New Ford Bronco aimed at the Jeep Gladiator

[rob_s]

I can't even count the number of times I've seen people asking for help diagnosing why their electronic shift 4wd won't work. The switches, wires, and shift motors fail all the time, not to mention center axle disconnects and their actuators and lines. Bad enough on a snowy day in the city. 30 miles from civilization it becomes a real problem. And in either case you're not going to know it doesn't work until you need it. I've seen one shift linkage on a manual T-case fail, and the guy was still able to get under the truck and jerry rig it.

And just because your experience "off-roading" was on "trails" a minivan could do, well that doesn't mean much to anyone else. I live in Colorado and there are lots of sites and ghost towns I want to see that require a decent 4x4 to get to.

Even if it wasn't that important, if I'm spending the kind of money a new vehicle costs, I want what I want. If that's a manual transfer case or a supercharger or a silly trim package then that's just what it'll take to get me to buy it. I don't know why you care about random people on the internet bitching about stuff like that.

One might also ask why you care so much what a person you clearly think doesn’t know what they are talking about has to say about your opinions...

The point about the trails is, most vehicles are way more capable than anyone even realizes, and that trails like that are likely the most that virtually any new car buyer is going to do (transfer case or no transfer case, let alone manual vs electronic).

If someone’s off-road needs are really so extreme, and they are so thoroughly convinced that electronics will fail them, there are other options and the Bronco just simply isn’t for them.

But I’d still submit that it doesn’t matter nearly as much as most of said people would like to think.

My broader point s, bitching that a new car (that doesn’t even actually really exist yet, by the way) doesn’t have your 0.5-per enter feature is just weird. Especially how you keep yammering on about it. If said car doesn’t have said feature, it would seem that it eliminates it from your selection process and you’d just move on. No amount of instragramming at a multinational company is going to get them to change it.

[rob_s]

Living in the east, a Suburban solved all my off road 4WD needs. Out west is a whole different environment.

It was kind of interesting to see how many different vehicles had off-road tires on them, and most of them clearly not for the purposes of showing off or mall crawling. My personal favorite was an older (older than me, anyway) yuppie looking couple with an x3 m40i that had off-road tires. I doubt that couple was looking to show off at the country club, they clearly had defined a need (whether or not that solution was the best one is debatable). There’s obviously a segment of the population there that has no interest in off-roading (trails or otherwise but has encountered a “need” in their daily habits.

One thing I really liked about Moab, and I’d like to do if we ever go back, was the proliferation of UTVs. Evidently there is some ability to make them street legal (although it appeared the National Parks didn’t allow them in) and then just drive your UTV out to the trails. If we lived there that would seem to be a way better option than trying to take my daily driver out there. We talked to some guys in our campground that we’re there for a week going out every day in their SAS. Their daily drivers appeared to be 3/4 ton pickups chosen for their ability to tow their toys as needed.

Back to the Bronco, I don’t think it’s any secret that Ford is marketing the off-road capability to a lot of people that just aren’t going to use it, AND fully knowing that the market for someone looking to buy a $50k “keep” AND take it out somewhere that the mechanism of transfer case could be an issue is so statistically small as to not even be a blip on the Instagram. AND fully knowing that the vast majority of people are buying vehicles based on fantasy rather than reality. Even those that ARE utilizing some amount of the capability are likely over-buying. Which may even be a good thing. Just because i saw and Escape on the trail doesn’t mean it would be a good idea to do that with that car over and over again.

But, it also means that the baby Bronco, if it is Escape-based, is probably far more capable than the Escape base vehicle, and likewise far more capable than their real buyers would ever need, or that the hard core off-road crowd would ever give it credit for.

[Bigghoss]

One might also ask why you care so much what a person you clearly think doesn’t know what they are talking about has to say about your opinions...

The point about the trails is, most vehicles are way more capable than anyone even realizes, and that trails like that are likely the most that virtually any new car buyer is going to do (transfer case or no transfer case, let alone manual vs electronic).

If someone’s off-road needs are really so extreme, and they are so thoroughly convinced that electronics will fail them, there are other options and the Bronco just simply isn’t for them.

