- First Name
- Tim
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2020
- Threads
- 25
- Messages
- 703
- Reaction score
- 2,271
- Location
- Pittsburgh, PA
- Website
- www.youtube.com
- Vehicle(s)
- 2003 Jeep WJ Grand Cherokee Overland
- Your Bronco Model
- Base
- Thread starter
- #1
A buddy of mine is really in to fancy 360 and drone cameras and took some cool footage that you can enjoy if you are still waiting for your Bronco to arrive. If watching on a computer use your mouse to drag the image viewpoint around, on a mobile device you can move the phone around in space to look around.
A few thoughts on my Bronco experience, about 3 days and 300 miles so far:
One of the nice things about the Base is that the oddly empty switches for swaybar disconnect, lockers, etc. makes for a perfect place to hold sunglasses, especially if you have AUX switches and lose the built-in holder. You can see this in the first minute of the video linked above.
Very happy with Antimatter Blue. Iāve gotten a lot of compliments when driving around town, but the one I have gotten the most is on the color. I was a little worried about how dark it was, but those fears melted away the first time I saw that blue shimmering in the sun. It truly is beautiful.
Very happy with the Base interior. I might be biased, but I think the total color combination (including lack of wacky third color stitching and vent accents) in the Base is the best looking interior of the Bronco lineup. Seats are also very comfortable.
The only thing that was non-negotiable for me from the very start was the manual transmission and I love it. Shifts great, very fun to drive, and the 2.3L in no way whatsoever feels underpowered. I was super-bummed when we all first found out the manual was not available with the V6, but now I am glad I saved the money since it was not even an option for me. We'll see if this is still the case after I upgrade tires to 33"
Road noise with windows up and hardtop on is very reasonable, and better than I was expecting.
Road comfort and steering is far superior in comparison to my solid front axle ā03 Grand Cherokee Overland.
The floor liners look great, the best $160 option or accessory you can buy IMO by a longshot
I thought I would hate the auto-start, but I donāt. In fact, I havenāt once disabled it while driving around town. With the manual transmission, the engine starts as soon as you touch the clutch, so by the time you have the pedal fully depressed and the stick in gear, the engine is already started and ready to go. It hasnāt bothered me at all.
I had a pretty startling experience when rounding a curve at about 55 mph and a driver pulled out in front of me. I had to hit the brakes pretty hard to avoid them and was surprised at how much the front end dove down and to the outside of the curve. I was able to quickly recover but I have never had that ādivingā experience in all of my years of driving. I guess that comes along with the suspension that just eats up potholes and such. My suggestion to new owners is to test this in a safe environment so you can see what it feels like and be comfortable with it, before you need to do it for real as I did.
Disappointments and dislikes so far:
The lack of an integral garage door opener. I havenāt had to keep an opener transmitter in my car for 10+ years, and it feels like a big step backwards.
I donāt love the instrument cluster, especially the speedo gauge on the left. Maybe I havenāt optimized the digital panel setup yet, but with MPH also prominently shown on the digital panel, it is goofy and redundant.
I definitely wonāt be renewing the SiriusXM after the trial period, my reception has been horrible
Iāve gotten the SYNC system to pair with my phone using Android Auto, but it randomly disconnects after 5-10 minutes of use. I havenāt spent a lot of time trying to figure this out, hopefully I can fix it.
Iāve already gotten my first ācheck engineā message. It has come up on both day 2 and day 3 when starting the engine for the first time, a message that reads āCharging System Service Soonā. Iāve noticed that the battery charging gauge is showing 14.6V when driving around town, so the alternator is definitely working. Iām not going to spend any time diagnosing, will take it to the dealer and get it taken care of under warranty (and also so that it gets tracked for the benefit of others in the future)
Let me know if any questions and I will do my best to answer them!
Lastly a shout out to the good people at Jarret Scott Ford in Plant City Florida especially Dell Cook, they were great to work with, highly recommend them if you are in SW Florida.
A few thoughts on my Bronco experience, about 3 days and 300 miles so far:
One of the nice things about the Base is that the oddly empty switches for swaybar disconnect, lockers, etc. makes for a perfect place to hold sunglasses, especially if you have AUX switches and lose the built-in holder. You can see this in the first minute of the video linked above.
Very happy with Antimatter Blue. Iāve gotten a lot of compliments when driving around town, but the one I have gotten the most is on the color. I was a little worried about how dark it was, but those fears melted away the first time I saw that blue shimmering in the sun. It truly is beautiful.
Very happy with the Base interior. I might be biased, but I think the total color combination (including lack of wacky third color stitching and vent accents) in the Base is the best looking interior of the Bronco lineup. Seats are also very comfortable.
The only thing that was non-negotiable for me from the very start was the manual transmission and I love it. Shifts great, very fun to drive, and the 2.3L in no way whatsoever feels underpowered. I was super-bummed when we all first found out the manual was not available with the V6, but now I am glad I saved the money since it was not even an option for me. We'll see if this is still the case after I upgrade tires to 33"
Road noise with windows up and hardtop on is very reasonable, and better than I was expecting.
Road comfort and steering is far superior in comparison to my solid front axle ā03 Grand Cherokee Overland.
The floor liners look great, the best $160 option or accessory you can buy IMO by a longshot
I thought I would hate the auto-start, but I donāt. In fact, I havenāt once disabled it while driving around town. With the manual transmission, the engine starts as soon as you touch the clutch, so by the time you have the pedal fully depressed and the stick in gear, the engine is already started and ready to go. It hasnāt bothered me at all.
I had a pretty startling experience when rounding a curve at about 55 mph and a driver pulled out in front of me. I had to hit the brakes pretty hard to avoid them and was surprised at how much the front end dove down and to the outside of the curve. I was able to quickly recover but I have never had that ādivingā experience in all of my years of driving. I guess that comes along with the suspension that just eats up potholes and such. My suggestion to new owners is to test this in a safe environment so you can see what it feels like and be comfortable with it, before you need to do it for real as I did.
Disappointments and dislikes so far:
The lack of an integral garage door opener. I havenāt had to keep an opener transmitter in my car for 10+ years, and it feels like a big step backwards.
I donāt love the instrument cluster, especially the speedo gauge on the left. Maybe I havenāt optimized the digital panel setup yet, but with MPH also prominently shown on the digital panel, it is goofy and redundant.
I definitely wonāt be renewing the SiriusXM after the trial period, my reception has been horrible
Iāve gotten the SYNC system to pair with my phone using Android Auto, but it randomly disconnects after 5-10 minutes of use. I havenāt spent a lot of time trying to figure this out, hopefully I can fix it.
Iāve already gotten my first ācheck engineā message. It has come up on both day 2 and day 3 when starting the engine for the first time, a message that reads āCharging System Service Soonā. Iāve noticed that the battery charging gauge is showing 14.6V when driving around town, so the alternator is definitely working. Iām not going to spend any time diagnosing, will take it to the dealer and get it taken care of under warranty (and also so that it gets tracked for the benefit of others in the future)
Let me know if any questions and I will do my best to answer them!
Lastly a shout out to the good people at Jarret Scott Ford in Plant City Florida especially Dell Cook, they were great to work with, highly recommend them if you are in SW Florida.
Sponsored
Last edited:
