2 door Bronco

[basinite]

This topic has been beaten to death, so I'll keep it short.

A couple of weeks ago I struck up a conversation with a guy who was driving a 2 door Bronco at the gas station. The guy was really cool and let me check out his Bronco. The Bronco was amazing looking and I kept thinking to myself, "maybe I'll jump ship and buy one of these the next go around."

Yesterday, I was able to drive my brothers new 4 door Bronco. Here are my simple thoughts on Jeep vs Bronco.

The good: Ford deserves an "at a boy" for designing a really cool vehicle. The interior is very nice and the GOAT mode is an amazing feature. They did a really good job on everything but the soft top.

The bad: This thing is really big and bulky! You can't see over the driver/passenger tires because the hood is elevated and has tie downs located in this area. This is really important because I rely on being able to see over the fenders to avoid rocks, bushes and tree limbs. The "feel" of the Bronco is similar to a pickup truck when you are actually driving it around.

Conclusion: This thing is no "Jeep Killer", it is basically a very well built (and large) SUV. Driving a Jeep feels way more agile and off road capable. If you need a vehicle to get out of the driveway in the winter to take the kids to school, or drive the occasional Forest Service Road to explore the Mountains, the Bronco will be a great vehicle.

If you are doing any hard core off-roading on primitive trails/roads (especially with brush, rocks and trees), then this is not the vehicle for you.

Just my two cents on the subject after finally being able to drive a Bronco.

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[j2.pictures]

Thank you for writing this, I have even considered a Bronco, and have wanted to drive one. Went with my Jeep instead but still am curious

 

[entropy]

I am curious. What is "so amazing" about GOAT mode?

Isnt this the same as the crawl control and such on Toyotas and the recently added "offroad +" to the Rubicons?

I mean. The traction control on the Wrangler is pretty darn nice too. Which automatically calibrates depending what your transfer case is set at (2WD,4WD,4LO). And the ZF-8speed transmission beats whatever any computer can do with a shitty transmission in my opinion.

 

[azwjowner]

That was basically my impression as well. I'm glad Ford has a 2 door Bronco and I hope people buy them, but I don't want the feel of a large pickup truck or SUV -- I have a nimble 2-door Jeep for a reason.

 

[basinite]

I am curious. What is "so amazing" about GOAT mode?

Isnt this the same as the crawl control and such on Toyotas and the recently added "offroad +" to the Rubicons?

I mean. The traction control on the Wrangler is pretty darn nice too. Which automatically calibrates depending what your transfer case is set at (2WD,4WD,4LO). And the ZF-8speed transmission beats whatever any computer can do with a shitty transmission in my opinion.

The cool/fun factor. You turn the knob and it has graphics that appear on the instrument panel showing the earth covered in, mud, snow, sand and etc. Since its winter time, the sand had patches of snow in it, which my brother had never noticed before. It is neat and fun to play around with. Just a really cool "bell and whistle" and a cleaver feature with fun graphics for Ford to add.

I didn't take the Bronco off-roading since its not mine, but my brother has and said the GOAT features work really well. My brother does a lot of off-roading and is a straight up "red neck" sort of guy, so I'll take his word on it.

 

[AcesandEights]

Yeah, the GOAT modes are Ford's "copy" of Crawl Control from Toyota. Ford re-imagined bits from a couple manufacturers, but didn't invent any new technology. I would say they "packaged" what they thought were the most marketable features from Jeep and Toyota and named it Bronco.

 

[ajkitebrder40]

Completely agree with the truck feeling. I will say though, a 2 door Bronco if it had removeable seats is pretty much the perfect size as a 2 door. Being able to get the Base with Sasquatch to have lockers and steel bumper/bash plates for under $40k is nice too.

 

[Industrialwrench]

The bronco is such a joke, it’s absolutely not a Jeep, even though it looks exactly like one, and it’s absolutely not as dependable as a Toyota which is the other side of things they tried to emulate…poorly. Crazy junk.

