Quick thoughts after driving a rental Jeep

[Freedom5]

Interesting, I have owned many jeeps last two Rubicon Gladiators. Power is definitely lacking compared to the 2.7 and the interior is smaller, However for me The interior is by far more finished than the plastic tempo interior of the Bronco and the stereo in my Rubicon was so much better than the Bronco its not even funny. The steering can be set up to go down the road straight and with great feedback but it is a solid axle so it will never be a highway ride like ifs and actually if it was a 4 cylinder wrangler it will actually walk a 4 cylinder bronco. It was probably a v6

Bronco plastic interior needs work. I like the design and layout, but needs soft touch if you ask me.

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[ColonelAngus]

That's all you needed to say right there: The Bronco doesn't attract people with birth defects!

Having spent a lot of time on Bronco facebook groups (this place isn't immune either, although seemingly less so.... I'd have to thoroughly disagree with you on that one.

 

[HighVelocity]

Having spent a lot of time on Bronco facebook groups (this place isn't immune either, although seemingly less so.... I'd have to thoroughly disagree with you on that one.

OK.

 

[timhood]

Drive: Without having opened the hood, I can only assume this is a 4 cylinder motor because it is so sluggish. However, it has enough power to push itself along, so it does suffice. What was most noticeable was how much it drifted to the right, and it really kept me on my toes. It is nearly impossible to drive straight, and there was almost no feedback from the steering wheel. I also noticed that after a turn, the wheel doesn't really spin back to normal, and I had to manually turn it back to OG position, which I thought was extremely odd and dangerous.

In the Jeep, the 4-cylinder is actually the upgraded motor, so I suspect you had the V6, which is not turbocharged.

Also, the Jeep's steering is recirculating ball, technology which most vehicles ditched in the '80s. Combine that with the solid front axle, and you have a recipe for sloppy steering and handling.

Design: Obviously, I love the way my Bronco looks. The white Wrangler is handsome, too, though I can't get over the fact that it looks small on the outside, and feels even smaller on the inside. By numbers alone, it shouldn't feel so different but everything in the Wrangler just feels really cramped. I can't say that it felt pleasant to be inside this car.

The Bronco is only a couple of inches wider than the Jeep. That alone would make for some noticeable improvement, but there's one more aspect that makes the Bronco so much more roomy: a lot of the Jeep's width is in those really wide table-top fender flares. So you're getting about 5+" more interior width in the Bronco. The 2-door Bronco is also longer than the 2-door Jeep, so it's a much more viable alternative and can accommodate four adults much more comfortably with its greater leg room for the rear passengers. The 4-doors are comparable in length.

The last time I drove a Jeep was too long ago to make direct comparisons with the Bronco, but suffice it to say that I thought it was bad enough that I decided to wait for the next generation Jeep that would solve those problems. That next-gen came and went without changes, as did the generation after that, and I had long since given up on Jeep when Bronco came back.

 

[timhood]

At 28k the Bronco base was decent - after some larger tires and a few upgrades. Or base with Sas added still under 30k. Now the big spenders have ruined things, the lux market you mentioned. Why should Ford offer low cost simpler versions, when so many people are willing to lay out 50-60k? People who don't even go off-road are eating up Sas. That's probably why Ford currently doesn't offer the Base model for order. Gentrification.

Minor correction: the base Bronco was basically $30K when introduced, including the required transportation fee. The Sasquatch package added $4,500 or $5K (I can't remember exactly, as I think it may have even changed from introduction to production.) So, an extremely capable but stripper Bronco was $35K.

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