Considering 2026/2027 Badlands non-Squatch Manual 4 door: Feedback pls

[3pedals]

Brand new to the forum, first post!! and looking to get a Bronco and know this place very well.

Like the title says, my wife and I are considering a 2026 ordered or waiting for October and a 2027 order of a Badlands WITHOUT the Sasquatch package. The main reason is we are not off-roaders and this will mostly be a daily driver, with some but little camping.

Why the Badlands? It comes in a manual, I prefer the look over the Big Bend, and the Lux package with B&O is available on the Badlands trim. Everything I have read points to the Badlands as the right trim for us. Wider fender flares and decent height but the 33" tires instead of the larger wider 35s.

We have briefly test driven it, and as I understand it, the 2026 models include better sound deadening that was an aftermarket upgrade previously. We will be going hardtop. I live in Colorado and roof bars and roof box are part of our winter mountain driving. But the bars and box will only be on in the winter.

Curious for any 2026 (or 2025) Badlands owners of a manual transmission with the 33" tires, how the drive is for a daily driver now that you've had it a while, and how the noise is? I've seen tons of YouTube reviews but so many of those are just for content consumption and I feel like this may be a very limited use case. I know the manuals are less common and a lot of Badlands have the Sasquatch package.

Thanks for the feedback as we get ready to make our decision and move forward.

Love to hear and any all feedback, as well as any features you wish you had or options that weren't worth it. Thanks again.

Sponsored

 

[Smocaine]

I love the 7MT, it's very well set up for everyday life. 33s and 4.7 gears give you a very short effective gear ratio, so you can really make the most of it.
I did not have such an option, but I would recommend considering the painted hardtop. It should help with the noise, and the bare MIC top does not have a great reputation for longevity.

 

[dvnorton]

I have a '23 Badlands 7MT with the Limited Package and overall I love it. It's a very comfortable daily driver -- unlike the Jeeps and some other vehicles I've been in, the ride is relatively quiet and smooth with the 33's. I've had both hard and soft top convertibles for 30 years before my Bronco, and I'll say that the wind noise with the hard top is obnoxiously loud. I've tried adding weatherstripping per the helpful guides on this site but it didn't make a huge difference. I recently added a hood protector with the small bump, which some owners feels redirects much of the wind up and over the front of the hard top and reduces noise, but I've had the soft top and no top since doing that so the jury's still out. You might consider one of the aftermarket hard tops that comes in a single or 2 pieces (given that you need a hard top for racks/roofboxes) assuming you can put a hoist or lift in your garage to help take it off.

 

[3pedals]

Thanks for the response. In my test drive I did not notice the 26 Bronco being that bad, but it's hard to tell from a test drive. I have seen vids of the sound deadening kits for hardtops but AFAIK the 26 Broncos have factory sound deadening for the first time, so I'm curious if that has made a difference (ANY '26 Bronco Badlands owners with 33s please share!!)

However, my past cars have all been quiet, 2001 Audi A4 Avant, 2007 Subaru Outback 2.5XT, 2014 VW Touareg, 2019 Volvo XC90, and now a 2021 GLC AMG 43. And my wife has been the same with a 2011 BMW 335i, 2016 Porsche Macan, and a 2022 Audi A4. So going from all those to a Bronco we expect will be a different beast. The attraction is the 7 speed. Our '01 A4, '07 Outback, and '11 3 Series were all manuals. Same with our kids first cars. So this is a chance to get another manual while we can.

Thanks again.

 

[3pedals]

I love the 7MT, it's very well set up for everyday life. 33s and 4.7 gears give you a very short effective gear ratio, so you can really make the most of it.
I did not have such an option, but I would recommend considering the painted hardtop. It should help with the noise, and the bare MIC top does not have a great reputation for longevity.

Thanks. I'm planning to spec either the Shadow Black painted hardtop OR the matching body color. I've gone back and forth on that. Pretty much determined all my other options. Though color is still TBD, not in love with any of the '26 colors. Wish a metallic Green or the muted mid-blue (not Robin's egg) was still available. Avalanche Gray, Ruby Red, or the hyper Blue are my current short list.

