Bronco fad?

[CarbonSteel]

I WILL GO OUT ON A LIMB AND SAY YOU WILL HAVE TO MODIFIED A BRONCO BEFORE THEY BREAK WELL BEFORE A JEEP.

SECONDLY, WITH THE EXCEPTIONS OF THE JLs, JEEP HAVE NEVER REALLY BEEN KNOWN FOR RIDE!

Holy caps lock Batman.

As I have said countless times, you have to match the vehicle to the use case. Was a Bronco purpose built for rock crawling? No and if you push it past its limits, it will break. But the same can be said for Wranglers, we have seen them break too. It is all a compromise to a degree.

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[DMentdJL]

Holy caps lock Batman.

As I have said countless times, you have to match the vehicle to the use case. Was a Bronco purpose built for rock crawling? No and if you push it past its limits, it will break. But the same can be said for Wranglers, we have seen them break too. It is all a compromise to a degree.

SIMMER DOWN FRANCES,
I WASN'T ATTACKING BUT AGREEING WITH YOU.
YING AND YANG BABY, YING AND YANG!

YOU MIGHT WANT TO CHECK YOUR FRAIL MALENESS, ARCHITECTS AND ENGINEERS USE CAPS FOR CLARITY AND I HAVE ALL MY LIFE (61) AND FRANKLY IF YOU TAKE OFENSE TO CAPS, YOU HAVE BIGGER ISSUES THEN A BRONCO!

...YOU KNOW HOW THE MILITARY USES, FOXTROT, ECOH, ALPHA!?!?!?! FORMER MILITARY ALSO....

 

[CarbonSteel]

SIMMER DOWN FRANCES,
I WASN'T ATTACKING BUT AGREEING WITH YOU.
YING AND YANG BABY, YING AND YANG!

YOU MIGHT WANT TO CHECK YOUR FRAIL MALENESS, ARCHITECTS AND ENGINEERS USE CAPS FOR CLARITY AND I HAVE ALL MY LIFE (61) AND FRANKLY IF YOU TAKE OFENSE TO CAPS, YOU HAVE BIGGER ISSUES THEN A BRONCO!

...YOU KNOW HOW THE MILITARY USES, FOXTROT, ECOH, ALPHA!?!?!?! FORMER MILITARY ALSO....

 

[DMentdJL]

SEE. EVERYONE GOOD! JEEP PEOPLE GOOD! HUMANS, WELL THAT IS A DISCUSSION FOR ANOTHER DAY!

I JUST JEEP'N IT REAL BROTHER!

 

[SaintNick]

How is that possible? I am not here to defend the Bronco and bash the Wrangler and this is not directed at you OP, but some of you guys need to remove the rose-colored glasses and add more objectivity to your vision.

A SFA vehicle will never ride on the highway as well as an IFS vehicle will. In addition, unless all of you are driving the unicorns of Wranglers, every stock (and even some modified) Wranglers I have even driven roams the highway like the buffalo do in a particular song and rides rougher than 16 grit sandpaper on steel. I spent a TON of money on my Wrangler and while it did drive better than it did stock, my Wildtrak rides better out of the box than my Wrangler ever did and I did not go cheap on the mods that I did on the Wrangler.

Yes; there are clearly things that a Wrangler can do better than a Bronco--but again the use case has to be taken into account. To hear some of the comments, you would swear that everyone here is rock crawling 100% of the time they are behind the wheel, which for a miniscule number, that might well be true, but that is the exception and not the rule.

The Wrangler also has had aftermarket support for how much longer than the Bronco? So, indeed, the "bugs" have been sorted in the Wrangler via strong aftermarket support--it sure as freak is not due to FCA. Aluminum steering boxes, plastic ball joint internals, thin wall crimped steering components, lack of caster angle, shorted ELD modules, failing rocker arms, failing oil coolers, lack of temperature control, poor ESS design--those are ALL courtesy of FCA. With the exception of the steering boxes, how of what I have listed has been addressed by FCA?

Aftermarket support is catching up for the Bronco and I would opine it will continue to do so. With that said, Ford is not without its own issues. Weak tie-rod ends, plastic engine and transmission oil pans, CV joints that fail when overstressed, a run of engines with faulty valves, etc.

There is no perfect off-road machine no matter what you invest in it--everything has some level of compromise. It simply depends on what you are willing to compromise on and how much you are willing to invest.

I was just thinking it would ride way better and it didn't. Now at the time I was driving a Subaru and my butt was used to that. So driving a Bronco on 35's felt like actually riding a real Bronco horse. It was nice, but the quality of the top and some other parts were pretty sub par. It was definitely not worth jumping into at the prices back then so I passed. And when it came time to grab something else I went to Jeep mainly because I think they look better and I knew what I was getting into. I'm not defending Jeeps reliability at all because if I wanted a reliable 4WD vehicle I would choose a 4 Runner over both these vehicles.

 

[R3TRO]

I do see a few around LA. Probably would see more if they could have kept up with production. However they were a fad for a few.

