As a Ford dealer, GOAT is synonymous with the Bronco and stands for “goes over any type of terrain.” Yet, one look at the 2025 Bronco, and it’s undeniable that GOAT also stands for “greatest of all time.” Ford made several key updates to the iconic adventurer for the new model year, solidifying its position in the spotlight. The 2025 Bronco proves that the greatest of all time can get better, and here’s how.
The Budget-Friendly Base: Broadening the Bronco’s Appeal
Ford surprised many when it discontinued the base Bronco trim for 2024, replacing it with the Big Bend as the entry-level trim. The Base’s 2024 hiatus also meant the end of its more affordable price tag. The 2024 Big Bend starts at $39,630 and rolls off Ford’s production line on 17-inch aluminum wheels wrapped in 32-inch all-terrain tires.[a] Its interior comforts include a leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, with six of the seven available GOAT Modes in the Terrain Management System.
Fortunately, the Bronco Base returns for 2025 and gives Bronco fans a more budget-friendly option. The 2025 Bronco Base is a blank canvas because it’s available as a two-door or four-door model with a seven-speed manual or ten-speed automatic transmission and optional upgrades like the Sasquatch Package. Its HOSS 1.0 suspension system and the electronic shift on-the-fly two-speed transfer case give it an advantage over rivals on the trail, especially with the Base’s lower starting MSRP of $37,995.[a]
Overall, the return of the Bronco Base proves that Ford is listening to dealer and customer feedback. The initial demand for the Bronco skyrocketed its pricing, but the 2025 Bronco Base offers a budget-savvy option. Because of this, drivers don’t have to shy away from the Bronco and can treat the Bronco Base as a canvas to experience the legendary capability behind the GOAT.
More Tangible Value: Technologies and Comforts
The 2025 Bronco offers significantly more tangible value that mimics Ford’s efforts to broaden the Bronco’s appeal with the more affordable Base trim. While the Bronco Base ensures the SUV is readily accessible across all budgets, adding more standard features and comforts enhances that value. Drivers get more for their money in several key ways with the 2025 Bronco.
Digital Landscape
First and foremost, the Bronco’s digital landscape grew exponentially in 2025. In 2024, the Bronco Raptor was the only trim available with a 12-inch digital gauge cluster, but that feature is no longer exclusive to the four-wheeled powerhouse. The 12-inch digital driver display is now standard across the Bronco lineup in 2025, replacing the eight-inch display and the physical speedometer on previous models. This update is significant and gives the 2025 Bronco a tech-savvy cockpit framed by two 12-inch displays, the second being the SYNC 4 infotainment system that defines the SUV’s center stack and offers seamless smartphone integration via Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, an extensive camera system, navigational tools, and various in-vehicle apps.
Cabin Comforts
The Bronco’s digital displays are a focal point throughout the cabin, making the SUV’s other updates in 2025 seem subtle but no less significant. Yet again, Ford listens attentively to driver feedback and dramatically improves passenger comfort on four-door models by adding dedicated air vents for the second row. Likewise, the 2025 Bronco introduces additional interior lighting and sound insulation, the latter mitigating exterior noise to deliver a quieter ride despite rough terrain or beefier tires. This update is even more appreciated with the Sasquatch Package since Ford updated the package with new 35-inch Goodyear Territory rugged terrain tires that are quieter on the pavement.
A Diverse Family Tree: Packages and Special Editions
Rather than dilute the Bronco’s family tree with a dozen trims only modestly different from one another, Ford has taken a simpler approach that gives drivers more opportunities to customize the iconic SUV. For 2025, it has rearranged the Bronco lineup with new packages and special editions, including the all-new Black Appearance Package and heritage-inspired options like the Free Wheeling and Stroppe Edition.
Black Diamond Package
The Bronco Base returns after its hiatus in 2024, with Ford making room for the trim by reintroducing the Black Diamond as a package on the Big Bend. The four-door Big Bend with the Black Diamond Package adds Ford’s advanced four-wheel drive with automatic on-demand engagement, auxiliary switches in the overhead console with pre-run accessory wires, powder-coated steel bumpers, steel bash plates across the undercarriage, interior grab handles, LED fog lamps, rock rails, rubberized flooring, and an electronic-locking rear axle for improved traction on technical terrain.
Black Appearance Package
Putting the Bronco in stealth mode is easy in 2025, thanks to the all-new Black Appearance Package. As expected, the Batman-like package adds blacked-out elements throughout the Bronco’s interior and exterior. It exchanges the body-color roof with a removable hardtop finished in Shadow Black and adds black mirror caps, door handles, and fender flares. The grille is blacked out with white Bronco lettering, with black graphics completing the aesthetic.
Free Wheeling Package
The Free Wheeling appearance package is another new addition to the Bronco lineup in 2025. The heritage-inspired package pays homage to the Free Wheeling trim Ford introduced in the late 1970s and early 1980s on the Bronco, F-Series, and Econoline. The package transformed these best-selling models with an exterior paint palette in a red, orange, and yellow gradient.
The 2025 Bronco Free Wheeling adds a modern twist to the Big Bend. Sharing the same red, orange, and yellow color palette, the 2025 Free Wheeling features reflective graphics that complement the Bronco’s silver details, which stretch from the door handles to a retro-inspired grille with white Bronco lettering trimmed in red. The package adds several other exclusive details, including premium interior seats with a blend of fabric and marine-grade vinyl that mimic the Free Wheeling models of decades past.
Stroppe Special Edition
The Stroppe Special Edition marks the final heritage-inspired option to join the Bronco lineup for 2025. Why is it significant? The new trim celebrates the Bronco Baja and its desert-racing spirit that took the world by surprise in the 1960s and 1970s.
The Stroppe Baja Bronco of the past was a desert warrior designed by Bill Stroppe, a legend renowned for building some of the fastest and strongest off-road warriors in the industry. Stroppe’s Bronco lived up to and exceeded expectations as a desert racer praised for its agility as it maneuvered across slippery terrain at high speeds, throwing sand in its wake without apology. The 2025 Bronco Stroppe Special Edition pays homage to its predecessor, introducing the legend to a new generation of drivers.
The Bronco Stroppe Special Edition rolls off Ford’s production line as a two-door model and replaces the Bronco Wildtrak for 2025. As a desert racer, the special edition sits on 35-inch Goodyear Territory RT tires and is equipped with performance-tuned Fox Internal Bypass Dampers, a HOSS 3.0 suspension, and a stabilizer bar disconnect for exceptional handling and responsiveness. Ford puts the Bronco’s 2.7L EcoBoost V6 engine under its hood and adds Baja to the GOAT Mode lineup, encouraging drivers to push the envelope and discover the meaning behind the Stroppe legacy.
The Greatest of All Time
The Bronco returned to the spotlight only a few years ago with big shoes to fill amid a fiercely competitive segment of adventurers. Fortunately, Ford has always been up for a challenge, especially given the opportunity to showcase its ingenuity and legacy of putting the world on wheels. Today, the 2025 Bronco is a testament to that ingenuity and Ford’s attentiveness to driver feedback. We asked for more features, more value, and a more affordable Bronco, and Ford delivered tenfold by exceeding our expectations in 2025.
