Ford’s Bronco Sport Earns Remarkable Ownership Approval Rating

Ford introduced the Bronco Sport as a 2021 Model Year new vehicle, so it has now had four model years. During its honeymoon period, it earned high praise from reviewers. Over its first couple of years of ownership, it developed a strong following. Its two main Facebook clubs have tens of thousands of members, and the largest has over 20,000 active members. There is also a stand-alone online forum called The Bronco Nation which has an active membership. 

There have been some trouble spots. The 1.5-liter-engine-equipped Bronco Sports' water pumps are known to fail, often more than once. The brakes have given many owners fits with what has come to be called the “whale sound.” Finally, there has been a charging or battery problem since the vehicle’s introduction. A new recall may address that. Other growing pains have emerged as well, but these are the big ones. With the Bronco Sport seeming at once very popular, and also seeing many trouble posts within forums and clubs, we decided to see what owners say about the vehicle overall. 

We Poll Bronco Sport Owners - 75% Are In Agreement
We decided to conduct our own poll of the 20,000-strong members of the Facebook 2021+ Ford Bronco Sport Owners Group to see how satisfied the members are with their Bronco Sports. There are two main vehicle groups within the model line. Those with the 1.5-liter three-cylinder engine, and those with the 2.0-liter engine. So, we created poll questions that asked the following:

As you can see, 75% of owners responded “Love it, and would buy another.” That is a very solid result. At the other end of the spectrum, only 4% opted to select “Very unsatisfied, would not buy another.” The balance of the respondents chose “So-so. Would think hard about buying another.”

The poll had about 600 respondents, and it offered those who are unhappy with the Bronco Sport they own due to mechanical troubles or any other reason, a perfect opportunity to vent. Yet very few opted to do so. In fact, a supermajority took the poll as a chance to sing the Bronco Sports praises. Among the comments under the poll were:

- Of all the vehicles I have purchased in my life, this is my favorite. It has the look, performance, reliability, and capability I have always wanted. It is roadworthy, awesome for dogs, spacious, and convenient, and I was very surprised at the price. 
- I would 110% own another 2.0 Bronco Sport! It’s done plenty of hauling, off-roading, and road-tripping with no issues!
- 21 Badlands with 50K miles; flawless. Love it.
- I liked my wife’s OBX so much that I bought myself a BL

There were some gripes in the comments section as well. They included:
- Traded in two weeks ago with a tad over 16k miles. Tired of the recalls, brakes squealing, and eating antifreeze that the service department couldn’t figure out.
- Expecting reliability with 1.5 three-cylinder engine is just stupidity
- I like my Bronco Sport but it hasn't been the best experience. I've had a couple of issues along the way. Makes me question overall reliability long term.

More than a few owners commented that they may move up to a Bronco next.

Consumer Reports Weighs In
We also turned to Consumer Reports to see what the group had to say about owner satisfaction. There, we discovered that the 2023 Bronco Sport has earned a solid ⅘ ownership experience rating. The score increased in each of the three model years. Oddly, Consumer Reports then offers a ⅗ predicted owner satisfaction estimate for 2024. 

Digging deeper into the Consumer Reports’  owners' satisfaction data, we found that the 2023 Bronco Sport has the following owner satisfaction scores:
1) Styling 92%
2) Driving experience 83%
3) Comfort 77%
4) Value 35%

Based on these scores, we can clearly see that owners think of the Bronco Sport as an attractive vehicle that drives very well. We suspect the average score for comfort comes from the seats, which some owners find don't suit them. Last, we suspect the low value score is related to the Bronco Sport’s high prices, inflationary and shortage effects on vehicle prices (resulting in dealer markups), and the troublesome water pump and brake issues. 

Conclusion - Ford Bronco Sport Has A Very High Owner Approval Rating
Based on our own polling and Consumer Reports data, the Ford Bronco Sport has a very high approval rating from owners. The vehicle’s styling and driving experience contribute to this score, which may be slightly lowered due to its nagging reliability issues. 
 

Image of Ford Bronco Sport by John Goreham. Bronco Sport owner satisfaction score poll image by John Goreham.

John Goreham is an experienced New England Motor Press Association member and expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. In addition to his eleven years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on Linkedin and follow his work at our X channel. Please note that stories carrying John's by-line are never AI-generated, but he does employ Grammarly grammar and punctuation software when proofreading.