Review: 2026 Ford Bronco Sport Big Bend

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Video Summary
AI GeneratedThe 2026 Ford Bronco Sport is a rugged, boxy small SUV blending retro styling with modern tech. While largely similar to the 2025 model, it introduces a new bronze appearance package. It excels in off-road capability and aesthetic appeal but struggles with rear legroom and the lack of a hybrid powertrain compared to its competitors.
This is the 2026 Ford Bronco Sport, and if you want a small SUV from Ford,
now that the Escape is discontinued, this is your only choice,
and so, in this video, I'm going to explore whether it's still a good choice,
and how it competes here many years after its introduction, and so,
first, we're going to go over the exterior, then go to the interior,
then take it for a drive, and see what it's like out on the road,
as well as talking about the kind of fuel economy you can expect,
and also the pricing, and how it compares to the competition.
And, also, huge thanks to Schultz Ford for providing me here with this vehicle to review for you guys today.
So, as far as the Bronco Sport, well, this is the Big Bend version, which is actually the base trim for these,
and this vehicle, in and of itself, basically has no options.
We have a keypad, and we have the crossbars.
Otherwise, this thing at $34,500 is about as cheap as you can get a Bronco Sport.
Even the paint color for this is free, in black, here.
And, I think that it still really looks nice.
So, last year, for the 2025 model year, it did get a slight refresh.
It's very, very subtle, especially on the outside, here.
But, I don't think it really needed a change, because I think it still looks really nice,
and I think it's aged very well, even though we're now into the 5th model year, I believe, for these, at this point.
But, anyway, so, up front, there, you still have those round headlamps.
You have, for the refresh, here, you got different grille designs.
They did change the front bumper very slightly,
but you'd have to be a big Bronco Sport aficionado to even tell the difference.
But, again, I don't think it needed a change, so I don't think it's a big deal.
And, I think it looks really nice, that blocky front end, for sure.
And, you have the nice little ridges, there, in the hood.
Coming down to the sides, there's also some new wheel options that were introduced last year,
and this one just has these nice, gray, 17-inch wheels.
But, one of the new things for 2026, here, is that there's a bronze package, now.
So, that's going to give you bronze wheels, bronze accents,
and that's really the only new thing for 2026, by the way.
So, if you don't care about that, you know, you might be able to save some money
hunting down one of the leftover 2025s, honestly.
But, otherwise, I always love the side profile of these.
You know, it's nice and boxy, almost looks like a little bit of a mini Land Rover Defender, or something.
Obviously, it is also channeling the bigger Bronco.
But, I especially love the Safari roof detail, where you have the back of the roof that kind of bumps up, there.
And, really, it's just a fun little touch, in combination with that C-pillar design, there.
And, also nice, we have the nice, large Big Bend stickers, here.
I think that's kind of a fun touch.
And, if you go for higher trims, also, this little fender garnish, here,
actually turns into a little hook that you can hook, like, straps to, you know,
strap down a kayak, and things like that.
And, then, going out to the back, there, again, basically all the same.
But, I do like the nice, white lettering, there.
It is a nice, little upmarket touch, instead of it just being, you know, a regular, kind of, badge, there, on the back.
And, I also love how you still have the option, where the glass opens up, there,
separate from the tailgate, that comes standard on all of these.
And, just a really unique thing that most others in this segment don't do.
If you want a rear-opening glass area, like that,
you've got to go up to stuff like a 4Runner, or the Bronco, or, you know, some of these more expensive things.
And, I love that we have that, here, in the little Bronco Sport.
But, overall, yeah, I think it still looks really great.
And, there's also some other fun stuff, if you want to jazz these up.
There's appearance packages, there's a heritage package,
and a bunch of other things to, you know, make this stand out from the crowd a little bit more, if that's your thing.
The interior of the Bronco Sport is pretty nice, even in this base version.
And, I think, you know, as we see car prices getting higher and higher,
I find that the base models are even a better value than they used to ever be,
because you just get so much standard equipment, here.
