The 2021 Ford Bronco’s extensive list of factory options and thoughtful design have fed heavily into its hype, and now Ford wants us to know that some of those options were made with car camping in mind. Ford says that drowsy Bronco owners up to 7 feet, 6 inches tall can get comfy in the back of the four-door version using the Bronco’s slide-out tailgate.
Seriously, they sent out an entire press release on how good the Bronco four-door is to snooze in. Bronco chief interior designer Bill Mangan explained that making sure the off-road camping experience was excellent was a priority of theirs, from the amount of flat space available to the ability to open up the roof. Mangan claims that the Bronco has “best in class overall openness” with the roof off, just in case you want to see the stars.
Let’s get to those figures, though. There’s plenty of space for two back there, even with the Bronco’s back door closed. Per Ford, there’s over 21 square-feet of flat sleeping space with the door shut, which is what you’re looking for when you’re sleeping in a car.
With the rear seats folded down flat and the front seats positioned forward, there’s 6 feet, 6 inches of enclosed rear sleeping length. Two people under that height can fit comfortably side-by-side given the rear cargo area’s 3-foot, 7-inch width and its extra 10 inches of elbow room at the rear doors. One extra tall person up to 7 feet, 6 inches tall can sleep comfortably diagonally in the enclosed rear cargo area.
If that isn’t enough room, Ford has a trick option for the four-door Bronco available starting in late 2021: a slide-out tailgate. On a nice enough day in a safe enough place to snooze with the rear door open and the slide-out tailgate in place, that rear flat sleeping area extends from 6 feet, 6 inches long to 7 feet, 9 inches long. That means there’s 8 feet, 9 inches of diagonal length for those who are extra-extra-tall.
As for the roof, 13.3 square feet of uninterrupted roof space becomes completely open if you open the Bronco’s soft top or remove its hard top, depending on how you’ve speced it.
Ford also says that the four-door Bronco has more rear cargo area with the second row of seats folded down than the four-door Jeep Wrangler: 83 cubic feet for the Bronco four-door soft top, and 77.6 cubic feet for the four-door hard top. More gear can get stashed up top using some of the over 200 Ford-licensed accessories available through Ford dealerships, which include Platform roof carriers and heavy-duty two-person Yakima tents.
So, no, future Bronco owners: You won’t have to sleep in a van down by the river. The Bronco is just fine for that.
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