Anyone else annoyed with Package control

[CashOfLegend]

It's even worse for adding functional offroad options. Want to add a $495 rear locker to a base? You can't - at least not without adding the whole Sas package for $7,385.

Base + Sas
$29,300 + $7,385 = $36,685

Cheapest way to do it is to go up to a BB where it can be added as a $495 stand-alone option.
BB + rear locker
$33,785 + $495 = $34,280
[$4,980 over base]

Or go up to a BD where it comes standard.
$36,450
[$7,150 over base]

Terrible.... $5,000 just to add a $495 option.

So not as cheap as a factory install, but Spicer is releasing the same diffs to the public...

Sponsored

 

[grayshadow]

Is anyone else annoyed the way Ford has setup the way you can build your Bronco?
So i decided if I am forced with the auto I added the 2.7 but still would rather have the manual.

That will teach them.

 

[66GT]

It's even worse for adding functional offroad options. Want to add a $495 rear locker to a base? You can't - at least not without adding the whole Sas package for $7,385.

Base + Sas
$29,300 + $7,385 = $36,685

Cheapest way to do it is to go up to a BB where it can be added as a $495 stand-alone option.
BB + rear locker
$33,785 + $495 = $34,280
[$4,980 over base]

Or go up to a BD where it comes standard.
$36,450
[$7,150 over base]

Terrible.... $5,000 just to add a $495 option.

So not as cheap as a factory install, but Spicer is releasing the same diffs to the public...

Nice. I think Ford realizes few besides the hardcore wheelers will go to the effort to install this type of upgrade from the aftermarket. At only $29,300 though, there's a ton of room to add in a lot of those extras to build a really capable rig.

But some of those upgrades aren't aftermarket friendly. You can't add the $795 advanced 4x4 as a standalone to the base either. (Only comes as a mandatory cost in addition to the $6,590 Sas package.)

Not to mention the sta-bar disco being exclusive to the FE & BL. I think this is the biggest example of package up-selling... and the only reason many buyers jump all the way up to the BL. I wonder how many fewer BLs would have been ordered if it were available as a standalone on other packages like the BD.

 

[Bronco cat]

So Ford maximizing profit and reducing assembly complexity is more important to you than meeting customers needs...got it! I would gladly pay more for the individual options I want and not pay for those I do not want than pay less for a bunch of stuff I don’t want to get the few things I do want, ending up paying $5k-$15k more for the vehicle.
As far as ”complexity“ goes these days with all the computer control on the parts streams and assembly lines I don’t think it would be too big a deal to have selected options “just in time” for each unit. But I am a customer service guy...

Obviously with no engineering or production line experience. You would go out of business if you built cars and enabled people to select standalone options for everything. I could go into painstaking detail and explain to you why. But you’ve already determined this is some devious plan to screw you snd everyone else out of money.

 

[Squatch]

Ohhh I guess the point is bitching about something you could easily correct. Got it. You realize it’s infinitely more complex and expensive when you increase the number of configurations you can build. US automakers learned that the hard way when the Japanese are their lunch in the 80’s and early 90’s. Why do you think an accord came as a base, lx, ex and based on equipment level certain options were available.

The whole point is ford is trying to maximize their profit by reducing assembly complexity.

Yeah, it wasn't union's forcing them to pay some Forrest Gump 10x the minimum wage and benefits to put in 4 bolts by hand on every frame......

 

[Wraithracing]

I do find it interesting that back when the Mustang first came out you could add all kinds of options pretty much a la carte, but with all the technology, computers, and advancement we have today , that is just too complicated for Ford.

I understand that chips, and computers affect so much of our vehicles today, but I do find it funny that everything now has to be in a package to be cost effective for Ford. I wanted the heated steering wheel, but wasn't willing to spend the extra $$ for all the LUX crap that I didn't want nor need just for a heated steering wheel. Oh well what do I know, I just a lowly paying consumer.

 

[sgraing1]

Damn Bean Counters crap on everything these days.

Optional 210 front axle across all lines would have been nice. I have a Black Diamond on order and the only regret is not being able to get the beefier front axle. I'm not going to spend thousands extra on stuff I don't want just to get the 210 axle though.

