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Looks Like Ford Bronco is Serious About Taking on the Wrangler

Will you consider the new Bronco?


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imperial4ever

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I think NHTSA shows 29 recalls for the 150 for years 2017 - 2019. Twelve for the Jeep Wrangler in the same 3 year period.
About time the wrangler has some competition now maybe they’ll force Jeep to work on their quality and dealership experience after the sale
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VNT

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WXman

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I’m gonna call it right now:

1. This will be more of a 4Runner competitor than a Wrangler competitor.

2. It will be too heavy and large.

3. It will ultimately go the way of the FJ Cruiser. Sales will be high for the first model year then taper as pent-up demand is exhausted.
I would agree with #3... I F, and that's a big if, the Bronco was going to be ruined like Toyota ruined the FJ Cruiser.

Toyota could have put 4 real doors on the FJ instead of those stupid suicide doors, could have made the top removable, and could have made the doors removable. If they had, they would have sold those like hotcakes. They'd still be trying to catch up with demand right now.

But instead, they gave us a vehicle with IFS, horrible visibility, fixed roof, suicide doors, and allowed a popular offroad magazine to paint one green and call it the "ninja turtle". The FJ Cruiser became the laughing stock of the offroad world, and it could have been epic.

It appears that Ford is not going to make the same mistake. Dealers who got to see it recently said that it has the traditional rectangular grille and round headlights. It looks very retro. It's got removable doors that you can actually carry with you, unlike the Wrangler. It's got mirrors fixed to the A-pillar so you can drive legally if you decide to pop the doors off at a moment's notice. It's going to have a ton of torque and the same Dana axle as the Wrangler. From what we know so far, Ford is not going to go the way of the FJ.
 

Arrowhead

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That’s NOT the Bronco. The only official photos of the bronco are the one under the sheet and the shadow figure one. That’s it, everything else is speculation.
Happens every time some online magazine releases a rendering they dreamed up. I kind of got the JL as a hold over till the Bronco comes out. Now I'm kind of hoping the Bronco is a flop so I'll want to keep my Jeep. But this last leak has me wondering if they might just pull it off.
 

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Matt2036

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DanW

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I’ve had 2 recalls for my 2011 first year 3.5 EcoBoost f150 supercrew and now with a 180,000 miles it still runs and rides great.No rust thanks to Oil Undercoating every year and I have put front brakes in pads and rotors at 137,000 miles and spark plugs at 100,000 miles. Still on the original rear brakes.That’s it besides oil changes every 5000 miles and tires Still the original battery in it.I’d say thats pretty good for a first model year of the EcoBoost And most important is Ford didn’t take a dime of us taxpayers money for a bailout . Chrysler and GM can’t say that .I’ll probably have a new Bronco and a Jeep
Every company has good and bad stories. My Ford Transit van (huge, 15 passenger) has a great engine (Ecoboost) and transmission, but burns through brake pads every 20k. The brake dust on the OEM pads was so bad it pitted the aluminum wheels horribly. I've since switched to Wagoner Thermoquiet pads and they last a good bit longer. The interior is very comfortable, but plastic trim pieces fall like rain. It has had 3 major safety recalls, including drive shaft coupling, seat belts, and engine bay water intrusion. Still, it hasn't had a major mechanical failure in 120k miles. (It did get a new engine, but that wasn't on Ford. An oil change shop incorrectly installed the oil filter causing the engine to puke all the oil. It completely destroyed the engine, which had run perfectly for 80k or so miles. The new Ecoboost has run flawlessly since new, now with 30k or so on it.) Overall, the van has served us well, but I'm not interested in a turbo/DI engine on a machine I'll run hard off-road. (No offense, 2.0 folks.) I do like the idea of the 7-speed manual, though. Don't be shocked if whatever transmission they use winds up in the Bronco.

As for FCA taking government money, don't blame Fiat. They saw a deal and did as much to bail Chrysler out as anyone. If they didn't, Fiat would still be here and Chrysler would likely be gone. Someone would have scooped Jeep up, but it would have likely been a Chinese buyer. Ford wouldn't have had the money to buy it.

Anyone ever hear of the time GM bailed out the US government? In the Korean War, the US had an automatically fed artillery piece that was malfunctioning and getting troops killed because it couldn't provide fire support. The prime contractor kept trying to fix it, continued to fail, and continued to bill the Army. GM sent a team of engineers from the Hydromatic transmission division to give it a go. They fixed it quickly. When the Army asked them for the bill, GM said there was no charge. They said to consider it their patriotic duty. My Dad knew some of the guys who fixed the design.
 

DanW

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It’s going to be unibody though.
I think it will be strong and fine, but body-on frame is still optimal, IMO. I do think it will hold up, though, as Ford will use high strength steel where needed.

It is notable that Jeep was THE pioneer in unibody off-road capable SUV's with the AMC Eagle, as well as light pickup trucks, with the Comanche. Yes, I said the Eagle. Everyone thinks the Cherokee XJ was the first, but it was not. The Eagle pioneered this and actually was quite well built.
 

cbrenthus

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I think it is going to be more on-road oriented, with IFS. But I wouldn't be surprised if they do an off-road version to compete with the rubicon. I'f I'm correct, I also wouldn't be surprised to see the Sahara then go to IFS with push button AWD/4WD.

I think the key to whether the bronco competes or not is going to come down to price and fuel mileage. If, and this is a big IF, the Bronco is $10K cheaper, and gets 5mpgs more on average, then Wranglers are going to hurt. However, even if that is the case, my experience with Ford dealerships is that they are going to Jack up the prices way over MSRP on the first several Broncos and that will kill the sales. Like the Focus RS and the Thunderbird.