 

[EasternSierra]

My non-Sas 4-door 7-sp Badlands is easy and pleasant to drive on surface streets and highways. The transmission is easy to use and is a snap in country and highway driving. I really appreciate the 4.7 gear ratio.

 

[HBTFD 2.0]

I had a 21 Bronco sas soft top and a 23 sas hard top before my current 26 badlands non sas painted top. The 26 is quieter than either, still louder than most other vehicles. Most of the noise is road noise from the junk Goodyear tires.

 

[CalvinT]

I have a 2023 nonSas Badlands with manual and the high package which has extra sound deadening. It'It's like a luxury car compared to my 2002 Subaru. Absolutely no regrets.

 

[itwelder]

I have a 25 Badlands non SAS MT 4dr, about 8K and a few longer trips on the stock 33 KO2s. It is absolutely a blast to drive, the MT is butter smooth, and great in snow. Seats (leather trimmed) are super comfy, lots of adjustment, and I don't feel sore after hours driving. Heated steering wheel spoils me in the mountains in winter.
But, even though it rides smooth, it's loud. Like 85+ dB loud. The door skins separated from the crash bars after about a month brand new, and I think that may be contributing. It's so loud that I have to wear ear plugs on long drives so my ears don't ring and feel damaged. It's not the tires either, I've swapped them with my '25 Base and it's the same. Base is night and day difference in noise.
My experience is just one data point though, maybe it's a combo of the skid plates, painted top, loose door skins, or something like that. Anyway regardless of the noise I still love it.

 

[3pedals]

I have a 25 Badlands non SAS MT 4dr, about 8K and a few longer trips on the stock 33 KO2s. It is absolutely a blast to drive, the MT is butter smooth, and great in snow. Seats (leather trimmed) are super comfy, lots of adjustment, and I don't feel sore after hours driving. Heated steering wheel spoils me in the mountains in winter.
But, even though it rides smooth, it's loud. Like 85+ dB loud. The door skins separated from the crash bars after about a month brand new, and I think that may be contributing. It's so loud that I have to wear ear plugs on long drives so my ears don't ring and feel damaged. It's not the tires either, I've swapped them with my '25 Base and it's the same. Base is night and day difference in noise.
My experience is just one data point though, maybe it's a combo of the skid plates, painted top, loose door skins, or something like that. Anyway regardless of the noise I still love it.

I read that pre 26 if you had even the painted hard top there was no sound deadening and you could add it via glue on kits. But Ford put in their own for 26. Yet tires, and roof seams, even on the painted tops are going to contribute to it as well. I expect it to be louder than my past vehicles, just trying to gauge how much of a trade off the fun MT is over the road noise. I'm trying to set up a half day test drive at a dealer, but finding a 26 non-SAS Badlands in a manual isn't easy. Drove one for 10 minutes a couple weeks ago, but it has since sold.

 

[Kelley1203]

I just bought a 2026 4 door Badlands, non-sas, but the automatic. I have the painted hard top.

Right off the lot, it was noticeably louder (82-83 db) than an OBX that I test drove (73 db) at highway speeds. I recently swapped the factory wheels and tires for some 35” KO3s, and the road noise dropped significantly. I now hover around 75-76 db at highway speeds. Thus, I can tell you from first hand experience, one of the noisiest things about the Badlands is the road noise from the tires.

I also swapped the factory HOSS 2.0 struts for Bilstein 5100s and couldn’t be happier. I live in Louisiana, and high speed off-roading just isn’t something I’m going to get the opportunity to do much. But, for my use case (a lot of mud…), I still wanted front and rear locking diff. I decided to trade them for the on road comfort of the 5100s. The factory suspension wasn’t bad by any means, but it was a little stiff over small bumps in the road (and we have a ton of those). It was enough to make my 3 year old complain about the “shaking” when we’d run over a rough spot or a small pothole.

Now, I basically sasquatched my Badlands, but got to choose exactly the struts I wanted, wheels, and tires, and I couldn’t be happier. It rides like a dream - slightly louder than our Yukon Denali and just as comfortable.

 

[3pedals]

Good to know. I hadn't thought about it but a tire switch might be a good investment.

Sponsored