The 2023 Ford Bronco Sport’s New Off-Road Package Will Be Worth Getting
Skid plates and decent tires are pretty much the minimal loadout you’d want for confident off-roading. But they should be enough to get you plenty of places.
The 2023 Ford Bronco Sport looks largely unchanged from its current configuration. But soon you'll be able to spec a little bundle of options called the Black Diamond package that adds some decent items for about $1,300. If you plan on off-roading your Bronco Sport at all, or you really like the style of these wheels, this looks like a pretty good value.
Ford Bronco Sport Black Diamond Package Specs
- Four steel skid plates covering the powertrain and fuel tank
- 17-inch Carbonized Gray low-gloss aluminum wheels
- 225/65R17 all-terrain tires (28.5 inches tall)
- Graphics package (hood and lower sides)
- $1,295 option on all Bronco Sports above the base model, April 2023 availability
The Badlands trim is still Bronco Sport's highest off-road trim loadout, namely featuring Ford's off-road traction control system cutely called GOAT (Goes Over Any Terrain, get it?) that starts at $36,590. But now if you just want the cool wheels and a little added underbody protection, you can spec the Black Diamond package on a lower Bronco Sport (the $30,930 Big Bend trim, for example) and get it. The pricing delta seems pretty small once you start playing with options, but the reality of U.S. car shopping in 2022 is that you have to be a little flexible on preferences. So practically speaking, the addition of this new package to the Bronco Sport lineup increases your chances of being able to find these off-road items at a Ford store.
By itself, $1,295 for a nice little graphics package, wheels and tires, plus skid plates, seems like a good deal to me. You're going to be spending at least that much to upgrade tires alone if you're trying to move up from worn-out road tires to something knobbier. The all-terrain tires in Ford's handout photos and on build-and-price sites are Contentinal CrossContacts. I've never driven on those, but cursory research didn't yield any damning reviews and Conti is a solid brand so I think we can be good with that choice.
Since the Black Diamond package tires are the same size as what you get on the Bronco Sport Badlands and there are no changes to the suspension, we can expect the same 8.8 inches of ground clearance under the vehicle.
The Bronco Sport is a good-looking little rig. I'd rock one of these things for adventures and dog hauling. And apparently, I could even run it in Moab with good tires and careful throttle application. Ford's also now opening up its Bronco "Off-Roadeo" driver experience to Bronco Sport buyers to let folks get a sense of the vehicle's capability. You can find out where and when those events happen at Ford's site here.
More Bronco Sport Insights
- Bronco Sport launched with a decent crop of off-road accessories from the jump.
- A review declared the Bronco Sport to be "the best Subaru Forester fighter yet."
- Here's what some of Bronco Sport's off-road torture testing looked like.
- Bronco Sports and Escapes had a little issue with oil leaks early on.
- Watch a Bronco Sport climb Hell's Gate in Moab.
