3000 miles in…good, bad and the ugly

[MSBroncoBuccaneer]

These soft tops just keep sounding worse and worse, and now Ford is pushing for people to switch to them! Bad press for MIC tops, bad press for soft tops. They can't win! Sorry to the folks who switched to the soft top, I would rather wait for a MIC fix.

330 miles on our soft top BL and we love it. Once you figure out the proper way to take the windows out, it's super easy. While there is road noise, it's exactly what you would expect with a soft top. As far as warm air circulating, we haven't noticed that. We live in south Mississippi and it's been extremely hot but the A/C has had no problems keeping us cool.

Sponsored

 

[MrOzMan]

Gas is nearly $5 in California.

And most of us didn’t buy a Bronco for fuel economy. Wrong vehicle for that.

Nobody is buying it for fuel economy. That doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be nice to have it get better fuel economy. Word is that hybrid 2.3T power train will get around 340hp/500 LB-ft AND get good fuel economy. I mean… doesn’t that sound tempting, or are we all sticking with the “I didn’t buy it for fuel economy” story?

 

[BTomorama]

These soft tops just keep sounding worse and worse, and now Ford is pushing for people to switch to them! Bad press for MIC tops, bad press for soft tops. They can't win! Sorry to the folks who switched to the soft top, I would rather wait for a MIC fix.

I have a soft top and have zero issues with the sound. It's a convertible, so yeah at 80 mph it's not going to sound like my wife's Xc90... Visibility ain't great in 100% back position, but VERY much worth the ease of full open.

Side and rear panel removal takes some getting used to, but compared to having to have a rig at home in your garage to remove the hardtop? I'll take it any day.

Please don't make assumptions about a vehicle option that you don't even have.

 

[Big Blue]

330 miles on our soft top BL and we love it. Once you figure out the proper way to take the windows out, it's super easy. While there is road noise, it's exactly what you would expect with a soft top. As far as warm air circulating, we haven't noticed that. We live in south Mississippi and it's been extremely hot but the A/C has had no problems keeping us cool.

Agree. I’m about 1000 miles with mine and it’s been good. Not sure what people are expecting with a soft top.

 

[BTomorama]

330 miles on our soft top BL and we love it. Once you figure out the proper way to take the windows out, it's super easy. While there is road noise, it's exactly what you would expect with a soft top. As far as warm air circulating, we haven't noticed that. We live in south Mississippi and it's been extremely hot but the A/C has had no problems keeping us cool.

Agreed. A/C works very well and no issues for me either.

 

[MSBroncoBuccaneer]

Agree. I’m about 1000 miles with mine and it’s been good. Not sure what people are expecting with a soft top.

Maybe I'm easy to impress? Lol

 

[Contact]

I bet manuals would be less than 10% of all vehicles ordered. Why do you think corvette dumped. Less than 7% take rate over the entire 6 year model run. While I like a manual it’s a dying breed. My gt350 is one and why I didn’t buy a 500.

Ive never seen a vette off road

 

[De Brus]

I have a soft top and have zero issues with the sound. It's a convertible, so yeah at 80 mph it's not going to sound like my wife's Xc90... Visibility ain't great in 100% back position, but VERY much worth the ease of full open.

Side and rear panel removal takes some getting used to, but compared to having to have a rig at home in your garage to remove the hardtop? I'll take it any day.

Please don't make assumptions about a vehicle option that you don't even have.

Those aren't assumptions, simply feedback from multiple forum members. I wasn't talking about the actual sound, either. Scratching, slop, poor rear accessibility, lack of insulation etc. Now the ugly looks? That I can see clear as day. Might be my and other's opinions, but we're still allowed that last I checked.

 

[Dino]

I just passed 3000 miles on my Big Bend, which is a very basic rig with four cylinder engine and soft top. The good…..excellent road manners, drives incredibly smooth even at 90 plus mph, far superior to my 2016 Wrangler Rubicon, really no comparison. Even without lift or aggressive tires it handled off road in the Colorado mountains extremely well, even through some pretty rough and rocky trails.

The bad….only 18.3 mpg so far, although to be fair much of it is off road or at higher speeds than most (already got first speeding ticket as well) will drive. I am installing tube steps next week, my wife struggles to get in, the grab handles don’t seem to help, she is just five feet even.

