[ad_1]
AMERICA HAS BEEN waiting for the Ford Bronco cake to bake for so long that now, standing here with the knife, I barely know where to cut first. This alluring, retro reinvention of the American classic (1966-1977) has seen a long launch failure due to the Covid crisis and the industry-wide shortage of chips. The situation left nearly 200,000 panting buckaroos holding back their reserves. Everything is better now, however.
Built on an extremely strong, fully boxed steel frame with seven cross members – which Ford of course calls the T6 architecture – Bronco takes on Jeep Wrangler in the emerging heavy 4×4, or “adventure vehicle” segment. Emerging, because now there are two. The Bronco brand is now its own business, with dedicated lifestyle products, factory and aftermarket parts and upgrades, wheels and tires, camping gear, winches, brush bars, Baja lamps… You know the exercise. Also, a drill.
Soft top or hard top optional; two or four doors; four-cylinder (315 lb-ft) or six (410 lb-ft); six manual or 10 automatic speeds; lock the differences, yes or no? The Sasquatch Package’s 35-inch bead mud tires offer 11.5-inch ground clearance and approach / departure angles of 43.2 / 37.0 degrees. With seven trim levels, four optional packs, and prices ranging from $ 28,500 (two-door) to over $ 50,000, the Bronco is a true horse buffet.
Before he arrived, I may have miscalculated the Bronco’s generational bandwidth. I figured old desert prospectors like me would dig it. In high school, I coveted a friend’s Bronco so much that he was afraid to go into the woods alone with me.
But decades later, my 13-year-old daughter Vivienne hopped into the new’s backseat – through a not-too-generous back door opening, onto the meager bench with less legroom – and, ignorant of everything, declared him “adorable”. I asked my wife Tina if the Bronco looked too square. “It can’t be too square.”
[ad_2]
Source link