Bronco Badlands vs Wrangler Rubicon: Head to Head Comparison Series - Beginning With Ordering

[FTBronco9]

It has also been shown to have a significant impact on ride quality when off-road, even if not crawling.

Wheres this info coming from? I haven’t heard of anyone detailing riding with the stabar disconnected. Or did I miss something?

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[BossMann]

Kind of...but WIldTrak has nothing over the Badlands as far as capability as a "desert racer", except a little but of weight reduction with WildTrak which will be unnoticeable. Badlands is more of an all-arounder that has better rock crawling capability than the rest of the Bronco fleet.

Exactly why I've ordered a Badlands.

 

[Dirty Bronco]

Badlands Recommendation noted. Disconnect is a must. If it affects delivery date, we will downgrade Wrangler to better match.

Just to be clear... sasquatching a Badlands exceeds the Wildtrak in capability. Just because the badlands starts below the Wildtrak price wise doesn't mean it isn't the "top trim" in regards to offroading. When you sasquatch/lux a badlands you will find the price exceeds that of a Wildtrak with lux. There is no need to downgrade the rubicon if you are getting a badlands.

 

[ZackDanger]

For a pretty specific use case, sure. I'll bet a SAS Base will wheel to 99% of where a SAS BL will go. It'll just do it on 3 tires more often, LOL.

Sway bar disco re-connects at 20mph, most of my forest service road, beach bombing, snow driving is greater than 20mph. Put manual discos on the Bronco, Done!

I would say, from where I'm sitting, all the differences between Bronco and Wrangler are basically preference... type of motor, interior options, etc etc etc.

The one thing that isn't preferential (basically) is that the Bronco is IFS and the Wrangler is SFA.

This is going to be the debate point for years to come, where "real" off roaders will rightfully point out that more articulation is possible with the SFA.

Sure the IFS is a better "all around" suspension.... and certainly for the Baja and speed running like you mention... but you can't debate the comparisons between the Bronco and Wrangler without addressing all the "off road" capabilities, which include rock crawling and thus articulation.


If you pit a Bronco up against the Wrangler, and the Bronco is already behind the 8-ball because of the front suspension type, if you penalize it that much more by picking the trim that omits a way to address articulation performance, the comparison is doomed from the start.

At least in the "off roading" community since it's too well entrenched for us to have a conversation where desert running is a metric that Jeep diehards are willing to concede is worthwhile...

Without the disconnect every comparison that involves articulation will read: "The jeep naturally wins this test... and the Bronco can be equipped with a sway bar disconnect... but we didn't test that so we have no idea how much it would have helped."

$0.03

 

[BossMann]

I believe the sole reason why the Badlands price starts lower than the Wildtrack is because Ford knows that the crawler community is the community most likely to customize with aftermarket equipment (lifts, 37's, etc). They understood that inflating the Badlands (top capability, equal to FE) price was a bad choice knowing most of these buyers were planning on stripping many of those 'added higher trim' parts anyway.

 

[Rubisquatch]

Wheres this info coming from? I haven’t heard of anyone detailing riding with the stabar disconnected. Or did I miss something?

On the highway or regular road driving you are correct and would not want to be disconnected but when off road ing, this is common practice - that when on trail most experienced drivers disconnect the sway bar and keep it disconnected. This allows for better wheel/suspension articulation without having the body sway too much when the suspension articulates, hence the term ‘disconnected’. When driving off road there are continual ruts, rocks, trees and all kind of stuff you go over so you generally keep the sway bar disconnected versus conitnual connecting and disconnecting every time an obstacle is in front of the tires. The real nice things about the Bronco sway disco is it is hydraulic vs electric, can connect or disconnect under load and also that it reconnects when you hit 20 mph - these are both a) different front Jeep’s sway bar and b) great because there are parts of the trail where you do speed up (to catch up with rigs in front of you, or a real easy section, etc). Either way, this is key if you will be off road ing and will make the ride better and the truck will be more capable when on the trails.

And like @Squatch said, why do it manually on a $50-60k rig when I can push a button.