And, especially with this 2025 refresh, and, obviously, for 2026, as well, here,
you have so much standard equipment in this thing that there's not a huge need to go up to higher trims.
Obviously, it comes down to what your priorities are, what you want and need,
but this has all the basics covered.
So, anyway, first thing sitting down in these seats, you have these nice cloth seats, here, in this,
and I like that they, you know, they're not just boring cloth, like they have some contrast, here,
with the fun little coloring on the side of it, here, and it's a nice cloth, too.
You know, it feels like it's gonna be nice and durable, but it still has a silkier kind of feeling to it, here.
And, they're just manual seats, here, but, of course, there's an option to get heated seats,
there's an option to get power seats, and, actually, you can even just stay within the big bench room, here,
and just go for a convenience package for $1,900, and that gives you those heated seats with the power adjustments, here.
You can also get memory seats in these.
Now, you cannot get ventilated seats.
That's something that, you know, some of the higher-competing vehicles will give you as an option,
but, you know, only heat, here, in these, and you can also get leatherette, here, you know, of course, in those higher trims.
And, if you want to go for the Heritage Edition, you actually get plaid seats,
which is a really fun touch, and you can get a blue interior color.
That's definitely the most exciting interior combo, I think, but these are really great seats,
they're nice and comfortable, too.
The steering wheel, here, in the Bronco Sport is fine, you know, it has the usual 4 buttons.
Now, here, for the base version, though, it is not a wrapped wheel with, you know, leatherette wrapping.
Now, that is also part of that convenience package, so, you know, that may be the way to go,
if that's something that's important to you.
Personally, you know, this is still fine, but it does feel very plasticky for the wheel.
That's the one kind of cheap-feeling component of this interior that kind of stands out a little bit more than usual,
but, otherwise, you know, still a great wheel, and you can go up to a heated steering wheel in the higher versions of these, as well.
Now, as far as the gauges go, here.
So, you get a little 8-inch cluster with the little digital portions on the side, there, as standard.
Most of the other trims will get a 12.3-inch fully digital gauge cluster, though, and, you know, that's certainly nice,
but it does all the same stuff, pretty much, it's just, you know, a little bit larger information display, there.
But, this has all your basics covered, and has a decent amount of customization,
as far as what you want displayed in the middle of it, there.
And then, coming over to the middle of the dashboard, here.
You get a 13.2-inch touchscreen, as standard in all Bronco Sports,
and that does make it one of the largest screens in its segment, and it's really impressive.
So, the one caveat is, you lose all of your manual controls for your climate.
So, there's no physical controls, it's all screen-based.
And, you know, I've used this screen in several different 4s, now, over the past few years.
To me, they do it well enough with the software that it's not a huge issue.
You know, you have auto climate control, as standard.
Dual zone comes standard on the upper trims.
But, you know, it's basically a set-it-and-forget-it kind of thing, most of the time.
And, thankfully, all of your basic adjustments are always on an ever-present bottom row, there.
So, you don't need to go into a submenu to change stuff, most of the time.
And, it's not a huge deal, in my opinion.
It's something you can learn to live with.
Again, I don't love it, I wish we still had physical controls,
and we're seeing some other, you know, vehicles that are starting to go back to more physical controls.
We'll see if Ford follows that for a next generation of this.
But, for now, this is what we have, and it's totally fine, in my opinion.
You also do have wireless Apple CarPlay, wireless Android Auto, as standard here in these, which is great.
And, you also get satellite radio, as standard, which is something that many other companies will charge you extra for.
You gotta go up to a higher trim.
This, having it standard, is notable, in my opinion.
And, you also have it hooked up to a 6-speaker stereo, as standard here in these.
Now, you can go up to a 10-speaker B&O stereo, if you go for the Outer Banks edition of these.
It's still an option on those, though.
Basically, the stereo is an option on even a fully loaded Bronco Sport.
You gotta pay roughly $1,000 extra for a tech pack that basically gives you the stereo, and not much else.
