Hey, folks, Palmer here from the front page editorial team. One of our writers recently picked up a Bronco Sport Badlands with his girlfriend and wrote up a detailed first-impressions post about his experiences so far. Check it out HERE: https://www.ford-trucks.com/articles...port-badlands/

 

Pretty good article, seems to fit in with my impressions of our Bronco Sport Badlands (with the Badlands package)
I'd been waiting for our local dealer to call our 2019 Escape in to replace the engine block. (developed a crack between a cooling casting and a cylinder) After 4 weeks of waiting on them, I started raising a big stink, so they gave me the Bronco Sport as a loaner while they worked on our Escape.

Evidently it had been a demo for someone in the dealership since it showed 2140 miles on it the day I picked it up.

I was just glad they'd finally gotten around to doing the warranty work on the Escape before the warranty ran out, so I just drove the little Bronco home and parked it in the driveway. I did spend some time going over all the new things on it (GOAT selector, available screens on the dash, checking out all the 110 volt power points, USB points etc). Then I went out to play with my F350 and get some real work done.

My wife works the night shift at the hospital so she was sleeping when I parked the Bronco Sport. Once she woke up, she saw it in the driveway, but waited until I got home to ask about it and how it came about to be in our driveway. She didn't even take it for a spin until it was time for her to head out for work that night.

She came home the next morning and told me that the dealer could just keep the Escape, she wanted to keep the Bronco Sport (said she loved that little thing), so I made the trade.

Badlands with the Badlands Package, white paint, a really nice interior (Black with brown trim) , Ford 360 Assist and the towing hitch. We can't go anywhere without someone asking about it, if we're on the interstate, we'll always have someone come up on the left side and check it out as we're driving down the road, just about every family member that sees it demand that they get a chance to drive it. It's not unusual to come out of a restaurant and see someone peeking at the interior.

She loves it - I like it (and love it that she loves it). I've taken it to the farm and checked out the 4 wheel aspect of it in the mud and some small hill climbing, nothing extreme, but it's handled everything very easily. The rubberized floors make for easy clean ups and it feels like it's more spacious inside than any articles I've read seem to imply. The 2.0 engine gives pretty darned good acceleration, no problems getting up to speed to merge on the interstates. The Ford 360 with Assist does an excellent job in traffic and it handles very well, it's got a good feel to it while driving. The gearing on the transmission is so smooth, you have to really listen and feel for it upshift, it's almost like a CVT tranny.

I just wish it had the cargo management system, but maybe we can buy that later one, either through Ford or some accessory seller.

 

SYNC still sucks.
3800 miles and I’ve had to reset three times.
The voice recognition is terrible.