Ford Bronco Sport Heritage Puts on Some Retro Duds

• Ford Bronco Sport Heritage Limited 4x4 is powered by a turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four with 250 hp and 277 lb-ft of torque on tap, paired with an eight-speed transmission, though a less powerful 1.5-liter three-cylinder engine is also on the menu with 181 hp and 190 lb-ft of torque.

• The four-door model offers a tidy footprint, with just enough space inside for family adventures and for commuting, as well as enough off-road skills to offer a compelling alternative to small crossovers without compromising everyday usability.

• The Heritage model is one of the more affordable trims in the Bronco Sport lineup, which features some variety but doesn't stretch too far north price-wise, with this version starting at $33,960 before additional options.

The return of the Ford Bronco in 2021 was overdue, with the Explorer having become a crossover long ago and with Ford having largely ceded the off-road market to Jeep. This niche has proven to be profitable for the latter, even as Ford busied itself in updating the Escape every few years, and it was becoming clear that Ford had been leaving plenty of money on the table at a time when burly SUVs of all sizes were showing no signs of becoming less popular. The success of the F-150 Raptor over the past decade only confirmed this.

The larger of the two Broncos is certainly a capable off-road machine. But it probably wasn't going to be the most commute-friendly SUV out there.

That's why in bringing back the Bronco a few years ago as a veritable trail machine, Ford also resurrected its smaller sibling, designed to feel just as nimble on forest trails as in the city. It would also allow Ford to take on Jeep's lineup from more than one direction, with pocket-sized SUVs having become a common family car long ago.

This is how the Bronco Sport returned as the spiritual successor to the Bronco II, offering a tidy footprint and most of the off-road skills of its big brother—a formula we hadn't seen since the early 1990s when the Bronco II inspired the original Explorer of 1991.

Now that the Bronco Sport is a few years old, does it still feel modern and useful?

That's what we wanted to find out when we spent a week in the retro-themed Bronco Sport Heritage Limited 4x4 that harkens back to the original Bronco's exterior design and color palette.

First, it's useful to recall just what the greater Bronco Sport lineup offers, as there are quite a few choices.

The base engine is a turbocharged 1.5-liter three-cylinder, good for 181 hp and 190 lb-ft of torque, paired with an eight-speed automatic. While this powertrain has generally been deemed to be capable enough for most daily tasks, making the run from 0 to 60 mph in just over 8 seconds, buyers also have the option of a turbocharged inline-four with 250 hp and 277 lb-ft of torque on tap paired with the same eight-speed transmission.

The latter unit cuts that sprint time down to 5.9 seconds, but more importantly it dials up the torque to permit some greater off-road excursions, which are still an important part of the whole package.

A total of five flavors are on the menu, starting with the base Big Bend trim, followed by our retro-themed Heritage, the '70s-stickered Free Wheeling, Outer Banks, and the range-topping Badlands trim. But it's a relatively narrow spectrum when it comes to price, with the base Big Bend model starting at $31,390, while the Badlands trim maxes out the off-road goodies and options with revised dampers and a lifted suspension with a starting price of $39,985.

As other trims, the Heritage model offers up the Bronco's terrain management system with five G.O.A.T. modes: Eco, Sport, Normal, Slippery, and Sand/Snow which automatically change the braking setup, steering feel, throttle behavior, and transmission shift points based on the selected terrain setting.