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Driving a JL Wrangler around this week - Impressions

e90steve

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So, Ford really has done me dirty. I have a day 1 reservation. After getting my in production email in June, I sold my daily (Jeep Grand Cherokee) and have been making my Porsche 911 work. It sounds more glamorous than it is, the Porsche is a 20+ year old car with 80k miles that breaks a lot. I usually only put 2-3k a year on it and shuffling kids in and out of it w/ golf clubs, home depot runs etc. has been well... a challenge. Anyways, what was supposed to be a few weeks has now turned into 4 months and it finally caught up to me. The 911 is in the shop for an extended period of time and I needed something to get around in.

Luckily, I have a family member who loaned me a JL 4 door Wrangler Sahara hardtop for a week or two before I can get my Porsche back. Having been tempted by a Wrangler in the past, this has been an eye opening experience to say the least. Up until now I've only spent at most an hour or so tooling around with him in the Wrangler. My initial impression of it as a passenger was, this is cool, nice enough (has leather), and drives better than I thought. However my impression after a few days of being the primary driver is different.

- The biggest thing that pops out to me is, man this thing is slow. Even with the V-6 you have to dog it to get it to go. My old Jeep had a Hemi V8 and def had some giddyup. My wife's V6 VW Atlas is crazy underpowered but feels more powerful vs. the Wrangler. I'm guessing it's the gearing?

- Next was, hmm this car isn't quite as smooth of a ride as I thought it was. Coming from a more traditional Jeep SUV I was expecting it to ride a bit smoother, but it def feels a bit bouncy and tractor-ish.

- As far as size, the car looks big enough from the outside, but the interior def feels cramped to me. The rear seat for the kids is adequate, but the shape of the door makes it really difficult to climb in and out of. The visibility is terrible out the rear window.

- One of the more eye opening realizations is that, I may not actually like having a "hard top". I'm hoping the extra rear panel of the Bronco provides some additional feeling of open ness, because having only the front freedom panels open on the Jeep is a bit disappointing. While they are easy to remove, it isn't something I'm anxious to do over and over again. Kind of thinking maybe the soft top was the way to go.

- I know this will be the same with the Bronco, but the whole opening the tailgate situation is a real pain. It's something you overlook in the initial lust phase of a vehicle.

Anyways this isn't meant to be a Jeep rant, it actually may be more of a me not realizing what kind of car I'm about to get into rant with the Bronco. I do hope the Bronco rides a bit better and feels bigger. I think if that's the case I will be happy with it, but I am def not as confident going into it as I was before driving the JL around for a bit.
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BroncoBoy22

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Youā€™re the perfect customer who Ford was targeting for the Bronco haha.

Itā€™s a shame they canā€™t get them out to us in a reasonable amount of time
 

Austin26

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Why on Earth would you sell a needed vehicle before getting the Bronco. Yeah Ford hasn't done great with the launch but that's on you. But as The Dude says...

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mattrb87

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So, Ford really has done me dirty. I have a day 1 reservation. After getting my in production email in June, I sold my daily (Jeep Grand Cherokee) and have been making my Porsche 911 work. It sounds more glamorous than it is, the Porsche is a 20+ year old car with 80k miles that breaks a lot. I usually only put 2-3k a year on it and shuffling kids in and out of it w/ golf clubs, home depot runs etc. has been well... a challenge. Anyways, what was supposed to be a few weeks has now turned into 4 months and it finally caught up to me. The 911 is in the shop for an extended period of time and I needed something to get around in.

Luckily, I have a family member who loaned me a JL 4 door Wrangler Sahara hardtop for a week or two before I can get my Porsche back. Having been tempted by a Wrangler in the past, this has been an eye opening experience to say the least. Up until now I've only spent at most an hour or so tooling around with him in the Wrangler. My initial impression of it as a passenger was, this is cool, nice enough (has leather), and drives better than I thought. However my impression after a few days of being the primary driver is different.

- The biggest thing that pops out to me is, man this thing is slow. Even with the V-6 you have to dog it to get it to go. My old Jeep had a Hemi V8 and def had some giddyup. My wife's V6 VW Atlas is crazy underpowered but feels more powerful vs. the Wrangler. I'm guessing it's the gearing?

- Next was, hmm this car isn't quite as smooth of a ride as I thought it was. Coming from a more traditional Jeep SUV I was expecting it to ride a bit smoother, but it def feels a bit bouncy and tractor-ish.

- As far as size, the car looks big enough from the outside, but the interior def feels cramped to me. The rear seat for the kids is adequate, but the shape of the door makes it really difficult to climb in and out of. The visibility is terrible out the rear window.

- One of the more eye opening realizations is that, I may not actually like having a "hard top". I'm hoping the extra rear panel of the Bronco provides some additional feeling of open ness, because having only the front freedom panels open on the Jeep is a bit disappointing. While they are easy to remove, it isn't something I'm anxious to do over and over again. Kind of thinking maybe the soft top was the way to go.

- I know this will be the same with the Bronco, but the whole opening the tailgate situation is a real pain. It's something you overlook in the initial lust phase of a vehicle.

Anyways this isn't meant to be a Jeep rant, it actually may be more of a me not realizing what kind of car I'm about to get into rant with the Bronco. I do hope the Bronco rides a bit better and feels bigger. I think if that's the case I will be happy with it, but I am def not as confident going into it as I was before driving the JL around for a bit.
well that really sucks, having gotten your in production email months ago and nothing yet. Sucks all the excitement away, for the time beingā€¦

I got my Big Bend Sasquatch almost 3 weeks ago and I can tell you I love it to death lol. The ride is very smooth, not bumpy or jolty at all, drives like a truck, with a very quick V6 engine. You can definitely tell the difference when in Sport mode. Iā€™m almost certain the wrangler people wish they had sport mode because I have been blowing people away from a dead stop at stop lightsā€¦.and Iā€™m not even trying to speed away. The vehicle is surprisingly quiet and has lots of room inside.