The ugly…the soft top is a pain at best. When stowed all of the way, you lose entire visibility through rear mirror. Removed completely it would solve the problem, but then you wouldn’t have the top available. There is a ton of road noise as well as warm air circulating around the cabin. The three removable panels are a real pain to get back in place properly, easily as bad as the Wrangler soft top, which is a similar nightmare as well.

That’s about it, I have a second order confirmation from January, I plan to use it to buy the one I really wanted, which will be a hardtop six cylinder Sasquatch stick. I fully expect to wait until fall of 22 before I get it, and I also fully expect that I will find a buyer for my current Bronco (even with 30 k miles) at the $39 k price I paid.

I am doing the Off Roadeo in Austin next weekend, which should help me figure exactly how to configure my next order. I feel for all of you waiting for delivery, but trust me that you won’t be disappointed!

I'll see you next weekend at the Off Roadeo

 

[VictoryLights]

California people complaining about $5 gas

 

[acnp2022]

I just passed 3000 miles on my Big Bend, which is a very basic rig with four cylinder engine and soft top. The good…..excellent road manners, drives incredibly smooth even at 90 plus mph, far superior to my 2016 Wrangler Rubicon, really no comparison. Even without lift or aggressive tires it handled off road in the Colorado mountains extremely well, even through some pretty rough and rocky trails.

The bad….only 18.3 mpg so far, although to be fair much of it is off road or at higher speeds than most (already got first speeding ticket as well) will drive. I am installing tube steps next week, my wife struggles to get in, the grab handles don’t seem to help, she is just five feet even.

The ugly…the soft top is a pain at best. When stowed all of the way, you lose entire visibility through rear mirror. Removed completely it would solve the problem, but then you wouldn’t have the top available. There is a ton of road noise as well as warm air circulating around the cabin. The three removable panels are a real pain to get back in place properly, easily as bad as the Wrangler soft top, which is a similar nightmare as well.

That’s about it, I have a second order confirmation from January, I plan to use it to buy the one I really wanted, which will be a hardtop six cylinder Sasquatch stick. I fully expect to wait until fall of 22 before I get it, and I also fully expect that I will find a buyer for my current Bronco (even with 30 k miles) at the $39 k price I paid.

I am doing the Off Roadeo in Austin next weekend, which should help me figure exactly how to configure my next order. I feel for all of you waiting for delivery, but trust me that you won’t be disappointed!

I feel the opposite about the soft top. Road noise is not that bad and I have sas and I haven't noticed any warm air issues and that's with the 90+ temps the last few days and pretty much having the ac on the lowest setting. I haven't had the top all the way down because I am perfectly fine with it pushed back normally, but I have had the panels off and thought they were pretty easy to put back in.

 

[Tadel001]

When i picked up my BL 2.7, i was surprised that the road noise wasn’t bad a 70 mph. I was on Bluetooth and my wife said is sounded great. Then I put the top down (which was awesome). When I put it up, the road noise was more noticeable. Noticed that the sides along the roof line have rubber seals. I just pulled down on the top to make sure there was contact. That seemed to make a big difference.

Road noise is not bad. Soft top is awesome (do have the roll bar rub).

 

[Doc Rocket]

There’s this thing called a transmission that you have failed to consider in your calculations.

Actually, he is looking at power required, and while he is off a bit, it does go up dramatically with speed. One part is related to weight*speed the other is aerodynamic and the power is related to cross sectional area * speed cubes. The two parts are pretty close at 55 or 60 mph, but above that, the aero part really takes off. The weight part depends a bit on the slope of the road too.
However, this is all power required to maintain speed, which translates directly to fuel used per time. You can divide that by speed to get fuel used per distance. The transmission goes to efficiency, and can reduce losses, but it will not make up for the fact that at 90 you're upping the power required by well over 3x compared to 60. When moved to mpg, you are still using a lot more fuel at 90 than at 60. It is unavoidable.

 

[DFNMAN]

[/QUOTE]

I also fully expect that I will find a buyer for my current Bronco (even with 30 k miles) at the $39 k price I paid.

Your build is exactly what dealers will be able to stock in the next couple months, don't plan on getting what you paid for it.

 

[HPNQ420]

There’s this thing called a transmission that you have failed to consider in your calculations.

Transmission doesn’t overcome physics. Assuming only wind resistance, doubling speed required 8x the power output.

Sponsored