The Ford Bronco Sport may share half of its name with its beefy big brother, but the full-size Bronco has an off-road ruggedness that’s hard to match. But for 2025, the baby Bronco has taken notes from big brother, and looks to follow in its tire tracks with the Sasquatch Package, which offers some serious off-roading upgrades for this little ute. Ford says that Bronco Sport drivers go off-roading 3.5 times more than the owners of its competitors, and the new-for-2025 Sasquatch Package gives them the ability to get farther into the wilderness than ever before.
- Base Trim Engine
-
EcoBoost 1.5L ICE
- Base Trim Transmission
-
8-speed automatic
- Base Trim Drivetrain
-
Four-Wheel Drive
- Base Trim Horsepower
-
181 HP @6000 RPM
- Base Trim Torque
-
190 lb.-ft. @ 3000 RPM
- Base Trim Fuel Economy (city/highway/combined)
-
25/29/26 MPG
- Base Trim Battery Type
-
Lead acid battery
- Make
-
Ford
- Model
-
Bronco Sport
Ford is eager to showcase its capabilities and educate owners on how to take full advantage of them. The automaker hosts Bronco Off-Roadeo events for just such a purpose, taking Bronco Sport and Bronco drivers far from a hint of macadam, where the vehicle’s wheels will get the chance to touch rock, wood, and water with the help of experienced guides who know the products inside and out. Ford invited us to one such event in Tennessee to see exactly what the Bronco Sport Badlands with Sasquatch Package can do.
The Sasquatch Package Is Not Just For Looks
While many automakers are giving their products off-road-leaning packages — like Subaru’s Wilderness models, the Toyota Sienna Woodland Edition, Nissan Rogue Rock Creek, Kia Sportage X-Pro, etc. — it seems unlikely that most of these will ever see much more rugged terrain than rural dirt roads or snowy suburban streets. At least they look the part, right? Granted, you could say the same about the Bronco Sport as well — after all, it does borrow its platform from the humble and practical Ford Escape — but the Sasquatch Package elevates this daily driver to a surprisingly capable off-roader.
Available in the Outer Banks and Badlands trims, the Sasquatch Package adds, most notably, an off-road suspension (with Bilstein rear shocks on the Badlands we drove) and 29-inch Goodyear Territory RT tires on 17-inch rims. This gives the vehicle a respectable ground clearance of 9.6 inches. Should you exhaust the entirety of that clearance, the package includes steel skid plates to protect the underbody mechanicals. It gets steel front and rear bumpers with recovery points, as well as a steel brush bar up front. For convenience, it also includes cargo tie-downs that pop out of the front fenders (something I wish I had come in handy when picking up the Christmas tree), each rated to 150 pounds.
GOAT Modes For Every Occasion
Ford includes GOAT modes in its Bronco products, selectable in the Bronco Sport via a dial on the center console. It stands for “Go Over Any Type of Terrain,” and the number of available modes varies by configuration. In the Bronco Sport Badlands with Sasquatch Package, there is a whole buffet of modes to choose from depending on your situation: Normal, Eco, Sport, Slippery, Off-Road (formerly Mud/Ruts), Rock Crawl, and Rally.
In the wooded hills of Tennessee, I spent most of my time in Off-Road or Rock Crawl. While Off-Road mode activates the four-wheel-drive lock, Rock Crawl optimizes vehicle settings for slow driving in lower gears with minimal shifting, ensuring maximum traction and maximum vehicle control.
New for 2025 as part of the Sasquatch Package is the Rally mode, which is geared for higher speeds, holding gears longer, and increasing throttle response. I was able to use Rally on some dusty trails through a meadow. By “higher speeds,” I’m speaking relatively, but I was able to confidently bomb down the trail at a raucous 20 to 25 miles per hour. It definitely feels faster as the suspension reacts to the undulations beneath the car, while I was struggling to see through the clouds of dust.
It’s Feature-Rich For Easier, More Precise Off-Roading
There’s never been a better time to try off-roading. The technology available helps maintain tractions, of course, but also helps to take much of the guesswork out of the endeavor, giving drivers better awareness of their surroundings and what the vehicle is doing.
A huge advantage now, which I didn’t have in my earliest off-roading experiences, is the abundance of cameras. Helpful for parking, the 360-degree view of the vehicle also allows you to see what you can’t see from the windows on the trail. Putting the Bronco Sport into one of the off-road GOAT modes automatically gives you a view of the path in front of you, including where the front tires are heading based on steering position. This allows you not only to see what’s directly in front of you when you’re cresting a steep hill, but also allows you to aim your tires directly over a rock or to the side of a rut to help maintain ground clearance.
It also has a dual-clutch rear differential, which essentially acts as a locker. I didn’t find myself in a situation where I needed to use it. While there were some loose surfaces, I was generally able to overcome spinning a loose wheel simply by applying more brake, along with the accelerator. This locale was in the middle of a bit of a dry spell, but I’d love the chance to get the Sasquatch stuck in some mud.
Trail Control And New One-Pedal Driving
The Bronco Sport also features “Trail Control,” which is essentially an off-road version of cruise control. It’s especially useful during hill descent — set the speed to two miles per hour or so, take your foot off the brake, and focus on steering the vehicle through the best path down the hill. It takes a lot of trust to take your feet off the pedals on a particularly steep and rocky trail with a ledge to one side. It worked great, though, and I didn’t tumble down the hill to a rocky demise.
