2025 Ford Bronco vs. the Competition

The Bronco is legendary, an offroad icon that can tackle what other vehicles can’t. But nobody is going to buy a vehicle on legend alone, you’re going to want to know how it actually measures up to what competition there is. So, we put together a detailed comparison to show how these vehicles compare, and it might also help to explain why the Bronco is such a legend.

The obvious place to start is with the other popular mainstream off-road vehicle, the Jeep Wrangler. We went with the base trims of each, and the two-door configuration, so that it’s an apples-to-apples comparison. The Wrangler starts with a bit of a price advantage, but part of the reason why is immediately obvious. The engine in the Wrangler is a bit dated, and while it does offer slightly more horsepower, it comes up seriously short in the torque department, the more important of the two for offroading. So it’s not too surprising that the Bronco also offers a much better towing capacity. And since the Bronco uses a far more advanced engine, it also gets noticeably better fuel economy. And even if you aren’t towing, you can carry more cargo in the Bronco. These numbers are specifically for the 2-door versions of each, but the Bronco maintains the same advantage in 4-door form, and by roughly the same amount. 

The Wrangler is a bit light on standard equipment, which is another reason for the lower price. This is especially glaring when it comes to important features like selectable drive modes, a seriously useful piece of equipment for an off-roader, which is standard equipment on the Bronco, but optional for the Wrangler. And the engine isn’t the only part of the Wrangler showing its age, as it still comes with standard halogen headlights. LED headlights are available, but they’re another extra cost option. Ford offers an app-based remote start without any subscription fees, which is a huge advantage over all of the competition, and this comparison is no different. Having a configurable gauge cluster lets you choose what information you want displayed, a useful tool since on-road and off-road conditions have very different requirements. The Bronco comes with this as standard, but it’s an option on the Wrangler. Lastly, while both vehicles come with all-season tires, you can opt for all-terrain tires on the Base trim of the Bronco, but you have to move up to another trim just to have the option with the Wrangler. In all, despite the lower price, the Wrangler really isn’t such a great deal.

The Defender 110 is an evolution of the original Land Rover, which was based on the original Willys Jeep from WWII. But despite having a common ancestor with the Wranger, the Defender is a lot more expensive. So for this comparison, we’re looking at the Badlands trim for the Bronco, equipped with the available 2.7-liter V6, and the Bronco still has a price advantage. The Bronco also has a power advantage once again, especially when it comes to torque. And to help maintain peak torque across a wide range of conditions, the Bronco has a 10-speed automatic transmission, much more precise than the 8-speed auto in the Defender. We chose the 4-door versions of both of these to show that the Bronco offers superior cargo space in either body style. 

The interiors and equipment levels of these two are similar, with heated seats, a heated steering wheel, dual-zone climate control, and a robust infotainment system coming standard on both vehicles. But there are still differences. Both vehicles have rubberized flooring for easy cleaning, but only the Bronco also has a drain plug that allows for quick and easy hosing out. Both vehicles have the same suspension configuration, but the Bronco comes with Bilstein position-sensitive dampers, upgradable to available FOX internal bypass dampers, neither of which are available for the Defender. Both all-terrain tires and an electronic-locking rear axle are standard on the Badlands trim of the Bronco, but you’ll need to spend a bit more for the off-road package if you want them on the Defender. Lastly, there are a dozen different roof configurations for the Bronco, letting you outfit for whatever conditions you expect to encounter, but the Defender has just one roof configuration. The Defender is the most capable vehicle in the Land Rover stable, but it still doesn’t seem to take off-roading quite as seriously as the Bronco.