Even if you’re living under a rock, you probably know that the 2021 Ford Bronco is much more expensive than the Bronco Sport. The fully-fledged SUV is, of course, bigger and has more off-road capabilities than its Escape-based counterpart, which reflects its higher asking price.
But when it comes to acquiring both vehicles, it seems like the Bronco would be cheaper to get than the Bronco Sport despite their price differences – at least when acquired through leasing. That’s what CarsDirect has discovered through Ford’s online payment estimator.
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To set a benchmark, CarsDirect compared the base variants of the Bronco and Bronco Sport, priced at $34,695 and $28,315, respectively, both with destination charges and an annual mileage allowance of 10,500 miles set by Ford.
For the Bronco Base, Ford’s online payment estimator shows a $314 monthly payment for 36 months with $3,784 due at signing. This makes its effective lease cost at $419 per month.
In comparison, the Bronco Sport Base shows a monthly lease payment of $360 for 36 months with $3,192 at signing. With that, the effective cost of least for the smaller Bronco comes out to $449 per month, or $30 more than the full-fledged SUV.
While these numbers are incredulous at some point, CarsDirect discovered that the bigger Bronco has a significant advantage in terms of residual value, which gives it an advantage in terms of leasing.
Of note, based on a 36-month, 10,500-mile lease, the 4-Door Bronco Base has a residual value of 75 percent. On the other hand, the Bronco Sport only retains 53 percent of its initial value after the same lease term. These are according to Ford’s residual value guide.
It’s easy to conclude that the Bronco would be easier to cheap than the Bronco Sport, but factoring things like dealer markups and waiting times can absolutely offset the numbers here. That said, lease rate comparisons would be much accurate if you do it on a dealer level.
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