Black Diamond 4-Door Bronco Delivered! Surprise from the Wild and Wonderful State! Buying experience and owner first impressions.

[DonM]

Surprise from the Wild and Wonderful State!

Short version of the story:

Black Diamond Sasquatch 4 Door 2.7 Soft Top with Mid and Tow Packages
Reserved July 13th around 10 P.M.
Ordered from Stephens Auto Center in Danville WV. Not a priority build.
Originally given 6/7/21 build date that was moved back to 6/28/21
Window Sticker Available on 6/15/21 with Blend Date of 6/22/21
Got Confirmation from Ford that Build was completed on 6/23/21. Delivery states 41 days but also has July 11 as Est. delivery date
Bonnie Arrived at Stephens Auto Center in the early morning hours 6/25/21
John Holstein from SAC calls and emails around 9 a.m. New Ford email states delivery 7/4 - 7/11.
Bonnie enters her stable 6/26/21

Long Version of the Story:

Let me start by saying how fortunate I and my family feel to have a Bronco in our garage right now. I know a lot of people are frustrated, and reading about our experience may or may not help.
If you read the “quick and dirty” version above, you have a pretty good idea of high the process played out. Not a lot of communication from Ford. When I did get email updates, they weren’t exactly accurate in regards to timing. I tried to avoid calling the dealership as much as possible, but when I did, they were very helpful.
The whole experience was a lot like having a child that took 11 months to get here. Lots of anticipation and waiting. Then boom, ready or not, her she is! We had planned to fly in to Charleston and spend 2 days driving her back. What we ended up doing was leaving our house at 3 a.m., driving 800 miles round trip with a break for lunch (Pies and Pints in Charleston) and getting home around 6 p.m. the same day. Wanted to do a bunch of photo ops, but we were in a hurry and pretty worn out. By the way, rental car companies are not doing 1 way rentals in our area, so we drove the Yukon.

Stephens Auto Center
@StephensAutoCenter

John, Jeremy, and Chase were great! John was my primary contact throughout the process. I can only imagine how exhausted he is from dealing with obsessed Bronco fan boys like me all day. Jeremy sealed the deal and made this the quickest/ easiest vehicle purchase of my life. Got a good deal on an 8 year 100k ESP warranty that I rolled into the loan. Guys in the shop did a great job cleaning her up. The dealership waited for confirmation from me prior to removing any plastic. Extremely careful and considerate! Dealership was less than 30 minutes from I-64.

Financing

We went USAA’s 1.89% @ 60 months. USAA’s rates are not normally this good, but a fortuitous advertisement caught my attention. Very easy application process. Jeremy at SAC said that USAA is great on their end too. Approval is good for 30 days. I’d say you can get the whole thing done in 48 – 72 hours. No surprises. $1000 under invoice price on my original build sheet. Doc fee is $500.

Insurance

Adding Bonnie as our 3rd vehicle raised our USAA insurance by $432 for 6 months.

The Ride

So the important part…. After 404 miles, I’m in love. This is my first soft top and my first truly capable off-road vehicle. I’ve owned sporty coupes, F 150, Ridgeline and a Yukon XL currently. Acceleration is great for a SUV. Slight vibration at first that I imagine is associated with the 35’s. Rides so smoothly at any speed including I 64’s 70 mph. Wind sounds like background white noise. Engine sound is not pronounced. Any engine noise I’ve heard has been a pleasant one when driving at low speed around town. Loud vehicles and motorcycles on the interstate were very noticeable though.
Be prepared to drive defensively. People stared, took photos, recorded video while driving with their toes the whole 6 hours home. One guy was trying to talk to me while videoing at 65 mph. He had to cross 5 lanes of traffic to not miss his exit ramp. Prepare yourself.
Very happy with the turning radius. Charleston has a busy downtown area. Much more pleasant driving around/ parking in the Bronco vs the Yukon XL.
Getting in and out is easy for my teenage sons and I. My wife is 5’8” and thankful for the grab handles. As stated before, the rock rails are not useful as a step. We might have AMP’s in our future.

Holding off on the off-roading until after we get back from Austin.

I plan to stay on this forum. Bronco6G gave me something positive to fixate upon during one of the more unpleasant years in human history. I can’t wait to see what everyone does with their rigs and the adventures they take them on. I’ll do my best to answer questions. I’m heading outside to clean off the bug guts. Thanks everybody!

BDubBronco

I generally don't like dealer stickers...but that one is cool!!!

Sponsored

 

[Compta38]

Awesome!

