How Hard is it to Drive Manual Bronco Uphill In City and Offroad?

[tock13]

How does this hill start assist work anyway? In my manual Toyota pickup if it gets too steep I use the parking brake as a cheat code. Since for whatever reason ford decided to go electronic brake, does the hill assist use that brake somehow?

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[Fivefingerheist]

Unless you live somewhere with no traffic, get the automatic. I owned a stick for years (and I loved them) and although they are more engaging to drive, they are really annoying to live with. Sticks are great for weekend sports cars but the Bronco is my daily and therefore it needs to be automatic.

Same, I loved my 07 Focus, but pumping that clutch in traffic every day was literally causing me ankle pain that lingered.

 

[cracKen]

I struggle with the hill-hold assist, I'm sure I don't know what I'm doing. On a hill, letting out the clutch, I give it some gas but ends up killing because the hill-hold won't let go. Seems to work better if I let it do it's thing, then give it gas after hill-hold releases.

So hill-hold assist only works if you are on a steep enough incline. It worked fine for me on small hills. At a standstill, i found letting the clutch out slowly, and then gassing once the clutch engages, allowed me to not stall.

Renting is great because . . . it's a rental! Failing that, though, maybe a *good* friend might at least might be willing to ride shotgun for a few hours while you row their gears.

I know of people who used to own manuals, but not anyone who currently owns one.

Easiest manual transmission vehicle I've ever driven. Have taken it off roading a couple times on both "easy" and "moderate" trails with zero troubles as well. If you rock crawl, I could see it advantages to an auto.

City and traffic is more a matter of personal preference. It doesn't bother me shifting at all, I've used crawl on the freeway dozens of times.

My old Tacoma, really sucked in the steep hills. No assist for anything and you had to get that sucker spinning past 2800 rpm on a hill to stand a chance of not stalling while getting off the clutch fast enough to not roll back into the car who pulls up and stops under your bumper. It had no balls down low.

Yea, the advantage of the Bronco is it has crawl gear for those really slow moving traffic.

The Bronco manual is the easiest I’ve ever driven. And I’ve been driving manuals for almost 50 years. Everything from 3 on the tree trucks to Porsches.

The Hill assist feature takes the drama out of hill starts. The dash displays what gear you are in. These are features I’ve never had the luxury of enjoying.

My recommendation is to learn how to drive it in an empty mall parking lot. Besides regular shifting, practice backing up, downshifting, coming to sudden stops and simulated parallel parking. If there are any slight hills in the parking lot drive them forwards and backwards, as well. Spend at least an hour getting the feel before heading out and driving on relatively level neighborhood streets. Then advance to level city streets. I wouldn’t drive on city hills until the traffic is very light.
Before tackling anything remotely serious off road, you must have complete confidence in your shifting abilities. It has to be second nature.

It’s like riding a bike though. Once you have it, you won’t forget it.

The crawler gear makes hilly terrain easy to navigate, both ascending and descending.

Just remember…when in doubt, push the clutch in!!

I agree and I'm not going to take a brand new vehicle off roading unless im confident in driving on flat streets first.

I'm confused, you've never driven a manual? Ever? Did you order one that way or are you planning to buy one of these that you're test driving?

I don't have my Bronco yet but been driving manuals since I was 10 and have 2 in our driveway plus a motorcycle. A manual is easy enough for most people to learn with some practice; I've taught my wife and all my kids but I wouldn't have them doing all you ask 5 minutes into learning.

Have you spoken to the dealer yet? I wouldn't think they'd let you test drive a manual if you didn't say least know the basics. I'd find a friend to at least teach you the basics, you might not like it from the get go. My daughters hated it and have only had automatics but my wife and son love them. It's at that that point you can decide if you want to learn more to do all those things but it'll take practice and learning with your Bronco how to handle each situation you describe. If you're humble and patient and don't mind stalling out while you learn I think you'd enjoy it.

Good luck!

I ordered a Badlands 4 door SAS automatic. Dealer said they don't have allocations so I need to cancel or remove constraints. So I did. Realized the Bronco is HUGE in person and I can live without SAS but not without hardtop.

Found a dealership with a manual Badlands. Test drove it today. Salesman took me to an empty parking lot where i practiced from stop to 1st gear, then took it on neighborhood roads, then took it on the highway. I find it easy to shift between gears 2-6 but going from stop to 1st gear is still jerky. Also, too much on my mind to downshift during the test drive, so i just kept everything in neutral if i'm coming to a stop from high speed. Or at low speeds i downshift to 2 is enough before letting it in neutral while i brake. In panic, my go to is clutch to neutral, then brake. Less chance of errors that way.

How does this hill start assist work anyway? In my manual Toyota pickup if it gets too steep I use the parking brake as a cheat code. Since for whatever reason ford decided to go electronic brake, does the hill assist use that brake somehow?

If you let off the brake and the car just barely rolls, it wont kick in. The hill start assist detects if you are on a steep enough hill, and when you let off the brake, it holds the car in place for 3 seconds. Forwards AND backwards, i tested this myself today. For very mild hills, you wouldnt need it anyways because the car is only rolling 0.5-1 inches a second or so.

