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2.3L power to weight ratio

Lrenz66

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What are your thoughts on the 2.3l power to weight ratio? Will it have enough power to be effective off-road for say Hill climbing from a stop? Pushing through deep mud/snow? What about pavment driving pulling steep grades in the mountains full of people and gear?
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GaryB2220

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Better than a4 runner and those things are tanks. Nothing to worry about
 

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Yeah. Up here at 9000ft, the 4runner's 270hp drops to about 200. The Bronk keeps it's power and more torque to boot.

That said, I'll likely go with the 2.7, just becuz. If the 2.3 had dual injection, I'd be on the fence.
 

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A 4-door Bronco will be significantly heavier than other comparable 4-door offroaders, given a 2.3L or 2.7L 4-door BD squatch will weigh 5226 or 5320 lbs, respectively, compared to the 4300 lb wrangler JK or a 4750 lb TRD 4-runner. I assume the squatched 4-door BD with it's steel bumper, bash plates, and rock rails will add the most weight from Fords range of weight specs. (I'm going with a BD as I see you're thinking about too). The Badlands, actually might be the heaviest with the swaybar disconnect, but not by much.

Here's a breakdown of some weight to power ratios (lbs per hp or lbs per lbft torque)
2.3L Bronco: 19.4 lbs/hp - 16.9 lbs/torque
2.7L Bronco: 17.2 lbs/hp - 13.3 lbs/torque
4-door wrangler unlimited JK: 15.1 lbs/hp - 16.2 lbs/torque
TRD 4-runner: 17.6 lbs/hp - 17.1 lbs/torque

With the 2.3L, a squatched 4-door bronco will be the slowest to 60, guaranteed, even though it has a nice flat torque curve starting in the low RPM range.
With the 2.7L, you're still behind the wrangler in HP, in the ballpark of the 4-runner HP, but you'll be the torque king by a large margin!

I think the 2.3L could be pretty anemic for a heavy squatched Bronco. Don't risk it. Get the 2.7, especially if you're getting the auto anyways. That's just my opinion.

Edit: Also those reported Bronco 2.3L and 2.7L performance numbers are with premium fuel. I'd expect to shave off 5-10% from those numbers with regular (I'm not paying 60c/gallon extra for premium on a regular basis), as the CPU will protect the engine and won't allow for the full turbo boost with regular gas.

Fuel efficiency should be about the same for each engine as the 2.3L is just going to have to work harder to move the same weight/wind resistance anyways.
 
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Lrenz66

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A 4-door Bronco will be significantly heavier than other comparable 4-door offroaders, given a 2.3L or 2.7L 4-door BD squatch will weigh 5226 or 5320 lbs, respectively, compared to the 4300 lb wrangler JK or a 4750 lb TRD 4-runner. I assume the squatched 4-door BD with it's steel bumper, bash plates, and rock rails will add the most weight from Fords range of weight specs. (I'm going with a BD as I see you're thinking about too). The Badlands, actually might be the heaviest with the swaybar disconnect, but not by much.

Here's a breakdown of some weight to power ratios (lbs per hp or lbs per lbft torque)
2.3L Bronco: 19.4 lbs/hp - 16.9 lbs/torque
2.7L Bronco: 17.2 lbs/hp - 13.3 lbs/torque
4-door wrangler unlimited JK: 15.1 lbs/hp - 16.2 lbs/torque
TRD 4-runner: 17.6 lbs/hp - 17.1 lbs/torque

With the 2.3L, a squatched 4-door bronco will be the slowest to 60, guaranteed, even though it has a nice flat torque curve starting in the low RPM range.
With the 2.7L, you're still behind the wrangler in HP, in the ballpark of the 4-runner HP, but you'll be the torque king by a large margin!

I think the 2.3L could be pretty anemic for a heavy squatched Bronco. Don't risk it. Get the 2.7, especially if you're getting the auto anyways. That's just my opinion.

Fuel efficiency should be about the same for each engine as the 2.3L is just going to have to work harder to move the same weight/wind resistance anyways.
I was thinking the same thing. I really want the manual though. I doubt I'll do the sasquatch, don't really need the extra height. I'm looking at a MY22 with the current delivery schedule so hopefully the manual will be available with the 2.7l by then.
 

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If I had a dollar for every "4dr 4 cylinder" thread...

