Compared to a Defender - some general thoughts and concerns.

[DeltaBravo]

I honestly don’t understand how people cross-shop the Bronco and the Defender.

Totally different design briefs, target markets, dealer availability, and associated expense.

The Bronco is going to be waaaay closer to the Jeep than the Defender when it comes to ownership experience.

this

Sponsored

 

[wrbix]

As a ‘95 Def90 NAS owner (‘til death do us part) with a Badlands on order, I was thrilled at the advance marketing for the Bronco - took the pressure off of my wife’s insistence that we should get a new Defender...no, no, no!
To me the new Defender is visually indistinguishable from a Honda Element LOL (a great vehicle in its own right).

 

[jaruss01]

I will be stopping by an LR dealer on my way back from seeing the bronco this weekend.

Thoughts -
Bronco is probably not going to cut it as the family hauler long term. The Defender could.

However, the Defender is basically unobtainable. I simply won’t buy an LR given reliability and repair costs. The only option is to lease and the defender leases HORRENDOUSLY like 1,000 month for a high 60k car WITH a couple K down. I see that and think well...if I’m deviating from the bronco with a defender, would I rather get a RR Sport for less if lease I must? It seems foolish to drive off an LR lot knowing my monthly would be lower with an RR sport than a defender. And then why not get for a little less, an LR Discovery for 750/mo? Then I find myself thinking about other leases for German SUVs and then get completely off track.

its an odd cycle that has me thinking - ok. You have the reservation.Just buy the Sasquatch bronco and stop overthinking it. If it doesn’t cut it, then when the wife’s lease is up in a year or two I’ll have another bite of the apple to see if that should be upgraded to an LR discovery etc. and then demote the Bronco to the weekender. So that’s the plan for now.

but I will say if the Defender leased better I would give it a much harder look than buying the bronco.

 

[De Brus]

The defender is dope and was a strong contender for my family. But once I started building the 110 with off road capable features, it started nearing 100k! I just couldn't see myself being willing to take that much money off road driving. Plus, I can't drive stock vehicles very long before I want to add aftermarket parts to set it apart from the others. If it weren't so expensive, I may just have bought one.

 

[brocotect]

Well, I finally had to pull the plug on the Bronco "dream". Between my dealerships utter lack of communication, and being a little disenfranchised with Ford and their entire rollout of this thing (7/14 9:00 am reservation), on top of needing a new vehicle ASAP I decided to buy a Defender. It was next to impossible to find one of these as well, so having to buy one from Indiana while living in Oklahoma. Test drove one locally though and really loved it (at least, on road - didn't have opportunity to drive one off road).

Strange feeling, as I think I prefer the Bronco's looks a tad bit more but am fairly certain this one will handle much better on road and as a daily driver/road trip car. The difference in price (about $18k) is irrelevant as we need a car now. Strange.... I've been lurking these boards from inception, and will miss having a reason to read them! Best wishes lads, good luck with the new trucks.

Hoping this dealership refunds the $500 deposit since no VIN was assigned yet, but not holding my breath based on all of my experiences with both Ford and these guys thus far...

Peace&Love

18k more is irrelevant but you care about your $500 deposit?

GTFO here.

 

[Springbok]

18k more is irrelevant but you care about your $500 deposit?

GTFO here.

What an strange line of thought - Here's $500 for doing absolutely nothing save punching in my build.

$18k isn't irrelevant, it's irrelevant in the idea that we need a big vehicle now, there's nothing else on the market comparable to a Bronco save the Defender, we're left with few options here and we'd be pissing away up to $18k waiting on the Bronco to go lease a short term family hauler (potentially).

Anyway, this is a bizarre post and perhaps explains why you don't have "18k" to chuck towards another vehicle as it appears you're more than happy to piss away $500 for absolutely nothing in return.

 

[brocotect]

What an strange line of thought - Here's $500 for doing absolutely nothing save punching in my build.

$18k isn't irrelevant, it's irrelevant in the idea that we need a big vehicle now, there's nothing else on the market comparable to a Bronco save the Defender, we're left with few options here and we'd be pissing away up to $18k waiting on the Bronco to go lease a short term family hauler (potentially).