Hell, even my boss bought one just because it was the next new shiny object. He would park it right outside our office window just so we could all see it. I asked him when we are going on a trail run and he laughed and said he'd never take it off road and that he hates camping! ? Needless to say, he sold if after 3-mo and replaced it with a Mach-E.

 

[dstevens]

I test drove a Bronco a couple years ago. The road manners weren't much better than the Jeep.

I'm never a fan of positions which are repeated over and over until they becomes dogma, but there is no evidence. Does the Bronco actually ride better than a Jeep? Do they steer better than a Jeep? Has anyone actually done a proper scientific study?

My 2024 steers perfectly. Better than my Ford truck with rack and pinion. And in a run group the Bronco guys are always the first to suggest we air down. That's my non scientific data added to the mess...

 

[JP1990]

I had a deposit down for an order in 2021. I also had a 2 door JK at the time, I got to test drive a loaded up wild track 2 door, iirc the msrp was around $62k at that point, I got back to the dealer and the salesman asked what I thought, I said “It’s a decent $40k vehicle, but the build quality isn’t there to charge over $60k for it” and I canceled my deposit (this was for a spot in line for pre order, no actual order was submitted at that point). I have since sold the JK and looked at JLs and broncos again, I so badly wanted the bronco to be good, but it just wasn’t. The on road manners seemed better than the JL, I hate the stock steering feel in the JLs though. The bronco hard top was very loud and over 70mph had a horrible whistling sound, and you could see where water had been leaking in where the back of the top and front panels met. I was still holding out hope that maybe ford will get their stuff together and make it a quality option, but as expensive as those and Jeeps have gotten, I’ll probably never buy new again.

 

[Dusty Dude]

Also jeep needs another ICE power plant but they don't seem to be seriously considering the hurricane in a wrangler.

I’m curious why you think that the wrangler needs another ICE…

 

[DwnSth]

I’m curious why you think that the wrangler needs another ICE…

Possibly just a personal opinion but with the demise of the diesel the closest performance for torque is the 2.0 4xe and the 392. The 2.0 non 4xe and the 3.6 are anemic to me and I've never cared for either engine. As long as they will continue to offer the 392 I'm happy but I don't see Stellantis allowing the big V8 to exist much longer.

 

[five9dak]

Anyone that has bought anything lately feels the pinch. Yesterday, I saw a post about Reid Racing knuckles costing $995. They were $650 ish about 2 years ago. 50% inflated. Where's the inflation rate they tout on TV? I want some of that.

It's a lie. Simple as that.

 

[travis304]

Family member bought a Bronco. It's well built, drives better. Did their brakes for them and got to peak at the IFS. It's typical, decent quality.

every stock (and even some modified) Wranglers I have even driven roams the highway like the buffalo do in a particular song and rides rougher than 16 grit sandpaper on steel.

This is silly ^ lol.

 

[CarbonSteel]

Family member bought a Bronco. It's well built, drives better. Did their brakes for them and got to peak at the IFS. It's typical, decent quality.



This is silly ^ lol.

It was meant to be, but does not change the fact that from a drivability standpoint, I have never driven a stock Wrangler that would track straight going down the highway (at least from 2018-2020). In stock form, the Wrangler does not have enough caster and so it wanders, A LOT whereas IFS does not have that problem.

FCA replaced the aluminum steering box with cast iron one under a TSB (which means if you are past 3/36K you are SOL) and thus it should have been a recall. It helped, but still did not solve the wandering/steering wheel play issue completely because you need more caster and to do that you need adjustable control arms. Even the ones supplied with the Mopar lift do not give you enough.

On the opposite side, you can only go so high on caster to compensate for the wandering without causing driveline vibration.

 

[CarbonSteel]

I’m curious why you think that the wrangler needs another ICE…

It should be replace 3 (since the diesel is dead) with one which would solve a number of things.

Kill the 2.0T, 3.6L, and 392 and offer the 3.0TT SO for the 2.0T/3.6L and the 3.0TT HO for the 392. The simplification and reduction of manufacturing alone would justify such a change.

 

[travis304]

It was meant to be, but does not change the fact that from a drivability standpoint, I have never driven a stock Wrangler that would track straight going down the highway (at least from 2018-2020). In stock form, the Wrangler does not have enough caster and so it wanders, A LOT whereas IFS does not have that problem.

FCA replaced the aluminum steering box with cast iron one under a TSB (which means if you are past 3/36K you are SOL) and thus it should have been a recall. It helped, but still did not solve the wandering/steering wheel play issue completely because you need more caster and to do that you need adjustable control arms. Even the ones supplied with the Mopar lift do not give you enough.

On the opposite side, you can only go so high on caster to compensate for the wandering without causing driveline vibration.

Interesting, I'm gonna actually get some video of my JL on the highway here in Utah, and post it this week just to avoid the back-and-forth on this. Zero wander. Tracks as straight as my two-door coupe.

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