The Ford Bronco Sport's interior is logical but nothing special. There are a few touches we like, however. The storage space underneath the infotainment screen is a nice touch, and the lack of a traditional gear lever leaves more room and easier access to the lower storage space with the USB charger.
As for quality, it's both a hit and miss. Thanks to a smart steering wheel featuring a bucking bronco instead of a Ford badge, the interior is elevated. The large infotainment screen and digital instrument cluster give it an upmarket feel. Ford was also smart enough to keep the climate control buttons separate, which always scores bonus points from us. However, some interior materials are a bit low-rent, but that's expected at the price. It's more of a niggle on the Badlands, which carries a near-$40,000 sticker price if you add some goodies. Overall, it's comfortable, ergonomic, and seemingly bolted together correctly.
Headroom is generous in the front and rear, rated at 41.5 and 41.7 inches, respectively. Front passengers get a maximum of 42.4 inches of legroom, while passengers in the rear might struggle. Rear passengers only get 36.9 inches of legroom, which isn't much. That's just 0.2 inches more than rear passengers get in the compact Ford EcoSport. In front, there is a more generous 40.8 inches of legroom.
The rear middle seat is large enough to accommodate a slim person, but there's minimal room for the skinny person's feet due to the running gear underneath the car. Treat the Bronco Sport as a four-seater, and all will be fine.
Ford Bronco Sport Trims | Base | Big Bend | Heritage Edition | Outer Banks | Badlands | Heritage Limited Edition |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Seating | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
Headroom Front Seat | 41.5 in. | 41.5 in. | 41.5 in. | 41.5 in. | 41.5 in. | 41.5 in. |
Headroom Back Seat | 41.7 in. | 41.7 in. | 41.7 in. | 41.7 in. | 41.7 in. | 41.7 in. |
Legroom Front Seat | 42.4 in. | 42.4 in. | 42.4 in. | 42.4 in. | 42.4 in. | 42.4 in. |
Legroom Back Seat | 36.9 in. | 36.9 in. | 36.9 in. | 36.9 in. | 36.9 in. | 36.9 in. |
Shoulder Room Front | 57.3 in. | 57.3 in. | 57.3 in. | 57.3 in. | 57.3 in. | 57.3 in. |
Shoulder Room Rear | 55.6 in. | 55.6 in. | 55.6 in. | 55.6 in. | 55.6 in. | 55.6 in. |
Hip Room, Front | 55.2 in. | 55.2 in. | 55.2 in. | 55.2 in. | 55.2 in. | 55.2 in. |
Hip Room, Rear | 53.4 in. | 53.4 in. | 53.4 in. | 53.4 in. | 53.4 in. | 53.4 in. |
The Base model only has one interior option: Ebony cloth. Since the Big Bend is aimed at more adventurous people, it's equipped with easy-clean cloth seats available in Ebony or Medium Dark Slate. The Outer Banks is more luxurious, which means leather is standard. It's available in Ebony/Roast or Navy Pier. The Badlands comes standard with unique cloth seats, available in Ebony/Area 51 and Ebony/Active Orange. When equipped with the Premium Package, the Badlands comes with perforated leather seats in Ebony/Roast.
For the new Heritage Edition, there are attractive plaid cloth seats in Navy Pier, and everything is enlivened with Oxford White accents. In the Heritage Limited Edition, you get perforated plain inserts in a leather/vinyl combination, all finished in a Norias (brown) color scheme.
The interior trim is primarily various shades of dark plastic, but the Badlands adds multiple interior trim pieces in either Area 51 or Active Orange. It enhances the interior a bit, but not by much. As mentioned previously, the Bronco Sport's cabin isn't especially plush and some plastics have a hard finish.
When it comes to cargo space, the Ford Bronco Sport is more than sufficient. It has a 32.5-cubic-foot trunk with all seats in place. The Badlands has a slightly smaller trunk, rated at 29.4 cubes. Fold the rear seats forward, and the luggage capacity increases to 65.2 cubes for the lower trims and 60.6 for the Badlands. These figures are more than acceptable in the segment and should make life easy for a family of four.
Interior storage is impressive. Front passengers get two small storage compartments, another storage space underneath the front armrest, and three cupholders: two regular-sized cupholders and one for those tall but thin energy drinks. Rear passengers get large door pockets. Finally, there is also an overhead console with sunglasses storage.
Standard features on the Base include a 4.2-inch information screen, a six-way manual driver's seat (with four-way adjustability for the front-seat passenger), manual single-zone climate control, and Ford's Co-Pilot 360 safety suite. The latter consists of forward collision warning, lane-keep assist, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, a rearview camera, and automatic high beams.
The Big Bend gains heated side mirrors, electronic temperature control, push-button ignition, and the rear fold-down center armrest with dual cupholders. Outer Banks models have many additional features due to their supposed luxurious nature. These include remote start, heated and power-adjustable front seats, dual-zone automatic climate control, ambient interior lighting, a 6.5-inch screen in the instrument cluster, and a windshield wiper de-icer.
The Badlands mainly adds features that help it off-road. These include a model-specific suspension and tire combo, skid plates, tow hooks, an upgraded GOAT system with a special rear differential, and a forward-facing 180-degree camera to keep an eye out for obstacles.
All models are equipped with the same infotainment system, consisting of an eight-inch touchscreen loaded with Ford's SYNC 3 software. It's not the latest version, which is frustrating if you've already used to the more modern version equipped to some other Fords. It's both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatible, and features like a 4G LTE Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth, smart-charging USB ports, and voice activation are inclusive as well. The sound system is a six-speaker unit, and the Big Bend adds SiriusXM satellite radio to the mix. For an added cost, a 10-speaker Bang & Olufsen sound system can be added, as can HD Radio.