3,000 mile road trip: Texas to Colorado/Utah stats & thoughts

[Alanp970]

Warning - Long post: Just made it back from a 3,303 mile Texas to Colorado and Utah adventure in my 2023 BaseSquatch 2.3 auto 4 door hard top. Pulled my 1995 Cherokee on a dolly to drop off in Colorado. Wheeled the Alpine Loop (Engineer and Cinnamon), First 50ish miles of Rimrocker Trail (Montrose section) Moab (Onion Creek and Long Canyon) and all around and in the Dolores River Canyon near Dove Creek CO. Results: 2.3 has plenty of power below 8,000’ elevation (accelerated from 60 to 80 mph uphill while towing to pass a struggling Jeep Wrangler for fun at 7,000’ elevation) MPG towing from TX to CO 12.1 mpg (65-75 mph) highest trans temp: 221 at 100 ambient. Unloaded CO/Utah MPG 20.4 (65-70 mph) Off-road MPG 12.5 Highest trans temp 223 (Engineer Pass 63 degree ambient) Return trip: 17.4 MPG (mostly 75-80 mph + some headwinds) Highest trans temp 205 (90 degree ambient) It was nicer to drive (even towing) than my Gladiator was empty. High winds made the Gladiator a handful while the Bronco was comfortable and drama free. The 2.3 had the power to tow in 10th gear
Most of the time. I added seat risers to the driver seat only and it was noticeably more comfy than the passenger seat. Didn’t wheel anything too difficult but I needed the lockers twice (rock and mud) Factory Goodyears have 19K miles and I’m surprised but they haven’t let me down yet so I’ll keep rolling’em till they do. My transmission always runs hotter than I’d like (205-215 in normal daily use) so I was surprised it stayed where it did during hard use. Overall I was really happy with it’s performance and for road tripping it’s substantially better than my past Jeeps

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[Ford Motor Company]

Warning - Long post: Just made it back from a 3,303 mile Texas to Colorado and Utah adventure in my 2023 BaseSquatch 2.3 auto 4 door hard top. Pulled my 1995 Cherokee on a dolly to drop off in Colorado. Wheeled the Alpine Loop (Engineer and Cinnamon), First 50ish miles of Rimrocker Trail (Montrose section) Moab (Onion Creek and Long Canyon) and all around and in the Dolores River Canyon near Dove Creek CO. Results: 2.3 has plenty of power below 8,000’ elevation (accelerated from 60 to 80 mph uphill while towing to pass a struggling Jeep Wrangler for fun at 7,000’ elevation) MPG towing from TX to CO 12.1 mpg (65-75 mph) highest trans temp: 221 at 100 ambient. Unloaded CO/Utah MPG 20.4 (65-70 mph) Off-road MPG 12.5 Highest trans temp 223 (Engineer Pass 63 degree ambient) Return trip: 17.4 MPG (mostly 75-80 mph + some headwinds) Highest trans temp 205 (90 degree ambient) It was nicer to drive (even towing) than my Gladiator was empty. High winds made the Gladiator a handful while the Bronco was comfortable and drama free. The 2.3 had the power to tow in 10th gear
Most of the time. I added seat risers to the driver seat only and it was noticeably more comfy than the passenger seat. Didn’t wheel anything too difficult but I needed the lockers twice (rock and mud) Factory Goodyears have 19K miles and I’m surprised but they haven’t let me down yet so I’ll keep rolling’em till they do. My transmission always runs hotter than I’d like (205-215 in normal daily use) so I was surprised it stayed where it did during hard use. Overall I was really happy with it’s performance and for road tripping it’s substantially better than my past Jeeps

Amazing photos, we hope you had a great trip!

 

[5GENIDN]

Warning - Long post: Just made it back from a 3,303 mile Texas to Colorado and Utah adventure in my 2023 BaseSquatch 2.3 auto 4 door hard top. Pulled my 1995 Cherokee on a dolly to drop off in Colorado. Wheeled the Alpine Loop (Engineer and Cinnamon), First 50ish miles of Rimrocker Trail (Montrose section) Moab (Onion Creek and Long Canyon) and all around and in the Dolores River Canyon near Dove Creek CO. Results: 2.3 has plenty of power below 8,000’ elevation (accelerated from 60 to 80 mph uphill while towing to pass a struggling Jeep Wrangler for fun at 7,000’ elevation) MPG towing from TX to CO 12.1 mpg (65-75 mph) highest trans temp: 221 at 100 ambient. Unloaded CO/Utah MPG 20.4 (65-70 mph) Off-road MPG 12.5 Highest trans temp 223 (Engineer Pass 63 degree ambient) Return trip: 17.4 MPG (mostly 75-80 mph + some headwinds) Highest trans temp 205 (90 degree ambient) It was nicer to drive (even towing) than my Gladiator was empty. High winds made the Gladiator a handful while the Bronco was comfortable and drama free. The 2.3 had the power to tow in 10th gear
Most of the time. I added seat risers to the driver seat only and it was noticeably more comfy than the passenger seat. Didn’t wheel anything too difficult but I needed the lockers twice (rock and mud) Factory Goodyears have 19K miles and I’m surprised but they haven’t let me down yet so I’ll keep rolling’em till they do. My transmission always runs hotter than I’d like (205-215 in normal daily use) so I was surprised it stayed where it did during hard use. Overall I was really happy with it’s performance and for road tripping it’s substantially better than my past Jeeps

