- Joined
- Jul 27, 2020
- Threads
- 21
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- 603
- Reaction score
- 2,149
- Location
- SW Florida
- Vehicle(s)
- 2013 Jeep JKU (Officially Sold), 2015 Expedition
- Your Bronco Model
- Badlands
- Thread starter
- #1
This past weekend we had the opportunity to demo a CO Badlands 2.3 manual with the standard package. Like most of you, my patience has been tested a bit throughout this entire process. I sold my 2013 manual JKU in hopeful anticipation of a summer 2021 delivery....Oh well, I was a bit off the mark. My frustration peaked a few times and almost caved after test driving a few JLU Rubicon's. Since this is a weekend vehicle for us, calmer heads prevailed and my patience was rewarded with this demo. I can safely say that the Bronco will be worth the wait.
For reference here are a few shots of the demo unit:
A few items that I have not seen discussed:
Dead pedal!! The Bronco has one ad it is perfectly placed-
The manual has a gear indicator. I have never seen this is in ANY manual I have ever driven -
Cyber Orange is stunning in person and looks very different depending on the light. The color was on the bottom of our list until we saw it in person. We liked it so much that we changed our order.....queue the school bus comments....
Here are a few pics to capture some of the colors personalities:
I have seen a few folks shine some negative light on the interior plastics . None of the dash and console plastics bother me at all. However, the cargo area plastics seem to be very prone to scratching.
I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the 2.3 manual combo. Again, I was convinced that I needed the 2.7, but this demo proved otherwise. I cannot stress how fun this set up is. I never cared for the manual setup in the JKU as the clutch provided minimal feedback resulting in a drive by timing, soulless experience. This was the exact opposite, you truly feel connected to the drivetrain and have full control....plus it is FLIP FLOP Friendly!
We averaged 18.1 over the course of our normal driving experience with a good mix of highway and cruising time.
....and 17.7 including the getting heavy rowing, getting to know you the unit first 80 miles.
Other final thoughts....
The electronic steering is spot on an very precise. It allows for very confident positioning of the vehicle as well as making this heavy beast feel very nimble.
I was also very impressed with the ride quality is all of the conditions tested. Unfortunately , I did not test off road in respect to the dealer.
The standard stereo seemed to be decent with the top down, but lacked a bit with the top up. It is PLENTY loud and I was able to dial it in a bit. I believe most of the issue is a heavily biased front sound stage. I was able to balance it out a bit by shifting some of the fade to the rear. Interesting, I did not experience the coffee can effect others have reported, just a frequency range lacking in both the low mid and low ranges.
Cabin noise was not too bad with the soft top. I measured 73db at 81mph on my watch compared to 68 in the Expedition at the same speed
Bronco:
Expedition:
My final gripe was the gauge cluster. The analog gauge is a total waste of space and the the digital tach is pretty ineffective. I would love to see this revised in the future.
All in all I was grinning from ear to ear all weekend and enjoyed every mile of our experience. If you are a manual leaning driver, I strongly suggest trying to get behind the wheel of the manual to experience it for yourself.
....and now for the remainder of my patient wait.
Happy Broncoing All!
For reference here are a few shots of the demo unit:
A few items that I have not seen discussed:
Dead pedal!! The Bronco has one ad it is perfectly placed-
The manual has a gear indicator. I have never seen this is in ANY manual I have ever driven -
Cyber Orange is stunning in person and looks very different depending on the light. The color was on the bottom of our list until we saw it in person. We liked it so much that we changed our order.....queue the school bus comments....
Here are a few pics to capture some of the colors personalities:
I have seen a few folks shine some negative light on the interior plastics . None of the dash and console plastics bother me at all. However, the cargo area plastics seem to be very prone to scratching.
I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the 2.3 manual combo. Again, I was convinced that I needed the 2.7, but this demo proved otherwise. I cannot stress how fun this set up is. I never cared for the manual setup in the JKU as the clutch provided minimal feedback resulting in a drive by timing, soulless experience. This was the exact opposite, you truly feel connected to the drivetrain and have full control....plus it is FLIP FLOP Friendly!
We averaged 18.1 over the course of our normal driving experience with a good mix of highway and cruising time.
....and 17.7 including the getting heavy rowing, getting to know you the unit first 80 miles.
Other final thoughts....
The electronic steering is spot on an very precise. It allows for very confident positioning of the vehicle as well as making this heavy beast feel very nimble.
I was also very impressed with the ride quality is all of the conditions tested. Unfortunately , I did not test off road in respect to the dealer.
The standard stereo seemed to be decent with the top down, but lacked a bit with the top up. It is PLENTY loud and I was able to dial it in a bit. I believe most of the issue is a heavily biased front sound stage. I was able to balance it out a bit by shifting some of the fade to the rear. Interesting, I did not experience the coffee can effect others have reported, just a frequency range lacking in both the low mid and low ranges.
Cabin noise was not too bad with the soft top. I measured 73db at 81mph on my watch compared to 68 in the Expedition at the same speed
Bronco:
Expedition:
My final gripe was the gauge cluster. The analog gauge is a total waste of space and the the digital tach is pretty ineffective. I would love to see this revised in the future.
All in all I was grinning from ear to ear all weekend and enjoyed every mile of our experience. If you are a manual leaning driver, I strongly suggest trying to get behind the wheel of the manual to experience it for yourself.
....and now for the remainder of my patient wait.
Happy Broncoing All!
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