We’ve examined how Ford’s truncated, tallened, and toughened-up Escape compares against Jeep’s Renegade, Compass, and Cherokee; now let’s size the 2021 Ford Bronco Sport up against the wider compact SUV competitive set. Bear in mind that the Escape is primarily tasked with broad-market appeal, so its offerings span a wider price, performance, and capability spectrum. The Bronco Sport is more focused on enabling adventure travel, but it’s not the only one on this list with such a focus. So how does it stack up?

Tall buyers will delight in the class-leading front and rear headroom afforded by the all-new 2021 Ford Bronco Sport’s tall, safari-stepped boxy roofline. Front legroom is also among the class leaders, while rear legroom and front and rear hip and shoulder room are closer to average. But when the numbers get multiplied out, overall the Bronco Sport delivers 58.0 cubic feet of front passenger space, ranking second only to the Subaru Forester (60.1), and its rear space nails the class average at 49.5 cubes. That’s pretty impressive, given the Bronco Sport’s shortest in class overall length. (Tall people who parallel park a lot, take notice!)

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Much of what the Bronco Sport’s shorter rear overhang takes away, that safari-step roof gives back in terms of raw numbers. At 32.0 cubic feet with the seats up, 65.0 with them down, the Bronco Sport measures exactly 1.0 cubic foot below the class average for each measure. But cargo space is what cargo space does, and Ford has ensured that frequently hauled adventure gear fits easily. For example, with the rear seat folded down, two mountain bikes fit easily inside with the front wheels removed (the accessories team will even sell you a bar that mounts to the floor for securing the bikes’ forks).

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As we’ve already noted, the Bronco Sport is the runt of this litter in terms of length, stretching 7.1 inches shorter than the class average. But it is also the widest and tallest in the class, at 74.3 inches wide and 67.9-69.1 inches tall, depending on the trim variant. Those extremes land the Bronco Sport smack in the middle of the class in terms of overall space efficiency (interior people and cargo space divided by the volume of the exterior box).

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Although it borrows the Escape’s drivetrains, routing the exhaust to stay out of harm’s way when off-road and tuning the engine power and torque slightly to suit the Bronco Sport’s different mission alter the Escape’s engine specs. That, plus the added gear to keep it moving safely through the rough stuff means the Bronco Sport ranks a bit lower on the weight-to-power list than the Escape. But in its 2.0-liter turbo guise, it ranks fifth in class behind the Cherokee 2.0T in terms of weight to power (though weight-to-torque reverses that order, putting Bronco Sport fourth). At the other end of the spectrum, the wee little 1.5-liter three-banger EcoBoost engine ranks fourth from the bottom of both lists, so don’t go racing for pinks in the base Bronco Sport.

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Many adventurous pursuits require toys that need to ride along behind your adventuremobile, and the Bronco Sport is aimed at adventurers. And while the 1.5-liter Bronco Sport can tug just as much trailer as its sibling Escape, the 2.0-liter is restricted to 2,200 pounds—1,300 fewer than the Escape can manage. Perhaps it’s the twin-clutch rear axle or the shorter final-drive gearing, but you’ll need to go a bit smaller on the travel-trailer or boat (maybe 16 feet tops for either).. Both numbers are still class-competitive and will allow you to tow a small pop-up camper, a pair of jet-skis or snowmobiles, a quad-runner, or another like-sized object.

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Here’s another area where Ford has yet to complete testing and announce results, but our guestimate place-holders assume the Bronco Sport lands in similar weight classes to the all-wheel-drive Escape models, but with less aerodynamic bodywork (potentially higher drag coefficient and frontal area) and with the 2.0-liter variant getting a shorter axle ratio than in the Escape. We’re guessing that will cost the baby Bronco 1 highway mpg relative to the Escape with both engines. We then assume the Badlands model’s water-cooled fancier all-wheel-drive system and shorter axle ratio (3.81:1 versus 3.47:1) may cost a further 1 mpg of highway and 2 mpg of city economy. Call it an estimated 26/30/28 mpg city/highway/combined for the 1.5-liter; 21/29/24 for the 2.0-liter. This places the base 1.5-liter Bronco Sport in the top half of the class, with the 2.0-liter ranking below average.

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We’re as eager as you are to get all the final numbers and round up these vehicles—and the anticipated newcomers in the class—as soon as possible. Keep it right here!