Nitpicking Ford’s New 2025 Sasquatch Trim For Bronco Sport - Is It Really Better?

The New 2025 Ford Bronco Sport has some exciting changes. As the proud owner of a 2023 Badlands trim, I was looking forward to seeing how the new 2205 refresh improves the Bronco Sport. To be clear, I’d trade my Badlands for a new Sasquatch Badlands right now if money was no consideration. The new screen and infotainment system alone would be reason enough. However, I’m noticing two areas where the reviewers who attended the press launch seem to be over-enthusiastic with their claims and re-iteration of Ford’s claims. Let's look at some facts.

Here is a comparison of the old prices to the new 2025 Bronco Sport prices.

Ford Bronco Sport Tires - The Falken WildPeak A/T3 vs. New Goodyear Tires
The Bronco Sport has had options, such as 235/65-17 size tires, available since the very first day. The First Edition and Badlands trims in particular offered the Falken WildPeak A/T3 all-terrain tire as an upgrade over smaller Pirelli tires with less aggressive tread and no severe snow duty rating. Falken lists those tires on its spec sheet as having an outside diameter of 29.1 inches. Here's the screenshot of Falken's spec page:

The new tires Ford has chosen are from Goodyear. This is a brand I like just as much as Falken. The new tires may be better. I don’t know since I have not yet tested them. What I do know is that the Falken WildPeak tires are the same size or larger based on Ford’s information and Falken’s. Ford says, “Bronco Sport Sasquatch rides on 29-inch 235/65/R17 Goodyear Territory All-Terrain tires that are the largest in the class.”  Perhaps Ford simply rounded down to 29 from a larger number, but if the Falkens were 29.1 and the Goodyears are "29" this is not a larger tire. 

We visited the Goodyear Tire website and checked out the Wrangler Territory RT tires shown in the Ford media images. They are not yet listed in the Ford size chart or the spec page for 17-inch diameter. They must be all-new. - One last time - I like Goodyear tires very much. This is not a dig at a great band. I'm simply pointing out that the new tires are not larger as far as I can see. 

Ford Bronco Sport Ground Clearance
Ground clearance is critical for off-pavement driving. One of the main reasons I opted to replace my Subaru Forester with a Bronco Sport was that the Bronco Sport had just a bit more ground clearance, and I have actually used that quite a bit in my travels. Even to the point of having rocks and other terrain contact the bottom of my vehicles on occasion. So, I wanted the tougher Bronco Sport skidplates and a smidge more ground clearance, which I researched and found was 8.8-inches with the optional Falken all-terrain tires.

Ford is now listing as minimum ground clearance for the 2025 Bronco Sport line as follows:
Big Bend, Outer Banks, Heritage, Free Wheeling (std)/Outer Banks Sasquatch Package (opt)
Minimum running ground clearance 7.8 (std)/8.8 (opt)
Badlands (std)/Badlands Sasquatch  Package (opt) 8.1 (std)/8.7 (opt)
So, what seems to be the case is the ground clearance is slightly less for the Badlands Saaquatch for 2025. A tenth of an inch is meaningless, but it is not more but rather less.

One Last Point - Power and Torque
The power of the Bronco Sport is lower for 2025, according to the information I have seen. Both the 1.5-liter and 2.0-liter engines lose a bit of power. In the case of the 2.0-liter engine, it is reported to be 12 hp lower. Frankly, I couldn't care less. My Bronco Sport can spin its tires turning away from a stop and has more power than it needs anyway. Torque matters much more. And my understanding is that torque is up a bit on the three-cylinder engine, and unchanged on the four. Some reporters are scratching their heads about this change, but my suspicion is that it relates to emissions controls, not some other reason. In any event, that lower power for the 2025 model year version of the Bronco Sport should not cause anyone any concern (in my opinion as an owner).

This story is not intended to embarrass Ford or any of the outstanding content creators who attended the launch event. Rather, it is a listing of some areas fans and shoppers may want to get some clarity on. After all, tire size and minimum ground clearance are pretty important to folks who may opt-in for a Badlands trim and Sasquatch package. It’s important to know the facts, and we should be accurate when we talk about vehicle improvements compared to prior versions.

Post-publication note: Ford was kind enough to supply some facts shortly after publication, verifying that the tire specs and ground clearances I stated are accurate. 
 

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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.