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JL Wrangler vs New Ford Bronco

Lives2fish

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Not sure about the Bronco's on trails as we don't have many major trails around here but I'm starting to see a few on the road. I have no problem giving credit where credit is due and when it comes to overall looks of the Bronco well lets just say there is no credit due.....they just don't have that rough and tough go anywhere kind of look. jmo
Those are all the Bronco Sport. They are starting production on the real Bronco literally today, May 3rd. The expected delivery is around June at the earliest, but at their rate, it will be June 2022.
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Goin2drt

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Not sure about the Bronco's on trails as we don't have many major trails around here but I'm starting to see a few on the road. I have no problem giving credit where credit is due and when it comes to overall looks of the Bronco well lets just say there is no credit due.....they just don't have that rough and tough go anywhere kind of look. jmo
Aren't you referring to the Sport? Other than a few production vehicles and around Mich. there aren't any Bronco's out yet. If yes they I agree the Sport is a small SUV and looks just like the small Land Rover boxy thing.

Sorry @Lives2fish I was typing the same thing at the same time.
 

Goin2drt

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Should last about 6 JL visor lifetimes, 2 stock tierods, or one aluminum steering box. Take your pick.
Feel free to throw in the first Uconnect issue, Frame weld, and a few others. Also I am sure you can get your $80K Bronco to get delivered to the dealer with rust and sand piled in the crevices but don't worry that is just a "Jeep thing" no big deal it is "normal" the dealership is "great" and handling it by having the customer surface sand and coat the rusty area ;) :LOL:
 

aldo98229

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Feel free to throw in the first Uconnect issue, Frame weld, and a few others. Also I am sure you can get your $80K Bronco to get delivered to the dealer with rust and sand piled in the crevices but don't worry that is just a "Jeep thing" no big deal it is "normal" the dealership is "great" and handling it by having the customer surface sand and coat the rusty area ;) :LOL:
Ford is an expert in launching all-new vehicles and then in a panic ordering owners to stop driving them due to fire risk. 😫

If I were to leave Jeep because of “poor quality,” there would be no point in going to Ford looking for it. I’d just keep driving to the Toyota dealership.
 

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I think Ford made a branding mistake with the Bronco Sport rolling out. Between this forum and people I know personally, I've lost count of the number of times I've heard someone dismiss the new Bronco because they saw a Bronco Sport in the wild and basically said "that's it?"

So many people are thinking the Bronco got watered down to another midsize eggUV, and now that's what they associate with the modern Bronco name. They will probably take notice as the big boy hits the streets, but for now Ford tainted their own audience before they even started.
 
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twisty

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Guys we need to stop fighting lol. The jeep JL was/is a huge success. It is a beautiful and capable jeep. Hell of a jeep.

The Bronco seems very nice. It will likely be a big hit as well. Ive said shit about its ifs before, but isnt it nice to have the option? to be able to buy a serious IFS crawler?. They both will have their pros/cons and youll have the choice as a consumer.

Not like that crappy new overpriced defender. Ford and Jeep giving us real options. And both of them American engineering. Feel proud.

Jeeps will get even better too.
I dont know that serious crawler and IFS go together. lol. The bronco will never be taken serious with IFS and tech. Now if they go super wide we might be talking, and it appears ford is experimenting with that. But reasonable width axles just wont cut it comparably and the reason they had to go GOAT to cover up its inadequacies.

The bronco will be fun as hell going fast though...but so will the 392. I just wish the bronco was better looking....not to mention on the show room floor...like 2 years ago. lol
 

twisty

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I think Ford made a branding mistake with the Bronco Sport rolling out. Between this forum and people I know personally, I've lost count of the number of times I've heard someone dismiss the new Bronco because they saw a Bronco Sport in the wild and basically said "that's it?"

So many people are thinking the Bronco got watered down to another midsize eggUV, and now that's what they associate with the modern Bronco name. They will probably take notice as the big boy hits the streets, but for now Ford tainted their own audience before they even started.
That and the fact that it's basically or actually a Ranger platform.

