2025 Ford Bronco 2-Door Review

The Base Bronco 2-Door with the Sasquatch Package is a delightful extra vehicle for the weekends.

James Riswick | 

Sep 5, 2025 | 5 min read

James Riswick

The 2025 Ford Bronco 2-Door has a three-piece roof that's easy to remove. Pop some latches, undo some bolts with a provided ratchet, and it's free of its moorings. The trouble is finding someone willing to help take the awkward, heavy-ish rear portion off once you've freed the thing, and then finding somewhere to store it. My solution was to put the top on my backyard patio — not an ideal long-term fix.

Once its roof was off, though, the 2-Door Bronco provided a uniquely delightful driving experience. My Base-trim test vehicle ($40,990 to start) had only one major option: the $8,460 Sasquatch package, which includes, among a list of supporting features, larger 35-inch tires and a more advanced four-wheel drive system. Final tally: $50,140, including destination.

That combo is perfect for people who want off-road capability and don't need excess creature comforts. It even had a manual transmission. Add it all up, and it was more like a weekend toy — an off-roadster, if you will — than a daily driver. I dug it, and so did my 5-year-old, who came along for the ride.

James Riswick

Bringing the Family Along in the 2025 Ford Bronco 2-Door

The 2-Door Bronco lacks rear doors and it offers only two rear seats — by comparison, there are three seats in the 4-Door Bronco and also a bit more legroom. This meant that installing a child seat and then belting in a child was a gigantic pain in the 2-Door — at least, it was a pain with the roof on. With it off, I could stand up inside to secure the seat and then simply hoist my son in over the rear fender. He loved it. It's worth noting, however, that this was doable for me with my 6-foot-3 frame but not for my 5-foot-tall wife.

Once back there, my son reveled in the high, wide-open views. He said it was very windy, unlike up front, where air movement is surprisingly minimal even on the highway. He didn't care. If you don't mind hauling just two kids at a time, the Bronco is a perfectly viable choice for weekend outings or errands.

James Riswick

The 2025 Bronco 2-Door's Manual Is Great to Drive

I applaud Ford for even offering the Bronco with a manual transmission, and here's the kicker: It's a great manual transmission! The shifter precisely and easily moves between gears. The clutch engagement point is easy, and I could actually rev-match and heel-and-toe downshift between gears, thanks to perfectly placed and weighted pedals. I was blown away by how rewarding this manual gearbox was to drive.

And then I took it off-road. The Bronco has a special "Crawl" gear that basically let me — as the name suggests — crawl along the trail at extra-slow speeds without riding the clutch. Blown away again.

Combined with the traditional four-wheel-drive system and the front and rear locking differentials, the manual increases the Bronco's higher degree of driver involvement. Upper Bronco trim levels and other SUVs offer various features that make off-roading easy to the point of automation. Where's the fun in that? I greatly prefer this DIY approach.

James Riswick

The 2025 Bronco 2-Door's Sasquatch Offers More Off-Road

Unlike the signs espousing caution for Big Foot, you shouldn't avoid the Sasquatch package. Well, your wallet should beware of it, but the Sasquatch package certainly makes for a more compelling Bronco to drive off-road and to look at. Here's a quick breakdown of what the Sasquatch package includes:

• 35-inch rugged-terrain tires on 17-inch alloy wheels
• Enhanced 4WD system with Automatic On-Demand function
• 4.7 final drive ratio with electronic-locking front and rear axles
• Raised suspension
• Long-travel, position-sensitive Bilstein shocks
• Larger fender flares

Those tires were very much appreciated when clawing for traction off-road. Going up steep inclines, negotiating deep ruts, or churning through dirt inside those deep ruts on steep inclines also proved that the 35s are gnarly beasts of traction.

On the road, their grip is poor (as expected). Still, when compared with the last Bronco 2-Door I tested — which didn't have the Sasquatch Package — the larger tires and upgraded suspension made this Bronco feel more planted and less roly-poly on-road. I also didn't detect excessive road noise or overt impact harshness over bumps, which all-terrain tires can cause.

James Riswick

Can You Live With a Base Bronco?

Base doesn't equal barren. It has the same 12.0-inch infotainment and instrument displays as other trim levels. The cloth upholstery looks and feels durable (I love the gray portions), and the manually operated driver's seat offered more than enough adjustment and support for my 6-foot-3 frame. By contrast, I can never get a Jeep Wrangler's driver's seat to go back as far as I'd like to be comfortable.

Advanced safety tech is mostly missing, apart from forward-collision warning. Blind-spot mirrors are included in place of the blinking lights of a blind-spot warning system. A lack of adaptive cruise control furthered the notion that the Bronco 2-Door Base isn't an ideal vehicle for highway driving and road trips.

That said, neither is my 1998 BMW roadster, which sat next to the roofless Bronco in my garage with its top removed. They're both secondary cars for quick errands and weekend outings, especially given the Base Bronco's minimal feature content and relatively low price. It's a toy, and I was sad when I didn't have it around to play with. My son was sadder. Reclaiming the back patio from the roof wasn't such a bad thing, though.

Ford provided the vehicle for this 2025 Bronco review.

James Riswick

James Riswick has been testing cars and writing about them for more than 20 years. He was the senior reviews editor for Autoblog and previously served multiple editor roles at Edmunds. He has also contributed to Autotrader, Car and Driver, Hagerty, J.D. Power, and Autoguide Magazine. He has been interested in cars forever; his mom took him to the Toronto Auto Show when he was 18 months old and he has attended at least one every year since (OK, except in 2020). When he's not testing the latest cars, he has a babied 1998 BMW Z3 in James Bond blue, a 2013 Mercedes-Benz E350 Wagon, and a 2023 Kia Niro EV.