The Ford Bronco came back out on the market recently, and the 2021 model year will see a newer version, which is a bit smaller than the Broncos we’ve seen so far. The Ford Bronco Sport got introduced into the lineup, and it looks pretty promising. 

MotorTrend tested out the newer Ford Bronco Sport model in the Outer Banks trim and put it through the test with its rivals. How well did it fare? Is it worth the money? Let’s see what they had to say about it. 

What the 2021 Ford Bronco Sport will offer

The Ford Bronco Sport will come with two engine choices. One is the standard 1.5-liter turbo Inline-three cylinder, which produces 181 hp and 190 lb-ft of torque, according to MotorTrend. 

The upgrade motor option is a 2.0-liter turbo four-cylinder. This engine generates 245 hp and 270 lb-ft of torque. Pairing with both motors is an eight-speed automatic transmission, which they tweaked specifically for the Bronco Sport. 

This model comes standard with AWD, but there are two different AWD systems to choose from. One will come lightly updated from the one you see with the Escape SUV, and the other is more of a rugged version. It will be a torque-vectoring system made specifically for the Badlands trim. 

Cargo space is one of the most adored features of the vehicle. It offers 32 cubic feet of space behind the rear seats. If you fold them down, you gain 33 cubic feet of storage space, which gives you lots of room to haul your stuff on your next adventure. 

Its standard tech features include Ford’s Co-Pilot360 driver’s assistance suite. This system will come with front automatic emergency braking, pedestrian detection, lane-keeping assist, adaptive cruise control, and blind-spot monitoring. 

MotorTrend’s claim that the Bronco Sport handles off-road better than its rivals

One reason why the MotorTrend reviewer said to buy the Ford Bronco Sport is that “it’ll venture farther off the beaten path than most of the competitors we’re considering here.” How true is that statement?

When you look at the performance of the Bronco Sport, you’ll see that it gets some pretty good acceleration times. The three-cylinder motor allows you to go from 0 to 60 mph in 8.6 seconds. The four-cylinder engine can do that run in 6.5 seconds. Braking from 60 to 0 mph is 115 feet of stopping distance. 

The Ford Bronco Sport’s rugged AWD system shuffles torque from the front to the rear and from left to right. The ground clearance on the Sport is 8.7 inches, which is 0.8 inches more than the regular model. This Sport version also has an improved approach and departure angles, as well as better water fording capability.

How well do others compete against it?

When it comes to acceleration times, the Honda CR-V, Nissan Rogue, and Mazda CX-5 AWD versions have slightly better acceleration times than the three-cylinder Ford Bronco Sport. The CR-V can get 7.6 seconds, which is slightly higher than the four-cylinder Sport model. 

As far as braking distances go, there are only two that performed better than the Bronco Sport. The Kia Sportage and the Nissan Rogue both managed 114 feet, stopping distances, which are barely a foot less than the Sport. 

Fuel economy ratings put the Bronco Sport in the lower middle portion of the list. It only gets 25 mpg when traveling on city roads. When you get out onto the highway, you can get 28 mpg. Most of its rivals have better ratings, though. Price for the Bronco Sport comes in around $33,600, but the tester vehicle MotorTrend had comes in at $36,045. 

The Bronco Sport has many people wanting to gather as much information as they can on it, which has kept MotorTrend reviewers quite busy. This Sport model could be a game-changer for the offroading market.