Anybody else concerned about plastic interior looking cheap?

[rmc523]

I'm not too worried about plastic interior. It's pretty much in all mid to cheaper model vehicles these days. This isn't my AMG, so I'm cool with it. Besides, should be easier to clean!! However, the other concerns have mounted to the point that I've pushed my reservation to a model year 22. I have a bit of an issue committing to a $60k, first year vehicle without ever getting to test drive it. What happens if you go to pick this thing up and you simply hate it?

As others have said, you just don't take it. They'll sell it.

It's not that it's plastic, it's that it's cheap, thin, poorly fitted plastic. That said I still think it's better than a Wrangler or 4runner, but that isn't saying much. Ford looked at their competitors, slightly exceeded them, but that's about it.

Hmm, I didn't find it cheap/poorly fitted.

I think some people are conflating “cheap/crappy” with “durable/utilitarian”.

If your only frame of reference for interiors is the modern soft-touch, covered in upholstery interiors (ironically probably cheap material) that’s in every crossover and “appliance”-type vehicle nowadays, the Bronco interior might seem “cheap”.

However as others have pointed out this vehicle has a different purpose. The plastic (according to an insider post buried in another thread) is apparently high quality. So the idea is that after beating on it for 5 years you can hit it with some 303 cleaner and it’ll look awesome, versus softer, nicer to the touch materials that will look like hell even after just some doors-off tooling around on fire roads.

The idea gets floated around a lot that “This is a 60k truck so the interior should be nicer”. Well, not necessarily — the vehicle has a different use case. I think some folks have a different perception of this vehicle than others, and what they want it for may not necessarily align with the design outcomes of this product. This is not to say that if you’re not a hardcore offroader you should just get lost, it’s more of a situation where you should know what the vision is for this product and be prepared to manage certain expectations if your priorities include having a more luxurious interior feel.

This. I had similar thoughts in the other thread about this topic. Here's what I said there the other day:

After reading the comments, I'll give some of my feedback after seeing/being in the interior in person today. I could've sat there all day going around the vehicle with a fine tooth comb, but obviously couldn't do that, and I was definitely excited to be there seeing it in person, but here are some thoughts......

Within the comments, there seemed to be a back and forth on what's "cheap" and what's "not", and what's quality and what's not.

I think it's important to make a distinction between "high quality plastic" from "low-quality tupperwear garbage plastic", as well as something soft-touch (which can give the illusion of "nicer") vs. a textured hard plastic. Something can be a high quality plastic, but be hard textured. On the flip side, it can be low quality and soft touch. And of course there's the middle grounds of high quality/soft touch or low quality hard textured.

The interior is certainly not a Rolls Royce, but it's not a Playskool car either. It didn't feature soft-touch plastics all over that many cars have nowadays. The dash top had what I'll call a rubberized coating - it wasn't "squishy" soft touch, and was solid, but there was a slight rubberized quality to it that kept it from being completely rock hard. Beyond that, the only "squishy" soft-touch areas I noticed were the main "touch points" - your center console cover, steering wheel, door arm rest, and the colored pad on the top of the doors near the handle. Everything else was textured hard plastic.

So if "squishy" soft touch is what you're looking for, you'll likely be disappointed. BUT with that said, though it was pre-production, and despite being hard/textured, the plastics seemed of a high quality to me. As stated above, there can be good quality with hard textured. Fit and finish also seemed good to me, which is another aspect of quality that people seem to be concerned with.

As others have said, the materials chosen were done so for durability and ease-of-cleaning.

I sat in an OBX with Lux today, which is representative of what my Wildtrak will be like aside from the color. I did find myself thinking it'd be nice to have some "fancier" materials (see below) for the pricepoint, but I wasn't concerned about the quality of materials, nor do I see myself changing anything order wise.

I totally understand Bronco's intended purpose and whatnot, and why the materials were chosen. But for the pricepoint at the upper end, I think it would be nice for them to have an interior upgrade OPTION for those that may want it. Something like this would more appropriately be called the LUX package (with current lux better being Tech Package). Mustang had a package like this called "premium plus" which added a nicer dash material (as well as some console areas and door inserts) with colored stitching and an aluminum dash panel. If they did that, then customers that want the "fancier" materials could upgrade to them, while the ones that don't need it could skip that. I won't at all be surprised if/when we see that down the road.

So the summary is - materials and fit-and-finish seemed of good quality and well put together, even if they aren't "fancy" soft touch all over.

I don't know if I've helped much lol. At the end of the day, if you can make it to one of these events, go check it out for yourself. And/or keep in touch with your dealer for if/when they'll get a demo unit in.