Sorry I couldn't be there, but I did get to see you drive out of town! I was the dude in the Red 3500 Ram blowing the horn and waving at about the 4 mile north point in your drive home! I had an amateur radio club outing this weekend that took up all of my time.

Anyway, to address the $500 doc fee.... the State of WV made a change, we are now charging $500 doc fees, however, our Bronco customers... we are adding an additional $250 to the original $1000 below invoice. We have to charge all customers (that are not on a special plan by the manufactures) the same doc fee. So, we added $250 to "the deal". Sorry for not clarifying this earlier.

This is why you guys are awesome...so looking forward to our trip up there to meet you all at SAC.

@StephensAutoCenter will you guys be putting the decals on the rear glass of MIC topped Broncos? love the sticker but not the location.

 

[RedHotFuzz]

Doc fee is $500.

Yikes, $2,000 for delivery of a domestically-built automobile and the printing of some forms to sign by the dealer. We live in crazy times.

 

[StephensAutoCenter]

Yikes, $2,000 for delivery of a domestically-built automobile and the printing of some forms to sign by the dealer. We live in crazy times.

$1495 is the cost to deliver all Fords (retail) across the Continental United States to all dealers (flat rate, no matter where the dealer is located, even next door to the plant). The doc fees vary from State to State, and we are no where near the highest around

/john

 

[dfresh73]

Surprise from the Wild and Wonderful State!

Short version of the story:

Black Diamond Sasquatch 4 Door 2.7 Soft Top with Mid and Tow Packages
Reserved July 13th around 10 P.M.
Ordered from Stephens Auto Center in Danville WV. Not a priority build.
Originally given 6/7/21 build date that was moved back to 6/28/21
Window Sticker Available on 6/15/21 with Blend Date of 6/22/21
Got Confirmation from Ford that Build was completed on 6/23/21. Delivery states 41 days but also has July 11 as Est. delivery date
Bonnie Arrived at Stephens Auto Center in the early morning hours 6/25/21
John Holstein from SAC calls and emails around 9 a.m. New Ford email states delivery 7/4 - 7/11.
Bonnie enters her stable 6/26/21

Long Version of the Story:

Let me start by saying how fortunate I and my family feel to have a Bronco in our garage right now. I know a lot of people are frustrated, and reading about our experience may or may not help.
If you read the “quick and dirty” version above, you have a pretty good idea of high the process played out. Not a lot of communication from Ford. When I did get email updates, they weren’t exactly accurate in regards to timing. I tried to avoid calling the dealership as much as possible, but when I did, they were very helpful.
The whole experience was a lot like having a child that took 11 months to get here. Lots of anticipation and waiting. Then boom, ready or not, her she is! We had planned to fly in to Charleston and spend 2 days driving her back. What we ended up doing was leaving our house at 3 a.m., driving 800 miles round trip with a break for lunch (Pies and Pints in Charleston) and getting home around 6 p.m. the same day. Wanted to do a bunch of photo ops, but we were in a hurry and pretty worn out. By the way, rental car companies are not doing 1 way rentals in our area, so we drove the Yukon.

Stephens Auto Center
@StephensAutoCenter

John, Jeremy, and Chase were great! John was my primary contact throughout the process. I can only imagine how exhausted he is from dealing with obsessed Bronco fan boys like me all day. Jeremy sealed the deal and made this the quickest/ easiest vehicle purchase of my life. Got a good deal on an 8 year 100k ESP warranty that I rolled into the loan. Guys in the shop did a great job cleaning her up. The dealership waited for confirmation from me prior to removing any plastic. Extremely careful and considerate! Dealership was less than 30 minutes from I-64.

Financing

We went USAA’s 1.89% @ 60 months. USAA’s rates are not normally this good, but a fortuitous advertisement caught my attention. Very easy application process. Jeremy at SAC said that USAA is great on their end too. Approval is good for 30 days. I’d say you can get the whole thing done in 48 – 72 hours. No surprises. $1000 under invoice price on my original build sheet. Doc fee is $500.

EDIT: SAC has a DOC Fee correction worked into the deal for Bronco Reservation Holders.

Insurance

Adding Bonnie as our 3rd vehicle raised our USAA insurance by $432 for 6 months.