But, anyway, still a really great screen, nonetheless.
And then, behind it, you will see your first little center cubby, here, which, in some other trims, will have USB-C jacks,
but for this one, here, it just is a nice extra little bonus space.
Coming down, though, you do have a volume knob, still, which is great, and a few little button shortcuts, there.
And then, you have, beneath that, this rubberized mat, which, in higher trims, will give you a wireless charging pad,
but for this one, here, no charging pad in the base ones, here.
But you will see a USB-C, USB-A, and a regular power outlet in there.
And then, coming down, you have your two cup holders, here, and your drive mode selector and gear selector.
And then, you have the center armrest, which is nice and softly padded, and you open that up,
and you see a nice, long, and pretty wide and deep space, there, so that's good.
You also have a decent-sized bottle holder, here, on the doors.
Actually, two, technically.
They're not super deep, but, you know, should be fine, at least for smaller bottles.
But then we get to the backseat, here, of the Bronco Sport, which is one of the weak spots of it, in my opinion.
Because this is technically a subcompact, it's a shorter wheelbase than the old Escape,
it's also just shorter overall, and so, it's just not as roomy as the Escape,
and that's why I really hope we get a new generation of this Bronco Sport soon.
If we're not going to get a new Escape, I hope we get something that's more, you know, usable for the backseat.
Now, I'm 5'9", me sitting behind myself, I still have about an inch or two of legroom to spare,
but especially if we're comparing this to actual compact crossovers, you know,
the bigger stuff that this competes against, you know, the RAV4s, the CRVs,
all of them have more rear-seat legroom.
Like, this is, hands down, the worst rear-seat legroom in that segment, if you want to try and compare it to the compact,
which, you know, some will argue is fair, some argue isn't fair,
but so many people these days, especially with Escape going away,
just, you know, assume this is the same as RAV4 and stuff, as far as sizing, and that's not the case.
This is certainly a little bit tighter inside, but as long as you're not super tall up front, here,
and your rear-seat occupants aren't too tall, it should fit just fine.
And, if they have long torsos, they'll be fine, too, because you have acres of headroom, so that's certainly good.
But, anyway, whenever you look forward, you'll see they have their own air vents, as well as two USB-C jacks,
there's a fold-down center armrest with cup holders built into it, and pockets in those doors, as well.
And then, moving on to the cargo space, you have, you know, one of the best cargo spaces,
especially when you're talking about the smaller stuff, but even compared to some of the larger stuff,
this is just so tall of a space that stacking ability is fantastic in this, and it's a nice wide space, as well,
you get the little extra bonus cubbies, there.
Beneath the floor, you don't really have too much, there, but that floor does slide up,
so you, if you want to have a flat load floor with the seats dropped, you can raise it to that higher position.
You also do have a power outlet back there.
And, in that convenience package, you also will get a light in the liftgate, there,
so that, you know, you can have some better nighttime visibility, if you'd like,
but you do still, of course, have the light just there in the cargo area.
And, it's a manual liftgate, by the way, here, for the Big Ben version.
Let's start it up, and go for a drive.
So, the Bronco Sport does have the usual forward key, but it does have the Bronco lettering on it, which is a nice touch,
and just the basic buttons on the back.
You don't get remote start, here, on the lower versions, but on higher versions, you will get remote start, which is nice.
And, also, though, it's just great that it's keyless access, keyless entry with proximity key,
so you don't need to pull out the key to unlock the door, you know, you have, you know, proximity,
which a lot of companies still, again, will charge you and make you pay for a higher trim for that,
so I love that we have that.
And, you do have a push-button start, so you just leave the key in your pocket, hit the engine start button,
and it starts right up.
Alright, so, setting off, here, in the 2026 Bronco Sport.
So, the first thing you notice about this vehicle,
I think the first thing I notice is just the fun vibe of sitting behind the wheel of this thing,
where you have, you know, the bulges of the hood, you can see, there,
and it's just this very boxy view, and just makes it feel, again, kind of adventure-ready,
feels, again, like that bigger Bronco, in a way.
