MARYVILLE, Tenn. — The Ford Bronco Sport, the smaller “baby” Bronco SUV, is getting a new “Sasquatch” package for 2025 that brings all manner of hardware upgrades that will significantly increase its off-road prowess.
When Ford first introduced the Bronco Sport, many folks thought the small, RAV4-sized vehicle was meant to be the New Bronco.
It wasn’t, but because of production delays, the smaller, rounded family SUV came out well ahead of the larger, beefier, full-size off-roader, and the Bronco Sport became the butt of much derision and jokes.
It wasn’t big enough, it was too soft and, most importantly, it wasn’t A Real Off-Roader.
It’s not that the Bronco Sport is bad — it’s actually extremely well-designed and capable for what it is: a small, family-focused, outdoorsy SUV. But because it had that prancing pony emblem, Bronco purists howled even though the Sport was actually a quite capable vehicle for the sorts of outdoor pursuits that buyers of a small sport utility vehicle would undertake.
I never bought into this criticism and have happily joked that the Bronco Sport is the baby Bronco but is still an excellent and worthy alternative to competitors like the Toyota RAV4, Chevrolet Equinox and Hyundai Tucson.
But the new Sasquatch package, available as an upgrade to the Badlands and Outer Banks trims, adds 29-inch Goodyear Territory all-terrain tires adapted from the full-size Bronco and clever tech features like Trail One-Pedal Drive that allows you to navigate off-road with a single pedal that doubles as both throttle and brake (like an EV). The Badlands variant also gets Bilstein rear shocks with position-sensitive damping and piggyback reservoirs, as well as actual underbody protection, something usually reserved for more hardcore off-road vehicles.
Redesigned bumpers include modular mounting points for accessories like brush bars and driving lights, and I’m told that it might even be possible to mount a winch, though Ford will not be offering one through official channels as it does for the full-size Bronco.
That, plus new front and rear springs increasing ride height, gives the Bronco Sport Badlands Sasquatch 8.3 and 8.7 inches of front and rear suspension travel, respectively, and the ability to ford almost 2 feet of water.
If you’re an off-road enthusiast, these may seem like trivial numbers, but they’re actually quite impressive when you consider the size of the Bronco Sport and its place in the market. Though competitors like Subaru, Toyota and Jeep offer “wilderness” or “trail” editions, they haven’t gone so far as to offer true off-road capabilities quite like Ford has with the new ’Squatch.
The 2025 Bronco Sport also gains new standard tech like an enormous 13-inch center infotainment screen (with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto now standard) and the horribly named Ford Co-Pilot360 Assist+, which includes a host of standard safety features, including automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, adaptive cruise control with lane centering, blind spot monitoring and automatic headlights.
Available as an optional extra is a 360-degree camera and automatic rear-emergency braking — an interesting feature that automatically stops the car if you’re about to back into something (or someone).
In all, Ford has taken a modest midcycle refresh of the Bronco Sport that I first drove three years ago and made it far more interesting. It has real off-road capabilities now and, in a brief demo and drive last week at Ford’s new Bronco Off-Roadeo in the Smokey Mountains of Eastern Tennessee, the upgrades are not just for show.
The Bronco Sport may be the baby of the Ford SUV family, but it’s now far more capable — and more unique as a competitive offering — than before. Plus, Sasquatch is just a cool name.
The 2025 Bronco Sport will arrive in dealers in November, and the Sasquatch package will ship in the new year.
