An online petition calls for wider availability of a manual transmission in the 2021 Ford Bronco.
First detected by Muscle Cars & Trucks, the Change.org petition asks Ford to make the 7-speed manual available on the entire Bronco lineup. At present, the manual is only available with the smaller 2.3-liter EcoBoost turbo-4 engine and cannot be combined with the Sasquatch package, which includes the most hardcore off-road hardware.
The Sasquatch package comes with locked front and rear axles, a suspension with high clearance and fender floors, 17-inch beadlock-capable wheels, Bilstein dampers, and 35-inch 315 / 70R16 Goodyear Wrangler Territory tires.
The organizers of the petition want the manual to be offered with the Sasquatch package, and with the larger 2-liter V-6 twin turbo. This engine is projected to produce 310 hp and 400 pound-feet of torque, compared to 270 hp and 310 lb-ft for the base turbo-4. The Bronco’s best crawl ratio of 94.75: 1 is achieved with the manual, but buyers can not get the best off-road equipment with it.
2021 Ford Bronco
Although it is not specifically mentioned, it is also worth noting that the manual is not available at all Bronco trim levels. You can get it on the base, Big Bend, Black Diamond, and Badlands models, but not the Outer Banks and Wildtrack.
Ford also offered the First Edition model exclusively with an automatic 10-speed, but it’s sold out anyway. Production of the first edition was initially limited to 3,500 units, but Ford raised it to 7,000 due to high demand.
As of Friday, the petition had collected more than 4,400 signatures, with a goal of 5,000. However, Ford has made more than 150,000 Bronco reservations since the SUVs unveiled in July, indicating that many customers are unconcerned by the way the Bronco lineup is structured.