Now, as far as visibility goes, it's pretty good.
I will say, though, that at the A-pillar, here, I don't love this extra black chunk.
It certainly does give you a little bit of a blockage, there,
but, thankfully, you're sitting up high enough in these, it shouldn't be too much of an issue,
and view out of the back is very good, of typical SUV fashion.
And, I also do love, though, the nice tall windows, here.
It's really great for, you know, sightseeing, and just taking in your surroundings.
And, other things here to note, they do a really good job with throttle response, the brakes, all that.
It's nice and natural, nice and normal feeling.
And, the steering also has a nice weight, where it's not too heavy, not too light,
but just right, and feels connected to something, and feels, you know, like it has a decent amount of feedback to it,
which is certainly great.
And, also, you know, just on a little park road, here, not going too quickly,
but, you don't really hear too much road noise, or anything.
Now, this one does have the regular all-season tires.
You can get all-terrain tires with what they call a Black Diamond package on these lower versions,
or, if you go up to the Outer Banks, or to the Badlands versions, you can get a Sasquatch package,
which was the big new addition for 2025.
That gave you a bunch of extra off-road capability, and also some more rugged looks,
some more underbody protection, you get, like, steel underbody plates in those,
you get the brush guard, there, and you get some steel elements in the bumpers,
and, you know, also those unique wheels to go with those 29-inch tires, I believe you get on those.
So, that's going to be the more noisy one, for sure.
Now, this one does have the crossbar, so at some higher speeds, you'll probably hear a little bit more wind noise,
if you have those equipped, but, otherwise, though, I mean, you know, these are really nice to live with.
I actually lived with the pre-refreshed version about 5 years ago,
I spent a week with one of these, and really enjoyed it.
It was just a really nice little runaround, you know, daily driver errand kind of vehicle.
It's not too big, so it's easy to park.
It's very, just, friendly in its demeanor, and it just drives really nicely, and I just really enjoyed it.
Now, as far as the driver assistance stuff goes, I'll talk more about that when we're out on the highway,
but I will say that you do get rear park sensors as standard,
and the backup camera also has a nice large view, which is great.
Now, if you want to have the front park sensors, or, like, a 360 camera, those are available,
but you do have to go up to a higher trim for that.
But, I'm going to go ahead and put it up into the Sport mode, here,
and that'll give you a little bit of a quicker throttle response, and change the transmission tuning slightly,
and also, I think, makes the steering a little bit heavier,
but we're going to turn down onto this back road, and see how the Bronco Sport accelerates.
And, here we go!
Really nice and responsive,
and it gets up and goes pretty nicely.
Now, this is not a fast vehicle, I don't think most people really care,
but, for those who do, this runs a 1.5 liter turbocharged 3-cylinder engine.
Yes, it's a 3-cylinder, but it's still pretty punchy.
It has 180 horsepower, 200 pound-feet of torque,
which is actually still better than some of the 4-cylinder competitors you get even in the larger compact class of vehicles.
So, 0 to 60 time for these is going to be 8.2 seconds.
If you want to have a quicker version, there is the Badlands version that's available with the 2.0T motor,
and that's going to give you 250 horsepower, and 270 pound-feet of torque,
and that'll drop your 0 to 60 down to about a 6 second time, if you do want to have the most power.
But, for all of these, they all run through an 8-speed automatic transmission,
and you do get standard all-wheel drive in these.
Now, if you go for that Badlands version, or the Sasquatch versions, or that Black Diamond package,
you'll be getting a more advanced torque vectoring all-wheel drive system,
which does also have a rear diff lock, and, you know, is a little bit more capable with its, you know, off-road abilities,
but, you know, for the average, again, just person who wants to be able to drive through snow, and bad weather, and stuff,
this is going to be totally sufficient, and it's still a really good all-wheel drive system.
And, coming up, some corners here always take.
Let's try out the handling just a little bit, see how this takes corners.
So, the one great thing about these is they are still pretty nice and light.