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[M Redwood]

Anybody else concerned about the plastic interior and sheer amount of it? People are saying it appears and feels cheap at the Bronco events.

All is good after seeing one in person it blows away the many pics I've seen ...I'm just so happy the retro classic bronco is back nothing will undo my bronco smile...

 

[AKBronc49]

I'm trying to understand the complaints. Every vehicle I've had and drive from a 1972 to 2021 has had a majority plastic interior. Dash, door panels, side seat panels...ect So how/why all of a sudden is it a surprise that a vehicle with a removeable roof and doors has a utilitarian interior?

 

[Efthreeoh]

The problem is Ford dosen't fix this stuff, they just roll with it. Warped dashes were a huge problem on the last gen F150 XL, and XLT's. Ford never really fixed the problem or even made a legitimate effort to. They warped in the sun because the plastic was too thin. Ford's "fix" in later years was using more adhesive or double sided tape to hold it down. Didn't work obviously. They could have just charged $50 more per truck, put the Lariat level upper dash in there and fixed the whole issue, but no...double sided tape.

An easy $50M decision you made right there

 

[Rivers90]

No concern here.
Plastic is more water proof.

This is a Ford not a Lincoln.

 

[Wanted33]

Every new vehicle I've owned in the last 10 years has been full of plastic stuff inside. I haven't had any problems so far. It is what it is. So we must deal with it, or move on to another vehicle.

 

[ac360]

Going over the top on this 2005 Spyker C8. I'll take the FORD option.

This interior is designed to be kept indoor. It'll probably disintegrate if it gets exposed outside.

 

[BroncoAgain]

IMO, the smart money will be to get one to use off road. The best and fancy interior is not up to par. Concentrate on fun with it, top and doors off. If ya want lux off road get a Rover or defender. Lexus might be even better. Get a 2 door base Sasq, 2.7, auto, Rapid Red. Take the roof off and have a fun car anywhere. It's retro look will turn heads for a long time.

 

[RoLyMa27]

No, it's designed to be utilitarian, easy to clean as well. It's not a Lincoln

Yeah, what he ^ said!!! Preach it Justin!

 

[RoLyMa27]

At this point, the only thing that would stop me from buying a Bronco is to find out they were putting Subaru parts in that son of a bitch!

 

[BroncWV]

Anybody else concerned about the plastic interior and sheer amount of it? People are saying it appears and feels cheap at the Bronco events.

No

 

[Efthreeoh]

Moving on from interior plastic and thin "MGV," we can all agree the Bronco is more of a rugged work boot than a fine leather shoe regardless of our intended purposes.

Is it an Ozark Trail boot from Walmart or is it a Thorogood or Red Wing (insert your boot of choice)?

Can we hear some input about the sturdiness of the door handles, tailgate hinges, and overall thickness/quality of other parts that may break or become loose/ill-fitting? What's rattling and seems flimsy?

@BackcountryBirds had his concerns, I'd like to hear other people's opinions

Preferably from those that have ridden in it and/or have fidgeted with various components

I think the soft top material and support structure is of high quality. The doors, hinges, door wiring connectors are all very well made. The wire loom going from the body into the tailgate is very well made and durable. The tailgate gas strut is very beefy, as are the tailgate hinges.

The machine is well built from my lookover of it. Nothing jumped out as poorly engineered or manufactured. The paint was thick, smooth, and applied well even in the spots not normally visible.

 

[soupcook]

Anybody else concerned about the plastic interior and sheer amount of it? People are saying it appears and feels cheap at the Bronco events.

I can't think of any vehicles with plastic all over the dash. Some have a little more soft materials in places...like my GMC Acadia Denali AWD.

 

[Hanverg07]

This isn't 50k because it's a luxury vehicle. It's a heavy duty off-road capable vehicle. If you want the SUV with a luxury feel, buy that. But it won't be made for off-road. If you want both, that'll be 100k.

I'm so agree with you! Nowadays cars are expensive for many reasons, but still we're gonna keep complaining because we're paying top dollar for the Broncos or any other car, but that's the way it is.

 

[dwbronco]

Here’s a recent discussion on it....
Could be completely fine but it’s a potential issue that’s present :/

https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/washout-floors-removable-swapable.14960/

Everything is a "potential issue." The OP of that post included some pretty shitty pictures of something no one can identify. Now, out of nowhere, the floors are an issue. Instead of flipping out over bad pictures and uninformed opinions, we should all just chill out with all the negativity.

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