But I’d still submit that it doesn’t matter nearly as much as most of said people would like to think.

My broader point s, bitching that a new car (that doesn’t even actually really exist yet, by the way) doesn’t have your 0.5-per enter feature is just weird. Especially how you keep yammering on about it. If said car doesn’t have said feature, it would seem that it eliminates it from your selection process and you’d just move on. No amount of instragramming at a multinational company is going to get them to change it.

Well you did specifically respond to something I said, calling me out so-to-speak. That's different than you making a blanket statement that happens to include me. And however weird or whatever it is for me to voice my dissatisfaction it's it's quite a bit weirder for you to pick fights with people over it. And even more so to keep it going after I explained myself. The internet is a place for people to express their opinions so for you to take issue with a person expressing their opinion about a vehicle lacking a feature relevant to it's intended role is downright ridiculous. I mean, I come on here and make a quick throw-away statement, that everyone else had the good sense to ignore, and you had to go turn it into a whole thing. And now we're both here, shitting in the thread like a couple of grade-A assholes.

[rob_s]

Anyone else starting to feel like this thing is going to be the next Edsel?

https://www.kbb.com/car-news/ford-br...20model%20year.

The Bronco is available with three different roof options – a soft top, a molded plastic hardtop, and a painted metal hardtop. But the painted metal version faces supply chain issues. Since March, buyers who want a painted metal roof can switch to the carbonized gray molded-in color hardtop. Ford let hardtop buyers know in June that their Broncos are on hold indefinitely.

Now, indefinitely has a date – late 2022. In an email to buyers, Ford said, “Our black, contrasting white, body-color painted modular, and dual roof tops will now arrive in the 2023 model year.” Factories will begin building the 2023 Bronco in the second half of 2022. “Until then, we can offer the carbonized gray molded-in color hardtop as the only hardtop option for 2- and 4-door Broncos.”

Couple that with the utterly stupid way of accessing the cargo area on the soft-tops and it seems like this thing is jumping the shark before it ever gets it's skis on...

3:52 here

[RoyGBiv]

$55K for that car makes me cry.

FWIW.... I way prefer the black hard top vs color matched on the Wrangler. I expect I'd be just fine with the available Gray on the Bronco.

[rob_s]

$55K for that car makes me cry.

Not unlike the $50k starting price of the Wrangler 4xe

ETA:
they've taken the body-color hard top off the build-n-price entirely for the Bronco. I literally just "built" one last week with the painted hard top.

[Crazy Dane]

I thought it would be bigger... and had the hopes of having a secondary tow rig to get camper and boat to the lake/ocean at the same time. The bronco's rating would be pushing the limits and most likely over with boat and is out for the camper. I guess I'm back looking for a 'ho.

[Maple Syrup Actual]

I really like the idea but I think a 3500lb tow rating is just a deal breaker for me. For some reason I thought it'd be 5000 but maybe this was already covered and I just forgot.

I may be going to a lighter boat in a couple of months and all but I wouldn't want to be stuck without at least half ton capabilities.

Maybe they'll ultimately do a pickup version with a slightly longer wheelbase and it'll be a half ton.

[Eugene]

Trucks and SUVs do not get good mileage.

How do you define good? I want to know why mid sized v6 suv's and trucks get the fame fuel economy as full size v8 trucks. I'd like to downsize a little so I can actually use my garage but nothing smaller thats decent gets better economy than my full size truck.

[Navin Johnson]

How do you define good? I want to know why mid sized v6 suv's and trucks get the fame fuel economy as full size v8 trucks. I'd like to downsize a little so I can actually use my garage but nothing smaller thats decent gets better economy than my full size truck.

A Honda pilot and an F-150 weigh the same.

Even smaller SUVs like a CRV or escape weigh notably more that cars of the same basic size..... Plus many SUVs have all wheel drive or four-wheel drive system that adds weight and sucks mileage.

Even all-wheel drive Subarus for their size don't get the greatest mileage.

FYI on the larger heavier vehicles hybrids make a big difference around town but don't help the highway mileage at all