2 Door Base First Impressions and Ride Along With 360-degree Camera

[BudgetBronco]

Awesome video, best 360 to date. Making me wish I had gone with a base two door manual. What did your buddy use to shoot the footage for 360?

He says it called 'Insta 360'

Sponsored

 

[BudgetBronco]

I had to open it in YouTube app to enable the 360.

search “2021 Ford Bronco Top Removal and Quick Ride in 360”

Ah interesting...on my desktop the 360 works while embedded here on the forum, but maybe not on mobile devices.

 

[BudgetBronco]

Thank you for the honest review. I have wanted to get the base but it is not available with the tow package which I feel is essential in any truck. Also you mentioned the spotty reception with SiriusXM, what about regular FM?

No problems with regular FM

 

[JT58Bronc]

How is first gear on the manual? I read that it is very low? I would prefer a longer first gear to take off after a stop and keep up with traffic. My 2016 Camaro V6 had such a short first gear- had to shift at 15-20 MPH unless I red-lined it and I constantly had people ready to run over me when I shifted 1-2.

It will also be interesting to see how the performance is when you change to 33" tires.

And you were in SW Florida- you got your Bronco fast- were you an early reservation- priority order or early allocation? I am also in SW Florida- a 7/14 reservation for a Basesquatch- not a priority and not in the initial allocation and heard nothing at all.

 

[SaveTheManuals]

I cannot stand the auto start stop in mine. I have a manual as well and the first thing I do is turn the auto start off in mine. I am hoping there will be a way to program it off permanently. I do agree that the 2.3l isn't lacking power, but it definitely is not fast. Sport mode helps but I haven't used it too much as I want to break in the engine on the normal mode.

 

[mlsjr14]

@Timinpgh - Great video. Congrats and thanks for sharing. Can’t wait to get my 2 DR BB which should be very similar.

One suggestion on the garage door opener for you… Check into the MyQ smart garage opener if you are interested. It’s a very cheap (<$30) way to add app/voice control to open your garage door hands free if you’d like to ditch the old school opener. It works with nearly any existing opener and is super easy to install yourself. I’ve already done so in preparation for mine!

 

[Ricky_gibbs]

I sometimes regret not getting a base, they're so cool in their own way.

Personal preference but I think their grill is the best with black

 

[Ricky_gibbs]

Thank you for the honest review. I have wanted to get the base but it is not available with the tow package which I feel is essential in any truck. Also you mentioned the spotty reception with SiriusXM, what about regular FM?

You can add the tow package afterwards, factory setup is already there. The wiring for the brake light might be a problem but you can have a Ford dealership do it for you

 

[Ricky_gibbs]

No problems with regular FM

You can always just play music from your phone also, and use maps from your phone also, kind of defeating the purpose of the built-in navigation and Sirius xm. Did you try setting up the Ford hot spot, curious if it's even worth the cost, especially since it is att exclusive as far as I know

 

[FerkinBlonco]

I share your feelings about the aesthetics of the base, and I'm not mad about switching over to it. that was an interesting insight about sunglasses... maybe just the push I need to add the switches option.

 

[DebbieEF]

A buddy of mine is really in to fancy 360 and drone cameras and took some cool footage that you can enjoy if you are still waiting for your Bronco to arrive. If watching on a computer use your mouse to drag the image viewpoint around, on a mobile device you can move the phone around in space to look around.



A few thoughts on my Bronco experience, about 3 days and 300 miles so far:

One of the nice things about the Base is that the oddly empty switches for swaybar disconnect, lockers, etc. makes for a perfect place to hold sunglasses, especially if you have AUX switches and lose the built-in holder. You can see this in the first minute of the video linked above.

Very happy with Antimatter Blue. I’ve gotten a lot of compliments when driving around town, but the one I have gotten the most is on the color. I was a little worried about how dark it was, but those fears melted away the first time I saw that blue shimmering in the sun. It truly is beautiful.

Very happy with the Base interior. I might be biased, but I think the total color combination (including lack of wacky third color stitching and vent accents) in the Base is the best looking interior of the Bronco lineup. Seats are also very comfortable.

The only thing that was non-negotiable for me from the very start was the manual transmission and I love it. Shifts great, very fun to drive, and the 2.3L in no way whatsoever feels underpowered. I was super-bummed when we all first found out the manual was not available with the V6, but now I am glad I saved the money since it was not even an option for me. We'll see if this is still the case after I upgrade tires to 33"

Road noise with windows up and hardtop on is very reasonable, and better than I was expecting.

Road comfort and steering is far superior in comparison to my solid front axle ’03 Grand Cherokee Overland.

