Overview
The contenders? Well, they’re amongst the best off-road rigs that are currently on sale, i.e popular Ford Bronco Badlands against the mighty Land Rover Defender P400. Let’s look at specs to see how these two top-tier off-roaders stack up against each other before they battle it over four rounds with their various off-road modes.
2022 Ford Bronco Badlands
In the grey corner, we have the popular Ford Bronco in Badlands spec. Under the hood lies a 2.7-liter turbo V-6 EcoBoost engine that produces 325 horsepower and 399 pound-feet of torque. The Bronco features a 10-speed automatic transmission with a four-wheel drive. The Badlands sits pretty much at the top of the Bronco range with only the Edition One doing one better.
Ford designed it to be the ultimate off-roader with its GOAT mode system also including the rock crawl mode. You’ve got differential lockers on the Ford as well. The Bronco Badlands can tow 3500 pounds and tips the scales at 5320 pounds. The Badlands sits on 17-inch rims wrapped in proper 35 inch off-road tires.
2022 Land Rover Defender P400
Next, in the blue corner, we have the latest generation of the Land Rover Defender P400 from across the pond. Under the hood lies a 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six, that produces 395 horsepower and 406 pound-feet of torque. It is mated to an eight-speed auto box sending power to all four wheels.
Unlike the previous old-school Defender, this latest model is loaded to the gills with a lot of high-tech off-road hardware like an electronic differential and Land Rovers legendary Terrain Response System. This particular example of the Defender can tow 8201 pounds and has a curb weight of 5035 pounds. The Defender comes wrapped in standard off-road tires with much larger rims.
So having looked at the specs, the Defender has the higher horsepower and can tow more, but the Bronco is on proper off-road knobbly tires and even though it can tow lesser, it has a dedicated tow mode. Let’s see how things pan out in this tug-of-war.
Tug-Of-War: Land Rover Defender P400 vs Ford Bronco Badlands
Both Sam, who is sat in the Bronco, and Richard in the Defender buckle up to battle out in a series of tug-of-wars lasting four rounds. For round one, they decide to do just have the SUVs in their 4×4 automatic mode.
With that, they take their foot off the brakes and begin to gradually hit the gas pedal. Well, despite the extra power on the Defender, it, unfortunately, began to spin its wheels and struggled to put those 395 ponies to the ground. The Bronco was had better traction and as a result, managed to pull the Defender to the other side. So that’s round one to the Badlands.
For the second round, Richard in the Defender decides to engage his differential with low range and switches it up to the dedicated off-road mode. Will that make a difference? The short answer was no. It was more wheel spin for the Defender this time round as well.
For the final two rounds, Sam has the Badlands set to its most extreme settings with traction off, both differential lockers activated with four-wheel low. It was no contest this time around and the Ford pulled the Defender well beyond the midway point. So the Bronco takes the final two rounds as well.
Final Thoughts
At the onset, we wanted to know if more power could compensate for better traction? Well, you have your answer. To sum it up, Sam says that they could do this all day long and it was the better tires that were helping the Bronco in this face-off.
Now, although he feels that the Defender offers a far more refined on-road experience of the two, the Land Rover is more suited for a more mature audience. The Bronco meanwhile is most likely to be cheaper to both buy and run and he wouldn’t hesitate to give it some stick when he’s out with it in the elements.
You can watch both off-roaders battle it out in Sam’s video below
