These are the kind of review vehicles that drive me crazy. I’m reviewing a vehicle I have reviewed before and have been a fan of for several years. So, my job is to review it objectively on its merits. How do you do that when you find the vehicle to be butt-ugly? I realize that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and at least one of the thousands of people who read this review will tell me it’s the prettiest SUV they’ve ever seen. It never fails.
So, this week I am slumped down in the seat of the Ford Bronco Sport Free Wheeling Edition, something new for 2024 and I’m betting we won’t see it in 2025. I seriously considered paying for window tinting for it. I was talking to one of my Car Pro Certified Ford Dealers and said: “I hope you didn’t order many of these.” He assured me he hadn’t. When I was in the car business, we called vehicles like this future spiff units, meaning I’d have to dangle a wad of cash in front of my salespeople to get them to show it to anybody.
Enough of that, I’ll just pretend those stripes are not running down the sides, that the seats are normal, and I’ll be a good boy and focus on the merits of this 4-wheel drive SUV that has been a big sales hit for Ford, although likely at the expense of the Ford Escape.
Let’s talk about what this is meant to be. The Free Wheeling Special Edition is a throwback to Ford off-roaders of the 1970s. In the late 1970s, Ford introduced the Free Wheeling package on F-100, F-150, Bronco, Econoline van, and more. The limited-run models featured graphics with red, orange, and yellow gradients. The colorful package also added painted steel wheels, and black finishes on the grilles, mirrors, and bumpers. Inside the vehicles featured red and orange pinstriping on the dash and seat stitching. Are you getting it now, has it hit you yet? This is a RETRO thing! These were ugly to me in the 1970s, too, but I digress. It is VINTAGE, yeah, that’s the ticket! Let’s go with that.
The Free Wheeling Edition starts with the least expensive trim level, the Big Bend. In other Bronco models, you can also choose from Heritage, Outer Banks, and Badlands. Ford 2024, Ford dropped the former least expensive trim level, the Base due to lack of sales.
The special edition features red, orange, and yellow sunset-inspired stripes and like the originals, the 2024 Bronco Sport Free Wheeling special edition features reflective red, orange, yellow and silver graphics on the body sides and hood. It features a black roof, 17” wheels that have red insets, a roof rack, and black bumpers. The 1970s called and want their vehicles back!
Under the hood, you’ll find a 3-cylinder 1.5-liter turbocharged EcoBoost engine putting out 181-horses and 190-pound feet of torque. The engine is mated to an 8-speed automatic. The 3-cylinder surprised me the way it makes the almost 3,500-pound SUV move. It truly felt like a 4-cylinder, but it’s not going to win any trophies at the drag strip, and if someone is pointing and laughing at you, you can’t get away super-fast. The Free Wheeling edition is 4-wheel drive and appears to be a very capable off-roader, yet it is a very enjoyable SUV as a daily driver.
Interior
Moving to the cabin, there are Sunset Weave cloth seats with Ombre stitching, and you guessed it, the same color stripes as on the outside. The dash and door panels offer up mostly soft-touch materials. As you sit, there are really nice graphics to greet you, both from the driver info center which is configurable and gives you a lot of information. All gauges are clear and easy to read.
The 8” touchscreen center dash houses the Sync 3 system, which works extremely well. You can operate the Bluetooth, set up your apps, it has a navigation system, and you configure all the settings of the vehicle there. You also operate the sound system, Sirius XM radio, HD radio, and the rear camera. There is Apple Car Play and Android Auto compatibility. Below that is the button to turn off the start/stop system, knobs for the radio volume and tuning, and a little farther down is the climate control.
The center console offers up two cupholders, a round shift knob, a wireless phone charger, USBs and power ports, the electric parking brake, and an auto hold switch.
Also, there is a button to kick on the 4-wheel drive system and this is where you choose the GOAT modes. Goat stands for Goes Over Any Terrain. You can choose from normal, Eco, Sport, Slippery/Wet, Rock Crawl, Mud/Ruts, and Sand. Each drive mode really changes the way this SUV performs.
Headed to the back seat, head room is good thanks to a slightly raised roof. Rear passengers get air conditioning vents and map pockets made into the back of the front seats, and a fold down armrest. Two adults and a child will be fine back there.
The cargo area is roomy, especially with the back seats folded down, and there is all-weather material that lines the cargo area. Neat touches include a built-in bottle opener and a light in the tailgate when raised. I also love you can open just the rear glass, or the whole tailgate.
Options and Standard Equipment
This Free Wheeling Edition I am driving has $3,370 in options. That gets you the $1,785 Convenience package which is the wireless charging pad, LED fog lights, a universal garage door opener, power driver’s seat, heated front seats, and rear parking sensors. $690 covers the trailer towing package, and for $895 you get the Ford Co-Pilot360 Assist+ system. This is the semi self-driving system that adds intelligent adaptive cruise control, which integrates speed sign recognition, plus stop-and-go speed control and automatic lane centering to keep the car squarely in lane.
Notable standard features include: Tilt wheel, keyless entry, remote start, and LED headlights.
Driving characteristics are good, the Bronco Sport is pretty quiet inside, handling is terrific, and the ride quality is quite good for a 4x4 SUV. I am very impressed with the acceleration of the 3-cylinder EcoBoost.
Fuel economy is 25 in town, 29 on the highway, and 26 overall. Total MSRP as equipped is $37,695 and if you look at other 4-wheel, off-road capable SUVs, that’s not bad for what you get, and that is before dealer discounts and incentives.
So, there you have it kids, I really like the Bronco Sport, just not the Free Wheeling package. I had some fun with this one, at the expense of Ford, and if I need to apologize to the blind designer of this package, I am happy to do so. In all seriousness, I say a solid black one on the Ford website, that looked much better.
To view larger photos see the slideshow below on CarPro.com.