The 2021 Ford Bronco is one of the most anticipated vehicles of the year, and the good news is that it’s pretty much everything you hoped it would be! It’s excellent off-road, good on-road, has great engine choices, and it looks fantastic as well. We snagged a 2021 Bronco Badlands two-door for a week and set out on our local trails to see what it’s all about.

I’m actually shocked at how much I enjoyed this Bronco with the smaller engine. That little mill making 300 horsepower works well here and leaves the larger 2.7 as more of the hot rod model until the Bronco Raptor lands. Also making it enjoyable is the fact that the manual gearbox is actually good. You can feel the clutch pickup point, so it’s already lightyears better than what’s in the Wrangler. Couple that gearbox with this Badlands model and its front and rear lockers plus an electronically disconnecting front sway bar, and you have a true mountain goat of a machine. With the Crawler gear engaged, four-lo selected, and your foot off the throttle, this Bronco trudges ahead like a determined tank.

The new Bronco is great in pretty much every flavor it’s offered. If you can find one at a good price, and you were thinking about getting one, go do it.

[Disclaimer: Ford tossed us the keys to the 2021 Bronco and included a full tank of fuel. Yes, I cleaned it off before I returned it.]