What Percentage of Owners Off-Road?!

[HalfmuleFarmer]

You left out “ beach” as an off road option. My Bronco only does beach off road for surf fishing.

Fixed it for ya!

This was a HUGE hurdle when i worked at Ford on off-road capability. The constant pushback was that “most owners never go off-road” other than maybe a dirt road to a cabin or fishing spot. So it became a struggle to defend a Bronco program or advocate for off-road capability.

But what was often missed was that in certain ways, that low statistic doesn’t matter. The demand for Bronco, and particularly the Sasquatch package, I think proves that people will buy something that looks cool and capable even if they don’t even have a plan to go off-road. Sure the 2-door is a hard sell since it cuts practicality if you have kids or dogs etc, but those big 35” tires and “check-the-box” hardcore features sold even to pavement dwellers. And some just want the status symbol of getting the top-of-the-line model options like a Raptor even if they never plan to use the capability.

Some of those Marketing naysayers were probably surprised by how well some options sold given the market statistics of limited actual off-road use. That realization probably began after the first F150 SVT Raptor sales took off.

VERY interesting. And makes total sense. People buy aspirationally, and for potential use as often (or more often) than practical use reasons.

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[ThunderFlash]

Some of those Marketing naysayers were probably surprised by how well some options sold given the market statistics of limited actual off-road use. That realization probably began after the first F150 SVT Raptor sales took off.

I had a 2010 Raptor Supercab. I cracked open the owners manual and could not believe what I read. The opening paragraph was something to the effect, "The Ford Raptor was designed for high speed off road driving." My jaw dropped...did I just read that? Where the hell were the attorneys when this was drafted! DESIGNED FOR HIGH SPEED OFF ROAD....how fast is that exactly....and what kind of conditions....how many knuckleheads are going to find insanely huge air, a tree, massive rock, or just run it off a cliff?....and then blame Ford for not protecting them from themselves. I thought to myself, "Right on! Way to go Ford!"

Edit: I found a PDF of the 2010 Raptor supplemental manual. I guess it wasn't the opening paragraph, but on page 17 it had a section titled "High Speed Off-Roading".

 

[DarthLincoln]

Yeah... I think this is more of a factor than I realized for sure.

I was talking to my father about this a while ago—he worked at Ford in the 1980s-1990s.

The simple idea of owning a vehicle that can off-road (or tow/haul, in the case of the F-series) was a massive driver of sales back then, and the marketing & brand teams spent a lot of time & energy targeting those folks who wanted a vehicle that looked like it could tow/haul/off-road but didn't actually need to tow/haul/off-road.

That's a big reason why they replaced the Bronco II with the Explorer, Bronco with Expedition, and started selling more luxury-oriented SuperCrew pickups.

Yup. I think Ford lost sight of some of those aspirational sales motivators in the late 90s and into the 00s and got drunk going after the crossover craze, trying to make their SUVs and trucks drive like cars.

 

[McG]

The idea that a majority of Off-road buyers don't actually off road isn't hard to believe. How many people go out and buy 100k trucks with maxed out diesel engines and the heaviest thing they haul is groceries? How many of them spend another 5-10k lifting them and putting on highly un-recommended rims on them? Its all an image thing and I get it. I'm not a hard core rock crawler, I did learned how to drive on an 86 toyota "yo" manual pickup and then an XJ out in the mountains of San Diego. My off roading adventures are sometimes months in between but I try to keep it down to at least in the "weeks" time frame.

I judge those who buy based on image just it a little bit, its really me just realizing I'm partly in that group too. I'm a bit vain when it comes to things like the interior, I don't give a damn about exterior looks and I already have the Bilson site on bookmark.

 

[DarthLincoln]

I had a 2010 Raptor Supercab. I cracked open the owners manual and could not believe what I read. The opening paragraph was something to the effect, "The Ford Raptor was designed for high speed off road driving." My jaw dropped...did I just read that? Where the hell were the attorneys when this was drafted! DESIGNED FOR HIGH SPEED OFF ROAD....how fast is that exactly....and what kind of conditions....how many knuckleheads are going to find insanely huge air, a tree, massive rock, or just run it off a cliff?....and then blame Ford for not protecting them from themselves. I thought to myself, "Right on! Way to go Ford!"

LOL! I never saw that. It makes sense - SVT back then was all about enhancing high-speed performance with Lightning and Cobra. The Raptor was a total mind-shift, and there were a small few in SVT that didn’t like it. One manager even wanted to LOWER the ride-height so the truck would be even better at handling jumps like a desert pre-runner. Of course, that would hurt ground clearance and make the truck even harder to take on extreme trails, rocks, snow or mud. That was their enthusiast mindset. In the end, the first Raptor I think was a pretty good balance of off-road capability - given how large the base vehicle was.

 

[Dan-O]

I’ve always owned a 4wd but I only use it when camping/ hunting and up in the snow in winter time. I’ve never taken any of my rigs out just to drive through mud bogs or to see how steep of a hill or how big of a rock trail I can get up. I use it when I need it and rather not chance beating it up or breaking anything, too expensive to fix.