Nice report and evaluation. Appreciate the observations.

 

[HeHateMe]

Warning - Long post: Just made it back from a 3,303 mile Texas to Colorado and Utah adventure in my 2023 BaseSquatch 2.3 auto 4 door hard top. Pulled my 1995 Cherokee on a dolly to drop off in Colorado. Wheeled the Alpine Loop (Engineer and Cinnamon), First 50ish miles of Rimrocker Trail (Montrose section) Moab (Onion Creek and Long Canyon) and all around and in the Dolores River Canyon near Dove Creek CO. Results: 2.3 has plenty of power below 8,000’ elevation (accelerated from 60 to 80 mph uphill while towing to pass a struggling Jeep Wrangler for fun at 7,000’ elevation) MPG towing from TX to CO 12.1 mpg (65-75 mph) highest trans temp: 221 at 100 ambient. Unloaded CO/Utah MPG 20.4 (65-70 mph) Off-road MPG 12.5 Highest trans temp 223 (Engineer Pass 63 degree ambient) Return trip: 17.4 MPG (mostly 75-80 mph + some headwinds) Highest trans temp 205 (90 degree ambient) It was nicer to drive (even towing) than my Gladiator was empty. High winds made the Gladiator a handful while the Bronco was comfortable and drama free. The 2.3 had the power to tow in 10th gear
Most of the time. I added seat risers to the driver seat only and it was noticeably more comfy than the passenger seat. Didn’t wheel anything too difficult but I needed the lockers twice (rock and mud) Factory Goodyears have 19K miles and I’m surprised but they haven’t let me down yet so I’ll keep rolling’em till they do. My transmission always runs hotter than I’d like (205-215 in normal daily use) so I was surprised it stayed where it did during hard use. Overall I was really happy with it’s performance and for road tripping it’s substantially better than my past Jeeps

Yes, great info...

Can you share more about the seat risers you purchased? Interested in getting a pair.

 

[Alanp970]

Yes, great info...

Can you share more about the seat risers you purchased? Interested in getting a pair.

I made my own spacers. I ordered some heavy duty composite wedge shims from Amazon. I cut them to size and drilled some holes. That was over a year ago with no issues. This allowed me to add or remove shims as I liked.

 

[Alanp970]

Another bit of info…..My indicated mpg and hand calculated mpg while in Colorado were almost spot on with each other. It’s always 1-2 mpg optimistic in Texas. I also can’t get 20 mpg in TX but it was pretty common in CO with similar driving habits and speeds. Anybody else experience this?

 

[AXMRDR]

Great pics. Nice evaluation.

 

[JT58Bronc]

Very nice, I like the detail you provided. I plan on traveling the states with my wife in our 2 door Sasquatch with 2.7 next year. We are going to tow a very light kayak and paddle board trailer, should be no problem, if you are towing a Jeep Cherokee- even though you have a 4 door and we have a 2 door. I am more worried about reliability although after 2 years and 11K miles no major issues so we should be all set. I just did a major inspection underneath for any issues, leaks, etc. and everything was fine. Nice photos, thanks for sharing and I look forward to similar adventures!

 

[Alanp970]

Very nice, I like the detail you provided. I plan on traveling the states with my wife in our 2 door Sasquatch with 2.7 next year. We are going to tow a very light kayak and paddle board trailer, should be no problem, if you are towing a Jeep Cherokee- even though you have a 4 door and we have a 2 door. I am more worried about reliability although after 2 years and 11K miles no major issues so we should be all set. I just did a major inspection underneath for any issues, leaks, etc. and everything was fine. Nice photos, thanks for sharing and I look forward to similar adventures!

I bet your Bronco does great towing a small trailer. We have an F150 with the 2.7 and it’s been fantastic. I’ve had the normal infotainment issues everyone has. Weirdest glitch I had was my fuel gauge didn’t change after filling up for about 30 miles. It finally started slowly increasing on the gauge and my estimated range until it caught up It acted normally every other time I filled up

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