Bronco Long Term/Travel

[JT58Bronc]

I wanted to ask opinions about the Bronco long term- reliability for travel and adventures. I have a 2 door 2022 Base Sasquatch with 2.7 completely stock, no mods reserved at the reveal and have been actively reading the forum and all of the posts. I am approaching retirement after working almost 50 years and it’s time to travel the US. The Bronco is a little small but will work what my wife and I want to do- tow a small trailer with kayaks, paddle boards and our gear. A 4 door pick up would be better (Chevy Silverado with the simple 5.3 V8, no turbo 4) and I am debating whether or not to trade the Bronco. We do love the Bronco but my only worry is reliability- especially after the warranty is up. The engine and electronics are very complicated. Looking under the hood is scary. I am very good mechanically but don’t want to work on this Bronco other than oil changes. I read about fuel pump issues and people being stranded. I won’t have much money in retirement, just barely enough to have a tiny home as a base and to travel & camp mostly with a hotel here and there.

With all that being said, our Bronco has been good for 11K miles. No issues other than windshield recall, defective driveshaft and headlight switch. And it is fun to drive. I did not use it as my daily driver to keep the miles low for the purpose to travel in the future. It also gets decent gas mileage, nearly 23 MPG on cheap 87 octane. So, any recommendations? Should I be worried or just travel and not worry about it? Or bite the bullet now and get something more simple and reliable while I am still working to pay it off in another year before I retire?

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[BroncoA512021]

57,000 miles - no issues -

 

[Silver-Bolt]

Pick a brand, any brand and you will be in the same situation. Modern vehicles are increasingly more complicated. Roadside repairs are a thing of the past. Your Bronco could be trouble free for many years and hundreds of thousands of miles. It could also not start for this morning's coffee run. Same goes for every modern vehicle on the road. A Silverado with a 5.3L may not have turbos, but it has virtually the same electronics as the Bronco. You could find a vehicle from the 70's (pre-electronics) and do a complete restoration on it. That would work for roadside repairs.

 

[broadicustomworks]

It is a fair question, but ask yourself what setup works best for your level of adventuring, trail complexity, etc.
Facing retirement without some extremely comfortable amount saved up means you have to be smart and frugal with your $. Especially from this point forward if you plan on not supplementing your SS and retirement nest egg with some sort of a return to the workforce.
With interest rates where they are now vs. when you got it, it is easy to lose out and be throwing money right out the window.

Values for selling/trading in are not at the crazy-high levels they were.

If I were in your shoes personally I would drive my Bronco to begin your journeys, see how it really works out for your needs. Upgrade in storage improvements, comfort improvements, any improvement that makes that lifestyle easier or more time enjoying it.

We are at 53K on our 2.7 with no real issues thus far. And I have not been exactly gentle on mine.
Any new vehicle these days is a crapshoot on long term reliability and electronics robustness.
We will be using it as our continued adventure vehicle and have been constantly upgrading, replacing those upgrades with better, trying to outfit it the best we can for more time spent enjoying it.
Longer-term for our uses I see us going to a new and capable midsized truck (think a ZR2 or Ranger or Tacoma) with the potential for a RTT or a small tow-behind offroad camper.
Trucks will always just be easier to outfit for gear when your gear involves a lot of time spent off-grid or off-pavement.
Throw waterproof boxes for storage in the bed, etc.
Muddy boots? No problem.
The Broncos will always be a Jenga game to pack up, unpack, set up. It's just the nature of ANY SUV, not just the Bronco.
If the top and door removal lifestyle is something that is important and a truck is needed, you only have one choice on the market currently.
Trust me, you are by far not the only one with these thoughts running around your mind.

EDIT: We have a 2019 Silverado with the 5.3. It is a lot smoother, quieter, a TON more room. But the turning radius is not great. 4WD with no lockers on that beast is almost a pointless thing. IT would make a lot of sense to outfit it, but a full sized truck does have drawbacks on a lot of trails just due to size, turning ability, weight.
If one were to just do open gravel roads, semi-maintained fire roads, or moderate BDR's, a Silverado would be fine.
Once the trails got tight or sketchy, it's a different ballgame.

 

[JT58Bronc]

Pick a brand, any brand and you will be in the same situation. Modern vehicles are increasingly more complicated. Roadside repairs are a thing of the past. Your Bronco could be trouble free for many years and hundreds of thousands of miles. It could also not start for this morning's coffee run. Same goes for every modern vehicle on the road. A Silverado with a 5.3L may not have turbos, but it has virtually the same electronics as the Bronco. You could find a vehicle from the 70's (pre-electronics) and do a complete restoration on it. That would work for roadside repairs.

I have an 87 Chevy Pick up that is partially restored I am working on- it is very simple- 350 V8 (from 1974) and 4 speed manual. It leaks oil no matter what I do. Everything would need to be rebuilt on it to be completely reliable and that would cost more than a brand new truck. Labor for vehicle work these days is incredibly expensive- if you can even find someone to do it. But even then its top speed is only 55 and it gets like 13 MPG.