How many 2.0t Jeeps on 35+'s are there out there, this'll be fine
 

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Best advice I could give you would be to test drive a ranger, I know it's lighter than a Bronco, but it has a 7000 pound tow rating so I'm pretty sure it can easily handle the extra 700ish pounds from a BL Bronco.
I'm getting the 2.3 with a manual in the four door. I doubted the 4 cylinder until I test drove a ranger. For me, it was plenty powerful enough to suit my on and off-road needs, which includes going through mud, rock crawling, fording some small streams and taking it on the beach. I don't live at a super high elevation, if I did, it may have pushed me to the 6 cylinder. I also don't think I will be running it in the baja 500 or racing any raptors so the 6 just seemed overkill for my needs.
 

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What are your thoughts on the 2.3l power to weight ratio? Will it have enough power to be effective off-road for say Hill climbing from a stop? Pushing through deep mud/snow? What about pavment driving pulling steep grades in the mountains full of people and gear?
Power to weight ratios gives you acceleration, but gearing gives you capability. For years, people have been rock crawling with wheezing sub-150hp 4 cylinder engines, they just run ridiculous gears.

Between the stick with a 7 speed and crawler gear, and the 10 speed with tons of ratio choices, and the 4.46/4.70 rear gears, the Bronco will never be wanting for gearing. Can it win a stoplight-to-stoplight drag race against a sporty car? Probably not. But it will be able to climb a hill or keep the wheels spinning in mud and snow.
 

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A 2.3L will do fine in 4-low. I have read over and over about how anemic the Toyotas are, so if you are getting a Bronco, expect the same. If you're crawling, the gear reduction of the transfer case helps a great deal. In mud, and maybe snow (depending on the conditions), you may be disappointed with the ability to spin it up a bit.
 

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It also puts out way more power than the Briggs & Stratton lawnmower that died while mowing my yard!
 

wordstew

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My 2006 H3 Hummer Adventures series is 5 cylinder with less power than the 4 cylinder Bronco.
It does just fine off-road so I suspect the Bronco will do quite well

3.5L DOHC, 5-CYLINDER, MFI (220 HP [164.1 KW] @ 5600 RPM, 225 LB.-FT. [303.7 N-M} @ 2800 RPM)
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tlubull

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A 4-door Bronco will be significantly heavier than other comparable 4-door offroaders, given a 2.3L or 2.7L 4-door BD squatch will weigh 5226 or 5320 lbs, respectively, compared to the 4300 lb wrangler JK or a 4750 lb TRD 4-runner. I assume the squatched 4-door BD with it's steel bumper, bash plates, and rock rails will add the most weight from Fords range of weight specs. (I'm going with a BD as I see you're thinking about too). The Badlands, actually might be the heaviest with the swaybar disconnect, but not by much.

Here's a breakdown of some weight to power ratios (lbs per hp or lbs per lbft torque)
2.3L Bronco: 19.4 lbs/hp - 16.9 lbs/torque
2.7L Bronco: 17.2 lbs/hp - 13.3 lbs/torque
4-door wrangler unlimited JK: 15.1 lbs/hp - 16.2 lbs/torque
TRD 4-runner: 17.6 lbs/hp - 17.1 lbs/torque

With the 2.3L, a squatched 4-door bronco will be the slowest to 60, guaranteed, even though it has a nice flat torque curve starting in the low RPM range.
With the 2.7L, you're still behind the wrangler in HP, in the ballpark of the 4-runner HP, but you'll be the torque king by a large margin!

I think the 2.3L could be pretty anemic for a heavy squatched Bronco. Don't risk it. Get the 2.7, especially if you're getting the auto anyways. That's just my opinion.

Edit: Also those reported Bronco 2.3L and 2.7L performance numbers are with premium fuel. I'd expect to shave off 5-10% from those numbers with regular (I'm not paying 60c/gallon extra for premium on a regular basis), as the CPU will protect the engine and won't allow for the full turbo boost with regular gas.

Fuel efficiency should be about the same for each engine as the 2.3L is just going to have to work harder to move the same weight/wind resistance anyways.
Might have to look for a similar breakdown on the 2d with 2.3.
 

HoosierDaddy

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Daily driving and off road, that flat torque curve is the King, but it doesn't always pay off at the track.... in the case of the 2.7, it certainly does.
The 2.3L crew cab Ranger I test drove seemed OK...it was a short drive though.


per zeroto60times.com...................0 to 60 ........... 1/4 mile
Jeep Wrangler unlmtd.....v6... 6.5 sec ..... 15.2 1/4 mile
F150 crew 2.7 4x4 .............................5.9 sec .... 14.4 1/4 mile
Ranger 2.3 FX4 crew 4x4 ........... 6.5 sec .........15.0 1/4 mile
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