Broncos in Raleigh

[mmorgan]

So I drove a Defender 90 Friday night for comparison, and then attended the Crossroads event Saturday. Here is my takeaway:

The defender 90 is fairly plain and utilitarian inside as well. Appointed materials a little nicer, but plain. I can’t get past the “gone mall crawler” feel, which starts up front with the dash mounted automatic gear shit joy stick. It is wider, and the rear seats have more leg room and recline, at the cost of cargo space. And driving in airlifted settings is like riding on concrete. Oh and wind noise (at least with the optional snorkel).

The Bronco:

Very much the size of my Jeep JKU. If you can’t see a Bronco, go test drive a Wrangler four door. Same effective size.

If anything I think the new - post 2012 grand Cherokee like - Wrangler interior is nicer than the Bronco’s, and the Bronco is somewhere between that and the original more utilitarian JK and Toyota FJ interiors. To me this is good. A lot of fun has been poked at the “luxury” JK / JL dashes, these being rugged off road vehicles. The finish on the Bronco is nice though - even the Big Bend. And I really like the switch locations vs the Jeep. Like both sized sync screens too. I hate the gauge cluster though - clearly for the smartphone / tablet fans out there over traditional gauge clusters. I’m not sure if they though just having a speedo harkens back to the EB, but not having that balance of information between speedo and tach really sucks.

Manual shifter feel is good. Not as direct as my JK / still cabley, but good and I can’t wait to drive it.

Engine compartments: both 2.3 and 2.7 have way more space and tidiness under the hood than the pics we’ve seen show. There is room for an ARB compressor, and a catch can. Looked finished enough without the stupid plastic cover.

I was bummed no Squatch or Badlands, so it’s a let down looking at Sahara’s and Sports when you want to see the beef. Axle to frame was about 5-1/2 to 6”. The seam between the rocker and the door (on the exterior side) was about 20”. The guy said the Badlands is about an inch higher, and the Squatch an inch or so higher than that. The same measurement on my Jeep is 24-1/2”, so these Broncos felt low.

Front seats were very OBackseat is nice. I am 6’-2” so my head is up between the roll cage. With the top down or off the Bronco is amazingly open compare to my JK. The rear seats do have three recline positions. They will stay in the furthest reclined position in my view.

Towing - I said this in the towing controller thread. I am alarmingly underwhelmed by the hitch receiver. I haven’t looked at the JLs, but the one rated for 3500 lbs on my JK is easily 20% bigger in all dimensions. Maybe the JK’s is overbuilt. Maybe the Bronco’s is some kind of higher strength steel. But the plating is 1/8” thick, the cross frame - though reinforced - is 2-1/2” thick, and the bolt spacing is only an 8” spread. That think doesn’t look like a receiver overbuilt for towing (something safely less than 3500 lbs) confidently on the trail - more like minimal optimization for 3500lbs on the road. I want the wiring harness, but the tow package for sure isn’t worth $595, and that receiver is getting replaced as soon a something significantly better is available. I looked by the way to see if I felt a Ranger receiver would bolt on where the tow eyes bolt to the frame. Maybe, but I think the muffler and muffler mounts (which are crammed in there) May conflict. Until something comes along, your Jeep friend may be towing your overland trailer out.

Overall impression - coming from a JKUR / adjusting for trim level - exactly what I was expecting. Engine compartment way better. Towing is a cheap, whimpy afterthought that is causing a bit of introspection.

Looks like your timestamp and build could be a late summer product. Has your dealer given you any hope?

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[Dads_bronze_bronco]

Looks like your timestamp and build could be a late summer product. Has your dealer given you any hope?

Yeah - they expect early July build. But who knows based on how few were scheduled in June.

 

[BenB007]

Sounds like your girlfriend isnt keen on the Bronco...maybe she wants you to buy a Jeep.

Funny how people can see the same two vehicles and have very different opinions. I saw these same two in Apex at Crossroads Ford.

The colors are what they are, and they have been known for nearly a year. The red and blue are not my favorite, but Crossorads pulled around other vehicles with different paint colors for people (CG, CO, Carb Gray etc). Not sure the surprise is warranted here. The Bronco IS a sports car, so it makes sense to he colors lean that directions.

Who the f@#& grabs the dashboard and shakes it. Lol. This would never occur to me as something I should do. I pulled the "oh shit" handles in the BB model, and I felt no play or issues.

I am 6'2, 230#. I sat down, adjusted the seat, the mirror, rowed through the gears some in the MT, looked in the console, looked where are the controls are, then got out. There was plenty of space, it felt very comfortable. The front visibility looked good...nothing registered as a concern.

I didn't see any exposed wiring or your issues. Maybe I wasn't tuned into it.

At the end of the day, the Bronco is a cool sports car, it will be fun, but it won't be perfect. I think the past year + has caused a level of analysis, conjecture, and imaginative expectation setting that is hard for Ford to compete with. Some critique is warranted, but some of it isn't, IMO.