The only thing uglier then the sport bronco is the bronco. lol

I predict the bronco will last as long as the previous REAL bronco....if ford is lucky.
 

aldo98229

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I think Ford made a branding mistake with the Bronco Sport rolling out. Between this forum and people I know personally, I've lost count of the number of times I've heard someone dismiss the new Bronco because they saw a Bronco Sport in the wild and basically said "that's it?"

So many people are thinking the Bronco got watered down to another midsize eggUV, and now that's what they associate with the modern Bronco name. They will probably take notice as the big boy hits the streets, but for now Ford tainted their own audience before they even started.
Naming the two vehicles Bronco definitely carries some risk.

I don’t know if naming the smaller crossover Bronco Sport was a mistake. But it certainly creates confusion. Youtubers have to constantly keep making the distinction between the two. No doubt because they find their viewers keep getting the two confused.

Q1 sales shows that Bronco Sport is cannibalizing into sales of Escape, as well as other small/midsize Ford trucks. Perhaps a degree of cannibalization was inevitable given that Bronco Sport is based on Escape. But it will be interesting to see what happens when Bronco finally reaches showrooms.

Ford has done as much upfront marketing on Bronco as any automaker possibly can before a launch. Bronco is likely going to generate a lot of traffic into Ford dealerships, and attract a good chunk of people who normally would not have considered buying a Ford. All of which is good for sales.

But attracting a totally new clientele is a double-edge sword. Ford has its staunchly loyal base that is familiar with Ford products and with Ford dealers. Loyal customers are willing to put up with quirks those new to the brand are simply not. Chances are, Ford and its dealers will find themselves as flat-footed dealing with these new customers as Jeep is.

Ford is hoping that making Bronco into a separate sub-brand will keep new customers happy, as well as those traditional Ford owners happy. We will have to wait and see. That will be a hard balancing act to keep up.

My prediction is: in 5 years Ford will only be selling Bronco 4-door and Bronco Sport; Escape will be gone, and a few years after that Bronco 2-door will be gone too.
 

BuyHold

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Ford has done as much upfront marketing on Bronco as any automaker possibly can before a launch. Bronco is likely going to generate a lot of traffic into Ford dealerships, and attract a good chunk of people who normally would not have considered buying a Ford. All of which is good for sales.
Thus far all the Bronco represents is a concept vehicle with marketing hype. I am optimistic that the vehicle, when they actually build one for and deliver one to the public, will be good. The empty marketing is getting old at this point. Maybe just me.
 

four low

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I think the Bronco designation should have been reserved for the
actual Bronco ; the Sport model causes confusion and dilution.
Too late now, but the Sport could have been named the Pinto, since Maverick has been taken by the upcoming unibody compact pickup.
 

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So I got to "see" a couple of Broncos this past weekend. They were in a dealer's parking lot and were not allowed to be test-driven.

Both of the Broncos were 4-doors with soft tops. One was an Outer Banks and one was a Big Bend. The Big Bend had cloth interior and a manual. Outer Banks was automatic.

The interior was a little better than I expected. I liked the grab handles and some of the interior layout. The center stack has some really ugly Ford parts bin parts, for example the AC controls. The layout accommodates larger infotainment and a wireless charging pad for your phone, which I think integrates with wireless CarPlay and Android Auto. I like how the Aux switches are overhead. I didn't like the placement of the window switches and I don't like the rotary TC selector. I like how there is an option for charging ports at the top of the dashboard. Overall, I think the Wrangler interior is much better-looking, but Bronco has better tech.

The Outer Banks had gray/blue interior that was kind of vinyl/leather. It didn't look very good to me.

I also noticed that the doors don't require you to pull off trim pieces and remove bolts for the door checks to disconnect.

Visibility with the soft top down was terrible. Rear visibility overall was poor compared to Wrangler.

Turn indicators in the mirrors and body-colored mirrors on the Outer Banks looked nice. The fenders on the Big Bend didn't look as bad as I thought they would.

