Now that Ford has dropped the Ford Bronco Raptor’s base price by $10,000 (!), I just can’t take it anymore. I have to say something: The Ford Bronco Raptor is a severely underrated off-road beast, and it’s time to give it its flowers as Ford preps to do the impossible: dethrone the mighty Jeep Wrangler.
You know what I keep seeing on YouTube? Videos about Ford Bronco Raptors not selling, and big discounts.
Videos like this one:
And this one:
And this one:
Obviously, many of the videos are from random folks with YouTube channels, but that Ford Bronco Raptors can be had for under MSRP is no secret. In fact, our Lewin Day wrote about it in October in an article titled “A Dealer Is Selling A Ford Bronco Raptor For $17,000 Off And It’s Not A Fluke.”
Here’s the editor’s note I threw into Lewin’s story:
[Editor’s Note: The Ford Bronco Raptor, at $80,000, is an absolute steal in my eyes. It is truly one of the greatest off-road machines ever sold, and the fact that it’s even in the five-digit range given its capabilities is amazing to me. Sure, its V6 engine is a little boring, but its ability to perform at an elite level on a variety of off-road terrains makes it, in some ways, superior to rivals like the Jeep Wrangler and Ineos Grenadier. I also have to note that The Autopian’s sister company, Galpin, has the best Ford dealership in the country. -DT].
Now, according to Car and Driver, the Bronco Raptor’s actual base price — not the price after discounts — is $80 grand. The car site writes in its article “2025 Ford Bronco Prices Adjusted, Raptor Base Price Drops by $10K”:
The burly Raptor model is the biggest mover with a reported $10,040 decrease, taking its base price from $90,035 to $79,995. That’s a massive reduction, and it takes the Bronco Raptor’s cost back towards where it was in 2023, before its pricing took a massive jump for the 2024 model year. The other Bronco receiving a discount is another enthusiast-focused model, the Badlands, which in four-door specification sees its price go down by $1000 to $50,385.
This is a white-hot deal because — as I say in the headline — the Ford Bronco Raptor is the best off-road vehicle in the world.
And I realize that’s blasphemous from someone who was an engineer on the Jeep Wrangler JL program, but what it comes down to is the Raptor’s diverse resume of off-road skills. It can rock-crawl with elite company — I’m not just talking stock Jeep Wranglers, I’m talkin’ built JLs on one-tons and 37s. It can stay with high-speed desert-runners on dunes that would leave a Jeep Wrangler driver’s spinal cord twisted into the shape of a pretzel. The Bronco Raptor can do it all:
The Bronco Raptor’s biggest weakness is its size, and I will say that a two-Door Wrangler might be as capable as the Bronco Raptor overall. But again, that Wrangler on dunes is not going to cut it.
I generally am unimpressed by vehicles that gain their off-road capability through shear tire-size, and let’s be honest: That’s partly what the Bronco does with those massive 37s. But it’s the short overhangs, the underbody protection, the locking differentials, the sway bar disconnect, and just the general execution of the suspension and entire system that blows me away. It’s truly an offroad supercar capable of competent handling on pretty much any terrain — including the road.
Eighty grand seams like a relative steal for all that capability, though it’s worth noting that you can buy a Jeep Wrangler 392 for $100,000, and that has a V8 instead of a frankly un-noteworthy EcoBoost V6. A 20 grand delta, though, is huge, and it’s just another way that Ford is planning on going for the Jeep Wrangler’s jugular.
And it looks like it’s going to pull that off, which would be an absolutely amazing feat.
The Jeep Wrangler has been Chrysler’s cash cow ever since the Wrangler four-door debuted for the 2007 model-year, and for over a decade Jeep just raked in >200,000 annual sales and had no competition. Ford smartly launched the Bronco for the 2021 model-year, and execution was perfect. It leaned on the nameplate’s rich but dated heritage, the styling is retro but not too much so, the roof and doors came off, the price was competitive, and the suspension was independent.
That last point was key, in my view, because offering a solid front axle would have meant that all the Bronco could have been was as good as the Wrangler. But going independent – and giving up a bit of articulation and maybe a bit of durability — allowed the vehicle to give up maybe 15% rock-crawling capability, while increasing high-speed dune running by 50% and on-road handling by 50% (I’m pulling these percentages out of thin air). It was clearly worth it.
The Ford Bronco is a masterfully-done machine during a time when Ford just could not miss. This, the Maverick, the Mach-E, the Ranger, the F-150 Lightning — the company was on a tear product-wise, and it all bears fruit. The Ford Bronco may just dethrone the Jeep Wrangler; FoMoCo sold over 14,000 Broncos in March, while the Wrangler was closer to 13,000 per Goodcarbadcar. And though the Wrangler had a stronger beginning of the year, the Bronco is crushing it lately, with over 14,400 sales in May.
It will be close, which is amazing if you think about it. The Wrangler four-door has been out for 18 years, and the Bronco for just four.
The wife and I make pretty decent money at this point and I still struggle to wrap my head around paying $50,000 for a car….
And this is really more of a toy than it is a car. I mean, you could daily it and people do, but it seems like it would have a lot of compromises as a daily driver. Paying that much for a “extra fun car” really narrows the market. We also make pretty decent money at this point and I only have in the low $10k area for a fun car, and even then, I’m trying for something that it going to generally hold it’s value.
Unless you live in the country or deep burbs this thing will be a nightmare to live with. It’s too wide, too tall, and it absolutely chugs gas. In practice you’ll be lucky to get low teens mileage with any of the V6 Raptors and they require premium on top of that. Honestly I’d find this more appealing if they just offered the Coyote in it but if they did that they couldn’t charge you $120,000 for the inevitable R variant.
Anyway, at the end of the day it’s a trophy truck…which as you suggest makes it make even less sense. This is basically the equivalent of a Miata or Boxster for the yee haw crowd. It’s something they take out on weekends to have fun and show off in. It does have the advantage of having actual space, unlike any traditional sports cars…but I can’t imagine daily-ing one and just incinerating money in the process.
For a little while I was tempted by the idea of a Ranger Raptor but once you sit down and crunch the numbers they’re pretty much as expensive to run as a German luxury car or dedicated sports car. I don’t know about you but I’m not throwing that much money away on a goddamn Ford….
My neighbor has one, and it is his daily. I don’t think it’s ever touched a gravel parking lot, let alone sailed over dunes. I don’t get it either.
BRUH. Same.
The car payments are too damn high!!!
No, $80000 is not an absolute steal. Maybe late night dadding and inhaling diaper fumes has gotten to you but hell no. If you really feel it is then you owe it to yourself to buy it yourself. If you won’t do that then don’t try to convince us to do it.
Well, it’s an absolute steal for the off-road capabilities on offer.
Super expensive for a daily, but I’ll take DT’s word that it’s a good deal for a rock crawling rig that can also blast dunes.
I’m just saying there’s quite a bit of hypocrisy coming from a self proclaimed cheap bastard. You read this and go “suuure. yeah ok whatever”.
In a world where sideXsides are over 50K, this is technically a bargain.
How much better really is a Bronco Raptor over a $60k Badlands with the V6 and Sasquatch package though? Is it really $20k better?
Also, how many people are using their 4x4s for both tight trails and desert running? I guess if you’re going to KotH, maybe, but the people I know with dedicated weekend 4x4s have them set up for a specific kind of topography. In my area, it’s mountain forests or coastal dunes.
Washed out fire roads really like a narrow car over huge ground clearance. Being somewhat trashed that you back *up* a tree instead of into also helps.
I guess if you want a serious machine that can do both, this makes sense. I don’t off-road, but if I did, this would make sense here in SoCal where there’s lots of different places to go.
10k off – nice job Ford. This should help a couple more show up here in the middle manager parking lot at work and add some much needed variety from the sea of 1/2 ton lux crew cab pickups.
