First Group @ Moab Off-Roadeo: Bronco Drive Notes & Video

[JediMcMuffin]

Hopefully, it's clear the difference more in mental headspace then anything. It was nice knowing that there was 'extra capacity' in the tank and margin for error was increased. It made for a more enjoyable day with less concern and more fun. If you have more off-road experience then I think you would be fine since then you wouldn't be having those concerns I imagine. For me is was a safety blanket and I wanted every edge I could get when out there in the rocks.


Now I'm back in my computer chair and wondering if the 4 times per year I would run "hard" trails like that is worth it again for the decreased gas mileage or not for the DD I intend to use the Bronco for. Funny how that works. GL out there everyone with your decisions.

This is exactly how I felt after the Off-Roadeo in Texas last week. Up until that time I had convinced myself that I was way overbuying going Badlands + Sasquatch. I'm now very happy with all aspects of my configuration

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[HutchDevil]

Bronco6g,

I live in Denver, CO region so I had been waiting for the Off Rodeo Moab location to announce availability. When they did I furiously signed up and found that the off rodeo first availability was August 16th (today), and that corresponded to my Birthday. I saw “the sign” and instantly registered.

What an amazing experience, we were the first ever group run through the Moab location today and we got to run the trails hard. The whole team made us feel welcome and a special shout out to our Trail Guides Jeff and Mandy who were simply amazing. We had flexibility in choosing lines and we ran the trails fast, we ran these trucks HARD and the Bronco didn’t care, it just kept going and ate up Moab.

They took us out to a Moab trail called ‘Dom Plateau’, its a rated 4 (or 5) level trail and we absolutely ‘killed it’. Section after section I grew more and more confident in the Bronco and what it can do. I can’t state it enough, we ran the trail FAST and HARD, doing things I would have considered abuse but it simply wasn’t abuse for the Bronco.

Here is a quick and dirty ‘iPhone memories’ video for those that want to watch only 1/16th of what we did, unfortunately I didn’t get many of the bigger obstacles on my iPhone. I did get some on my go-pro but that will take me some time to edit.




My Personal Notes of the Bronco after running this Moab Trail:

• * I have on order a 2.7 Badlands automatic, I will be calling my dealership this week to upgrade to Sasquatch package. I drove a wildtrak and it was awesome, I wasn’t missing the sta bar disconnect. I was able to cross the trail with ease, however the badlands behind me with 33’s several times had some rubbing and I did not.
• * The front and rear locking diffs on the top of the dash with quick on and off engagement are game changers. It’s so easy to flip both the lockers on before a large hill and turn the fronts right off after you up. I found myself toggling them on and off on demand naturally. WOW. (Didn’t realize how amazing that would be)
• * The trail turn assist is no joke, especially on the 4 door, i had one point been wondering would it actually be useful on the trail or just fun in the sand. OMG was it useful on the trail in several tight turns, it was amazing.
• * I had been wondering for a while if manual would be the way to go. The automatic is where its at no question after this trail ride. Specifically when your in 4 lo the transmission programming is so good. It will with purpose as soon as you let off the accelerator try to shift down and engine brake you. It engine brakes HARD. It’s exactly what you want when running the trails. It’s no question better including the trail turn assist in my mind (which I’m glad no more wishful thinking towards the manual I have to deal with personally yay)
• * The one pedal where you’re just on the gas to mimic two feet driving, maybe I just need more time to get used to it but it seems like a gimmick, at first it felt awesome, I tried several times to make it work but there is an issue. I will try to explain: If you just take the gas pedal and say the gas pedal travel from barely on to full gas is 0-100 range, then when in one pedal mode the same gas pedal now has a 0-500 range, where you have to push the pedal down WAY more then you would in normal circumstances. As you come down off an obstacle the vehicle is moving all around you and its instinct to get off the gas when your coming down off a cliff and the bouncing of the cabin makes your foot move on the pedal slightly. Unfortunately this causes the bronco to ‘panic brake’ which is exactly what you didn’t want, you wanted to slow to a gentle roll.
• * The GOAT modes was all useless when in 4LO, they all required 4HI. No goat mode for trail running, I wasn’t missing it since I was flipping the lockers on and off with ease as we went. No muss no fuss.
• * There was legit concern by the off rodeo team about a specific order in which to park the Bronco. Come to a stop, shift to neutral, put on park brake, let off regular brake, then move shifter to park. I don’t know the route cause for that concern.
• * Noise levels on the road with the hard top and 35’s tires was a non issue, per Apple Watch it was 60db, which is the same as one of my current Honda Civic. I will call my dealer and upgrade to the 35’s. Road manners and everything where all there and I was happy.
• * Sport mode on the wildtrak, I didn’t find the point in it. The automatic has so many gears anyways that no matter if your in normal or sport on the road the auto shifts so much to respond to your gas pedal it doesn’t much matter. It doesn’t map to sport mode in a 6 speed like you would think where gears could be held onto longer and had a bigger dynamic range where you would want to hold something. With this 10 speed it is a constant shift fest, it takes some getting used to. As such the sport mode I don’t think really matters. I wont miss it in my Badlands after this trip. (Yay)

