2023 Ford Bronco Sport Heritage road test

The Ford Bronco Sport is the latest model to blast back to Ford’s past. Nostalgia is a powerful drug and the Bronco goes back beyond its notoriety in the 1990’s to a rugged history with the original Bronco model made in the 1960’s.
After a 25 year break, a Bronco model was first reintroduced on a Ranger pickup based model. The smaller Ford Bronco Sport was later added to the lineup. The Bronco Sport rides on the Escape crossover platform and comes in 6 themed editions; Base ($35,999), Big Bend ($38,899), Heritage ($41,899), Outer Banks ($43,899), Badlands ($46,149), and Heritage Limited ($56,649).
Our 2023 Bronco Sport tester was the Heritage edition. The package was augmented with the 1960’s iconic Robins Eggshell Blue paint body colour ($600 option) with a contrasting white roof and white wheels. Also visually noteworthy is the white front grille with red Ford lettering.
Attractive cloth seats combine with a focus on hard wearing materials such as rubber mats, rubber trimmed dials and hard plastics around latches and handles, to give the Bronco Sport’s interior a rugged look. Outside of the hard wearing areas protected by durable plastics, normal touch points in the vehicle are covered in softer fabrics and materials. At first I was somewhat skeptical over the supportiveness of the seats as they seemed quite flat. With power lumbar supports available, the Bronco Sport seats played nice with my usually cranky spine over long drives.
Interior room was quite spacious for front seat passengers. With the seats pushed back and the headroom limited by the additional depth of an installed sunroof, taller rear seat passengers found it a bit tight.
Cargo room and utility varies with your needs. The rear hatch came with a neat optional hard shelf that covered up any items you wanted to store in the rear. There is nowhere to effectively store the shelf without limiting storage, and the cover became a hindrance at times. If you know you’ll need the additional room, just leave the cover at home. With the rear seats folded down, the Bronco Sport provides up to 1850 litres of cargo space.
Our Bronco Sport Heritage featured a four-wheel-drive system paired with a 1.5-liter three-cylinder engine that produces 181 horsepower and 190 pound-feet of torque. An optional 2.0-liter four cylinder produces 250 horsepower and 277 pound-feet of torque. Both engine offerings are mated to an 8 speed automatic transmission.
The Bronco Sport has 7 G.O.A.T. (Go Over Any Terrain) driving modes to tailor the vehicle dynamics to variable terrains and driving needs. The choices range from Eco to Sport to different types of inclement weather and off-road situations.
Out on the road the Bronco Sport rewards with the soft and relatively nimble ride quality of a car rather than an SUV. Driving in city traffic proved a bit cumbersome with the 1.5L engine. The turbocharged engine struggles to find motivation in stop and go traffic. As a result of the lazy starts, you often find yourself being unintentionally courteous to aggressive drivers changing lanes in front of you. After a couple days of generosity, I found that the Sport mode setting on the driving mode wheel kept the Bronco Sport on its toes and eliminated the lethargic starts. The extra power does come with a corresponding surge in engine noise, as one would expect from a smaller displacement engine. The power-train redeems itself on higher speed roads and highways, with satisfying mid-band power and lots of passing grunt available.
The Bronco Sport represents itself as a rugged compact SUV. The balance of decent road manners and apparently reasonable broken pavement ability makes it a decent cottage runner and daily runabout.
While not as refined as some of the larger SUV offerings from Ford, the Bronco Sport is easy to live with and has the most character per dollar in the segment.
Our Heritage model, optioned with the aforementioned paint package as well as a heritage convenience package that included parking proximity assistance, the 8-way adjustable seats, power moon roof and wireless phone charging pad. Ford’s co-Pilot driving assist system was a $1,250 option plus the rubber floor mats and cargo accessories for a grand total of $46,009 before fees and taxes.
Please visit the Ford website for exact package pricing and other available options.