The Ride

So the important part…. After 404 miles, I’m in love. This is my first soft top and my first truly capable off-road vehicle. I’ve owned sporty coupes, F 150, Ridgeline and a Yukon XL currently. Acceleration is great for a SUV. Slight vibration at first that I imagine is associated with the 35’s. Rides so smoothly at any speed including I 64’s 70 mph. Wind sounds like background white noise. Engine sound is not pronounced. Any engine noise I’ve heard has been a pleasant one when driving at low speed around town. Loud vehicles and motorcycles on the interstate were very noticeable though.
Be prepared to drive defensively. People stared, took photos, recorded video while driving with their toes the whole 6 hours home. One guy was trying to talk to me while videoing at 65 mph. He had to cross 5 lanes of traffic to not miss his exit ramp. Prepare yourself.
Very happy with the turning radius. Charleston has a busy downtown area. Much more pleasant driving around/ parking in the Bronco vs the Yukon XL.
Getting in and out is easy for my teenage sons and I. My wife is 5’8” and thankful for the grab handles. As stated before, the rock rails are not useful as a step. We might have AMP’s in our future.

Holding off on the off-roading until after we get back from Austin.

I plan to stay on this forum. Bronco6G gave me something positive to fixate upon during one of the more unpleasant years in human history. I can’t wait to see what everyone does with their rigs and the adventures they take them on. I’ll do my best to answer questions. I’m heading outside to clean off the bug guts. Thanks everybody!

BDubBronco

My dealer better not put their sticker on there!! I'm talking to you Two Rivers Ford!!

 

[Portapot]

Surprise from the Wild and Wonderful State!

Short version of the story:

Black Diamond Sasquatch 4 Door 2.7 Soft Top with Mid and Tow Packages
Reserved July 13th around 10 P.M.
Ordered from Stephens Auto Center in Danville WV. Not a priority build.
Originally given 6/7/21 build date that was moved back to 6/28/21
Window Sticker Available on 6/15/21 with Blend Date of 6/22/21
Got Confirmation from Ford that Build was completed on 6/23/21. Delivery states 41 days but also has July 11 as Est. delivery date
Bonnie Arrived at Stephens Auto Center in the early morning hours 6/25/21
John Holstein from SAC calls and emails around 9 a.m. New Ford email states delivery 7/4 - 7/11.
Bonnie enters her stable 6/26/21

Long Version of the Story:

Let me start by saying how fortunate I and my family feel to have a Bronco in our garage right now. I know a lot of people are frustrated, and reading about our experience may or may not help.
If you read the “quick and dirty” version above, you have a pretty good idea of high the process played out. Not a lot of communication from Ford. When I did get email updates, they weren’t exactly accurate in regards to timing. I tried to avoid calling the dealership as much as possible, but when I did, they were very helpful.
The whole experience was a lot like having a child that took 11 months to get here. Lots of anticipation and waiting. Then boom, ready or not, her she is! We had planned to fly in to Charleston and spend 2 days driving her back. What we ended up doing was leaving our house at 3 a.m., driving 800 miles round trip with a break for lunch (Pies and Pints in Charleston) and getting home around 6 p.m. the same day. Wanted to do a bunch of photo ops, but we were in a hurry and pretty worn out. By the way, rental car companies are not doing 1 way rentals in our area, so we drove the Yukon.

Stephens Auto Center
@StephensAutoCenter

John, Jeremy, and Chase were great! John was my primary contact throughout the process. I can only imagine how exhausted he is from dealing with obsessed Bronco fan boys like me all day. Jeremy sealed the deal and made this the quickest/ easiest vehicle purchase of my life. Got a good deal on an 8 year 100k ESP warranty that I rolled into the loan. Guys in the shop did a great job cleaning her up. The dealership waited for confirmation from me prior to removing any plastic. Extremely careful and considerate! Dealership was less than 30 minutes from I-64.

Financing

We went USAA’s 1.89% @ 60 months. USAA’s rates are not normally this good, but a fortuitous advertisement caught my attention. Very easy application process. Jeremy at SAC said that USAA is great on their end too. Approval is good for 30 days. I’d say you can get the whole thing done in 48 – 72 hours. No surprises. $1000 under invoice price on my original build sheet. Doc fee is $500.

EDIT: SAC has a DOC Fee correction worked into the deal for Bronco Reservation Holders.

Insurance

Adding Bonnie as our 3rd vehicle raised our USAA insurance by $432 for 6 months.

