WATCH: Ford Bronco Sport gets high

Ford has released another video demonstrating the off-road prowess of its latest 4x4, although this time it focuses on the baby Ford Bronco Sport rather than the Wrangler-rivalling Bronco.

If you ignore the odd scraping of the exhaust, spinning wheel and the fact the littlest Ford SUV needs a couple of attempts at traversing some parts of the trail, the Ford Bronco Sport looks astonishingly capable considering it's riding on regular all-terrain rubber on modest steel rims.

All the more surprising is that beneath its skin is fundamentally the same monocoque architecture that underpins new Ford Escape mid-size SUV that launches within months in Australia.

That said, the tougher Bronco Sport is thought to have been comprehensively modified for off-roading.

The butch new Ford SUV also comes with all-wheel drive across the line-up (no front-drivers here!) and there’s a twin-clutch rear drive unit with a differential lock at the top of the range.

The twin-clutch system fitted to the higher-grade models can divert virtually all rear axle torque to either wheel. Up to seven GOAT (Go Over Any Terrain) modes are offered within the Bronco Sport’s terrain management system.

Crucially, for the off-road driving seen in the video, the Bronco Sport also offers Trail Control – an off-road cruise control – and Rock Crawl, which tunes the electric-assist power steering for precise slow-speed work. An off-road camera with lens washer is also available.

The Ford Bronco Sport is offered with the choice of two turbo-petrol engines – a 1.5-litre triple-cylinder making at least 134kW/258Nm and a 2.0-litre four-cylinder offering 182kW/373Nm – combined with an eight-speed automatic.

Which makes the small mid-size SUV sound perfect for Australian buyers and is especially galling since the Bronco Sport isn’t being offered in right-hand drive, so it’s been ruled out for our market.