Ride Shotgun in the 2021 Ford Bronco Two-Door (Hagerty)
Pale Michigan dust swirls through the open roof of the 2021 Ford Bronco as we jostle down the 18-degree incline and surf up a 19-degree hill. Around a bend, a placid basin of water appears and the Ford engineer hardly lifts the throttle as we splash through it, producing giant fluid arcs on either side. Amazingly, none of it invades the doorless sides of the 4×4.
We’re at an off-road park in Holly, Michigan, riding along in the long-awaited 2021 Bronco and Bronco Sport. The park, barely a mile off I-75, isn’t yet open to the public, so Ford had plenty of time to sink wood poles, rig safari-style canvas tents and signs, and corral (sorry) Broncos old and new, street- and race-spec to an outdoor, socially-distanced bash. To help things along, Hagerty provided a light blue, 1971 Bronco pickup, which we rumbled around a very short, mildly-graded loop of the sprawling park.
“How dirty do you want to get?” our guide had said, gesturing toward a pair of black two-door Broncos wearing Sasquatch-spec 35-inch rubber, one of which had the doors and top removed. Naturally, we opted for the plein-air experience.
The compact two-door Bronco equipped with the Sasquatch’s trail-tackling hardware is the most capable configuration of the family, whose membership currently sits at three. Its wheelbase is over two feet shorter than that of its four-door sibling, and 35-inch rubber grants it the most boastworthy numbers: 11.6-inch ground clearance and 43-degree approach, 29.0-degree breakover, and 37.2-degree departure angles. Maximum water fording sits at 33.5 inches. Along with the biggest and beefiest rubber on the options list (Goodyear 315/70R17) and 17-inch beadlock-capable wheels, the Sasquatch package provides front and rear locking differentials, a 4.7 final drive ration, and an electromagnetic transfer case. You also get heavy-duty Bilstein monotube shocks. To allow for maximum off-road fun fender flares complement the additional ground clearance.
