I saw one of the Bronco Sports today, that thing is tiny, looks smaller than my Bronco 2.
I'm not an IFS fan either, however, after having 2 Jeep Grand Cherokees (96, 98) which have solid front axles....the 96 I took offroad, a lot the solid axle was great offroad, onroad they don't have the greatest of manners now my 96 wasn't bad on-road because it had the lesser quality front solid axle with the CV shafts instead of the U-Joints which was in my 98 Grand Cherokee. My 98 Grand Cherokee with the heavier duty axle up front decided where it would be on the road with every tiny pebble. The U-Joints are not nearly as forgiving as the CV joints. So, with that, it wouldn't be surprising for Ford to go with the IFS in the new Bronco as they have decided to do...it'll be a much better more predictable on-road vehicle which as we all know 99% of them never will leave pavement just like Jeeps, most never leave the pavement.
Other than I think "RAM" and Ford, all other automakers have done away with their solid front axles in their vehicles, and many have even done away with solid rear axles in some models. The Jeep Grand Cherokee is 4 corner independent suspension now, Explorers have been for several years too, as well as many other vehicles, even some pickups are that way too now. Just the Ram 2500 and up and the Ford 250 and up still have solid axles up front. I'm sure some guys will be buying those new Broncos and quickly trying to figure out how to put those Dana 60's under them LOL.
Just the base model new Bronco 2 door is something I'd be interested in personally. I don't go offroad far enough to need lockers....I wish they'd offer a limited slip though for the base model at least, maybe something aftermarket since I believe the rear axle on the new Bronco is a solid axle, so probably something aftermarket would be pretty easy to come by. The front axle, being IFS, I think might be a bit more tricky for aftermarket stuff like the poor Dana 28 in the RBV's LOL. Although, most cases an open front differential is perfectly fine. I do wonder though and I bet the answer would be terrible, but it wouldn't surprise me if there would be some sort of limited slip up front option available in the aftermarket at some point...but like I said it probably would be a terrible idea given that front end is probably live all the time so it would create some interesting steering problems I'd guess even in 2WD.
The base 2 door Bronco would be plenty for anything I'd ever really need as far as "offroad" use. I don't go rock crawling or driving through mud holes, my backroads driving is just on dirt/gravel roads and trails, mostly during warmer months, occasionally I'll take a back road into a small town about 15 miles away but usually in warmer months, that back road can get a bit sketchy in bad weather, however I've done it a couple times in my Bronco 2 without any issues, both up and back with a few pretty good hills thrown in and several sections of that can get somewhat muddy, or packed down to ice....my Bronco 2 did very well surprised myself with the Cooper Discoverer AT3 4S tires this last winter up on that road, it was nothing but a solid sheet of ice on one section of one of the hills. I still haven't figured out how that thing managed to stop itself 1/2 way down the hill on that ice but it did. I was even able to back up the hill after stopping completely. So the tires and the 4WD seems to work very well...So given that with a 30+ year old Bronco 2, I'd think the new base model 2 door Bronco would do the same or maybe slightly better with the electronic traction control stuff they have in them now, course better tires would certainly be installed, the street tires they send them out with would be a definite no-go from me LOL. Maybe a 2nd set of wheels with the Cooper tires for winter I guess would probably make sense and just run the stock tires till they're worn out LOL.