Personally, I was waiting on the Bronco before making my decision, but I've gotten sick of waiting. Come Ford, finish the thing already or shut up about it. I'm really getting ticked and ready to buy a Wrangler now, because I don't feel like waiting 2 years until they're available, and then another 2-3 years before the dealers stop marking them up over MSRP. And then its going to be years, if ever, until the bronco gets the aftermarket support the wrangler has now. I know the JL is new and there isn't that much yet, but new parts are coming out everyday and soon it will have a plethora of fun things to add just like the JK. And that is a selling point for me, I love buying a vehicle that I can customize!
 

Lou Bunn

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I don't wish no bad luck on any company that provides jobs to American workers. That said, I have never had a good experience with Ford products. I have had 1 Mustang, 2 T-birds and Taurus and each one had issues, some big, that made me glad to trade them in. I like the styling of Ford Mustangs and the F150 and the new Ranger, but, I just can't shake the feeling that maybe I'm poison to them! By the way, I had a cousin that owned a small Ford dealership and when he sold it, everybody in his immediate family said they were glad they could finally buy something else without pissing off old Bill. Like someone else said, as long as Ford doesn't screw up like Toyota did with the FJ, they should be ok.
 

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TennesseePA

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It’s going to be unibody though.
I haven’t read that anywhere. In fact, everything that I have read says that it started out using the Ranger platform to build on. The “baby bronco” as everyone seems to be calling it is supposed to be unibody. Look again at the shadow picture with baby in the front and daddy’s shadow behind. The shadow looks just like the one under the sheet.
 

Lincoln

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Every company has good and bad stories. My Ford Transit van (huge, 15 passenger) has a great engine (Ecoboost) and transmission, but burns through brake pads every 20k. The brake dust on the OEM pads was so bad it pitted the aluminum wheels horribly. I've since switched to Wagoner Thermoquiet pads and they last a good bit longer. The interior is very comfortable, but plastic trim pieces fall like rain. It has had 3 major safety recalls, including drive shaft coupling, seat belts, and engine bay water intrusion. Still, it hasn't had a major mechanical failure in 120k miles. (It did get a new engine, but that wasn't on Ford. An oil change shop incorrectly installed the oil filter causing the engine to puke all the oil. It completely destroyed the engine, which had run perfectly for 80k or so miles. The new Ecoboost has run flawlessly since new, now with 30k or so on it.) Overall, the van has served us well, but I'm not interested in a turbo/DI engine on a machine I'll run hard off-road. (No offense, 2.0 folks.) I do like the idea of the 7-speed manual, though. Don't be shocked if whatever transmission they use winds up in the Bronco.

As for FCA taking government money, don't blame Fiat. They saw a deal and did as much to bail Chrysler out as anyone. If they didn't, Fiat would still be here and Chrysler would likely be gone. Someone would have scooped Jeep up, but it would have likely been a Chinese buyer. Ford wouldn't have had the money to buy it.

Anyone ever hear of the time GM bailed out the US government? In the Korean War, the US had an automatically fed artillery piece that was malfunctioning and getting troops killed because it couldn't provide fire support. The prime contractor kept trying to fix it, continued to fail, and continued to bill the Army. GM sent a team of engineers from the Hydromatic transmission division to give it a go. They fixed it quickly. When the Army asked them for the bill, GM said there was no charge. They said to consider it their patriotic duty. My Dad knew some of the guys who fixed the design.
I agree all manufactures have problems I’ve had great luck with my 2011 EcoBoost 150 and great luck with my JKU except when Chrysler sent out a update for my radio and crashed my nav system.They had to replace my radio.Other than that my JKU was great .Lets not forget Ford was making Jeeps long before Chrysler or FCA was for the war efforts. My JLU is still suffering with some wobble after hitting bumps at highway speed but it’s not to bad but still unacceptable for a new vehicle.My JKU never wobbled.FCA Jeep Wave guy has been good to work with but a little slow to get things done.Hopefully they will find a solution to the problem between a good track bar and a Teraflex steering stabilizer and a good alignment and toe adjustment.Other than the wobble my steering has been good To tell you the truth I’d like to have a Jeep and a Bronco.The JLU will be payed off in less than 2 years.Just in time for the new Bronco.I’ll definitely keep the Jeep too.In time I hopefully get my wobble straightened out just getting a little sick of trips to the dealer.
 

pablo_max3045

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If it actually looked like a Ford Bronco I'd be worried.
That's an odd thing to be worried about.
Seems to be, everyone here should be hoping that Ford hits it out of the park, over the parking lot and into the neighboring housing track.
Strong competition can only be a good thing. It means that Jeep will not be able to sit on their butts knowing the faithful will still come since there are no alternatives.
 
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Vegas_Sirk

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That’s a different situation with regard to their respective market segments. The Wrangler occupies a market segment populated by exactly one model: the Wrangler. The Ranger re-entered a market segment it (arguably) never should have left: the mid-size truck segment. The mid-size truck market is growing, and while JK sales were higher than TJ sales, I’m not sure if you could say it’s growing in the same way... it’s pretty niche despite solid sales.

Now to caveat everything I just said, I haven’t done any real analysis or number crunching and am kinda just talking out of my ass based on hunches. But I think I’m close-ish to being right.
I owned a FJ before my JKU. I sold it because I hated the rear doors and the 4 door Wrangler was more useable as a daily driver. Unlike the FJ the new Bronco is confirmed to have removable doors and top and come in 2 door and 4 door versions. That alone is a HUGE step in the right direction that Toyota never took.

The big question is if SFA make it on to the Bronco. IMO most people will not care about SFA as only the hardcore rock crawlers will which make up for a small %. If they do a long travel IFS set up similar to the Raptor it will meet most peoples needs and provide better on road handling.
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