I saw this one in person over a year ago and just had to see if it was still on the lot, yup, and now discounted $51,000!
https://www.freeholdford.com/inventory/new-2023-ford-bronco-badlands%c2%ae-king-of-the-hammers-4×4-4-door-1fmee5dp4plc13159/
I guess this is what happens when you more than double the price of a $62k Badlands making it into a $131k Kig of the Hammers edition and it sits 2 years.
“Top features include air conditioning, front bucket seats, power windows, and a split folding rear seat”
… Um, yeah, that Bronco is gonna start growing roots if not already. It’s never going to leave that dealership with that kind of marketing. Hilarious
Searching inventory there are exactly three two door Broncos with a manual transmission. Two of them are base modes, one in boring blue and the other in all cars can be black. Then there is a $65,000 one in a non awful green with a color matched top. Of course it has giant wheels and tires to make sure I never enjoy driving on the highway.
I only have one problem here, and Ford is probably going to rectify it in a year or so.
I ain’t buying a Ford that expensive that doesn’t have Bluecruise.
I ain’t buying a Ford that expensive.
Yeah… that is also correct.
I ain’t buying a Ford.
Haha… also might be correct.
Both are still wildly overpriced. When the day comes I need to replace my 2012 JKU I bought new I will probably choose something with less capability for significantly less money than off road spec’d Broncos and Wranglers and I am not even talking Raptor/392 levels of crazy cost.
Ok, but will people leave plastic ducks on your vehicle if you buy a Bronco?
No? Oh, even better then.
They leave “buck buck broncos.” At least my wife does (who is justifiably proud of her Badlands with the Sasquatch package.)
Zero shade, but what’s justifiable there?
Zero shade taken, but this is her retirement present to herself. Her Bronco, equipped this way, is not a typical vehicle for a 68 year old woman. Pride in one’s unusual vehicle (for her demographic) is justified IMHO.
She sounds rad! Good for her!
For $80,000 it really should be better than a Jeep Wrangler. I know vehicles are expensive in 2025, but $80k is still a metric shit ton of money. I’m surprised anyone is surprised they didn’t fly off dealer lots at $90,000.
Not all Broncos are $80K, just the Raptor version, which doesn’t have a direct comparison with any particular Wrangler model. It’s more capable at high speeds than the Rubicon and 392, much more powerful than the Rubicon but less so than the 392, and less maneuverable on trails than a Rubicon due to its girth.
The discount will ensure you see more Braptors at your local mall.
Has the 4 door Wrangler really been out for 18 years!? Man, that makes me feel old.
If they made this as a range extended BEV, like the Scout, I might be in. But coming from an EV, I’m just not interested in a pure gas vehicle again.
I recently drove a 4xe Wrangler for about 5 hours 80% interstate and then a week later a Bronco Badlands for about 3 hours, similar ratio of interstate and I can’t believe I am going to say it but I will take the Wrangler and it has nothing to do with the steering. The Bronco was so effing loud. Both vehicles had hardtops with the nvh fabric and similar miles. I could not believe how bad it was. Also the ecoboost v6 in that car sounds so unpleasant when you start giving it decent amounts of throttle. While driving the Bronco I would see other ones on the road around me and all I could think was, how do you put up with noise that everyday?
Was the noise from the tires? Badlands would have A/T or M/T tires on there, which will be LOUD. 4Xes have more eco-friendly tires because hybrid which are a good deal quieter.
All the more reason I wish Ford sold the Everest here. Same platform as the Ranger and Bronco, but in a closed wagon body.
I’d never buy one given my non-existent need for an off-road-capable ride, but Broncos do look good in person, and I especially like their headlights/grills. I know they’re not actual round sealed-beam headlights like the ones you used to be able to replace at Pep Boys for well under $20 a pop (and get enough change to still buy a quick lunch) but their roundness is so appealing to me for some reason, perhaps just because I’m a straight guy? 😉
Wait, what? The 392 is $100k?!?! I just hear one start up the other day and it sounded amazing, but not $100k amazing. I just checked the website, unreal, I never would have thought a Wrangler could be spec’d to $100k. The one I saw, has also never seen anything rougher than the potholed streets south of Boston.