Anyway, this is a bizarre post and perhaps explains why you don't have "18k" to chuck towards another vehicle as it appears you're more than happy to piss away $500 for absolutely nothing in return.

Go away. You have literally nothing to offer here.

Seriously why did you even bother to post?

 

[Springbok]

I will be stopping by an LR dealer on my way back from seeing the bronco this weekend.

Thoughts -
Bronco is probably not going to cut it as the family hauler long term. The Defender could.

However, the Defender is basically unobtainable. I simply won’t buy an LR given reliability and repair costs. The only option is to lease and the defender leases HORRENDOUSLY like 1,000 month for a high 60k car WITH a couple K down. I see that and think well...if I’m deviating from the bronco with a defender, would I rather get a RR Sport for less if lease I must? It seems foolish to drive off an LR lot knowing my monthly would be lower with an RR sport than a defender. And then why not get for a little less, an LR Discovery for 750/mo? Then I find myself thinking about other leases for German SUVs and then get completely off track.

its an odd cycle that has me thinking - ok. You have the reservation.Just buy the Sasquatch bronco and stop overthinking it. If it doesn’t cut it, then when the wife’s lease is up in a year or two I’ll have another bite of the apple to see if that should be upgraded to an LR discovery etc. and then demote the Bronco to the weekender. So that’s the plan for now.

but I will say if the Defender leased better I would give it a much harder look than buying the bronco.

I'm buying mine, then probably selling once the warranty expires (or perhaps looking at extended warranties, but have no experience with them so unsure how sound they are). If you're leasing, I've found BMW (of all car brands) to have by far the best lease resids - not just of luxury brands, of any brands period and the ownership experience is quite good. The problem is, all of their vehicles, suvs included tend towards the performance end of the spectrum and the capability is... meh.

 

[Springbok]

Go away. You have literally nothing to offer here.

Seriously why did you even bother to post?

Put me on ignore and relax, go drink some coffee, breathe in the fresh air.

 

[Dads_bronze_bronco]

I think they sold out to the latte drinking mall crawlers on the Defender. I agree it has some capability benefits over the Bronco, but trading off for other capabilities. It actually is probably a better match for my most probable use.

However,

• TFL 3x to get one that works reminds me never to get another English engineered car
• there is no way I would take that vehicle (from a reliability and a cost standpoint) where I aspire to take the Bronco. (Even just branch filled in rocky roads ...)
• Much less keep it beyond its warranty ...

 

[PWillette]

I am a fan of the old Defender however LR totally missed the mark on the new Defender in many areas...uni-body, no removeable top, no manual tranny, etc...c'mon man! Comparing it to the Bronco is not apples to apples. Choosing the Bronco over the new Defender was an easy choice for me.

 

[dcmdon]

I did B&P for Defender 4 door, white exterior, with white steel wheels (Awesome) with rear 3rd seat (Family Pack, rear air cond included!) upgraded Meridian sound system, and Interactive driver display, $54,780 including freight. I love the Bronco, but it is too small for my family. I hope the Land Rover Dealer Service Dept has tv with ESPN, I'm probably going to be spending some time there.

I'd consider a defender under 2 conditions.
1) it was made by Toyota or Honda.
2) I was the kind of person who leased cars and flipped them every 2 or 3 years. But I tend to keep my cars for 10+years. So any Range Rover product is terrifying.

Its too bad because the Defender looks to be an amazing truck.

 

[dcmdon]

I am a fan of the old Defender however LR totally missed the mark on the new Defender in many areas...uni-body, no removeable top, no manual tranny, etc...c'mon man! Comparing it to the Bronco is not apples to apples. Choosing the Bronco over the new Defender was an easy choice for me.

Great points. They already have several refined SUVs. Though most can't really go off road any more. Either way, a "simple defender" would have been awesome.

But I guess that is what the Ineos Grenadier is for. ha ha.

 

[NotApplicable]

I guess I’m a little confused to see everyone talking about the Bronco like it’s a naturally aspirated Toyota in the reliability department

 

[dcmdon]

I guess I’m a little confused to see everyone talking about the Bronco like it’s a naturally aspirated Toyota in the reliability department

Ha, valid point. But Ford trucks are generally reliable. Not Toyota reliable. But they aren't the mess that many modern Land Rovers are.

Sponsored