Bronco lifespan

[jorgem31]

This will be supplementing my 2004 f150, not replacing it, it's got a lot of life let to go. Hoping with the aluminum panels the Bronco will look a whole lot better than my 150's aged, 20 years down the road.

Coincidence. My Bronco replaced my 2004 F-150 I bought in Oct '03! The F-150 was gifted to my son who came home from the hospital in it. F-150 aged great except for the roof and aluminum hood.

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[Gtrekker]

Broncos are a rare breed!!! Long live the Purpose Built 2 door....

Team 2 Door = Badass

 

[M4Madness]

I've got a 1969 Mustang in the garage that was built Halloween 1968, which makes it 54 years old next month. I doubt we're going to see 54-year old 6th generation Broncos on the road, as the electronics will deteriorate even if the thing sits in a garage undriven. People think, "I'll option this sucker out with all the desirables, keep the mileage down, and sell it to a collector in 30 years." I just don't see it. We all wish we could go back to the 60's, buy a rare muscle car for $3000, and make bank today. Technology has killed the modern vehicle.

 

[MayhemMike]

I buy cars and keep them forever. The one thing that I did not like about the Bronco was the motor choices. Simple physics apply , and loping V8 motors last longer then all others. The lifespan of this turbo aided four cylinder will be the factor that determines if I still own the Bronco twenty years from now. I hope it will last.

 

[Bender]

I bought the longest Ford ESP I could find. After that, we should all be using jetpacks.

 

[MayhemMike]

I've got a 1969 Mustang in the garage that was built Halloween 1968, which makes it 54 years old next month. I doubt we're going to see 54-year old 6th generation Broncos on the road, as the electronics will deteriorate even if the thing sits in a garage undriven. People think, "I'll option this sucker out with all the desirables, keep the mileage down, and sell it to a collector in 30 years." I just don't see it. We all wish we could go back to the 60's, buy a rare muscle car for $3000, and make bank today. Technology has killed the modern vehicle.

My 70 Mach1 was built October 69. It is in my garage today. I totally agree with your point. BTW, I paid $600 for my 70 Mach 1 in 1978. Lol
Yes, it is true. Any chance I get to boast about my Mach1 I take full advantage. Lol

 

[DriveAllNight]

They will last as long as you are willing to put money into it to maintain it, whatever that may mean.

Even with electronics, I'm betting the 3rd party market is going to expand a lot in the coming years so that you can replace the head units fairly easy, at some point I'm betting you'll be able to download OEM software onto any new head unit - assuming that it's out of date. No OEM is going to allow it with current systems. But it most likely will be common place - and that assumes the government doesn't make it next to impossible to keep Dino Burners on the road.

 

[Stampede.Offroad]

I think the tech, sensors, and especially the electrical system etc.. will brick out in 10 years. Fixable/Supported for another maybe 10. So 20 years. It’s not a snarky comment, I do think Ford has shot themself in the foot making it so tech dependent and fly by wire.
...

I think 20 is, unfortunately, being generous. That's planned obsolescence for you. Ford certainly didn't make it less durable or repairable by accident.

Sadly most people have forgotten that in the old slogan we were taught as kids "reduce, reuse, recycle" the order they are said in is also the order of effectiveness. The companies that want you to keep replacing everything with another widget when the old one breaks down got us all focussed on the last part of the cycle though.

 

[PrepVet]

This site already didn’t the calculations on that. Broncos cannot survive more than a few hours of being parked outside. They are completely destroyed by lot rot.

 

[Cetacean Sensation]

Honest question. What do you people do to cars that you brick them in 10 years?

Maybe I have a different expectation on this coming from my BMWs, which are both electronics heavy and still doing fine at 15 and 25 years old. But even my '99 Mountaineer with the glass 4 speed auto is still alive on its OG transmission and 210K miles.

Ironically the Ford product is the only one of the 3 that's had electrical issues. Sometimes a cap blows on a board. So you get a replacement and solder it in. It's really not that difficult.

