Quick Survey - Bronco or Defender?

[Dave4x4]

Still waiting on my 7/14/2020 Bronco reservation.
9/2021 placed an order with JLR for a 2022 Defender 90X….received it Jan 2022….. love it and its been absolutely problem free.
If my Bronco does get built for MY2023 it will not be what I originally spec’d …. No Mod Top, … No Tow Package….

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[HoosierDaddy]

if I were to get a Defender it’d be this one. A 1990 110 V8.

We're in a similar boat. No love for the new one .... but one of these, oh hell yeah!

 

[JAR-LV]

I said the Defender interior felt small in the driver’s seat for a big guy. In my personal experience sitting in a new D110 on the showroom floor, the driver’s seat space is much tighter than a Bronco to my body. For a guy who is 5’10” and 170# the difference wouldn’t be as noticeable. I also said the rear door was very narrow, look at the picture. I do like the flat floor and plastic on the back of the rear seats of the Defender.

The Defender is much more expensive. My 2 door Badlands with manual trans, high package, tow package was $47K, the Defender with the base 2.0L engine in a similar trim with towing capability is $64K. Service at a Land Rover dealer is also significantly more expensive. I will point out that the Defender has a much higher tow rating, enough to tow my boat which my Bronco won’t do.

I do believe the Defender in the correct trim is more capable than most people realize.

At 6’4” you can make just about anything seem small, lol

 

[Bodge Garage]

I gave it consideration but then again I am already a Land Rover guy. My issue with the defender is it went to far to the Range Rover side, too drug store cowboy for me. Had they gone a bit more the rubi or Bronco direction then different story but that is not their target market.

 

[Dave4x4]

If Ford ever gets their shit together I will be adding a 2dr Wildtrak to the mix.

 

[#Broncolife]

I would take a 1995 defender over a bronco. But the new defender is a shell of its predecessor. I’ve done some intense crawling with the bronco. Can’t imagine the new defender would have been capable. It’s comparing apples and oranges.

 

[Sonny]

Maybe a 1980s defender but not the toy cars they make today

 

[swami37]

What’s a defender?

 

[F OR D]

I’ll admit I’m not a Land Rover person and haven’t paid any attention to it since Ford sold the brand.

But isn’t Defender is a luxury SUV? Or am I just oblivious?

EDIT— To answer the question the only vehicle I considered over the Bronco was 4Runner. But no manual option and the fact that is a 10+ year old design at this point meant it was never seriously a consideration. (Watch now Toyota is going to release the new 4Runner in 2024.)

I'd say more of an lux offroad suv that can hang with most. Not going to crawl like a SAS but then again, I'd say 95% of Bronco/Jeep owners will never seriously crawl.

LR would definitely beat a 4Runner. This video does a decent job. Biggest issue is price; it is really an expensive vehicle and maintenance is expensive. I will say coming from LR my last two were extremely reliable and did not spend a lot maintaining them. Problem is when something does come up it is expensive af.

2020 Land Rover Defender vs. Wrangler vs. 4Runner — The New Defender Goes Off-Road With the Big Boys - YouTube

 

[Scott R Nelson]

Warning: didn't read all of the replies to this...

I've been considering a 4x4 for many years and there has been absolutely nothing that attracted me. I've considered things like the Nissan Xterra or Honda Ridgeline, but realized that as they came from the factory, they weren't going to be great off road vehicles. A Jeep has never attracted me, nor has anything British.

But when the Bronco was announced, my thought was "maybe this is the one that I've been waiting for." I was interested enough to invest $100 to get in line during the first few days, then started studying it as Ford put out all of the preview videos and stuff. I was still a "maybe" for months, but my wife kept telling people that I was going to get one rather than that I was thinking about it. So when it came time to order, I went ahead and ordered mine. Then waited...

When people ask me how I like my Bronco, my answer is that the more I do with it the better it gets. I'm up in the mountains with it regularly and it is exactly what I was after in a 4x4. It goes everywhere that I want to go without me worrying about getting stuck, but is still well behaved on the highway.

The Defender has never tempted me in the slightest.

 

[Doobie]

For me I love the defender but cost was a huge factor. I daily my bronco and I don’t care for the soft top every day. In fact I have a one piece hardtop on order from @ADV Fiberglass hoping to get it before Christmas. (Ordered in June)

I will essentially not be taking my top off very often, if at all. So the defender would make more sense for me personally BUT, I love the Bronco design even more. It’s a subjectively better looking vehicle.

I have a friend that paidaround 100k for his and he sat in my bronco. He really liked it and he liked the price. He now has one on order, fingers crossed he isn’t disappointed.

 

[Denis]

I was seriously considering it, and car to car comparison I would go for Defender, as will spend most of time in town
But, anything you'd like to add later is Bronco x4
Roof rack, bashing plates, winch....
Don't even think of any modifications...

 

[G.ATX.M]

I get it, this is a Bronco forum so the responses will be bias. That being said, just wondering how many have considered the Defender and what your thoughts are comparing it to the Bronco.
Let the games begin!

Neither, I have a bronco WT as my driver today, but have a deposit on an Ineos Grenadier that’s in production now and starting deliveries in 2023. It’s essentially a new (old) defender and from the videos and over 1mil miles of testing is pretty impressive off-road.

 

[BigGarnet]

They are not really comparable. The Bronco roof comes off…it’s has a frame…it comes with usable tires and wheels…it has WAY more real world clearance. Way more. Don’t look at the published numbers, look underneath that Defender.

 

[Gnomad]

As a recovering LR owner, I was one of those waiting eagerly for the new Defender to come out-was it going to be the rig to get me out of my LR3?
And then it was released and like a lot of people I was underwhelmed. No removable top, unibody, very mall crawler oriented. Yeah LR builds an amazing degree of off road chops into every LR product, but still the wheel choices leave few tire choices and the short sidewalls make if iffy to lower your air pressure for off road.
We did drive one. It was really nice. We just didin't see it fitting our lives, or our budget. The model with the "skip top" as the wife calls them starts at $62K and it's not a full removable top but a big canvas top. I was pretty much resigned to driving my LR3 into the ground and then upgrading to a LR4.
And then Ford released the Bronco and life was golden, well, at least once they get around to bringing mine close enough.

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