These Three 2021 Ford Bronco Features Are Pointless and Here's Why

• Electronics and hose water don't mix.
• Doors are better left bolted on.
• Mount your camera outside, please.

Lest you think we're just picking on Ford, we should note that many manufacturers have been known to talk up some new features with questionable, uh, value. But the 2021 Ford Bronco will clearly be a card-carrying member of this club. We can't say we've been surprised to see a few gimmicky features touted in various 2021 Bronco press releases. Let's take a look at what they are and why we think they're kinda useless.

Gimmick #1: Drain Holes in the Floor

The idea of putting drain plugs in the interior to facilitate easy cleanup isn't a new one. But in this day and age, when about 80% (or more) of a vehicle's interior controls are electrical in nature, it's probably not the best idea to turn a hose on inside your Bronco — even if you do point it at the floor. Ford touts this feature as something that makes it "simple, fast and painless" to clean up after an adventure, but we think everyone's better off with some decent all-weather floor mats (which you can take out and hose off in your driveway), a damp sponge and a towel to dry everything off. We've been in some pretty muddy and sloppy conditions over the years, but never once have we needed to douse our interior with water to the point where drain holes would actually help.

Gimmick #2: Removable Doors, You Rebel

We get it, kinda. Taking your doors off feels a bit rebellious and makes for an invigorating driving experience. But unless you're doing some serious low-speed rock crawling where you'd actually benefit from the added visibility, taking the doors off of your car "᠎'cause it's cool" is dumb.

The obvious reason is that not having doors takes away a fair bit of side-impact protection. It also makes it easy for stuff, like the jacket you put on the back seat, to simply blow out of your vehicle. Thirdly, where do you put them? The new Bronco does have nifty covers for your disembodied doors along with space to store them on board, whereas the Jeep Wrangler makes you leave them at home, or perhaps hidden in the brush by the side of the trailhead. But the Bronco's doors will take up your entire cargo area, meaning your personal effects will need to go in the back seat, which, thanks to your decision to remove the doors, doesn't have any doors. As a fringe benefit of taking off your doors when you go off-roading, you and your passengers can look forward to getting smacked and scratched by brush and branches for hours on end.

Gimmick #3: GoPro Mounts

Making your friends watch your unedited 2.5-hour trail adventure is the new '70s-era slideshow-at-a-house-party nightmare. Of course, Ford isn't the first manufacturer to offer a special GoPro (or other equally high-quality video capture system) mount in a vehicle — Toyota's Tacoma immediately springs to mind. The Bronco uses a dash-mounted rail that allows for easy camera (as well as phone-mount) positioning, but if you're going to mount a GoPro to capture your rugged radness, you're better off mounting it on the outside. That means you'll get a better field of vision and also ensures that your camera can focus on the environment instead of a dirty windshield. A dedicated camera mount is really an answer to a question no one's asked.

Edmunds Says

There are plenty of interesting and downright cool features on the 2021 Ford Bronco and we're looking forward to checking them all out as much as you are. But these gimmicky features don't do anything but make our eyes roll. Check out our Bronco page to stay up-to-date on all the features and specs, cool or otherwise, with Edmunds.