Another uniquely helpful off-road feature is borrowed from EVs like the Mustang Mach-E: one-pedal driving, or as Ford calls it in the Bronco Sport, “Trail One-Pedal Drive.” This mode applies the brakes automatically, allowing you to control the car’s speed with the accelerator alone. It’s especially nice to rest your left foot after a long period of driving with both feet, as my left ankle was getting stiff after so carefully modulating the brake pedal for extended periods of time.
Recovery Is Key
If you’re going to take your daily driver off-road, it’s important to make sure it can get back onto the tarmac. Unfortunately, wild terrain is not as forgiving as smooth pavement, but part of the fun of getting off the beaten path is putting your vehicle in situations you wouldn’t normally encounter. But with that comes the risk of getting stuck in places where recovery is more complicated than simply calling a tow truck. Should you find yourself in just such a sticky situation, the Sasquatch Package is better equipped to get you out of it with a little help.
Performance Specifications
|
Engine |
2.0-Liter Turbocharged Inline-Four |
|---|---|
|
Transmission |
8-Speed Automatic |
|
Horsepower |
250 Horsepower |
|
Torque |
280 Pound-Feet |
|
Driveline |
All-Wheel Drive |
|
Fuel Economy |
21 City | 27 Highway | 23 Combined |
|
Towing Capacity |
2,700 Pounds |
|
Payload |
917 Pounds |
When technique or a locking differential aren’t enough to free your Bronco Sport, the recovery points on the front and rear will be your saving grace. Up front, the tow eyes are mounted high up on the bumper — where the brush bar is attached — moved upward from their previous position lower on the front fascia below the bumper. This means they’re much less likely to be buried in the dirt when you go to attach a strap to be pulled out.
In the rear, you can hook up to the steel D-rings attached to the rear bumper. There is no mistaking where to connect, no plastic covers to pop off, and no need to thread a tow eye into the vehicle (after digging it out from under your cargo — if you remembered to bring it).
Want Proof Of The Bronco Sport’s Abilities? Try The Ford Bronco Off-Roadeo
Ford offers the Bronco Off-Roadeo experience at five different locations around the U.S.: Moab, Utah; Las Vegas, Nevada; Horseshoe Bay, Texas; Gilford, New Hampshire; and Maryville, Tennessee. Each location offers a different experience with different terrain, but all showcase the off-roading prowess of the Bronco and Bronco Sport. Our time in the Bronco Sport Badlands took place at the Tennessee campus, on rocky, narrow, wooded trails through the Smokey Mountains — a fine setting to test the capabilities of the Bronco Sport Badlands with the Sasquatch Package.
Before taking off into the wilderness, our Off-Roadeo guides went over some of the fundamentals of off-road driving, as well as the features and capabilities of the Bronco Sport. I’ve been off-roading many times over the course of my decades of driving, but I was impressed not only with the knowledge of our guides, but in their ability to convey what could be confusing concepts in a way that was clear and memorable to both beginner and veteran alike.
With knowledge both old and new now fresh in my mind, we caravaned off into the forest. The Tennessee Off-Roadeo has some 1,000 acres at its disposal, shared with the likes of deer and a mama black bear named Molly (who actually crossed our path at one point in the adventure). Many of the trails we traversed had deep ruts to straddle, and plenty of rocks of various sized rocks we either avoided or aimed straight for, putting a front tire and then a rear tire over it if we couldn’t clear it with the 9.6 inches of clearance available.
My Bronco Sport and the others in the caravan spent a fair amount of time with at least one wheel off the ground. I was surprised by the baby Bronco’s composure. While legs got a workout over the course of the day, my arms didn’t get punished. Steering effort remained low, and I didn’t have to constantly fight against it as the terrain imparted its own forces on the front wheels. While it’s still wise to keep your thumbs out of the steering wheel spokes, I didn’t feel like they were in danger of getting ripped off when a front wheel landed.
Throughout the experience, the guides were there to give us information through the radio, or spot us from outside the car while we navigated a particularly challenging obstacle.
The Bronco Off-Roadeo Is Free For New Owners
The Bronco Off-Roadeo experience is free to new buyers of a Ford Bronco or Bronco Sport (guests are extra). You just have to provide your own travel and lodging, and attend by a certain date based on the model year you purchased (for instance, Ford says 2024 owners must attend before June 2026, while 2025 owners have until December 2026). For a fee, Ford also offers a Bring Your Own Bronco experience for other owners, or half-day adventures that are open to anyone. After all, it’s not a bad way to sell more vehicles, and Ford has garnered over 600 sales from Off-Roadeo guests.
The Pricing Raises One Big Question
The Sasquatch Package is available on the $36,795 Bronco Sport Outer Banks (which features the 1.5-liter EcoBoost Engine) as a $3,535 option — but it also requires the Tech+ package, bringing the MSRP to $42,525 before destination charges. On the Badlands trim, which starts at $40,115, the Sasquatch Package adds $2,995 for a pre-destination total of $43,105.
That makes the decision between those two trims a little easier — I’d pay a little more for the more capable Badlands. But it also means the price creeps up into the territory of the larger Bronco, which starts at $39,995 for the Base trim. The big Bronco would be tempting, but then, adding the off-road goodies would jack the price up considerably higher. Maybe you prefer the packaging of the smaller vehicle, and prefer a loaded up model a segment down than moving “up” to a lesser-equipped version of the big Bronco. Being able to remove the roof panels and doors is tempting, nonetheless.
But the Bronco Sport with its Sasquatch Package proved it is capable enough to tackle considerably more than most people ever throw at their vehicles, and if you intend to leave the pavement often in your small SUV, knowing that it’s comfortable with a wheel up in the air is a reassuring thing.
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