Any early impressions of 2-door Bronco's highway performance / behavior?

[JT58Bronc]

The Bronco should be way better than the JL. I test drove a new 2020 Gladiator last year and the steering box was just horrible. So much wandering and steering correction on the test drive. And it was over 55K- no way. My 97 TJ steers way better and is tighter than that Gladiator was. My TJ is actually pretty good on the road, except for lack of power. The Bronco should be way better in steering, tracking, handling and power.

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[WreckEm711]

Do you have some larger tires or suspension mods on the JL? My TJ is more squirrely but also it has some 2.5 lift. And 33" mud tires a previous owner installed that have no business being used on pavement. I wonder if at least some of the steering issues are caused by owner mods or previous owner hijinks?

You are probably the only owner of your 2020 JL. Is it you first Wrangler?

Unfortunately it seems to be a new gremlin introduced with JLs.. they've already done TSBs for track bars and now for the steering box. You can just see the JL forums and all the long time jeep owner's complaining in the several hundred page threads about it hah.

Bone stock, no lift, with highway tires. No previous owners, first jeep but have driven SFAs regularly and significant time with several JKs, never ran into a situation like I did on that last trip.

I don't expect these things to ride like a minivan given that they're designed with off road performance in mind, but if it doesn't even feel like I can get to my adventure destination safely... Oof.

 

[flatlander40]

Hello! Long time reader, first time poster.

To preface my question, here's my situation: I have a 2020 2 door 6 speed JL sport that I love.... At least until I took it on its first long trip, and anything over 65 became a white knuckle drive, near impossible to keep in my lane, blow all over the road if a larger vehicle passed the opposite direction, 3 year old crying in the back, wife refuses to go on another trip in the Jeep.

Yikes.

JL steering issues are well documented so I won't belabor the point. There's a TSB for a steering box replacement im going to pursue to see if it helps, BUT the experience got me to take a look at Bronco with it's IFS that should (?) help the onroad mannerisms..

For my ACTUAL question... What are the expectations for highway performance for these things given the more docile on road mannerisms of IFS? Are there any early impressions? I've struggled to find anything since, understandably, most impressions are focused on the off-road aspects of the vehicle.

Thanks in advance!!

Also, love that Ford is giving Bronco some fun colors!

Mine will be a daily driver and most roads around me are at least 70mph and if you’re not doing 80 you will probably get run over! LOL Most good camping and off roading locations will be a road trip. Hopefully part of the beauty of the bronco will be that you can comfortably road trip to a far away location, then safely road trip back. I definitely don’t want to be doing 65 in a 75 all the way to Colorado! Anyway, I’m right there with you I hope it has good on road manners also.

Also, welcome to the forum

 

[Dads_bronze_bronco]

I keep hearing about all these issues with Jeeps And steering. My wife has a 2019 Jeep JLU. The only time we had issues on the highway was the day we drove it home in the middle of a freaking hurricane. I am actually driving it a lot now as I just sold my F150 while i wait for the bronco and I drove it on the highway last week at speeds up to 80. I had no issues. It behaves perfectly fine. We have taken it on several roads trips and she has never complained about it being hard to control on the highway. So not sure if its only an issue on some Jeep’s but ours has been great.

Yeah - there are a lot of opinions out there on this, and it makes you wonder how bad it really is versus what you are comparing it against. Within my own household, my opinion of the ride of my JKUR, and steering capability vs. my wife's are very different. However, there is some kind of hit or miss issue with the JLs - though none of the offroad youtube channels seem to have experienced it. A few have installed the sector shaft bracket or upgraded the steering to hydraulic once their build became extreme enough, but none got on and said "I was driving my JLUR on the highway and was horrified by how sloppy the steering was".

Even comparatively, the new Tahoe I rented two years ago was worse than my lifted big tired JKUR.

All that said, I too would like a highway impression of a two door Badlands or Squatch, because it would be nice to drive it to places where off road adventures wait.

 

[Wanted33]

I keep hearing about all these issues with Jeeps And steering. My wife has a 2019 Jeep JLU. The only time we had issues on the highway was the day we drove it home in the middle of a freaking hurricane. I am actually driving it a lot now as I just sold my F150 while i wait for the bronco and I drove it on the highway last week at speeds up to 80. I had no issues. It behaves perfectly fine. We have taken it on several roads trips and she has never complained about it being hard to control on the highway. So not sure if its only an issue on some Jeep’s but ours has been great.

Same here Mark. The only problem I had with the steering was when taking my JL home. The dealer had 43 psi in every tire. I dropped it back to 35, and that made a world of difference. We took ours west on a 5K road trip with no steering problems at all. Now, many don't understand a solid front axel with the pitman arm is going to drive differently than their Toyota/ Honda/Impala/Focus with the independent front suspension. And, that's where the Jeep gets an undeserved bad wrap when it comes to steering. Will the Bronco drive better, sure it will. But, I still have no trouble with the way my JL drives.

BTW, I did take mine in for the steering damper recall. That also helped with the dead spot you get with that solid axle setup.

 

[tapper881]

A current JL owner, that has had the noted JL wander -- adjusting tire presser from the 45 set at the dealer was the easiest change, but I can also attest that the TSB and new steering box is a significant improvement. We take the Jeep on almost every road trip (that way we can do some trails if there are any in the area we are visiting). I'm looking forward to the IFS to smooth out the on-road manners, and I'm sure the Bronco will be plenty capable for the trails I run. So until you get your Bronco - visit your dealer and get the TSB applied, (for me at-least) it make was a major improvement.

 

[TheWoo]

Same here Mark. The only problem I had with the steering was when taking my JL home. The dealer had 43 psi in every tire. I dropped it back to 35, and that made a world of difference. We took ours west on a 5K road trip with no steering problems at all. Now, many don't understand a solid front axel with the pitman arm is going to drive differently than their Toyota/ Honda/Impala/Focus with the independent front suspension. And, that's where the Jeep gets an undeserved bad wrap when it comes to steering. Will the Bronco drive better, sure it will. But, I still have no trouble with the way my JL drives.

BTW, I did take mine in for the steering damper recall. That also helped with the dead spot you get with that solid axle setup.

Dropped our JL from 45 to 35 and immediately enhanced the experience.

 

[MaverickMan]

In my CJs defense the worst ones were all pre 80 and lifted atleast 4 inches with heavy winches on the front and 33 inch mud tires. Probably be alot better with radials but then I wouldnt like going offroad. My 85 CJ7 with no lift was pretty decent especially with a weber outlaw. It had 32 inch radial mud tires. Not the best offroad but it did a good bit And I regularly drove it on the the only highway we have on Maui. But compared to my 96 or 84 Broncos on road a caddy it was not.

Still I see no reason why a 2 door shouldnt be comfortable on any road. Its basically a tall mustang.

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