Folks, I’m about to give you the red pill, so buckle up. played a trick on all of us, and it expected no one to notice. The company brought us the all the way back in 2007, but it was called the – the to be exact.

The covers are now off your eyes, and you can truly see the world for what it is – a place where Ford just copied a design it already had and rebranded it as an all-new car. Once you get the baseline idea down, then everything starts to fall into place.

Even the overall shape of the Bronco Sport is reminiscent of the . Boxy was in, then it was out again, and now it’s in, so Ford dusted this shell off and refitted it. The Blue Oval will not be getting this crime past me. But it’s about more than just the general shape because there little details throughout the Bronco Sport that look like they’re ripped right from the pages of the book we call the .

To me, the most notable similarity, stylistically anyway, is the c-pillar between the second row of windows and the rear quarter window. The angle, that shape. They look exactly the same. I suppose the Bronco Sport’s is a bit smaller, but I still count it. In that same general area, you also get the taillights. In a lot of ways, they look just like updated and modernized versions of the units found on .

You’ve also got the same goddamn popping rear window in the Bronco Sport that you get with . Hell, I wouldn’t even be surprised if the mechanisms shared part numbers. The crossover also features – on some model year Escapes – a separate trunk popper area that isn’t hidden above the license plate area. has a modernized version of that very system. Folks, this goes all the way to the top. Ford is just toying with me at this point.

Come up front, and the angle of the A-pillar is almost exactly the same on both cars. Sure, Ford tries to play tricks on the eyes with different colors on the roof of but we are enlightened people. We see right through this.

Now, look at the side skirts on both of these crossovers. Depending on the trim you go for, they are nearly identical. Sure the Escape has four little indents and the Bronco Sport has three, but that isn’t enough to get past me.

Unfortunately for my narrative, the same cannot be said about the inside of these two vehicles. The Bronco Sport’s interior is far more up-to-date than the second-generation Escape’s. However, both cars have just about the same door chime (which I hate). Also, having spent a good deal of time in both cars, I’ll be very honest: are not that much better.

Anyway, welcome to the enlightened world. Colors seem more vivid, don’t they? I bet food tastes better, too. That’s a side effect of having your eyes opened by my gospel. One day, many years from now, perhaps even Ford will admit what it did, and I will be vindicated.