I'm a big fan of the frameless windows. Definitely feels and looks more open than a Wrangler with the top down and the doors on.

The interior was very open with the top down without the sport bar, but I think I would miss the dome light and speakers.

Lack of AC vents in the rear of the 4-door was a big miss.

I know styling is subjective. I like the grille and the overall shape and styling. But to me it doesn't look better than a Wrangler from any angle. Obviously the top is a little chopped compared to the Wrangler. The shoulder of the doors is a little higher on the Wrangler. The end effect is that the Bronco feels a little more low-slung than the Wrangler which is more upright, if that makes sense. From the rear they look almost identical. The Front-end has some issues. The bull bar covers the Bronco logo and the winch has to be mounted on top of the bumper (if the bumper even accommodates a winch).

That's all I can speak to without driving it. As it sits in a parking lot, it feels a LOT like a Wrangler. For the causal buyer I can't imagine not cross-shopping it with a Wrangler once it is generally available.
 

BuyHold

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So I got to "see" a couple of Broncos this past weekend. They were in a dealer's parking lot and were not allowed to be test-driven.
Wonder if these Broncos were even able to move under their own power. For a while Ford was sending out shell vehicles without working engines.
 

jonahgetz

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Y’all bring up great points.

Hey, at least Ford didn’t go the Chevy Blazer route.

It was good timing for Ford to start preorders when a lot of Americans were receiving stimulus checks.

They should have OJ drive the new Bronco down the i5 for a nostalgic ad campaign, it might backfire though.
 

SouthernJL

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So I got to "see" a couple of Broncos this past weekend. They were in a dealer's parking lot and were not allowed to be test-driven.

Both of the Broncos were 4-doors with soft tops. One was an Outer Banks and one was a Big Bend. The Big Bend had cloth interior and a manual. Outer Banks was automatic.

The interior was a little better than I expected. I liked the grab handles and some of the interior layout. The center stack has some really ugly Ford parts bin parts, for example the AC controls. The layout accommodates larger infotainment and a wireless charging pad for your phone, which I think integrates with wireless CarPlay and Android Auto. I like how the Aux switches are overhead. I didn't like the placement of the window switches and I don't like the rotary TC selector. I like how there is an option for charging ports at the top of the dashboard. Overall, I think the Wrangler interior is much better-looking, but Bronco has better tech.

The Outer Banks had gray/blue interior that was kind of vinyl/leather. It didn't look very good to me.

I also noticed that the doors don't require you to pull off trim pieces and remove bolts for the door checks to disconnect.

Visibility with the soft top down was terrible. Rear visibility overall was poor compared to Wrangler.

Turn indicators in the mirrors and body-colored mirrors on the Outer Banks looked nice. The fenders on the Big Bend didn't look as bad as I thought they would.

I'm a big fan of the frameless windows. Definitely feels and looks more open than a Wrangler with the top down and the doors on.

The interior was very open with the top down without the sport bar, but I think I would miss the dome light and speakers.

Lack of AC vents in the rear of the 4-door was a big miss.

I know styling is subjective. I like the grille and the overall shape and styling. But to me it doesn't look better than a Wrangler from any angle. Obviously the top is a little chopped compared to the Wrangler. The shoulder of the doors is a little higher on the Wrangler. The end effect is that the Bronco feels a little more low-slung than the Wrangler which is more upright, if that makes sense. From the rear they look almost identical. The Front-end has some issues. The bull bar covers the Bronco logo and the winch has to be mounted on top of the bumper (if the bumper even accommodates a winch).

That's all I can speak to without driving it. As it sits in a parking lot, it feels a LOT like a Wrangler. For the causal buyer I can't imagine not cross-shopping it with a Wrangler once it is generally available.

Great write up!
 

ThirtyOne

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Wonder if these Broncos were even able to move under their own power. For a while Ford was sending out shell vehicles without working engines.
The Bronco staff said they have been driving them across the country. So they are functional. But they did say they were pre-production and there may be some slight changes.
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