Here’s How The Bronco Raptor Stacks Up Against The Competition

According to Ford, the new Bronco Raptor will have a 3.0-liter twin-turbo EcoBoost V6 paired with a 10-speed automatic gearbox. The company said it has a “target of more than 400 horsepower”, which is up on the 315 HP in the Bronco Wildtrak. Torque numbers for the Bronco haven’t been revealed, and likely won’t be until the engine’s power output is finalized.

It’s Jeep that claims the title of ‘Beast of the Bunch’ here, though. It packs in a 6.4-liter Hemi V8 engine that kicks out 470 HP at 6,000 rpm. It’ll also manage 470 lb-ft of torque when revving at 4,300 rpm. All that power is transferred to the wheels via an eight-speed automatic gearbox.

As for the Land Rover, it’s a 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six engine and an eight-speed automatic. That motor is capable of producing 395 HP at 5,550 rpm and 406 lb.-ft of torque.

While the Landie might be packing a touch less power than both the Jeep and the Bronco, the Land Rover is the lightest truck here. It’s curb weight is 5,035 pounds compared with 5,733 pounds and 5,103 pounds for the Bronco and Jeep respectively.

It isn’t just under the hood that the Bronco has had an upgrade, as Ford has improved the suspension to match its newfound grunt.

For the Raptor, the blue oval hasn’t broken from tradition, so stuck with the signature Fox shocks synonymous with the package. On the Bronco Raptor, that means you get semi-active damping, integrated reservoirs up front and remote reservoirs in the rear. All this means you’ll have up to 13 inches of suspension travel at the front and 14 inches out back.

In the Jeep, there’s more Fox shock goodness. This time it’s a set of high-pressure gas-charged Fox aluminum monotube shocks. These are paired with solid axles, coil springs and stabilizer bars in the front and rear. That gives you a ground clearance of 10.3 inches and water fording capabilities of up to 32.5 inches.

Meanwhile, Britain’s best offering comes with electronic air suspension with double-wishbone twin-lower links up front and integral link suspension in the rear. Land Rover says this gives the Defender X just 8.6 inches of ground clearance, but an impressive wading depth of 35.4 inches.

If the engine and suspension can keep your swanky truck going, you’d better hope it’s got some impressive brakes to bring its hulking form to a stop.

In the Bronco, that means four-wheel power disc brakes with anti-lock braking systems and electronic stability control. Up front, it’s a pair of 350mm vented discs with 2mm x 51mm sliding calipers. The rear wheels are fitted with 336mm vented discs paired with 1mm x 54mm sliding calipers.

It’s a similar, power-assisted disc break story in both the Jeep and the Defender.

The Wrangler comes with 330mm vented discs up front and 345mm vented discs in the rear. On the Land Rover, you’ll find 360mm discs on the front wheels and a pair of 350mm discs at the back.

One of the Bronco’s talking points has been its added girth. Through design tweaks and a spec bump, the engineers at Ford added an additional 9.8 inches to the Bronco’s width, making it 86.9 inches wide with the mirrors folded out. It’s also 191.0 inches long and 77.8 inches tall.

By contrast, the Land Rover clocks in at 187 inches long, 82.9 inches wide and 77.4 inches tall. But the baby of the bunch is the Jeep, which measures in at 188 inches long, 73.8 inches wide and 74.5 inches tall.

Gaping exterior dimensions are all well and good, but when each of these trucks claims to have space for five passengers, which is the roomiest for all your off-road adventures?

In the front row of the Bronco Raptor, passengers will have 40.8 inches of headroom and 43.1 inches legroom. This drops a bit in the second row to 40.1 inches headroom and 36.3 inches of legroom.

For the Jeep, headroom is slightly up at 40.8 inches upfront and 40.3 inches in the rear. Meanwhile legroom up front stays the same as the Bronco at 40.8 inches but drops to 38.2 inches for passengers riding in the back.

Headroom in the Land Rover is 40.6 inches up front and 40.4 inches in the back. Legroom meanwhile stays the same in the front and back, at 39.1 inches.

But what is the point of a massive truck, if you can’t use it to carry stuff? Thankfully, these three are more than capable when it comes to packing everything in, or towing everything at the back.

The Bronco is rated for 4,500 pounds, while the Jeep can manage 3,500 pounds. Both are put to shame by the Defender X, however, which is rated for 8,201 pounds.

Again, when it comes to cargo capacity inside the truck, it’s the Land Rover that comes out on top. Behind the second row of seats, it’s trunk is rated for 34 cubic feet of stuff, while the Bronco manages 29.6 cubic feet and the Jeep fits in just 27.2 cubic feet.

As with any self-respecting modern off-roader, the latest crop of hot trucks is packed to the rafters with all the tech you’ll need to stay on the trails.

In the Bronco, this includes a terrain management system as standard, which offers seven modes including slippery, tow and normal. There’s also trail control, turn assist and one-pedal drive as standard.

For the Land Rover, it’s a similar affair. You’ll find the brand’s proprietary Trail Response pack that keeps you on the straight and narrow. The system, now into its second iteration, lets you pick different options to optimize performance on varying surfaces.

When it comes to speccing out your new truck, you’re spoiled for choice with any of the three. And when you want to pick the color, the Land Rover favors subtle tones of green, blue and purple, as well as a few greys, browns and blacks.

But with the Bronco and Wrangler the options are much more garish. The Wrangler adds blues, reds and pinks (I’ll take mine in Tuscadero, please), while there’s even more to choose from with the Bronco. Options include a nice forestry green and a slamming orange called Cyber Orange.

As for the body styles, both the Bronco Raptor and Wrangler Rubicon 392 are limited to just the five-door offering. But anyone in the market for a powerful Land Rover can also pick up the three-door Land Rover Defender 90 X.

But what about the price for all this? Well, Ford says the Bronco Raptor will start at $69,995 when it hits the sales floor. Meanwhile, the Wrangler Rubicon 392 can be yours from $74,800 and the Defender 110 X starts at an eye-watering $87,700.