2023 RHD Ford Bronco Black Diamond: First Australian drive

The adventurous P-plater in his GU Patrol probably wasn’t expecting to see anyone in his rear-view mirror this far off the beaten track.

Even if he was, you could have given him 1000 tries and he wouldn’t have guessed he’d spot the round-eyed retro face of a new Ford Bronco. And who could blame him? There are currently just two right-hand drive Broncos in Australia – Ford Australia has a few left-hook engineering cars – so you’ve almost better odds of winning Powerball as coming across one on the road, let alone crawling through a Victorian forest.

Both RHD Broncos are the work of Melbourne’s Crossover Car Conversions. One has gone to a customer and this one is still for sale at the time of writing for $199,990 plus on-road costs. That’s obviously a huge amount of money but when you consider this spec costs around A$90,000 in its homeland and then has to be transported, converted, engineered and complied, it’s easy to see how the cost stacks up.

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According to CCC, that price can be sharpened slightly, but you’re still looking at around A$150,000 for a base model up to around A$250,000 for the range-topping Bronco Raptor.

Choosing a Bronco is no easy task. There are nine different variants: Big Bend, Black Diamond, Outer Banks, Heritage Edition, Badlands, Everglades, Wildtrak, Heritage Limited Edition and Raptor, with the further options of two- or four-door and hard or soft top.

Raptor aside, there’s also the choice of a 224kW/440Nm 2.3-litre turbo four-cylinder petrol with a seven-speed manual or 10-speed automatic, auto-only 246kW/562Nm 2.7-litre twin-turbo V6 petrol and Mid, High, Lux and Sasquatch equipment packages. Not all options are available on all variants but you get the point – there are many ways to cut the Bronco cake.

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JUMP AHEAD

• What do you get?
• On-road performance
• Off-road performance
• Verdict
• Building a RHD Bronco
• Specs

What do you get?

The vehicle you see here is a four-door, soft top Black Diamond with the V6 and Sasquatch Package. It’s aimed at hardcore adventurers, with marine-grade vinyl seats, rubber mats and drain plugs in the floors to allow the interior to be hosed out.

This is not a luxurious vehicle. Higher spec variants like the Wildtrak have leather accenting, a bigger infotainment screen and more active safety equipment, but the basic Black Diamond is a no-frills package. Adding the Mid Package brings heated front seats, keyless entry, reversing sensors and more – helpful stuff.

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It’s the Sasquatch Package that is of more interest here, though. At US$8995 it’s not a cheap box to tick, but it turns the Bronco into an absolute off-road monster. Top of the list is automatic 4x4 engagement when you select one of the G.O.A.T (Goes Over Any Terrain) modes, a system familiar from the local Ranger and Everest. It works exactly the same, select Sand or Mud/Ruts etc. and the car will set everything up of its own accord.

The 17-inch wheels become beadlock-capable and wear enormous 315/70 BF Goodrich Mud Terrain boots, which combine with a suspension lift to increase ground clearance from 210 to 292mm.

Three-position, remote reservoir Bilstein shocks are joined by a 20mm thicker front axle, shorter 4.7:1 diff, a rear anti-roll bar and front diff lock to give it lockers at both ends. So equipped, the specs tell their own story of its capability: 850mm wading depth, 67.8:1 crawl ratio and 43.2°/26.3°/37° approach/rampover/departure angles.

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On-road performance

To get off road you need to drive on road.

Being very similar in size and weight and based on the same T6 platform, there’s an expectation that the Bronco will feel like an Everest, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Refinement is not a Bronco strong suit, at least with the soft top. Anything over 80km/h has the wind howling through the cabin, but that’s also kind of the point.

Not only does the roof come off but the doors as well, which is no doubt fantastic cruising Santa Monica Boulevard, but not a realistic course of action on a wet Melbourne winter day.

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The ride is as you’d expect of a live-axle, separate-chassis vehicle, with poor surfaces setting up some shimmy, but otherwise it’s comfortable enough. Where the Bronco really differs from its T6 siblings is its steering, being much quicker – part of this will be down to the smaller steering wheel – but also differently weighted. A bit more heft is required.