Depending on the trim you get, they weigh between 3,500 pounds and about 3,800 pounds.
This one's probably on the lower end of that spectrum, so we're probably right around 3,500.
And, you know, so it feels very effortless, and it does still have a pretty nice and sophisticated suspension setup,
because it is, again, sharing a lot of components still with the Ford Escape,
so we have an independent front and rear suspension.
You know, it isn't trucky, or anything, with its feel.
It's a nice, smooth ride, and nice and flat handling, honestly.
You know, you only get a little bit of lean there, but it handles better than you might expect it to,
especially even this one having, you know, the big, tall sidewalls on these 17-inch wheels,
which, those actually, I think, are the way to go if you want to have the smoothest ride,
because they do soak up more of the bumps than the larger wheel options will.
And, this just, it drives great.
I've always, again, really appreciated how these drive.
Ford just, again, does everything very, very well with the way they set these up,
and I think that's why these are so popular, because they really just are, again, very friendly to drive,
very easy, very approachable, they don't feel too big, or unwieldy, or anything like that.
And, yeah, just going around corners, it's very effortless.
I mean, obviously, you know, it's a crossover, and it's not a sports car, so you're not going to be racing around,
but for regular daily driving, if you happen to have some corners on your commute,
it'll handle it just fine, even if you're in a rush.
And, getting back to the capabilities of this vehicle.
Again, if you want to have the best capabilities, you're going to want to go for those Sasquatch, or that Black Diamond package.
But, all of these are still pretty nice and capable.
You still have 7.8 inches of ground clearance as standard.
Now, that'll go up to 8.7 to 8.8 inches of ground clearance for, you know, those more off-road-ready versions.
But, I mean, you know, it's still pretty solid, and with these GOAT modes that they call them,
the GOAT Over Any Terrain is what that stands for,
you do have a Slippery mode, so if you're in, you know, bad weather,
you can put it in that mode, and it'll adjust everything to better react to those conditions.
Now, you also do have an Off-Road mode as standard, here, now, in all of these.
Previously, I think that was only in the more off-road versions,
but now we have it in all of these, and that's certainly nice, as well.
As far as towing goes, these tow 2,200 pounds as standard with the 1.5 motor.
If you go for the 2.0T 4-cylinder, then you're going to go up to 2,700 pounds of tow capability.
And, now, out on the highway, here, in the Bronco Sport,
it's really a nice highway cruiser, too. Again, nice, smooth ride.
You get some road noise, but it's not terrible, and honestly,
these crossbars I thought would be noisier, but they're actually not bad.
I barely can really notice them making any noise up there, so that's pretty nice, too.
Now, as far as all the safety stuff goes, these come with everything as standard,
aside from, again, 360 camera, and the front park sensors, which, you know,
is that actually safety, is that convenience, you know?
But, as far as the, you know, important stuff, this has all of it as standard.
So, we have blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert,
and also rear auto-brake, and also blind-spot assist, so it'll intervene.
If it sees you changing lanes into somebody, you know, it'll actually swerve you back over.
You do have adaptive cruise control as standard in these.
With that Lane Keep Assist system, you have automatic emergency braking,
all the stuff, all the assistance stuff, all that.
Now, we're going around this gentle corner.
I'm just kind of letting it do most of the steering for me, here,
and it's actually really nicely centered in the lane, here,
and is doing a really good job of navigating that.
Now, this is a hands-on system, but, you know, for brief periods, there,
it does really, you know, do its own thing, and let you kind of, you know, relax.
It just allows you to have an easier time on a road trip,
having a little bit of extra backup assistance, here, for you.
But, yeah, like, it just told me to keep my hands on the wheel,
even though my hand is visibly still on the wheel.
So, the detection isn't the greatest.
So, you do need to apply a little bit of torque to the wheel every 10 to 15 seconds, or so,
so that it can sense, because it's kind of a dumb system with how it recognizes, you know, that hand.
Some of the smartest competitors, these days, will actually have touch-sensitive steering wheels.
