After many, many years of making us wait, Ford finally revealed the new Bronco last July. We've ridden along in the new SUV, and we should finally get to drive one soon.
But the Bronco is still managing to surprise us. As noted by Fox News, among others, a a Bronco6g forum user has uncovered some exciting news: a revised Bronco specification sheet shows tweaked horsepower and torque numbers for the Ford's engines. Those changes have not yet shown up on the Ford Bronco website, but that sheet is valid — and it certainly seems to be — both the four and six-cylinder options will be more powerful than Ford first estimated.
The base Bronco engine is a 2.3-liter four-cylinder. The initial estimate was 270 horsepower and 310 lb-ft of torque; the new spec sheet, however, bumps those outputs up to 300 hp and 325 lb-ft. As for the larger engine, Ford had said the 2.7-liter twin-turbo V6 would put out 310 hp and 400 lb-ft of torque; the new spec sheet improves that to 330 hp and 415 lb-ft.
There is, however, a slight complication. The new estimates are numbers that only apply if you fill the Bronco with more expensive premium gasoline — something one typically does when instructed for a luxury or sports car, not a Ford SUV. On regular gas, the sheet says the 2.3-liter four-pot will put out 275 hp and 315 lb-ft, and the V6 will deliver 315 hp and 410 lb-ft. That would still be an improvement, but not quite as substantial as with the premium fuel.
Bronco buyers will welcome the news, if valid. However, it's not clear that the new power outputs would change the competitive status quo versus the Jeep Wrangler. The Bronco's V6 was already a great deal more formidable than the Wrangler's V6 with 285 hp and 260 lb-ft. And Jeep now has 4xe hybrid, 392 V8 and diesel Wrangler options on sale with more torque than the Bronco's V6. Perhaps having a nominal 300 hp on tap could make leveling down to the four-cylinder for the manual transmission a more appealing prospect.
