It’s no secret that the 2021 Ford Bronco is coming after the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, so it’s promoting its off-roading power. To prove its capabilities, the new Ford Bronco was spotted on an infamous Rubicon trail and had a questionable performance. 

The Ford Bronco tried the Rubicon Trail

A four-door Ford Bronco Badlands trim and a two-door Ford Bronco were spotted climbing over rocks on the Rubicon Trail. The four-door Ford Bronco had the optional 33″ Goodyear tires with Beadlock wheels and rings, and a 4.70 gear ratio. It was also equipped with the 7-speed manual transmission.

The two-door Ford Bronco was equipped with the 10-speed automatic transmission with the 33″ BGF tires on standard wheels. It had a gear ratio of 4.46. It’s also worth noting that the drivers didn’t have the Ford Bronco Sasquatch, which is the coveted off-roading trim with the better equipment, bells, and whistles. 

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Also, these video clips are a little short and leave us needing more information. But based on what we saw, the four-door Badlands Bronco was able to climb up over an incredibly steep rock incline without any issues. 

Then, on the way down, the undercarriage scraped against some rocks while the front passenger wheel went airborne. This didn’t matter, though, because the driver was able to get free and continue adventuring. 

When the two-door Badlands Bronco attempted to go up the same incline, it had a little trouble. The spotters provided enough direction to help this Bronco climb to the top, though eventually. Then while going down the rock incline, some serious scrapes and the sounds of crunching metal occurred. 

Honestly, the scraping of the undercarriage caused a little anxiety. We didn’t want to see a brand new 2021 Ford Bronco bite the dust so early. Also, a Jeep Wrangler was waiting in line behind the Broncos, so it would have been nice to see how it performed. 

The Ford Bronco Badlands vs. the Squatch trim

The Ford Bronco Badlands has one off-roading advantage compared to the Sasquatch because it can be paired with the manual transmission, which provides the highest crawling ratio out of each Ford Bronco model. 

The Badlands trim also comes with a disconnecting hydraulic sway bar in the front, upfitted switches, a heavy-duty bumper in the front, steel bumper in the rear, and an exclusive Badlands suspension. 

However, the Ford Bronco Sasquatch comes with a higher ground clearance and the maximum ground clearance is 11.5″. It also has 35″ tires available with option 17″ Beadlock wheels, larger fender flares, a locking differential in the front and rear, and an electromechanical transfer case. 

The Badlands Bronco doesn’t come standard with the Sasquatch package, but you can pay to add it on. But you’ll have to decide if you want the 7-speed manual transmission or the off-roading equipment that comes with the Sasquatch package because you can’t have both yet. 

We hope to see a video with the Ford Bronco Sasquatch and Jeep Wrangler Rubicon attempting to climb over the same obstacles. For now, we know that the Badlands is incredibly capable of rock crawling, but we aren’t sure how much better the Sasquatch is.