My girlfriend 100% wants me to buy a Defender X. My kids 100% want the Bronco. I'm leaning towards the EV Hummer. I've been hoping all along that an optioned up Bronco would be somewhere between a toy and a luxury SUV - something that we could use hard at the beach and in the mountains AND something, albeit kitschy, we could drive to a black tie event.

Colors are certainly a subjective thing. But, those colors leaned hard towards the toy side for me. And, I'm not alone. Only 5.1% of the orders tracked on this forum were for Rapid Red and on 8.5% went for Velocity Blue whereas Carbonized Grey, Antimatter Blue, Area 51 and Cactus Grey make up over 55% of the orders with Area 51 being 20% alone. Now how many Rapid Red's with Navy Pier interior would one think they sold? I'm guessing not even 1%, hence I'd label this color combo a reject. Perhaps Ford was just thinking, "hey send those southerner hillbillies a little red, white and blue and those fanboys will eat it up". - Notice they didn't try that shit in California. Listen, I'm all for the red, white and blue but not as a daily driver and I think the stats of orders placed confirm that there aren't many people here that want that either. I just felt like Ford geared the event as if the Bronco is competing more against the Harley Davidson.

I'm guessing the exposed wiring was for the hard top which would make sense because If one does switch out the hard top for a soft top, where is that wiring supposed to go? Maybe they looked at the forums and tucked it away before they went to Crossroads. I don't know, but there was about a foot of wiring coming from the driver side cargo area and it looked like an accident waiting to happen. It's not a deal breaker.

I had no concerns with the space in the front passenger area at all. It's probably my favorite aspect of the vehicle. My concern was with the rear seating in several aspects - lack of headroom, lack of vents and lack of usable armrest. But, to your point, maybe I need to be looking at this as much more of a toy than a daily driver. I grew up around sports cars in the 70's and 80's and they were all spartan, all were obnoxious colors, all were loud - and they were all basically toys for the weekends.

 

[Dads_bronze_bronco]

My girlfriend 100% wants me to buy a Defender X. My kids 100% want the Bronco. I'm leaning towards the EV Hummer. I've been hoping all along that an optioned up Bronco would be somewhere between a toy and a luxury SUV - something that we could use hard at the beach and in the mountains AND something, albeit kitschy, we could drive to a black tie event.

My opinion on the Defender is this: because of reliability, it is an own three years and trade in vehicle, and because of that you’ll avoid trails and probably even the beach. So then you have to look at it through the lens of intended use and decide if a different luxury SUV is a better choice.

Hummer EV will have the unproven range question on terrain as well, so same question.

 

[rugbysecondrow]

My girlfriend 100% wants me to buy a Defender X. My kids 100% want the Bronco. I'm leaning towards the EV Hummer. I've been hoping all along that an optioned up Bronco would be somewhere between a toy and a luxury SUV - something that we could use hard at the beach and in the mountains AND something, albeit kitschy, we could drive to a black tie event.

Colors are certainly a subjective thing. But, those colors leaned hard towards the toy side for me. And, I'm not alone. Only 5.1% of the orders tracked on this forum were for Rapid Red and on 8.5% went for Velocity Blue whereas Carbonized Grey, Antimatter Blue, Area 51 and Cactus Grey make up over 55% of the orders with Area 51 being 20% alone. Now how many Rapid Red's with Navy Pier interior would one think they sold? I'm guessing not even 1%, hence I'd label this color combo a reject. Perhaps Ford was just thinking, "hey send those southerner hillbillies a little red, white and blue and those fanboys will eat it up". - Notice they didn't try that shit in California. Listen, I'm all for the red, white and blue but not as a daily driver and I think the stats of orders placed confirm that there aren't many people here that want that either. I just felt like Ford geared the event as if the Bronco is competing more against the Harley Davidson.

I'm guessing the exposed wiring was for the hard top which would make sense because If one does switch out the hard top for a soft top, where is that wiring supposed to go? Maybe they looked at the forums and tucked it away before they went to Crossroads. I don't know, but there was about a foot of wiring coming from the driver side cargo area and it looked like an accident waiting to happen. It's not a deal breaker.

I had no concerns with the space in the front passenger area at all. It's probably my favorite aspect of the vehicle. My concern was with the rear seating in several aspects - lack of headroom, lack of vents and lack of usable armrest. But, to your point, maybe I need to be looking at this as much more of a toy than a daily driver. I grew up around sports cars in the 70's and 80's and they were all spartan, all were obnoxious colors, all were loud - and they were all basically toys for the weekends.

That makes sense. It is hard to bridge the gap from a Defender to the Bronco, if that is where the expectation rests. And we all have different uses and needs, so that makes sense too. For us, 75% of my trips are solo, 90% just 2 of us in the car, and never all 5 in my car (family car for that) so the Bronco suits my personal needs.

I don't like those two colors either, personally, but they looked nicer in person than online, which is what I noticed. Mine is an Area 51 2DR, I accepted long ago I wasn't going to see my combo in person prior to purchase.

Luckily, my black tie event days are behind me, and the Bronco will be perfect for the 2.5 hour drive to the beach house.

Cheers!

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