This does not have that.
It's just, you know, it needs to see torque every so often from your actual hand,
so that it knows that your hands are there.
But, otherwise, yeah, this is just a really nice highway cruiser.
Now, I will say, there's no option for Blue Cruise,
the fantastic hands-free system that Ford has in other models.
No Blue Cruise still in these.
Maybe we'll get that, again, for a next generation, someday.
But, for now, no such luck.
But, you know, again, having this Lane Keep Assist system, and all this is standard, though, is really great.
The final thing I will say, though, about the driver assist stuff, is that I love that it's not too intrusive, either.
So, even if you want to have, like, the Lane Keep Assist system on,
and you're driving on regular, you know, windy roads,
it doesn't nag you, it doesn't try and nudge you all the time.
So, it's a more of a hands-off Lane Keep Assist system, which I really appreciate.
You know, if you don't have the Adaptive Cruise System on,
you know, it'll let you kind of do your own thing,
and it's not constantly, you know, slapping your wrists and telling you you're doing it wrong.
So, that's great, because there's some other companies, again, that do really overreact with their Lane Keep Assist systems.
So, I love that we don't have that.
Now, as far as fuel economy goes, here, in these,
these are rated at 25 mpg in the city, 30 on the highway, and 27 combined.
And, I'm just driving this vehicle for a couple hours, here,
so I don't have a ton of time to do a great fuel economy estimate,
but what I can say is that whenever I did live with a pre-refresh, which is mechanically identical,
when I lived with that for a week, you know, again, 5 years ago or so,
my average back then was, I think, just under 24 mpg, actually.
So, I was pretty impressed that I was, you know, getting mid-20s in something that's as boxy as this is,
and something that is turbocharged, and, you know, using that turbo, and all that.
Yeah, these are still pretty fuel-efficient, now.
You know, there are some other competitors that, even, again, in the larger compact class, that are more fuel-efficient,
and so, you know, that's one area where I wish, with this refresh, they would have introduced a hybrid option.
Ford has a hybrid system on the parts shelf.
It's the same one that the Escape has had for years.
It's also currently in the Maverick, and, you know, it's paired up with all-wheel drive, now, in the Maverick, as well.
So, you know, there's no excuse to not offer that, especially these days.
Hybrids are red-hot, they're very much in demand,
and I think it's a big missed opportunity from Ford to not offer a hybrid for these.
Maybe we'll get that at some point, I don't know. I feel like it would be a pretty easy thing to add,
but it just seems like Ford is interested.
Maybe buyers have said they don't care about a hybrid in the Bronco sport, I don't know,
but, you know, just know there's no way to get better fuel economy in one of these,
and that's something that all the competitors, pretty much, these days, for the most part,
have hybrid versions available, and some even have plug-in hybrid versions, you know,
so, that is one area where, you know, this is a little bit behind the times.
The last thing to mention, though, is the pricing and how this compares to its many competitors,
so let's briefly go over that.
So, the 2026 Bronco Sport starts at $33,840,
and can go up to over $45,000 fully loaded.
This lightly optioned base one costs $34,495,
and if you're interested in getting a Bronco Sport and are near Pittsburgh,
the folks over at Schultz Ford would definitely be happy to help you.
Their link will be in the description.
For everyone else, you're definitely going to want to head over to mattmaranmotoring.com
and go to the new car quotes page.
There, you'll get access to dealer invoice pricing, as well as getting connected with a local dealer,
so you can check out the Bronco Sport for yourself and see what you think about it.
So, there's going to be a link in the description, as well as one in a pinned comment to take you straight to that site
and get you all that info.
Now, as far as how the Bronco Sport compares to the competition,
the competition list is long for this one, since this tries to bridge two different segments.
The biggest one on the subcompact side, outside of the Ford, is the Volkswagen Taos.
It's actually a little more roomy for the back seat, but has slightly less cargo space,
but they start very much cheaper and stay cheaper even fully loaded.
Plus, they have a similar amount of power, although their 1.5T is a 4-cylinder instead of a 3.