I got the soft top and im sorta liking it better because I can put the top down and take the rear panels out in 1-2 mins, plus itā€™s nice with weather right now as well. The AC works very well and the heated seats do too. Just put the top down and put the seat warmers on and youā€™re good to go

Iā€™m not a big fan of how Ford designed the rear of the soft top to be propped up for better access because the back plastic panels get crunched and I donā€™t want creases to form. But I can live with that, itā€™s so much fun to cruise around in, everyone else slobbering over it and they canā€™t have one lol
 

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e90steve

e90steve

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Why on Earth would you sell a needed vehicle before getting the Bronco. Yeah Ford hasn't done great with the launch but that's on you. But as The Dude says...
The main reason is I was able to sell it for about 8k more than I was offered just a few months before that. I still have 2 cars but unfortunately 1 is in the shop now. I didnā€™t figure Iā€™d be waiting 4 months after receiving a build email.

My current situation will be fine, just anxious to get the bronco and hoping it will be a step up from the JL Wrangler Iā€™m driving around.
 

Ksjrb03

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Wait, you still havenā€™t drove a Bronco to know what your getting? Itā€™s really not that different from the Jeep for most of that. Handles better on the road for sure.
 

bodean

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People just lose me when they refer to Jeeps and Broncos as cars.
 

Austin26

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The main reason is I was able to sell it for about 8k more than I was offered just a few months before that. I still have 2 cars but unfortunately 1 is in the shop now. I didnā€™t figure Iā€™d be waiting 4 months after receiving a build email.

My current situation will be fine, just anxious to get the bronco and hoping it will be a step up from the JL Wrangler Iā€™m driving around.
Eight grand buys a lot of rental cars / Ubers. Sounds like something I'd have done too.

And yes the Bronco rides smoother than the Wrangler though admittedly I only test drove a JL a couple of times and the Bronco once. But the first thing I noticed while driving was that 1. It was worth the wait and 2. It really was a nicer ride than the JLU.
 

balucipher

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Bronco isn't going to be a lot different. The Sahara has kinda slow gearing but the 2.3 and 2.7 aren't really much faster and in some specs are slower. The bronco is wider so the interior opens up quite a bit compared to the JL but I think it's still less than your GC

The Bestop Sunrider for the JL and soon the Bronco make opening the front panels a lot easier. It's not a full convertible but it takes 10 seconds and is my favorite mod. The soft top in sun rider mode opens up more but is more work.

Try to drive a dealer mannequin if possible. You may find it's too similar to the JL you dislike.
 

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Jdyount

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My dad has a 2019 2-door JL and the first time I drove it the only thing I could think was why would anyone want to drive this every day. It rides absolutely terrible on the road, you feel every little variation on the road and the steering requires constant correction. I also felt very cramped like the roof was 2 inches from my head.

The Bronco was absolutely 100% different. I've been to the Off-Roadeo and I've had dealer test drives on the road. It behaves on-road as well as most trucks. I'm sure you're going to feel more road than you would have with your Grand Cherokee because the Bronco is an off-road vehicle and the Grand Cherokee is a mall crawler, but the Bronco is miles better then a Wrangler.

Rear access on the soft top is terrible in my opinion, I think you'll be glad you got a hard top in that aspect. I personally HATE the soft tops. They look terrible, they almost completely block your rear view when they're down, the side and rear plastic windows look wavy,... The ONLY thing they are good at is opening quickly. Now, that being said, I haven't had to mess around with taking the hard top panels off and putting them back on in a daily basis case. I'll probably get a little tired of messing with them, but for the looks I think it's by far the best solution.
 
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e90steve

e90steve

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Wait, you still havenā€™t drove a Bronco to know what your getting? Itā€™s really not that different from the Jeep for most of that. Handles better on the road for sure.
Haha... no I haven't driven one yet. In fact the only one I've seen in person was at the Auto show for about 15 minutes.

Wouldn't be the first time I've bought a car site unseen and never driven.
 

MnLakeBum

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Bronco isn't going to be a lot different. The Sahara has kinda slow gearing but the 2.3 and 2.7 aren't really much faster and in some specs are slower. The bronco is wider so the interior opens up quite a bit compared to the JL but I think it's still less than your GC

The Bestop Sunrider for the JL and soon the Bronco make opening the front panels a lot easier. It's not a full convertible but it takes 10 seconds and is my favorite mod. The soft top in sun rider mode opens up more but is more work.

Try to drive a dealer mannequin if possible. You may find it's too similar to the JL you dislike.
I drove the 2.7l Bronco and the acceleration wasnā€™t bad for a truck/off road vehicle but itā€™s depending upon your reference vehicle, itā€™s certainly not quick or fast. I thought the steering was more precise and tracked much better than a Jeep on the highway and thatā€™s the vehicle we should be comparing it to.

I ordered the 2.7l and would have paid extra for a diesel with more useable torque had they offered one. Iā€™ll likely do some engine mods to bump up the HP and torque on my Bronco once itā€™s out of warranty. As us boaters say, ā€œthere is no such thing as too much powerā€, which is why my pontoon boat has a 350 hp Mercury Verado. ;)

FWIW, hereā€™s the Car and Driver measured specs vs. the Jeep.

Ford Bronco Driving a JL Wrangler around this week - Impressions C470E811-318C-47E4-BAC3-130A0840111C
 

ekim

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People just lose me when they refer to Jeeps and Broncos as cars.

Ha - I think it's fine. People also refer to KOH race cars. That should put you over the edge :)
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