Thank You to everyone at the Bronco Off Rodoa team for making it a trip to remember and letting us run in Moab. I simultaneously can’t wait to get my Bronco and are willing to wait longer knowing it will be worth it after today. Anyone on the fence absolutely should go, you will learn what your rig will be capable of.

Let me know if any questions.

Ha! I am glad to hear the MOAB event is as cool as the Austin event was. They went over the parking brake thing with us as well. Either the pin in the tranny is garbage so they want to make them last as long as possible, or they were just giving good general advice. I choose to believe the latter.

I have a Wildtrak Squatch on order and I am glad I do. It has everything I want and although the staybar disconnect is very useful, I prob will never need it. I would rather have sport mode to bomb down logging roads with. Of course I may just change my order to a Warthog or some other special edition that is opening for '22. Who knows.

Thanks for the review. Enjoy your Yeti!

 

[rgwinn]

I'm going to the Las Vegas event in Sept and will be driving my Motorhome pulling a car trailer. I'm trying to figure out how to get out there. Did you see if there is room to park a motorhome and trailer anywhere close to the facility? I called and talked to Program Headquarters but they don't think I can drive through the gate with the motorhome. Trying to figure out how to do this. Any info is appreciated.

There is a decent size Gravel Parking lot where you catch a shuttle to go up to Basecamp.

this is what the entrance looks like, double gates, only one side was open when we went through.

This gives you an idea of the road to the parking lot;

 

[goatman]

There is a decent size Gravel Parking lot where you catch a shuttle to go up to Basecamp.

this is what the entrance looks like, double gates, only one side was open when we went through.

This gives you an idea of the road to the parking lot;

So, is where you parked to get the shuttle inside the gate, or before the gate? They thought I wouldn't be able to drive through the gate.

 

[rgwinn]

So, is where you parked to get the shuttle inside the gate, or before the gate? They thought I wouldn't be able to drive through the gate.

Inside the gate, further up the gravel road

 

[goatman]

Inside the gate, further up the gravel road

Ahhh.....ok, thanks. I ended up reserving an RV space in Las Vegas and renting a car.

 

[rgwinn]

Ahhh.....ok, thanks. I ended up reserving an RV space in Las Vegas and renting a car.

You should start a separate thread with the date you are going, we car pooled with a couple other guys. there are also people posting on Bronco Nation.
Hope you have a great trip.
Rg

 

[Brichan]

Yes I believe that's been the consensus. I'm not bashing SAS as it's a great package. But Badlands has all the stuff except the wheels/tires and wider flares. I didn't like the SAS wheels/tires much so was determined to do my own thing. Plus my wife is short and I was concerned over the height, before we learned that SAS was minimal lift. And I ended up putting on larger tires immediately anyway

Sas also gets you 4.7 gearing for the automatics whereas standard BL has 4.46. I personally chose the standard BL anyway thinking this gearing wasn’t dramatically different and should offer a little better fuel economy in theory

 

[da_jokker]

Inside the gate, further up the gravel road

Side question, I'm not staying at the Red Lodge but will be driving to the site the morning of.