The Ride

So the important part…. After 404 miles, I’m in love. This is my first soft top and my first truly capable off-road vehicle. I’ve owned sporty coupes, F 150, Ridgeline and a Yukon XL currently. Acceleration is great for a SUV. Slight vibration at first that I imagine is associated with the 35’s. Rides so smoothly at any speed including I 64’s 70 mph. Wind sounds like background white noise. Engine sound is not pronounced. Any engine noise I’ve heard has been a pleasant one when driving at low speed around town. Loud vehicles and motorcycles on the interstate were very noticeable though.
Be prepared to drive defensively. People stared, took photos, recorded video while driving with their toes the whole 6 hours home. One guy was trying to talk to me while videoing at 65 mph. He had to cross 5 lanes of traffic to not miss his exit ramp. Prepare yourself.
Very happy with the turning radius. Charleston has a busy downtown area. Much more pleasant driving around/ parking in the Bronco vs the Yukon XL.
Getting in and out is easy for my teenage sons and I. My wife is 5’8” and thankful for the grab handles. As stated before, the rock rails are not useful as a step. We might have AMP’s in our future.

Holding off on the off-roading until after we get back from Austin.

I plan to stay on this forum. Bronco6G gave me something positive to fixate upon during one of the more unpleasant years in human history. I can’t wait to see what everyone does with their rigs and the adventures they take them on. I’ll do my best to answer questions. I’m heading outside to clean off the bug guts. Thanks everybody!

BDubBronco

Very happy for you. Enjoy it!

 

[LadyLiz]

Great news! Congrats!
I’m scouring the earth for the lowest rate. So far Pen Fed is the lowest I’ve seen. I didn’t know USAA had rates that low. I would definitely jump on that. Any chance you can share a link to that deal add? Would be much appreciated

Bank of America beat Pen Fed for me!

 

[joeramirez]

@ColoradoGuy Just have your father open up a small savings account or buy a very cheap insurance policy for personal items. ($10 month or less) and then you qualify as a family member to have an account. USAA is pretty awesome and their insurance rates are great!

I need to see what the qualifications are for getting a USAA loan. I'm not a member and do not have any military background (other than my father is a Vietnam vet). That's a great rate!

 

[CKXVII]

Surprise from the Wild and Wonderful State!

Short version of the story:

Black Diamond Sasquatch 4 Door 2.7 Soft Top with Mid and Tow Packages
Reserved July 13th around 10 P.M.
Ordered from Stephens Auto Center in Danville WV. Not a priority build.
Originally given 6/7/21 build date that was moved back to 6/28/21
Window Sticker Available on 6/15/21 with Blend Date of 6/22/21
Got Confirmation from Ford that Build was completed on 6/23/21. Delivery states 41 days but also has July 11 as Est. delivery date
Bonnie Arrived at Stephens Auto Center in the early morning hours 6/25/21
John Holstein from SAC calls and emails around 9 a.m. New Ford email states delivery 7/4 - 7/11.
Bonnie enters her stable 6/26/21

Long Version of the Story:

Let me start by saying how fortunate I and my family feel to have a Bronco in our garage right now. I know a lot of people are frustrated, and reading about our experience may or may not help.
If you read the “quick and dirty” version above, you have a pretty good idea of high the process played out. Not a lot of communication from Ford. When I did get email updates, they weren’t exactly accurate in regards to timing. I tried to avoid calling the dealership as much as possible, but when I did, they were very helpful.
The whole experience was a lot like having a child that took 11 months to get here. Lots of anticipation and waiting. Then boom, ready or not, her she is! We had planned to fly in to Charleston and spend 2 days driving her back. What we ended up doing was leaving our house at 3 a.m., driving 800 miles round trip with a break for lunch (Pies and Pints in Charleston) and getting home around 6 p.m. the same day. Wanted to do a bunch of photo ops, but we were in a hurry and pretty worn out. By the way, rental car companies are not doing 1 way rentals in our area, so we drove the Yukon.

Stephens Auto Center
@StephensAutoCenter

John, Jeremy, and Chase were great! John was my primary contact throughout the process. I can only imagine how exhausted he is from dealing with obsessed Bronco fan boys like me all day. Jeremy sealed the deal and made this the quickest/ easiest vehicle purchase of my life. Got a good deal on an 8 year 100k ESP warranty that I rolled into the loan. Guys in the shop did a great job cleaning her up. The dealership waited for confirmation from me prior to removing any plastic. Extremely careful and considerate! Dealership was less than 30 minutes from I-64.

Financing

We went USAA’s 1.89% @ 60 months. USAA’s rates are not normally this good, but a fortuitous advertisement caught my attention. Very easy application process. Jeremy at SAC said that USAA is great on their end too. Approval is good for 30 days. I’d say you can get the whole thing done in 48 – 72 hours. No surprises. $1000 under invoice price on my original build sheet. Doc fee is $500.