 

[JBlanco]

So I'd do a poll if I knew how;
How long is the avg lifespan of a Bronco? Could be generic due to the amount of electronics in all cars these days, but it's getting to the point it should be prohibitively expensive to keep a car 10+ years due to the amount of electronic vs mechanical integration. If you buy a $60k+ car is it worth it to only last 8-10 years before repair is more expensive that vehicle value?

How long do you think your Bronco will last?

Electronics from a 15 years old VW Phaeton are obsolete and impossible to find nowadays, so the more complicated and rare the vehicle, the shorter the financially responsible lifespan.

For example, my 2012 Wrangler 2 door manual with crank windows will likely last forever. My 2014 Volt PHEV is one battery module away from becoming scrap.

 

[M4Madness]

My 70 Mach1 was built October 69. It is in my garage today. I totally agree with your point. BTW, I paid $600 for my 70 Mach 1 in 1978. Lol
Yes, it is true. Any chance I get to boast about my Mach1 I take full advantage. Lol

That is a beautiful car! I love the 69/70 body style. Here's my "lowly" coupe (lol):

Built in San Jose, California and sold at Mel Burns Ford.

 

[MayhemMike]

That is a beautiful car! I love the 69/70 body style. Here's my "lowly" coupe (lol):

Built in San Jose, California and sold at Mel Burns Ford.

Nice looking set up.

 

[MontanaMountainMan]

I think a few trends are going to intersect in interesting ways. Right now you have:

• Increasing electronic hardware and software complexity in cars, to the point of essentially being a type of computing platform with its own OS and standardized interfaces
• A push from closed system providers to supplant the auto company's own OS in favor of a premium aftermarket one, such as the next generation Apple CarPlay
• Pricing pressure (inflation) coupled with consumer trends of increasingly "buying it for life"
• Regulatory pressure to replace the ICE fleet with EV as soon as possible, which means at least some element of retrofitting old ICE vehicles as not everyone can be expected to buy new and you need to deal with used ICE cars somehow
• Several new auto upstarts, one very successful one (Tesla), but generally a leveling of the playing field because of the introduction of EV platforms
• 3D printing, custom DIY PCB printing, custom ASIC fabrication and the ceaseless march of high performance computing at lower prices and lower energy expenditure (democratization and commodification of the tech hardware chain)
• Right to repair laws and a recent surge of interest in self-sufficient lifestyles
• The general rule that virtually any hardware can be made to run custom software (Linux generally)
• Finally, the Bronco's unique place along with Jeep in the aftermarket modification sector

All of that is to say that while I have no idea what the stock, factory median lifetime for the Bronco will be, I believe that there are a lot of trends pointing in a direction of maintaining, living with and evolving vehicles much longer than people in the past would have wanted, and there's good reason to believe the electronic side of this will evolve into a more adaptable, hackable ecosystem, just as it has for computers.

To be honest, once I vest my options at my current gig, I'm half tempted to get into this area specifically. A year ago I watched a series of a guy in the UK who retrofitted an RX-8 (I used to have one, loved that car) to be an EV and it got the gears in my head turning.

 

[AZ_Liberty]

I bought the least optioned Bronco possible.
If Ford offered a "Technology Delete" option I'd have taken it.

I really don't trust the tech gee-gaws to last.

Just sold our 07 Expy with 170,000 miles on it. Everything worked except the stupid TPMS. Never had a single major repair, though I did pay my mechanic to change the spark plugs at 120k

Had an 08 Mustang GT. Grenaded the transmission at 140k. That was fun. Left a 100 ft skid on I-10 when the rear locked up. Dropped in a low mileage tranny from a wrecking yard and kept her for another 20,000 miles. (replaced the clutch at the same time since it was zero extra labor cost)

Daughter is still driving my old 2001 F-150. It's been through 2 starters, and it's fluid is leaking somewhere. Going to see if the mechanic can find that and fix it this week or next. Engine and transmission are still strong, though we did have to replace the clutch a few years ago as one would expect.

I certainly hope the bronco lasts as well as my other vehicles, but I don't trust the turbos, and I don't trust all the electronics.

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