Gonna try something risky

[Russ.Gil]

So we'll see if this comes back to bite me in the ass but I'm pretty interested to see how this all turns out. My wife and I ordered our bronco ~November of last year. I'm under no illusion that I'll see it before the end of the year. My bet is I'll end up with a 2023 or 2024 model. However, because of the weird times we're in, with vehicles being worth an astronomical amount used I talked to my wife about trading in her car to get something more in line with our needs too. We settled on ordering a 2022 Explorer Timberline. We did that at the end of January beginning of February.

My wife just got the email today that it's scheduled for April to be built. (Sorry I just find it a little funny Ford's chip allocation is so far off where it should be.) Maybe it's that demand is lower for anything Ford that isn't the Bronco? Who knows. But a few weeks back we talked about not wanting 2 car payments at the same time. So now I'm thinking, If we trade in my car and pay the down we were gonna put towards the bronco towards the Timberline it'll probably be worth more than my car when/if I ever see the bronco.

Long story short, I'm gonna trade in my car towards the timberline, drive it around for ~1 to 2 years, and trade that back in (hopefully it holds its value) towards the bronco when and if it shows up and as near as I can tell our monthly payment will be about the same.

Wish me luck haha.

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[LOSTXGOLD]

I think the Timberlines are sweet - I really like the Expedition version

 

[Russ.Gil]

I think the Timberlines are sweet - I really like the Expedition version

I think they're cool too and we may end up keeping it and trading in the wife's car towards the bronco. who knows.

 

[indio22]

That's interesting the Explorer is scheduled for a build in a few months. Clearly there's more to the Bronco story in terms of delays.

Regarding your plan, there is something to be said for striking while the iron is hot in selling your current vehicle ... if you don't also pay more for your new Explorer, and if 2 years from now the value holds. Some "ifs" there.

But the biggest issue - will that Explorer take you where you want to go over the next two years? If you're mainly a Bronco image buyer, then probably doesn't matter. But otherwise you got potentially 2 years without the off-road and open-top capability of a Bronco (or other similar vehicle). For me that would be a bad deal.

 

[Kos]

Making risky high dollar financial decisions, it's the American Way.

 

[MayhemMike]

Drove a Timberline Explorer. Really nice ride. The second row Captain seats were really sweet. Overall, I thought it was a great vehicle.

 

[Russ.Gil]

That's interesting the Explorer is scheduled for a build in a few months. Clearly there's more to the Bronco story in terms of delays.

Regarding your plan, there is something to be said for striking while the iron is hot in selling your current vehicle ... if you don't also pay more for your new Explorer, and if 2 years from now the value holds. Some "ifs" there.

But the biggest issue - will that Explorer take you where you want to go over the next two years? If you're mainly a Bronco image buyer, then probably doesn't matter. But otherwise you got potentially 2 years without the off-road and open-top capability of a Bronco (or other similar vehicle). For me that would be a bad deal.

So where I live in eastern Washington and what my wife and I plan to do with the bronco is between casual trail off-roading and rock crawling some obstacles. Our whole thing is dispersed camping and backpacking more than the Overlanding, navigating obstacles thing. I want a vehicle that has the clearance to get us where we want to go but I'm also not experienced enough to confidently do some of the more extreme stuff the bronco can do. For that reason, I think the timberline is gonna be a perfect replacement for the time being. Has a hell of a lot more room for gear than my suby does and the clearance will allow me to (cautiously) get over the difficult terrain in our way.

 

[Russ.Gil]

Making risky high dollar financial decisions, it's the American Way.

True enough, but we've calculated it out and IF we had to make both car payments we could do so and still be "okay". We wouldn't have as much spare income as we'd like but we'd still have enough that we wouldn't be living paycheck to paycheck.

 

[Russ.Gil]

Drove a Timberline Explorer. Really nice ride. The second row Captain seats were really sweet. Overall, I thought it was a great vehicle.

They didn't have one for us to drive at any of the dealers in Spokane but we drove an Limited (I think? the one above XLT) and it was an enjoyable right. It's not the car I want, (because I'm a die-hard manual guy and not having a stick is gonna kill me) but I enjoyed the limited we drove enough to feel confident that I'll like the Timberline and be comfortable with it as my daily driver until the bronco shows up in ..... 2,009,875,025 years. lol

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