The floor liners look great, the best $160 option or accessory you can buy IMO by a longshot

I thought I would hate the auto-start, but I don’t. In fact, I haven’t once disabled it while driving around town. With the manual transmission, the engine starts as soon as you touch the clutch, so by the time you have the pedal fully depressed and the stick in gear, the engine is already started and ready to go. It hasn’t bothered me at all.

I had a pretty startling experience when rounding a curve at about 55 mph and a driver pulled out in front of me. I had to hit the brakes pretty hard to avoid them and was surprised at how much the front end dove down and to the outside of the curve. I was able to quickly recover but I have never had that ‘diving’ experience in all of my years of driving. I guess that comes along with the suspension that just eats up potholes and such. My suggestion to new owners is to test this in a safe environment so you can see what it feels like and be comfortable with it, before you need to do it for real as I did.

Disappointments and dislikes so far:

The lack of an integral garage door opener. I haven’t had to keep an opener transmitter in my car for 10+ years, and it feels like a big step backwards.

I don’t love the instrument cluster, especially the speedo gauge on the left. Maybe I haven’t optimized the digital panel setup yet, but with MPH also prominently shown on the digital panel, it is goofy and redundant.

I definitely won’t be renewing the SiriusXM after the trial period, my reception has been horrible

I’ve gotten the SYNC system to pair with my phone using Android Auto, but it randomly disconnects after 5-10 minutes of use. I haven’t spent a lot of time trying to figure this out, hopefully I can fix it.

I’ve already gotten my first ‘check engine’ message. It has come up on both day 2 and day 3 when starting the engine for the first time, a message that reads “Charging System Service Soon”. I’ve noticed that the battery charging gauge is showing 14.6V when driving around town, so the alternator is definitely working. I’m not going to spend any time diagnosing, will take it to the dealer and get it taken care of under warranty (and also so that it gets tracked for the benefit of others in the future)

Let me know if any questions and I will do my best to answer them!

Lastly a shout out to the good people at Jarret Scott Ford in Plant City Florida especially Dell Cook, they were great to work with, highly recommend them if you are in SW Florida.

Thank you Tim for the review with all the helpful comments!

 

[MacMarauder]

That's the first 360 video I've watched, really cool! My only gripe would be the Sparty hat (go blue lol).

 

[BudgetBronco]

How is first gear on the manual? I read that it is very low? I would prefer a longer first gear to take off after a stop and keep up with traffic. My 2016 Camaro V6 had such a short first gear- had to shift at 15-20 MPH unless I red-lined it and I constantly had people ready to run over me when I shifted 1-2.

It will also be interesting to see how the performance is when you change to 33" tires.

And you were in SW Florida- you got your Bronco fast- were you an early reservation- priority order or early allocation? I am also in SW Florida- a 7/14 reservation for a Basesquatch- not a priority and not in the initial allocation and heard nothing at all.

First is short. I'm not sure how to quantify exactly 'how' short. It might be that the fact I am keeping RPMs low during break-in is also contributing to my feeling on this.

I am going to do a separate write-up on the 33" tires and also post a video on my youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFLw9w42dWNf-SDw62Th57Q) in the next few days. Suffice to say with the new tires:
- It is a little bit noisier
- It is a little more vibration
- There is a little less pep when you step on the gas
- I expect MPG will go down a bit, maybe a good bit

That said they look great and I would not go back. I expected all the above when moving from the very road friendly base stock tires, and everything is within my expectations

I know the FLA dealer, but that did not contibute to my faster delivery. I was not a priority/MVP. I was a day one reservation holder, and also got a little lucky I think.

 

[BudgetBronco]

I cannot stand the auto start stop in mine. I have a manual as well and the first thing I do is turn the auto start off in mine. I am hoping there will be a way to program it off permanently. I do agree that the 2.3l isn't lacking power, but it definitely is not fast. Sport mode helps but I haven't used it too much as I want to break in the engine on the normal mode.

Same, I am babying the RPMs for now, and agree I would not say the Bronco is 'fast' but definitely adequate or better. Sport makes a little bit of difference. For the manual, is the only thing that changes the responsiveness of the gas pedal?

 

[BudgetBronco]

@Timinpgh - Great video. Congrats and thanks for sharing. Can’t wait to get my 2 DR BB which should be very similar.

One suggestion on the garage door opener for you… Check into the MyQ smart garage opener if you are interested. It’s a very cheap (<$30) way to add app/voice control to open your garage door hands free if you’d like to ditch the old school opener. It works with nearly any existing opener and is super easy to install yourself. I’ve already done so in preparation for mine!

I will check it out, thanks for the tip!

Sponsored