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

[SnowBronco]

Really .... No one's been on you about mpg's on your trip back?! Lol

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[mattrb87]

Wow that’s great. Was delivered to the dealership 2 days after build completion several states away and you got it home total 3 days after being built. Literally, freshly picked off the assembly line!

 

[NotoriousBDP]

Congrats! Really nice write up! I'll have to check with USAA to see if they will beat the rate I'd get from my credit union. Can't wait to pick up "Christine" from @StephensAutoCenter , whenever she gets there. Hopefully I'll have enough notice it's incoming to schedule the pick up as part of a 9 or 10 day vacation to make the drive back to Northern VA into a memorable road trip using an indirect route, enjoying some backroads/trails, and perhaps even some camping along the way! Heck, if I plan it well enough I'll hopefully get the 1000 mile break-in knocked out at the same time! Enjoy the ride and keep posting pics and thoughts!

 

[BdubBronco]

Really .... No one's been on you about mpg's on your trip back?! Lol

I know, I know. I kept changing up the speed, but definitely drove faster than my personal “break in” plan called for. Not the leisure trip I had hoped for. Can’t complain though. She’s got plenty of easy living in her future.

 

[SnowBronco]

I know, I know. I kept changing up the speed, but definitely drove faster than my personal “break in” plan called for. Not the leisure trip I had hoped for. Can’t complain though. She’s got plenty of easy living in her future.

As I'm sure most of us will..... But what kind of gas mileage were you getting in your 404 miles lol There's no embargo here... Post it up haha

 

[Heart2]

Thanks for the review. I'm happy for you!

 

[dangerzone79]

Congrats to you! Can I ask you for a measurement please? I would love to know the height of the top of the spare tire if possible. Been asking a few months & haven't been able to get an answer. Most appreciated & have fun!

 

[KaneNorth]

Obviously it worked in your favour and you got a bronco early, but what made you decide to go with a dealership so far away from home?

 

[zoldham]

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 ordered mine from SAC as well and have a build date of 23 July and I’ll be going up from NC. Am glad to hear your dealership experience went well as they have been great so far. I’ll also look into that USAA loan. Thanks for the post.

 

[Rubisquatch]

Obviously it worked in your favour and you got a bronco early, but what made you decide to go with a dealership so far away from home?

$1,000 under invoice, a stand up dealer and no BS.

 

[NotoriousBDP]

$1,000 under invoice, a stand up dealer and no BS.

+1 to that!

 

[Tricky Dick]

These crazy fast delivery times are giving me hope. Don't do that.

 

[Cbiggs]

Congrats! Isn’t this what it’s all about? Great post all around.

 

[Bronco21fan]

Congrats to you and your family really nice bronco you got

 

[Compta38]

Got the same build coming from Stephens except for a MIC which is non negotiable. I really hope they put the SAC sticker on the glass of MIC models or I'll have to pull it.

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