(2021 Fully Loaded)— Bronco-Badlands vs. Jeep-Rubicon - Pros / Cons

[BuzzyBud]

Yesterday I test drove a diesel Rubicon. Sarge Green with Saddle interior. Nice.

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[ChapEJF]

See my Vehicle List to the left...2 Jeeps already, so I'm set there...not selling either one.
Main reason for the Bronco is to replace the Camry - Dead-reliable, comfortable daily driver, great mileage (Hybrid!)...but boring as hell and now sporting about $6,000 in hail damage...KBB resale is now a negative number.
Why not another Jeep? See above, plus Jeep pissed me off. They had a golden opportunity to build this:

but instead they built the Gladiator...would have replaced my XJ with the Wrangler Africa, but not a Glad...so, yeah, Jeep pissed me off - It's Bronco time.

That is one handsome vehicle! It is like a cross between the Wrangler and a Jeep Commander, which I have always loved. It seems close to the new Ineos Grenadier. And those wheels and color complete the look but I can see this costing north of $60K to start.

 

[BLTN]

I can see this costing north of $60K to start.

Doesn't have to be...At Easter Jeep Safari 2015, FCA debuted this concept as a basic vehicle, but with all the right goodies like a diesel engine, manual trans, 35" tires, and full Rubicon running gear. They could probably tag that for $40-45K and sell every one they build. Wrangler Africa Concept

 

[da_jokker]

Until you have to change the spark plugs. Holy crap that was a lot of work and hard to get to for a procedure that’s so simple on most other vehicles.

Which engine? I'm starting to educate myself in Rubicons and am torn with the engine choices

 

[Gamecock]

Which engine? I'm starting to educate myself in Rubicons and am torn with the engine choices

I think if you go Rubicon you’d be crazy not to get the diesel. It’s their best engine by far and the only one that is comparable to the Ford 2.7.

 

[da_jokker]

I think if you go Rubicon you’d be crazy not to get the diesel. It’s their best engine by far and the only one that is comparable to the Ford 2.7.

I hear ya, but Diesel is more per gallon at the pumps (2.86 vs 3.19), and I've read that on the trail, since most folks have gas, if you needed some fuel, you could be in trouble.

I also read that the Diesel is pretty expensive to maintain (water filters and such) and that you have to drive it almost 300k miles just to break even.

 

[wjfawb0 [hacked account]]

Until you have to change the spark plugs. Holy crap that was a lot of work and hard to get to for a procedure that’s so simple on most other vehicles.

It's no worse than replacing the plugs on most FWD V6 cars like the previous generation of Ford Explorer. Intake removal is kind of standard on engines designed for FWD applications.

Changing 3.8L or 3.6L wrangler plugs.

 

[Girryn]

Nice article comparing the two:
https://www.fordmotorcity.com/2021-ford-bronco-badlands-vs-jeep-wrangler-rubicon.htm

That is a terrible, out of date click bait article. It predates December and the B&P updates. It also claims that squatch adds the Bilstein dampers to the badlands.

The only way to compare is B&P as close as possible to each other then compare summary sheets.

 

[Paul Gagnon]

I tried to build a Badlands and Rubicon as close as possible but the Rubicon seems to have less tech available.

 

[AcesandEights]

I think the 4:1 t-case in the Rubicon is very enticing. I sure wish my Super Duty (especially), and the Bronco, had a 4:1.

 

[PartyMarty]

Which engine? I'm starting to educate myself in Rubicons and am torn with the engine choices

This was for the 3.6L in the jeep wrangler jk (same 3.6L engine available in the JL's). Heres the 25 min video I used as a reference.

You have to take off the whole intake manifold to access the 3 plugs on the driver side and replace the plenum gaskets when you take off the manifold (an extra $30 in addition to the spark plugs), but by far the hardest plug to access was the middle passenger side (mentioned at 13:45 in the video below). He makes it seem like it was no big deal to access, but it took me about an hour alone of trying just to remove the clip from the spark plug boot below. In total after watching this video a few times, it took me about 4.5 hours. There's a reason why shops charge $400-$500 to replace them.

The spark plug removal on the 2.7L in F150's that'll be in the Bronco looks drastically easier than this.

 

[Deadfish]

In light of all the unanswered riddles, I actually had just built out a Rubicon to compare. There are some differences for sure, but a WT-ish version of the Rubi would actually be CHEAPER and have more features (like Adaptive Cruise, Prem Audio, Disconnect Sway)

Ironically, I was reading up on the engine choices and sounds like the turbo 4 cyl is a better choice than the NA 6 cyl. I never even second guessed my choice for my WT and the 2.7 but comparing a turbo 4 to a NA 6, sounds like the 4 wins AND saves you money.

So yeah... I'm really thinking about it. I WAS going to basically post what you did, just asking about Jeep gotchas.

Right now there are only a few things keeping me in the Bronco camp...

1) Answers (some) are coming when we can finally convert to orders.

2) seems lime all Rubicons have a Red Dash? WTF is with that?

3) I think Ford will get better MPG than the Jeep

If you get the brown leather interior, the dash is a dark graphite and not red. At least on the 2020

 

[da_jokker]

If you get the brown leather interior, the dash is a dark graphite and not red. At least on the 2020

I just found that out as well... but any of the options that get you a non-red dash are not desirable to me.

It was very interesting... I spent yesterday familiarizing myself with Rubicon Reviews. Discovered a couple of things...

1) jeep forces an interior color on you based on the trim, like that red dash (sound familiar)

2) they don't seem to have power seats...at least not standard (and they are 55k +)

3) their 2.0 turbo appears to be a better engine than the 3.6... from a power feel. But I got conflicting numbers for which one actually ended up with better MPG.

4) Their diesel option is the best engine choice... gets 25 mpg, BUT you have to drive it like 250k+ miles to offset the initial price.

5) Their GVWR is just as bad as the Bronco (so Ford is just the status quo)

6) Their Steal Bumper kit allows for a tucked in winch to be installed and it does NOT block the trail cam.

7) The Accessory power switches are integrated into the Radio and so you can program/modify their behavior.

... but if I price out the Rubicon in my area with a Diesel, and all the tech stuff I'd want, I'm looking at an MSRP about 4-5k higher than my WT.

 

[da_jokker]

I tried to build a Badlands and Rubicon as close as possible but the Rubicon seems to have less tech available.

I don't think it does. NOT only that but their packages are al la carte and grouped to make sense. You can add the keyless entry, BLISS, upgrated Radio, Premium Audio, Led Lights, Adaptive cruise, etc.

 

[Paul Gagnon]

I don't think it does. NOT only that but their packages are al la carte and grouped to make sense. You can add the keyless entry, BLISS, upgrated Radio, Premium Audio, Led Lights, Adaptive cruise, etc.

Maybe but I could not configure a Rubicon the same way I could a Badlands. With the Jeep it seems to me that there is no equivalent Rubicon as a Lux package Badlands. I want all of the off road capability with all of the comforts. For that reason alone the Jeep is off my list.

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