 

[Fordified1]

Do you think the SXS craze helped, hurt or was indifferent for the Bronco? Those things can cost as much or more than a Bronco.

Speaking for us, yes riding in a side by side and eventually owning one helped sell the Bronco to my wife because before the side by side she thought all off-road rigs were rough riding and she had zero interest in off roading.

 

[Saltwater Junkie]

Every vehicle I've owned but 1 has been a 4x4 built for surf fishing/beach and even that 1 was a VW dune buggy. All have been daily commuters during the week, & hit the sand Fri-Sun.

The 89 money pit (ahem..2 door)

The 25 money pit

 

[RagnarKon]

Yup. I think Ford lost sight of some of those aspirational sales motivators in the late 90s and into the 00s and got drunk going after the crossover craze, trying to make their SUVs and trucks drive like cars.

Eh... every manufacturer kinda did the same thing. The market was looking for minivans disguised as SUVs, so that's what everyone made.

 

[jcartwright99]

I'm curious, did you go to an Off Rodeo? It's a great confidence builder, educates you on the vehicle and helps you understand how not to get into the FA phase of FAFO. I'd bet for a lot of Bronco owners it's their daily driver. Raptor owners excepted of course....

I've had my Bronco for one week exactly. I have registered on the website but had an issue verifying my Bronco. I will try to rectify that when I have a spare moment. So yes, I am interested in learning and think it would be a cool thing to do. All about finding the time and fitting it in my schedule.

I live surrounded by a sea of high end Jeeps, Broncos, Raptors, GWagons, Land Cruisers, etc. They look the part but 99% never see the dirt. Image is everything I guess.

Everyone has there reasons for buying a Bronco. Going off road was a smaller part of it for me. To be honest, I came close to a Ranger and Passport. Any vehicle I own has to be able to handle bad weather (check), be able to haul around my son mostly comfortably (check), handle backroads/fire roads that I drive on to mountain bike (check), be pretty reliable (check), and not get abysmal MPG (check). Add in a nice deal and it's top comes off, that kinda sealed the deal.

 

[MNBigfoot]

The new blazer still pains me. Chevy missed a huge opportunity, whereas Ford seized it with the Bronco

Same for the Land Cruiser.

 

[CalgaryKid]

Hello, I am brand new to this forum thing and don't really know where to start... Here seems as good a place as any. One of the first things I wanted to do when I first got the Bronco Horsey was to drive all the way down to the Oregon Coast (about 13 hours from Calgary). To be able to drive right on the beach beside the pacific ocean was an absolute dream! It was neat to finally be able to try some of the other GOAT modes like sand and BAJA. I consider myself very fortunate that I have also got to drive in the snowy rockies here in Alberta. How many people can say their Bronco has been through both sand and the snow? Anyways, I would like to try to actually off-road some more, but I am very new to all of this.

 

[BAUS67]

Hello, I am brand new to this forum thing and don't really know where to start... Here seems as good a place as any. One of the first things I wanted to do when I first got the Bronco Horsey was to drive all the way down to the Oregon Coast (about 13 hours from Calgary). To be able to drive right on the beach beside the pacific ocean was an absolute dream! It was neat to finally be able to try some of the other GOAT modes like sand and BAJA. I consider myself very fortunate that I have also got to drive in the snowy rockies here in Alberta. How many people can say their Bronco has been through both sand and the snow? Anyways, I would like to try to actually off-road some more, but I am very new to all of this.

Welcome to the forum. You can always drop pics in this thread as well.

https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/two-door-tuesday-lets-see-them-two-doors.107393/



And it doesn't have to be a Tuesday to post there, 'cause every day is a good day in a 2DR Bronco.

2DR Bronco= Purpose Built and Badass.

 

[hutchman]

I bought mine on 7-13 and was up in the mountains on 7-15. It was purchased specifically to do FS rds and OHV parks in the area to replace my Jeeps as they have become too small for my large frame at 74 years old. I intend to enjoy the mtns until I can't and the Bronco is my way of getting there.

 

[dirt boy]

I bought mine on 7-13 and was up in the mountains on 7-15. It was purchased specifically to do FS rds and OHV parks in the area to replace my Jeeps as they have become too small for my large frame at 74 years old. I intend to enjoy the mtns until I can't and the Bronco is my way of getting there.

One of the things that entertains and frustrates me is how a lot of forum members seem to not appreciate how different the demographic is here, on this forum, versus the average mainstream Bronco owner. (So folks here are always, amusingly, asking for Ford to do things that most mainstream buyers would *never* want, that are strictly enthusiast options — but in their defense, it’s amazing that Ford actually made a Bronco with a snorkel and still makes a 2DR. We’re lucky.) People who take their Jeep or Bronco off-road are actually a very small percentage of buyers, perhaps as low as 10% (according to Google searched stats). I’m wondering how that compares to the population here. Vote!

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