I want to like the Bronco, but the sheer size of them is ridiculous. The Wrangler has already grown so much that it is pushing the limits of what is acceptable, but the Bronco Raptor is too wide for most of the trails I take my TJ on. I like the premise of it, but the thing is right there with the F150 Raptor in being too wide for anything but open sand dunes and mall parking lots.
Not to rag on the Raptor, but I’d really like to see them try to make a narrower off-road beast, rather than a wider one. I now live where the dunes are close enough that Raptors make a lot of sense, but I grew up in a forested area. Off-roaders wanted to squeeze through, not have the largest footprint.
But I’m not buying an off-road vehicle, especially not brand new, so I guess I’m not really the opinion they need to cater to, anyway.
I am opinion they need to cater to, and you are spot on (and I wrote pretty much the same sentiment above). The width adds stability offroad, but it comes at the price of clearance. Most trails were started by Jeeps of the past, so in heavily wooded or rocky areas, the trails aren’t nearly wide enough for the sheer width of these vehicles. I’m running full-width axles on my TJ and scrub on the sides constantly, and the Bronco Raptor is another half a foot wider on each side, plus the body is significantly wider. Given that I have encountered exactly zero Bronco Raptors on the trail since they were released, and I hit the trails weekly even in winter, they have become the pinnacle of offroader cosplay in my mind.
Sounds like Ford came back to reality on the Bronco Raptor’s price. To me it feels less like a price cut and more like repealing a ridiculous markup.
Have they gotten past the quality control problems? The early Broncos looked like they were slapped together by drunks and had charming features such as exterior roof panels that started delaminating after less than a year in service.
This is an excellent question I have not yet seen answered anywhere.
everyone that has one that I know has had beaucoup problemas.
Long overdue given how much the MSRP rose from 2021-24 and how big the discounts have been for a long time now.
I’m guessing that the MSRP adjustment is going to end up being a shell game with gradually reduced incentives, resulting a stealth net price increase due to something-something-tariffs-market uncertainty. We’ll probably be seeing that more and more going forward.
The Braptor is ridiculous looking, but I’m sold on the offroad capability. YouTube channel Lite Brite bought a new one a few years back and immediately took on 8/10 trails in Sand Hollow and was able to scale some ridiculous obstacles, while being a rocket in the dunes.
They also own a heavily modded JLUR with 40’s and a hemi swap, and they said that while it crawls better, nothing they could do to the Jeep would make it as fast as the Bronco in the sand.
The Bronco is a great jack of all trades vehicle.
Any competitor that is similar but not built like a goddamn Chrysler is gonna do well. Jeeps are junk.
I also have to note that The Autopian’s sister company, Galpin
this is news to me… neato.
25 years ago my ’77 Bronco moderately modified was better than the similar vintage CJ7 and CJ5 my buddies had at getting around East TN trails.. and it was a pleasure to drive on the interstate.
Not surprised at your evaluation even a little bit.
The Bronco has IFS, its not even in the running, its a wannabe, its a joke.
Let the flames begin.
I don’t think it’s flaming when it’s as simple as pointing out that you are objectively incorrect.
Let’s be honest. Even if you off road alot, you will spend most of the time on pavement. A small sacrifice in articulation is worth the massive improvement in road abilities
Wranglers are awesome, but they’re a one trick pony. They do well at low-speed rock crawling and that’s pretty much it. They’re very tasked focused while the IFS vehicles are more all-rounders.
Before I bought my 4Runner, I was cross shopping it with a Wrangler. I really wanted the Wrangler, but even the Jeep guys told me to go with the 4Runner since I was going to be putting a ton of highway miles on it.
That reminds me, I saw a Wrangler on the highway doing the speed wobble thing and I can’t believe they didn’t get pulled over for how dangerous it is.
scary AF when you see it happen