But lets say for whatever reason you turn off hill start assist, yes you can do it manually with the e-brake button. The ebrake will automatically turn off if you clutch in, select gear, and clutch out. So you are on a steep hill. Pull the ebrake. Then as you clutch out and the car starts moving forward it just turns off the ebrake automatically. I found it no different from hill-start assist. Use cage is maybe you want to rest your legs on an uphill during a long traffic stop but essentially its no different than parking. I tested this out 6-7 times on some medium steep roads.

Kind of new but it feels steeper inclines require more gas after your clutch starts to engage to move up a hill without stalling. You blip it the same, until it catches, but after it catches, it feels like I had to put more gas the steeper the hill.

 

[thatspecialbeat]

Sitting in stop and go traffic isn't any more annoying with the stick than it is with an automatic. This is my first manual and it took about a month to internalize everything so you don't have to think about it.

I could see how actual rock crawling could be rough with the stick but it is great for the kind of off-roading I do.

It does make daily driving way more fun.

 

[bronco100]

Skill issue tbh

 

[Techun]

Sitting in stop and go traffic isn't any more annoying with the stick than it is with an automatic. This is my first manual and it took about a month to internalize everything so you don't have to think about it.

I could see how actual rock crawling could be rough with the stick but it is great for the kind of off-roading I do.

It does make daily driving way more fun.

I'm a manual "enthusiast" and this is just false.

Do it for a decade and the novelty wears off in stop and go traffic. Is it hard, no. Is an auto easier, YES.

 

[Techun]

How does this hill start assist work anyway? In my manual Toyota pickup if it gets too steep I use the parking brake as a cheat code. Since for whatever reason ford decided to go electronic brake, does the hill assist use that brake somehow?

It can apply the service brakes for HHA.

 

[userdude]

I'm a manual "enthusiast" and this is just false.

Do it for a decade and the novelty wears off in stop and go traffic. Is it hard, no. Is an auto easier, YES.

Oh my god, yeah, when I had my manual Wrangler, sitting in traffic waiting 2hrs to get over the Lake Lewisville bridge (as they were widening it FOR YEARS) in DFW, I can say FUR SURE manuals SUCK in too much stop-and-go traffic. My leg, ohmygod my leg would be shaking so bad I couldn't sleep that night. And this was when I was fit! Nevermind clutch would overheat and go soft by the end, which was a whole thing.

Other than steep hills stopped at red lights, they're cool and fun though.

 

[LT. DAN ICE CREAM!!!]

Before I bought my Bronco, I had zero practical experience behind the wheel of a manual transmission, but having grown up watching my dad drive his '87 Ranger with the 5 speed and my uncle driving his '91 F-150 with a 5 speed, it wasn't like I didn't understand the mechanics of it. Save yourself the grief and waffling around and just get the manual, you won't regret it.

 

[zuke]

Side note, because it's not mentioned here, and the OP does plan to do some crawling, In 4 Wheel Low, The engine does NOT automatically restart when you press in the clutch, even with A/SS on..

But, In Crawl Gear and 4Lo, you don't really need to give it gas to get going either, you use the regular brakes and the clutch to get going on an incline without stalling...

 

[thatspecialbeat]

I'm a manual "enthusiast" and this is just false.

Do it for a decade and the novelty wears off in stop and go traffic. Is it hard, no. Is an auto easier, YES.

Stop and go traffic is a 6 on the annoying scale. Sitting in stop and go in a manual is a 6.2. Doesn't really move the needle for me.

Edit: After reading more comments it seems like leg strength and fitness factor in. So yeah, might be tougher for some people.

 

[userdude]

Stop and go traffic is a 6 on the annoying scale. Sitting in stop and go in a manual is a 6.2. Doesn't really move the needle for me.

Edit: After reading more comments it seems like leg strength and fitness factor in. So yeah, might be tougher for some people.

Right. Stop and go traffic can actually be fun in a manual; stop and go for hours on end, going three feet every 10-20sec will wear almost anyone out. "wear out" is relative to how much actuation is being done, which is the bitch of it.

And yeah, "leg strength and fitness" was not a problem then. It is NOW, but not THEN. lol

 

[thatspecialbeat]

Right. Stop and go traffic can actually be fun in a manual; stop and go for hours on end, going three feet every 10-20sec will wear almost anyone out. "wear out" is relative to how much actuation is being done, which is the bitch of it.

And yeah, "leg strength and fitness" was not a problem then. It is NOW, but not THEN. lol

And you can't compare the Bronco clutch to an old jeep clutch. People describe the older clutches like it is power lifting. Bronco clutch is like light stretching.

 

[userdude]

And you can't compare the Bronco clutch to an old jeep clutch. People describe the older clutches like it is power lifting. Bronco clutch is like light stretching.

I can't because I've never driven one. I realize they're probably better made today, but I do know hard (my F-250) to soft (my mother's Honda Civic) and both could be exhausting given the right circumstances.

 

[userdude]

And you can't compare the Bronco clutch to an old jeep clutch. People describe the older clutches like it is power lifting. Bronco clutch is like light stretching.

Interesting maybe-aside is I'm 6' 3". I'm no weakling and was 98% fit in my younger years (I had real endurance). I think maybe some of the difference in the experience may come down to height and "angle/amount of attack", meaning like when I played basketball like a baseball player and threw shots too hard, I was probably man handling the clutch more than others (who couldn't as easily push it to the floor/wall). Interesting... I've never really had a feather touch, if you will.

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