If we're going to the compact class, you have nearly a dozen options,
so I won't go too deep here, but I'll first say that the Ford Maverick with a cap over the bed,
honestly, could be the strongest competitor, especially if you don't mind its slightly smaller back seat.
It offers a hybrid and even more cargo space, plus it's cheaper,
mostly thanks to offering front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive,
and you can get up to 42 mpg.
As far as the regular compact crossovers, I'm just going to focus on the ones with more rugged trims,
since that's something I think most Bronco Sport shoppers are looking for.
I'll also say up front that all of these will have more space than the Bronco Sport,
but first, the best-selling and now all-hybrid RAV4 from Toyota starts around the same price.
It offers front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive, plus more power,
and even if you want the rugged woodland version, which is pretty well-equipped,
it's still only $41,000, plus it'll get up to 41 mpg, even with those all-terrain tires,
and Toyota also offers plug-in hybrid RAV4s if you want to save even more gas.
The next best-seller is the Honda CR-V, which has a trail sport version with all-terrain tires
and a hybrid powertrain for just under $41,000, too,
although that one's a bit less luxurious, only having cloth seats.
The Mazda CX-50 offers hybrid and turbo versions,
and the regular gas one with similar power to the Ford here offers a Meridian edition
with all-terrain tires and costs just $35,240,
while still giving you leatherette seats and a more premium interior.
The Subaru Forester also starts slightly less, offers a hybrid version
and also a very capable wilderness version that's probably the closest competitor for the Bronco Sport Sasquatch,
although it has no turbo, but that one is under $40,000.
The new Jeep Cherokee is now on sale and all hybrid now, too, but it does start a little bit higher.
It gives you a similar rugged and boxy vibe, though,
plus it has more space, and it can do up to 39 mpg.
The Hyundai Tucson and Kia Sportage siblings both offer hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and rugged versions
for about the same starting price as the Ford,
while being better equipped and also having their famous 10-year, 100,000-mile powertrain warranty.
The Chevrolet Equinox also offers a rugged, active trim with all-terrain tires for similar money,
and lastly, the Nissan Rogue also starts lower and has a rugged Rock Creek version
that's more well-equipped for basically the same money as well.
So, as you can see, the Bronco Sport has some stiff competition,
since it's sized like a large subcompact, but it's priced like a regular compact,
while offering less than most others do for this kind of money.
But yeah, so overall, I really enjoy the Bronco Sport.
Again, I love its adventure-ready kind of vibe, I love the fun retro looks that it has,
and it's just really well done, and a nice thing to live with and drive once again.
You know, so, if you don't need the most backseat space, I think this, you know, does have a case to be made for it.
But, you know, if you are looking for the most space possible,
you know, just know that there are still, you know, some better values if that's something you're after.
But, overall, you know, I think this does have a unique appeal to it, and a unique vibe,
and the fact you can go a little more hardcore with the off-road stuff compared to most of the other competitors
is notable, and, you know, a very cool option, and the fact you can get, you know, the turbo version,
with the, you know, 2.0T turbo, where you have a lot more power than a lot of the competitors do.
There are certainly little niches where, if you fall into one of those,
you know, this can absolutely be, you know, the best choice of the bunch.
It just comes down to all of your wants and needs.
But, anyway, that's all of my thoughts here on the 2026 Ford Bronco Sport.
Let me know your thoughts on it in the comments below.
Huge thanks, once again, to Schultz Ford for providing this vehicle to review for you guys today.
This one, in particular, is for sale, and they have lots on their lots.
They have multiple locations.
Definitely check them out. There's gonna be a link in the description,
and you can go to their site and get all the info on this.
They'd be more than happy to help you out with checking one of these out.
But, anyway, thank you all very much for watching this one.
Be sure to go watch my reviews on the competitors, if you'd like,
or my review of the more stronger Badlands version I did a few years back.
But, anyway, thank you for watching this one, and I'll see you guys on the next one.
Take care!
