Bronco Sport not as off road as Marketing Suggests? What’s that mean for Bronco?

[SEkevin]

We welcome all members, those with no knowledge and those with no sense.

My bad. As one lacking knowledge in many things I should know better.

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[SEkevin]

Your post and commenting is welcome. It's open and light hearted discussions like this that are encouraged and useful. @SEkevin 's reply is nothing to worry about. Them telling you to research (when that's exactly what you're doing by reaching out to enthusiasts) is nothing to worry about. They feel the need to put strangers down on the internet to feel better about themselves.



Next time don't bother commenting when you have nothing useful to add to the discussion or the forum.

In hindsight I agree with your thoughts on my post.

 

[Wizard1183]

Simple. Bronco Sport is a civilian car with 4wd capabilities.
Bronco is an actual 4x4 competitive with The Jeep for actual off-road use

 

[onetong8r]

My wife bought a Bronco Sport Big Bend when I went in to convert my order in January. It now has 1,500 miles on it. It has the little 1.5L EB. I live in the middle of nowhere north FL and we routinely take a 10 mile sandy road from our house up to GA where we grab dinner. Last weekend my wife and girls wanted to have a fun drive and we were in her Bronco instead of my F250 so with three passengers in sand mode we tore it up doing donuts and trying to do some 4WD drifting in the sand where we had room. It ran flawlessly. I have zero issues with the way that little Bronco is built. Our only complaint is not having enough USB ports. If I had a do over and one was available on the lot I would have preferred a Badlands with the 2.0EB but the 1.5L has averaged 26MPG to date and is a dream to drive on the interstate and winding 2-lane roads around us. The adaptive cruise control and technology has been very impressive. If the Bronco Sport is an indication of the build and design quality of the Bronco I am very excited. Regarding MPG, if anyone cares, the GMC Acadia she traded in averaged 18MPG with her driving so the Sport has been getting a full 8MPG better.

 

[jxc]

Hi all,
I am not new to cars, but relatively new to 4x4 and off road.
In reading this article, https://jalopnik.com/multiple-ford-bronco-sports-overheated-off-road-lets-t-1846450499/amp, the general vibe I get is that through fancy engineering ford can replicate a off-road-like experience in the bronco sport. However, it gives me pause on their overall approach. I have a reservation for a 2021 BD Bronco 4 door. Anyone else worried about this? I know the bronco sport and bronco are totally different.., but this has me not inclined to just assume that means it’s better. Anyone who has better knowledge of what goes into a good off-road and rugged design have info/knowledge to share about why this isn’t the case with the big bronco?

Don't take this the wrong way, but +1 for the laziest post of the year. Have you seen any of the KOH/Rubicon/Moab videos?

 

[BigSteveO]

Don't take this the wrong way, but +1 for the laziest post of the year. Have you seen any of the KOH/Rubicon/Moab videos?

Hi all,
I am not new to cars, but relatively new to 4x4 and off road.
In reading this article, https://jalopnik.com/multiple-ford-bronco-sports-overheated-off-road-lets-t-1846450499/amp, the general vibe I get is that through fancy engineering ford can replicate a off-road-like experience in the bronco sport. However, it gives me pause on their overall approach. I have a reservation for a 2021 BD Bronco 4 door. Anyone else worried about this? I know the bronco sport and bronco are totally different.., but this has me not inclined to just assume that means it’s better. Anyone who has better knowledge of what goes into a good off-road and rugged design have info/knowledge to share about why this isn’t the case with the big bronco?

I am a newbie to 4X4 just like you. I have been on this forum since my Bronco reservation the night of the launch. I think it’s a great forum to connect and learn about all things Bronco and the 4x4 world that I’m excited to become a part of. Please don’t take this the wrong way but I think do more research before posting something like this. If you had done a little research, you would have found the answers to your questions in 5-10 min. And you would have learned why comparing the Bronco Sport 4x4 capabilities to the REAL Bronco is such a touchy subject and makes no sense “they have nothing in common besides the Bronco name on the grill. I agree Ford did a disservice to the Bronco name by releasing the Bronco Sport ahead of the Bronco. Someone at my place of employment bought a new Bronco Sport “it is a nice car”. Coworkers that know I’m in line to get a Bronco where telling me someone already got their Bronco “where’s yours”? And I heard a lot of this: It’s a lot smaller then I thought it would be” like I don’t hear that enough from my wife (-; I don’t want to put down the new car someone just bought so I just shrug it off “just like I do with my wife”.
Anyway, welcome to Bronco6g and don’t be afraid to reach out, there are some great passionate Bronco people on this form. Just do some research and ask questions based on your research, I think you will get some very positive feedback.

 

[Laminar]

I love the quotes from some engineer budies this guy knows. "I'm not gonna tell you who they are or what they really do, but trust me they real smart according to me". What a fine piece of journalism.