EDIT: SAC has a DOC Fee correction worked into the deal for Bronco Reservation Holders.

Insurance

Adding Bonnie as our 3rd vehicle raised our USAA insurance by $432 for 6 months.

The Ride

So the important part…. After 404 miles, I’m in love. This is my first soft top and my first truly capable off-road vehicle. I’ve owned sporty coupes, F 150, Ridgeline and a Yukon XL currently. Acceleration is great for a SUV. Slight vibration at first that I imagine is associated with the 35’s. Rides so smoothly at any speed including I 64’s 70 mph. Wind sounds like background white noise. Engine sound is not pronounced. Any engine noise I’ve heard has been a pleasant one when driving at low speed around town. Loud vehicles and motorcycles on the interstate were very noticeable though.
Be prepared to drive defensively. People stared, took photos, recorded video while driving with their toes the whole 6 hours home. One guy was trying to talk to me while videoing at 65 mph. He had to cross 5 lanes of traffic to not miss his exit ramp. Prepare yourself.
Very happy with the turning radius. Charleston has a busy downtown area. Much more pleasant driving around/ parking in the Bronco vs the Yukon XL.
Getting in and out is easy for my teenage sons and I. My wife is 5’8” and thankful for the grab handles. As stated before, the rock rails are not useful as a step. We might have AMP’s in our future.

Holding off on the off-roading until after we get back from Austin.

I plan to stay on this forum. Bronco6G gave me something positive to fixate upon during one of the more unpleasant years in human history. I can’t wait to see what everyone does with their rigs and the adventures they take them on. I’ll do my best to answer questions. I’m heading outside to clean off the bug guts. Thanks everybody!

BDubBronco

@BdubBronco — I also ordered a 4-door Black Diamond and have 2 questions I’m hoping you can answer via your experience:


1.) Did the Mid Package give you heated front seats? I was under the impression they weren’t going to be heated for Black Diamond, but my order preview has it listed and my dealer wasn’t 100% sure.

2.) Did you purchase the on-board storage bags? If so, sharing your insight here would help a lot of other Black Diamond reservation holders, since we can’t add them in the B&P.

Thanks!

 

[BdubBronco]

@BdubBronco — I also ordered a 4-door Black Diamond and have 2 questions I’m hoping you can answer via your experience:


1.) Did the Mid Package give you heated front seats? I was under the impression they weren’t going to be heated for Black Diamond, but my order preview has it listed and my dealer wasn’t 100% sure.

2.) Did you purchase the on-board storage bags? If so, sharing your insight here would help a lot of other Black Diamond reservation holders, since we can’t add them in the B&P.

Thanks!

See the attached photos:

1. Yes, heated seats present in BD MID

2. 2 Bags closest to wall are garage bags for front doors. (Rear door bags not available)
2 Bags in foreground are on board for rear doors
The garage bags are way nicer. Leather like and thicker feeling. Hopefully the father-in-law will build me a mobile door rack….

3. Bonus photo! Super easy to take off the first time.

 

[BdubBronco]

If you have manual seats, can you comment on the adjustability? I have a bad back and am concerned about how adjustable the seats are. Primarily, can the bottom/seat cushion be tilted, or just raised or lowered? And how about the effectiveness of the lumbar support knob?

as a side note, you live in a beautiful state!

Not much adjusting to the manual seats. Up/down, forward slide, lumbar knob, back tilt. Pretty Spartan.

 

[ColoradoGuy]

@ColoradoGuy Just have your father open up a small savings account or buy a very cheap insurance policy for personal items. ($10 month or less) and then you qualify as a family member to have an account. USAA is pretty awesome and their insurance rates are great!

Thanks for the tip!

 

[CKXVII]

See the attached photos:

1. Yes, heated seats present in BD MID

2. 2 Bags closest to wall are garage bags for front doors. (Rear door bags not available)
2 Bags in foreground are on board for rear doors
The garage bags are way nicer. Leather like and thicker feeling. Hopefully the father-in-law will build me a mobile door rack….

3. Bonus photo! Super easy to take off the first time.

Thanks - how did you go about purchasing the onboard storage bags since they’re not an option in B&P?

 

[BdubBronco]

Thanks - how did you go about purchasing the onboard storage bags since they’re not an option in B&P?

John took care of it at order conversion time.

 

[K9Boscoe]

Congratulations to you and your family! Thank you for the info.

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