder.

Meanwhile, the four-cylinder Bronco consumes 12.0 L/100 km combined, while the V6 is rated to burn 13.2 in this tester — a disheartening figure considering the big power rating is measured using premium fuel. The Bronco Raptor, meanwhile, consumes 15.8 L/100 km in combined driving.

Everyday Usability 7/10

With 1,019 L of storage space behind the rear seats, and 2,197 L with them folded down, the four-door Bronco offers more space to stow than the Jeep Wrangler. Once again, it’s slightly behind the Land Cruiser, which can handle as much as 2,325 L. The Toyota also leads in terms of towing, capable of pulling 2,722 kg (6,000 lb) compared to the Bronco’s 2,041 kg (4,500 lb) when properly equipped. The Jeep, meanwhile, can handle no more than 1,588 kg (3,500 lb).

Value 7/10

As far as bare bones off-roaders go, the Bronco isn’t exactly cheap, but it isn’t frighteningly expensive, either. The base two-door model starts at around $50,000, which is considerably more than the roughly $44,000 two-door Jeep Wrangler. Farther up the trim ladder, prices start to even a little, though Jeep retains its advantage. When it comes to this tester, the Heritage Edition, a direct comparison is more difficult, but the 85th Anniversary Edition Jeep Wrangler offers similar capability and retro design for around $68,000, as compared to this Ford’s asking price of roughly $70,000.

That’s unfortunate, but remains lower than the Toyota Land Cruiser’s starting price of around $75,000, with prices rising to around $90,000 for a fully-loaded model.

The Verdict

Enthusiast machines are always about compromise (how much comfort should be sacrificed for capability? How much money are people willing to spend?), and with the 2026 Ford Bronco it’s easy to understand why the folks in charge made every decision they have. With adorable design, real capability, impressive on-road manners, and a price that buyers can manage, even if it’s tough to swallow, it’s no wonder the Bronco has taken the world by storm.