I've seen this complaint leveled at Jalopnik before. They solicit engineering opinions from experts on condition of anonymity so that they can get honest responses. See what the Ford guy who put his name out there had to say? Only what Marketing and Legal would allow him to say. If you were required to name your sources, no one would say anything, because the engineer from GM or Stellantis or Toyota would absolutely face repercussions for "officially" commenting on a competitor's issues.

So you get to choose between detailed, insider info that you can't get anywhere else but from an anonymous source, or nothing. What's your pick?

 

[Deleted member 3063]

Example of how a reputation can be ruined.

Emme Hall’s public Bronco Sport review on CNET—

Unfortunately, after 15 minutes of hooning around in the sand, my Bronco Sport overheats and goes into limp-home mode. I might expect this if ambient temperatures were very high, but it’s a perfect 82 degrees Fahrenheit. Thankfully, the Bronco cools back down quickly so I can keep on playing — albeit a bit less aggressively.

Her aside comments to another writer that she should have made in her public article.

“I don’t think that mine actually said four-wheel drive,” she told me. “Something got too hot and it went into limp mode.” That all went down at Olancha Dunes roughly 200 miles north of Los Angeles. “It’s not a super dune-y steep area. It’s pretty small,” Hall told me, though she did admit that she was “driving [the Bronco Sport] like a freaking idiot.”

The vehicle was in sand mode, the throttle was on the floor and Hall was “just not being gentle with [the car] at all.” It took roughly 15 minutes for the car to give the over temp warning. Hall shut the machine off, and after five minutes it was ready to go again.

naturally everyone is free to form their own opinion from Hall's experience and her reporting and lack of candor but my take is the BS was protecting itself from a freaking idiot who was obviously having a blast. Been there, done that.
Then low and behold, in 5 min it was ready to go again. Must not have been all that hot after all.

I don't know if I've ever had a factory stock car/truck that could go 15min wide open throttle on a 80deg day without getting hot. My 95 SVT Mustang can, but I've built it ground up just for that kind of use on the road course. It still gets toasty hot. Perfect 82 deg? I try to get my laps in well before 82 deg.
I've been to Silver Lakes Dunes a few times, did the hills, roosted around and have never seen anyone go that long WOT. It's usually a few laps around and then down for a cool off, hood up and a cool drink.

Non Badlands Sports are just not as capable and should be judged against similar like a Sube.

 

[CobraKaiSG]

it's almost as if the bronco sport and the bronco are not the same

 

[DLJohnson]

I agree Ford did a disservice to the Bronco name by releasing the Bronco Sport ahead of the Bronco

I keep going back and forth on this. On one hand I totally agree with you. A lot of people who aren't in the know will think that the Bronco Sport is the Bronco and this could hurt the Bronco sales. On the other hand I think maybe this was a genius move because those who do know will wait and get their Broncos in a few months and everyone who thought the Sport was the full-sized Bronco will see them on the road and think, 'Now THAT'S A BRONCO!' Then maybe some people with more money than sense will trade in their Sport for a full-sized.

 

[BigSteveO]

I keep going back and forth on this. On one hand I totally agree with you. A lot of people who aren't in the know will think that the Bronco Sport is the Bronco and this could hurt the Bronco sales. On the other hand I think maybe this was a genius move because those who do know will wait and get their Broncos in a few months and everyone who thought the Sport was the full-sized Bronco will see them on the road and think, 'Now THAT'S A BRONCO!' Then maybe some people with more money than sense will trade in their Sport for a full-sized.

Wow, I never looked at it that way. Thanks for filling my glass half full. (-;

 

[CDN Jen]

we took delivery of our badlands sport last Sunday (thank you Granger). So far it is a fantastic vehicle, the 2.0 is amazing, the fit and finish is good. Am more excited than ever to get my Wildtrak!

Waiting for my Rapid Red BL+BL Squirt to arrive. So excited! It'll be a blast this summer. And it'll compliment my Cyber Orange 2DR BL when it arrives in the fall (hopefully).

I wonder how many people here are getting both big and little Broncos?

 

[Mirus]

I was at king of the hammers and got to drive the bronco sport badlands trim, and rode twice in the full sized bronco. These are completely different animals. I was actually really impressed with the off-road capability of the badlands bronco sport running through decently thick sand and some hills without issue and normal speeds for this type of terain. The person in the article is doing a horrible smear job on ford. Taking a non-badlands trim and going full throttle while clearly not understanding the capability of that vehicle. The badlands I'm sure would not have had overheating issues. They had several of the badlands trim letting anybody with a driver license take them out and they were running all day long for a week with no issues.

That being said, riding in the full sized one was like turning up the volume to 11. We were riding through sand at over 70 mph. Going up deep sand ruts at over 50. It was an amazing experience and had it not been done by a professional driver, I would have never done that in my own. I would not know how capable these things are. The drivers were asked to push it as far as they could, and I believe them. I took my 3.5" lifted jeep jku on 35's on the same route and couldn't come close to the performance.

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