 

[ChrisB351]

Get an extended warranty and make sure it covers towing, or that you have something that does, and go have fun. 2yrs and 30k miles here and and only a couple minor concerns that didnt affect drivability.

 

[65CarryAll]

Since your Bronco has been good for 2 years/11,000 miles, I wouldn't expect any issues any time soon. You mentioned money concerns. Buying a new truck would be about the worst thing you could do financially.

 

[Brian_B]

The electronics and stuff will be no different on a modern pickup or anything else - it’s all complex these days. Just look at the issues the Tundra is having right now - anyone can have some QC issues, and emissions and fuel standards drive all platforms to have very complicated systems under the hood, even without a turbo.

The Bronco drivetrain is pretty mature and used in other platforms - so not a lot that isn’t widely used in there.

There are plenty of good reasons that you could trade it in and go in a different direction, but I think the issues you are worried about aren’t big, widely felt issues

 

[Dral97]

I'd just go with it. A major thing that leaves you stranded is an issue with anything. Thus, you're just worried about things starting to go downhill. I don't think any of us have had our Broncos long enough to know if this will happen (like how things seem to start going downhill pretty quickly after some years on the European cars).

Thus, I'd say just use it. Think ahead where your line is. If the bronco starts having issues past that line, then it's time to trade it in.

 

[Shazamalingo]

Mine has been good to me. But for peace of mind, I agree with another post that I would pick up a quick extended warranty. Then you know you should be covered if anything affecting drivability gets you while on the road.

Have fun!

 

[JT58Bronc]

Thanks, I like the idea of getting an extended warranty maybe with towing too. I really want to keep the Bronco and leaning strongly in that direction right now. If something were to be majorly wrong it probably would have shown up by now. I wanted to consider all options before I make an investment in a roof rack, kayak carrier and getting a small trailer I will customize to make it two tier to haul our kayaks and paddle boards. I already have a hitch, just need to get the 4 flat wire harness and wire it in. The Bronco, being a Sas will be great for all the dirt back roads we intend to travel on.

 

[2023bronco]

But even then its top speed is only 55 and it gets like 13 MPG.

Sounds like you need to re-restore it. I'm restoring my dad's 75 right now. My 72 Chevelle with a 400 sbc and 5 speed will run 75 mph all day at 2200 rpm and change.

 

[Aonarch]

Pick a brand, any brand and you will be in the same situation. Modern vehicles are increasingly more complicated. Roadside repairs are a thing of the past. Your Bronco could be trouble free for many years and hundreds of thousands of miles. It could also not start for this morning's coffee run. Same goes for every modern vehicle on the road. A Silverado with a 5.3L may not have turbos, but it has virtually the same electronics as the Bronco. You could find a vehicle from the 70's (pre-electronics) and do a complete restoration on it. That would work for roadside repairs.

This.

Throw Toyota in there too, their new models are having issues too.

Cars are assembled with parts from global suppliers.

Fuel pumps are by Bosch, Continental, etc.

All of the computer systems and infotainment are killing reliability.

My Volvo is bulletproof, except for the stupid operating system, tons of bugs.

 

[Taltyman]

I have an 87 Chevy Pick up that is partially restored I am working on- it is very simple- 350 V8 (from 1974) and 4 speed manual. It leaks oil no matter what I do. Everything would need to be rebuilt on it to be completely reliable and that would cost more than a brand new truck. Labor for vehicle work these days is incredibly expensive- if you can even find someone to do it. But even then its top speed is only 55 and it gets like 13 MPG.

When I had my 67 IH Scout I did a lot of the work on it myself but a lot of shops wouldn't/couldn't work on it because it did not have a computer. The mechanics couldn't diagnose anything without the aid of a computer. So sad. Luckily I did find a local shop that could do work on old school motors.
The 350 motor was awesome. Don't sell that truck (my wife convinced me to sell the Scout and the buyers flipped it a year later for double what they paid for it).

 

[JT58Bronc]

Sounds like you need to re-restore it. I'm restoring my dad's 75 right now. My 72 Chevelle with a 400 sbc and 5 speed will run 75 mph all day at 2200 rpm and change.

The truck is geared very low and the 4 speed has a granny low so technically it is only a 3 speed. Great work/farm truck but definitely not a highway truck, or at least not for speeds over 55. Restoring vehicles, if you cannot do it yourself around my area is so stupid expensive. I had a nice 66 Bronco a few years ago I was going to restore, had a body shop rip me off 8K, no work done they went out of business, then tried to get estimates to do the body work elsewhere and it was like a 50-100K investment. This is with me supplying the body parts, I had already bought brand new. And I had already spent 10K on mechanical work. I had over 30k invested in it at that point and end up giving it away for 8K. Not many places to do the work around here and when you can find them, it's how much $$$$ do you have.

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