Bronco newbie must have mods for mpg and wind sound

[krem]

I just picked up a 2025 badlands, I’m extremely stoked on this vehicle. I like to tinker and have been diving thru the forum but can get lost in all the info. I have a painted hard top with the white interior, what are the best thing to do to help with wind noise?

I know this isn’t a hybrid but I want to do what I can to get better mpg. I’ve seen pedal mods, air filters etc. any of these actually worth a damn? I’m a realtor and do a mix of intown and short freeway driving with maybe 4 7hr roadtrips a year.
Open to any other most have upgrades for interior comfort etc

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[23OBX2.7]

For wind noise slower the better. Fuel economy; get Procal tune and run premium and light foot, keep tire pressures at 38 but ride will suffer so find balance.

General interior noise; 3/4" closed cell foam under floor carpet / membrane, resonix black absober adhered to all large side plastic panels where possible coupled with sound deadener adhered to adjacent metal panels and cargo floor.

Broncos are noisy gas guzzlers.

 

[BroncoA512021]

I just picked up a 2025 badlands, I’m extremely stoked on this vehicle. I like to tinker and have been diving thru the forum but can get lost in all the info. I have a painted hard top with the white interior, what are the best thing to do to help with wind noise?

I know this isn’t a hybrid but I want to do what I can to get better mpg. I’ve seen pedal mods, air filters etc. any of these actually worth a damn? I’m a realtor and do a mix of intown and short freeway driving with maybe 4 7hr roadtrips a year.
Open to any other most have upgrades for interior comfort etc

Broncos are loud... If your are worried about MPG, you bought the wrong vehicle.

 

[Smocaine]

Not a ton to be done for MPG - you can run your tires at high pressure and select Eco mode but that won't change the fact it's brick-shaped. The engines are already among the most efficient gassers in the Ford lineup.

 

[raptorusmaximus]

it's a flying brick and wind noise will ALWAYS be a problem. it's the price you pay so you can take the top and doors off.

 

[HalfmuleFarmer]

Yeah, funny questions. A car with a modular, multi-piece removable roof is never going to sound like a one-piece sedan. A 5000lb box with zero aerodynamics is never going to get much better than low 20s MPG. Learn to adapt! It’s not so bad, really.

 

[SkyKing]

If you primarily drive on backroads (not city, not highway), the mileage is not terrible. I can average over 25mpg at those speeds (4-door Wildtrak hardtop with roof rack). In the city, its weight is the problem. On the highway, it's the aerodynamics. On backroads at 40-45mph, it's pretty efficient.

 

[Bronco Toad]

Remove as much weight as possible for mpg, ear plugs for noise.

 

[BroncoChallenger]

I always get a chuckle at these threads.

You bought a Bronco. It's a brick, and for its size it's pretty heavy. It is also modular - things are meant to come off.

You can address some of the wind noise, some people have posted some interesting mods to try to reduce it...or you can embrace it and get the top off more often.

Mileage...yeah you're never going to get much out of the low 20's at best. That's the downside to driving a brick. If you want good mileage, you bought the wrong vehicle.

 

[Montana Bronco]

I just picked up a 2025 badlands…. yadda, yadda, yadda….. I know this isn’t a hybrid but I want to do what I can to get better mpg.

While no Broncos get great fuel mileage, you spec’d your Bronco to get the absolute worst MPG of any Bronco.

Your Badlands is designed for extreme off-road use, bigger tires, heavy metal bumpers, heavy metal skid plates, cast iron differential, heavy duty axles and steering. None of that is needed to sell real estate.

In short, the correct Bronco build for a real estate agent is an Outer Banks. I realize a Badlands makes you look incredibly cool to your clients, and especially to your buddies. But you have no one to blame but yourself for your poor MPG.

I’m a realtor

 

[HalfmuleFarmer]

While no Broncos get great fuel mileage, you spec’d your Bronco to get the absolute worst MPG of any Bronco.

Your Badlands is designed for extreme off-road use, bigger tires, heavy metal bumpers, heavy metal skid plates, cast iron differential, heavy duty axles and steering. None of that is needed to sell real estate.

In short, the correct Bronco build for a real estate agent is an Outer Banks. I realize a Badlands makes you look incredibly cool to your clients, and especially to your buddies. But you have no one to blame but yourself for your poor MPG.

Maybe he’s selling remote, mountainside lots with only unpaved trail access.

 

[RobWTX]

Try driving only downhill, i get way better MPG going thru the Rockies on the downside trip from Denver to Utah.

 

[KreeHBronco]

I just picked up a 2025 badlands, I’m extremely stoked on this vehicle. I like to tinker and have been diving thru the forum but can get lost in all the info. I have a painted hard top with the white interior, what are the best thing to do to help with wind noise?

I know this isn’t a hybrid but I want to do what I can to get better mpg. I’ve seen pedal mods, air filters etc. any of these actually worth a damn? I’m a realtor and do a mix of intown and short freeway driving with maybe 4 7hr roadtrips a year.
Open to any other most have upgrades for interior comfort etc

The 2.3L actually gets pretty decent mileage (20-22mpg) for an pure ICE 4x4 body-on-frame depending on how you drive it. For improved mpg, you probably want to swap the tires to something skinny, tall, with a mild tread pattern. Your mpg takes the biggest hit accelerating from a stop, so a light foot helps. Aero really doesn't come into play at low, city speeds, but on the freeway at higher speeds, staying below 75-80mph will help. I also don't mind the auto start/stop, but I have a manual transmission which makes it pretty seamless and also drive a Prius, so I am used to it.

 

[Valhalla]

noise, fix the B&O problems with sound dampening then turn up the radio...
It's smiles per gallon in this vehicle, stay out of the turbo keep rpm down..

 

[crzyhawk]

I find with my big bend, my MPG nose dives over 65. If I make an effort to keep out of boost, and keep my RPMs lower, I can get ~25ish indicated. Not great, but my POV is skewed growing up in the 80s and 90s, when 20mpg was pretty solid. That said, mileage was not a consideration for me when I bought it. If I cared about mileage much, I'd certainly bought something else.

You might want to look at a more pavement oriented tire. You can probably get outer banks takeoffs for fairly cheap, and you can get the same tire and tire diameter in Big Bend takeoffs for almost free. That might help with both noise and MPG.

As far as noise goes, keeping the speed down helps with that too. I've seen folks discuss some liners that can be installed that help, but I haven't bothered. I'd like to reduce the wind noise, but I'm not in a rush to spend bronco bucks on that when there are a lot of things more important to me that I want.

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