At the risk of rubbing salt in some of your wounds, I wanted to share what I’ve learned in an evening with my base Black Diamond Bronco aka Orange Crush.
1. The rock rails are for real! I parked very far out in an empty lot to see my son play soccer tonight. When I returned I found another car parked around six inches from my drivers side. Since their driver side and mine were overlapping I was expecting some serious dings. I couldn’t find anything though, despite my OCD level double and triple checking. Once I got the vehicle in the garage I saw how beefy the rock rails are, and I am assuming that this is what saved my paint.
2. The manual is very different from what I expected. The slightly tipped angle that the shifter sits at was hard to get used to. The Getrag in my Mustang GT is not the same in that I had a hard time telling if I was in gear in the Bronco. The 2.3 engine isn’t terribly loud so it was hard to tell from listening to rpm’s what I should be doing. I eventually figured it out, but it was a bit of a surprise. People have made some comments about first gear not lasting very long, but I was getting up to 25/30 before shifting to second. That seems fine to me; I can only get up to 45 or so in my Mustang before shifting into second.
3. The drivers information screen is ok, but a bit small. It took me awhile to figure out what everything was. It does show a decent amount of stuff, including what gear you’re in, rpms, mpgs, power distribution, etc.
4. The 2.3 engine reminded me very much of the ecoboost 2.3 Mustang I test drove about a year ago. The calibration didn’t feel that different. The power wasn’t readily apparent since it was so quiet, but when I got on it the Bronco certainly went as fast as I needed. Not disappointed in power, but you can tell that the Bronco is built solidly and takes a lot to move. My wife said it felt like driving a tank.
5. The quality seems just fine so far. I went through all of the pre delivery checklist items that were outlined in another thread. The engine bay actually looked pretty put together; no loose bolts, hoses, or reservoirs. I haven’t found anything yet other than some excessive trim on the dash that I was able to remove with my fingers.
6. I was a little worried about the 32’ steel wheels. I wasn’t sure whether they would be tall enough or if I would miss the aluminum rims. The steelies look great and are plenty tall for my use. The General tires haven’t bothered me yet, but we’ll see if that changes over time. I’m aware that the Bronco will scrape at the current height on serious trails, but the skid plates seem to work fine based on the videos I’ve seen. I’ll probably end up with a lift if I do enough off roading.
7. There is a skid plate on the gas tank with the black diamond model. It didn’t look terribly strong, but that’s ok since the Broncos without the gas tank skid plate have survived. I’m basing this on the flipped Broncos that I’ve seen pictures of.
8. I’ve included a picture of the payload sticker in case anyone is curious. 1,157 pounds seems like enough for me, especially since you can’t tow that much. I suppose you could eat that up fairly quickly though between four passengers, accessories, and 350 pounds in tongue weight.
9. The vinyl seats are nice. I don’t miss the leather at all. I guess I should say “leather trim” since total leather is hard to find anymore. At least that’s my experience with my Mustang.
10. I’m clearly storing Orange Crush in the garage, but I also removed almost everything from the vehicle based on some of the thefts people have experienced with the soft tops.
11. My only complaint is that I can’t get the FordPass app to connect. Not the biggest deal, but I’ve never had this happen before with the five plus other FordPass enabled cars I’ve had.
Best of luck in all of your Bronco journeys! I happened to notice my vehicle getting delivered this morning with palsapp.com, and my dealer was able to make delivery happen tonight despite being down workers. Just remember, there are a ton of people who haven’t made it as far we we have. As Ford would say, hang in there and/or stay pumped! Based on my experience so far, I think it will will be all worth it in the end.
Sponsored