 

[jjvincent]

I have driven a 2dr Bronco. They seem fine to me. On the other hand, you never want to get in a discussion when it comes to these:
CRV vs. Rav4
Camry vs Accord
Corolla vs Civic

Those are knock down, drag out battles and we all know which ones are the best (it's super obvious).

 

[LKG]

This topic has been beaten to death, so I'll keep it short.

A couple of weeks ago I struck up a conversation with a guy who was driving a 2 door Bronco at the gas station. The guy was really cool and let me check out his Bronco. The Bronco was amazing looking and I kept thinking to myself, "maybe I'll jump ship and buy one of these the next go around."

Yesterday, I was able to drive my brothers new 4 door Bronco. Here are my simple thoughts on Jeep vs Bronco.

The good: Ford deserves an "at a boy" for designing a really cool vehicle. The interior is very nice and the GOAT mode is an amazing feature. They did a really good job on everything but the soft top.

The bad: This thing is really big and bulky! You can't see over the driver/passenger tires because the hood is elevated and has tie downs located in this area. This is really important because I rely on being able to see over the fenders to avoid rocks, bushes and tree limbs. The "feel" of the Bronco is similar to a pickup truck when you are actually driving it around.

Conclusion: This thing is no "Jeep Killer", it is basically a very well built (and large) SUV. Driving a Jeep feels way more agile and off road capable. If you need a vehicle to get out of the driveway in the winter to take the kids to school, or drive the occasional Forest Service Road to explore the Mountains, the Bronco will be a great vehicle.

If you are doing any hard core off-roading on primitive trails/roads (especially with brush, rocks and trees), then this is not the vehicle for you.

Just my two cents on the subject after finally being able to drive a Bronco.

Your assessment is very similar to a good friend of mine that got some seat time in his cousins 4-door bronco. Too big, poor visibility, pickup like, etc. and he's a Ford guy. They spent some time camping/wheelin on some narrow, brushy, bouldery high desert trails and they took his JKUR, not the bronco on the tougher trails. He was impressed with the power of the 2.7 and he liked the electronics but he's like me, more electronics = more future problems.

We're all planning a trip this summer, I'm sure we'll do plenty of JKUR vs JLUR vs bronco comparisons, on the wider trails at least, haha.

 

[dcmdon]

I had a reservation on the Bronco. I got a Gladiator (with a cap) after seeing and driving a Bronco because the cargo space was so limited.

But. . . . .
1) the interior is noticeably roomier (irrelevant to me, but maybe to others) but feels cheap.
2) on- road manners are much better.
3) even though there are fewer engine options, the turbo V6 hits a sweet spot that isn't offered by Jeep.
4)Though sight lines aren't as good, it is only marginally larger than the Jeep. It's significantly smaller than any full sized pickup and is in fact built on the Ford Ranger platform.
5) Base-Squatch

On the negative side:
1) All the top options are bad
2) the interior quality is far far inferior to the Jeep.

If I didn't need the room of the Gladiator I'd probably have gotten a Bronco. . . or a 392.

 

[jsw872]

I also had the chance to drive one for about a month, my wife's Bronco Sport was in the shop, they couldn't get parts for a month and let us have a courtesy car (rental which they paid for) and it ended up being a 2 door outbanks, I drove it when I worked days and I did like it, however like the OP said it's big and bulky, which I dont mind, wife didn't like it, I was seriously considering getting one before I bought my 22 Willys. Glad I didn't. I was little disappointed with it, it just didn't have the WOW factor I thought it would, felt like i was driving every other SUV that ford ever made, when I drive my jeep i know i'm driving a jeep, driving something special, the the big bronco felt like i was driving just another ford explorer. definitely not the Jeep Killer they say it is.

 

[Mikester86]

 

[No IFS]

Looks aside, nothing beats a straight axle for off road durability. Ford knows this that’s why they’re always bragging about the solid axle on their F250 and up pick up trucks versus the inferior IFS trucks.

 

[SouthernJL]

Here's my best to worst on strictly looks/best proportions:
1. 2 door Bronco
2. JLU
3. JL
6. 4 door Bronco
And yes, I skipped 4 and 5 on purpose

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