ROCK AND ROAD STAR

Ford has claimed the GOAT acronym for the new Bronco, promising that it Goes Over Any Type of Terrain. But, in terms of reborn 4x4 icons, is it really the Greatest Of All Time? Matt Prior finds out

- Matt Prior

Browsing the new Bronco section of Ford’s US website is a remarkably diverting way to spend time. Ford’s reborn all-American off-roader comes in the kind of specification that made it famous in the 1960s and 1970s: with two doors, a removable hard roof and a chunky appearance that rather suits balloon tyres and bold colours. It’s a range tinged with nostalgia and even some humour: there’s a paint called Area 51.

However, unlike the original Bronco (see overleaf), the new model is also offered in different styles – ones that give it the kind of practicality that it lacked in the 1990s and ultimately cost it its place in Ford’s model line-up at the time.

So here’s one with four doors. It has a soft top that can be half or fully removed, but a removable hardtop is offered too. The doors also come off and it is a genuinely rugged 4x4, with a chassis beneath derived from the Ford Ranger pickup truck. This variant is a mid-spec Outer Banks 4dr. I’m not sure it totally nails the perfect Bronco aesthetic, but a few aftermarket additions would sort that.

In its most direct terms, it’s a car designed to go up against, in its American homeland, the Jeep Wrangler – and prices reflect it.

The Jeep was originally designed as a military 4x4 but is one that, with the addition of different body styles and practicality and versatility, has kept pace with its surroundings in a way that the original Bronco generations didn’t.