 

[Lakelife36]

But some of those upgrades aren't aftermarket friendly. You can't add the $795 advanced 4x4 as a standalone to the base either. (Only comes as a mandatory cost in addition to the $6,590 Sas package.)

Not to mention the sta-bar disco being exclusive to the FE & BL. I think this is the biggest example of package up-selling... and the only reason many buyers jump all the way up to the BL. I wonder how many fewer BLs would have been ordered if it were available as a standalone on other packages like the BD.

Optional 210 front axle across all lines would have been nice. I have a Black Diamond on order and the only regret is not being able to get the beefier front axle. I'm not going to spend thousands extra on stuff I don't want just to get the 210 axle though.

On more conventional vehicles the trim hierarchy generally adds creature comforts and sometimes unlocks engine upgrades, with utilitarian options packaged separately and often only unavailable on the lowest of trims. So for the Bronco they could have gone that typical route but instead flipped the script by having the trim hierarchy add utilitarian options (remember "BRONCO TWO- AND FOUR-DOOR MODELS OFFER SEVEN UNIQUE EQUIPMENT LEVELS DESIGNED TO ALIGN TO THE CAPABILITY AND ADVENTURE INTERESTS OF EACH CUSTOMER"?), with the creature comforts packaged separately. That is why the SBD and heavier front axle is only available on the highest trim. Where they effed up though is that they tried to play both sides and also tied the comfort packages too closely to the trim hierarchy, which then also left them offering Sasquatch on all trims. Now we're left in this pergatory where you can get the heated steering wheel in a pavement princess OBX or a megarockcrawler BL, but not in the BD that slots in between them on the "adventure interests" scale that the trim levels are supposed to represent.

 

[Gabby]

Boeing doesn't even offer al-a-cart during production and a base model 37 runs ~300 million. They use to on the 47 up to the -400. Hell even put a sushi bar in for JAL, but that level of in production customization is expensive, increases risk of rework and can require tooling that is either 1 off or rarely used.

What y'all really want is for dealers to get back in the post production world. There's a reason Yenko & Dana Cameros, Tasca Mustangs and others existed. And those were the "mass produced" post production mods. Plenty of other dealers would special order and install OEM engines, drive trains, etc to create custom vehicles.

 

[Haystack]

I'll say it's 50/50 whether someone steps up a trim level to get a option they want. If Ford offered said option for X amount on other trims, that's guaranteed profit instead of a 50/50 shot. Yeah it might be a crap shoot considering those who do bump up a trim will be paying more in the long run, but it would at least make the consumers happy. Would it kill Ford to offer advanced 4x4 on all trims, or heck even the BB model? I don't think it would.

 

[Swan]

Is anyone else annoyed the way Ford has setup the way you can build your Bronco?

I have a BD with the Mid package. Yet I wanted the 7speed but I cant get it with the mid package on the BD. I have to get the Badlands. I dont want the badlands as I will never use the disconnect or front locker. I can understand not offering the high and Lux on the lower trim but taking away the 7spd with Mid package I think is stupid. So i decided if I am forced with the auto I added the 2.7 but still would rather have the manual.

I wish they would offer the 360 camera or at least a forward facing camera as a stand alone option. I don't really need the rest of the things in the high package.

 

[CashOfLegend]

Obviously with no engineering or production line experience. You would go out of business if you built cars and enabled people to select standalone options for everything. I could go into painstaking detail and explain to you why. But you’ve already determined this is some devious plan to screw you snd everyone else out of money.

I was a Tier 1 Production Engineer. I can tell you right now you can ala-cart the vehicle as much as you want. We don’t care. We design our processes to deliver that.

 

[Efthreeoh]

I made the opposite choice, the manual was more important to me than the mid package

The mid package has stuff I don't want, auto dim mirror (they react too slow), dual climate (I pretty much run solo), blind spot monitoring (nah, I know how to use the mirrors), lane keeping (ah, no, LOL), backup beeper (annoying).

A that crap makes it mall crawler.

Sponsored