It’s certainly not lacking under the bonnet, the 2.7-litre twin-turbo V6 providing plenty of punch and making light work of the 2230kg kerb weight. There’s an equivalent thirst, but you could imagine a reasonable takeup of this engine were it offered in the Ranger like it is in the States.

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Off-road performance

Our destination today is Wandong Regional Park, hitting the tracks that criss-cross the forest just north of Mount Disappointment, about 40 minutes from Melbourne.

Taking into account the vehicle’s rarity and value, the plan is to take it quite easy, but it turns out the Bronco has other plans. On the fast, flowing forestry roads that are the bread and butter of the locally-developed Ranger/Everest, the American Ford isn’t quite at home.

The quick steering and soft, long-travel suspension requiring smooth, measured inputs to avoid upsetting the apple cart, but there’s a certain feeling of invincibility that comes from knowing you have the hardware to tackle virtually any terrain. And software, too, the Bronco featuring some cool off-road toys.

A couple we are relatively familiar with. Trail control, effectively off-road cruise control, is becoming commonplace, though Ford’s system is excellent in its ability to control speed on even steep inclines/declines and it’s a breeze to activate using the regular cruise control buttons.

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We’ve also seen Trail Turn Assist in the Ranger Wildtrak X, Tremor, LandCruiser and GWM products, the inside rear wheel heavily braked while turning to drag the front end around and substantially reduce the turning circle.

Trail one-pedal drive, however, is a new one. Standard on all V6-equipped cars, it effectively turns the Bronco into an EV – sort of. Just like an electric car with the regenerative braking turned up to maximum, release the throttle and the car will swiftly bring itself to a stop, a handy feature that eliminates the need to dance between the throttle and brake in tight spots.

It turns out this feeling of invincibility is misplaced. While climbing a very easy track a rear wheel lifts crossing a rut and flummoxes the traction control. A quick press of the rear locker has us on our way again but it’s a situation a Ranger or Hilux would’ve clambered out of without drama.

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But the tougher the terrain becomes the more the Bronco shines. If you’re familiar with the Wandong forest you might be aware of ‘The Moguls’ at the bottom of Escreets Road. It’s a relatively gnarly set of offset holes and today is extremely slippery.

As mentioned earlier, given the need to protect this car we agree to just edge it onto the first ‘mogul’ to get the flex-photo done and then back out. Low range engaged, both diffs locked, the Bronco scales the first mogul without fuss. And the second. And the third.

As far as off-the-shelf off-roaders go, it’s incredibly impressive.

It seems determined to get to the top so who am I to argue? This is not an impassable section of track, but whereas a Nissan Patrol Warrior does it with lifted wheels and some V8 mumbo, the Bronco clambers up without a scrape and barely a hint of wheelspin. As far as off-the-shelf off-roaders go, it’s incredibly impressive.

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Verdict

The number of people who are going to sign over well into six figures for a Bronco are relatively few and those who do probably aren’t going to drop it up to the door sills in a mud hole.

Even if it were to come to Australia officially it wouldn’t be cheap, but this drive has proved the capability and appeal of Ford’s icon and if it reaches these shores, you’ll be a lot more likely to see one in forests all over the country.

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Building a RHD Bronco

Sharing its T6 underpinnings with the Ford Ranger and Everest, you might think that switching a Bronco to right-hand drive is a relatively simple process. Yes and no.

Installing a Ranger steering rack means the mechanical side of things isn’t particularly arduous, but making a Bronco look like it came out of a factory with the wheel on the right-hand side is a lot more difficult.

The interior might be relatively simple, but the fact there’s nothing like it in the RHD world means a lot of the parts and trim need to be constructed from scratch. Even Ford doesn’t mirror the handbrake location and many of the buttons in the factory Mustangs.

Crossover Car Conversions will source, import and supply any Bronco you wish, but the real opportunity is if the car is introduced locally, with an enormous array of upgrade parts available, both factory through Ford Performance and aftermarket from brands like RTR.

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Specs

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