 

[FTBronco9]

On the highway or regular road driving you are correct and would not want to be disconnected but when off road ing, this is common knowledge - that when on trail most experienced drivers disconnect the sway bar and keep it disconnected. This allows for better wheel/suspension articulation without having the body sway too much when the suspension articulates, hence the term ‘disconnected’. When driving off road there are continual ruts, rocks, trees and all kind of stuff you go over so you generally keep the sway bar disconnected versus conitnual connecting and disconnecting every time an obstacle is in front of the tires. The real nice things about the Bronco sway disco is it is hydraulic vs electric, can connect or disconnect under load and also that it reconnects when you hit 20 mph - these are both a) different front Jeep’s sway bar and b) great because there are parts of the trail where you do speed up (to catch up with rigs in front of you, or a real easy section, etc). Either way, this is key if you will be off road ing and will make the ride better and the truck will be more capable when on the trails.

And like @Squatch said, why do it manually on a $50-60k rig when I can push a button.

So this was more of a general assessment than something that someone has done in the Bronco. Got it. Thanks.

 

[DubleDown]

Come May, Ford will supply you with a delivery window estimate (for when they think your build will get scheduled)... which depending on how long it takes a Jeep to get built, may provide you with the opportunity to schedule deliveries pretty close together.

Also, I 2nd the Badlands comments... the sway bar disconnect on the BL is going to be important if you are pitting the Bronco up against a Rubicon.... your comparisons may not hold much value in the off-roading community (especially here) if people think the Bronco wasn't properly equipped from the start.

I say go BL, and if you insist on the 35s from the factory, squatch it.

$0.02


In any event, I'm really excited to see what you are able to discover!

We are on our third Rubicon ordered. Generally it has been about 8 weeks. I know the Bronco will be much longer as we are we are a 7/26 reservation. Once we get a build notification for the Bronco, we will order the Wrangler.

We are not sure what Squatching will be available after market, so we will get it from the factory. This puts the Rubi behind a little. That will be one of our first projects.

 

[shieldsy]

I am not sure why the order process comparison that you are highlighting in the OP matters? What insight are you hoping to gleen?

The Bronco is launching with a one off ordering process with insane demand and a suspect supply chain that will most likely revert to their legacy ordering process at some point.

Any comparison made this year will be to a point in time of the Broncos launch that won't have any long lasting applicability regarding the order process.

 

[BroncoKong Jr.]

Wheres this info coming from? I haven’t heard of anyone detailing riding with the stabar disconnected. Or did I miss something?

I'm surprised more people don't realize this. Sway bar disco is great on pretty much any trail, not just the rocks.

 

[TripleB]

I've been comparing a 2 door bronco base 2.7a sasquatch and a low option 2 door rubicon auto for the passed 6 months. For my needs the Bronco beats it in many areas every time.

 

[mandrew]

So this was more of a general assessment than something that someone has done in the Bronco. Got it. Thanks.

I rode in a Wildtrak (WT) and a Badlands (BL) at KoH last week. BL rode MUCH smoother 0-20mph with the sway bar disconnected. Above 20mph the BL & WT rode the same. It solidified my decision to order the BL. Plus no Marine Grade Vinyl (MGV) or rubber floors in the WT...deal breakers for me.

 

[FTBronco9]

I rode in a Wildtrak (WT) and a Badlands (BL) at KoH last week. BL rode MUCH smoother 0-20mph with the sway bar disconnected. Above 20mph the BL & WT rode the same.

I rode in the BL only and the only time she disconnected the stabar was when she was going over a rock, just to show us how it worked. I thought the ride was superbly smooth with it connected so I can’t imagine how it would be with it disconnected.

 

[mandrew]

I rode in the BL only and the only time she disconnected the stabar was when she was going over a rock, just to show us how it worked. I thought the ride was superbly smooth with it connected so I can’t imagine how it would be with it disconnected.

I agree, they were both buttery smooth. I specifically asked my driver to disconnect so I could see the difference. I'd be surprised if anybody was disappointed with either trim...truly amazing capability and ride from the factory.

 

[Natai]

Wheres this info coming from? I haven’t heard of anyone detailing riding with the stabar disconnected. Or did I miss something?

I remember it coming up in some of the early ride-alongs on Ford's course. And it's definitely come up a few times in the recent KOH videos.
Basically, it will smooth the ride any time you are off road under 20mph. Automatically reconnects over 20mph.

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