Would I park at the hotel and follow the heard or would I drive to the actual Rodeo and park there?
They make it sound like the Rodeo is right next to the hotel.

 

[broncolvr]

Side question, I'm not staying at the Red Lodge but will be driving to the site the morning of.

Would I park at the hotel and follow the heard or would I drive to the actual Rodeo and park there?
They make it sound like the Rodeo is right next to the hotel.

I don't believe there are any hotels close to the off-roadeo location. You would have to drive there regardless of where you choose to stay
EDIT: This comment was specific to the Nevada location at Mt. Potosi

 

[Gangstead]

I don't believe there are any hotels close to the off-roadeo location. You would have to drive there regardless of where you choose to stay

I haven't gone yet but I am booked for the 10/2 Off Roadeo. Here's what I found for lodging:

From the maps Red Cliff's Lodge is about 30 minutes outside of Moab city limits. When I called them up the price with the Off Roadeo discount was $300 / night. Basic hotels in Moab were not much cheaper. Depends on your definition of "close" I guess. You can't walk to the Rodeo from Moab, but odds are you'll be driving into Moab so 30 minutes is pretty close for country living.

I booked at the OK RV Park in Moab. They have "hunter's cabins" for $59 / night. It's basically a shed with 2 beds in it and you use the communal rest rooms that the park has. Not luxurious but perfect for my friend and I who are trying to Off Rodeo without breaking the bank.

 

[da_jokker]

Interesting. When they advertise the Red Cliff Lodge they made it sound like the rodeo was basically across the street. They must have some shuttle or something then for those people staying there.

Well besides having to actually figure out where to drive, sounds like I made a better decision by staying in Moab in the first place. Got my hotel for under $200 a night, And we're staying several nights.

 

[Gangstead]

The Off Roadeo is on site at Red Cliff Lodge. It's the Lodge / Roadeo site that is 30 minutes outside of Moab.

 

[johndeerefarmer]

Looking for more input on 33's vs 35's.
How do they compare on road and off road? 35's have more bump steer? wandering down the highway, etc?

How many times do you think a 33" will rub and a 35" not if you take the SAME exact line? The height difference is .9" of ground clearance. Any other advantage of the larger tires related to rock crawling??


The 33's and 4.46 would be a better daily driver and should do fine on the trail. The 35's would definitely lower fuel economy.
As was mentioned I could put 35's on a Non SAS BL and the 4.6 gear would be fine with the automatic.


Thoughts?

 

[utah.bronco.badlands]

* I have on order a 2.7 Badlands automatic, I will be calling my dealership this week to upgrade to Sasquatch package. I drove a wildtrak and it was awesome, I wasn’t missing the sta bar disconnect. I was able to cross the trail with ease, however the badlands behind me with 33’s several times had some rubbing and I did not.

I intentionally picked a Badlands w/out Sasquatch while at Moab Off Roadeo to see what it could do. I keep hearing people who drove Wildtraks make these same two points, so I want to offer my views:

1. Throughout the day I switched between sta-bar disengaged and engaged to feel the difference. With it disengaged, there is a very noticeable increase in ride comfort - not nearly the jostling you normally experience while off-roading. So like you said, if you didn't have it you wouldn't miss it because without the disconnect it feels like regular off-roading. But now having experienced it myself, I would never go without it. It's awesome.

2. While I was in a Badlands with 33s, both the Sasquatch Broncos in front and behind me scraped when I didn't across each obstacle where scraping could occur. The trail was more about how it was driven rather than the one-off comparisons of "they scraped more so Sasquatch is a must." I still recommend getting the Sasquatch package, but know it isn't all about clearance - you probably picked better lines than the Badlands behind you.

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