First Family Vacation with the Bronco - The Gateway to the West

[Efthreeoh]

Stopped reading at "still pumping". TMI.

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[Ruggles]

This is great! As a family of 3 that takes road trips I'm so happy to see this. I am 100% certain my 2 door order is my perfect vehicle. We had a 2 door Mark VIII when my son was an infant and it honestly wasn't bad getting him in the back seat. I then had an Explorer for a couple years and hated it. Replaced it with a Focus because I wanted a stick shift and the first thing we did was take a 2 week trip to Canada including camping gear. I didnt miss the space of the Explorer one bit. My car has served us well but I can't wait to get my Bronco!! Worth noting we have also taken this road trip in a 93 Bronco, probably my favorite road trip car lol

 

[Hanverg07]

Nice cute picture of your kid! Thanks for sharing your bronco experience.

 

[gdp]

People have written that maybe the engine is throttled down during the 1k breakin period. Did you notice any difference during the early miles vs. more recent in acceleration/response?
I'm a road trip lover and impressed with the stuff you got in the cargo area. Nice MR pack too!

 

[BronchoPeat]

Excellent write-up. Exactly the familial position I'm in, I just need my 2D basesquatch! Do you have a picture of yours you can share?

It’s a little dusty here but I thought this was a good angle!

 

[awall987]

And this is why 2d Bronco > 2d Jeep. No way can you fit all that in the back of the jeep.

 

[BronchoPeat]

Stopped reading at "still pumping". TMI.

I meant “stay pumped”

just trying to make sure I include as much real world use as possible here, there are a wide variety of Bronco owners and soon to be Bronco owners in this community. So I want to help them get as much information as possible which may help them make a decision on their build.

 

[BronchoPeat]

People have written that maybe the engine is throttled down during the 1k breakin period. Did you notice any difference during the early miles vs. more recent in acceleration/response?
I'm a road trip lover and impressed with the stuff you got in the cargo area. Nice MR pack too!

I didn’t jump on it hard in the first 1,000 but the acceleration, post break-in was impressive for a 5,000lb+ vehicle!

I think I can pack a little better next time now that I know what I need for a trip tang distance. The MR pack will always be present

 

[Rick Astley]

Inquiring minds want to know: How do you clean breast milk out of Bronco cupholders? Rear-seat cupholders? And the door nets? The mole panel?

 

[Kel]

So, we did it. We loaded the family and our luggage into our 2 door BaseSquatch and we left Cleveland for St. Louis. We stayed there for 6 days and returned home in one piece.

Packing the Bronco was a bit challenging. Before the 4 door brigade comes swooping down on me, let me explain - this is the first time I’ve traveled for more than 2 hours and stayed somewhere that is not home with a 10 month old child. So when I say it was challenging, I mean I didn’t know what I needed for him to survive, so I guessed. But it ended up okay.

Another curveball was that my wife was still pumping so, not only did we have to transport a lot of breastmilk, she had to pump in the vehicle. But because of the roomy cabin, number of cup holders, and flat surfaces available for use, it was no trouble at all.

I planned out three 3 hour intervals from Cleveland to St. Louis partly to ensure the little human could stretch his legs and also based on my differential equations for calculating fuel economy, it seemed logical.

The ride out was great with a few delays for constructions and one for an accident. The short wheelbase at 70mph+ felt confident and smooth. Typically shorter wheelbase vehicles like to get squirrely but this was planted. The cloth seats did great for the duration of the trip and where I used to get a bit of a stiff back, I did not this time so that made vacay a lot better!

The window tint helped a lot with temperature management without the use of the A/C on max which possibly contributed so somewhat decent fuel economy. My lifetime average sits at 19.3 mpg in after about 2,200 miles of mixed driving.

I, very thankfully, did not have any mechanical issues. It was a flawless trip, the Bronco is a GREAT vehicle for road trips, it will definitely be superb for fishing trips, camping, overlanding, etc. I thought something got knocked loose while I was in Indiana, coming home, but realized the little plastic ring on my water bottle cap was the culprit. Only took me about 40 miles to figure it out.

The dreaded MIC top…so I did have a small amount of water get blown into where the two front panels come together up against the windshield frame. It was a few drops and it was during a pretty biblical rain we got in St. Louis. It’s also worth noting I parked it outside in the sun to bake in what was perhaps the hottest week of the year down there. Not only was it consistent highs in the upper 90s, the humidity was Amazonian level and the UV Index got up to 9-10 most days we were there. I did not get any shrinking, swelling, or snake skin appearing during the trip. But my dealer called and told me I’m getting a new hardtop when they are available.

Here are a few photos for your enjoyment and dissection

Lifetime mileage and fuel economy

Infant seat and a couple bags. Cool not present but is under the diaper bag. It’s a smaller sized cooler, what I use for trout fishing to bring home the best ones.

Fully loaded, got a Coleman backpack cooler behind my MR pack. The Coleman was filled with breast milk, not even beer….

a satisfied youngster who was a great travel companion and a good boy in the truck!

As always, I’m happy to answer any questions for the B6G gang! Sorry about the hang ups for those that have not taken delivery. This is your reminder that it’s worth the wait.

Family memories !! Awesome

 

[BudgetBronco]

Great stuff! One comment on the picture of the 'lifetime fuel economy': I'm not sure that is accurate. I 'think' that display might be the average over the last x miles worth of driving (but I don't know what the x is). Reason being, if you go to one of the two trip calculators that are available on the right side of the display (one is 'trip 1' and one is 'trip 2') if you have not reset one of them, take a look at the MPG displayed there for the full 2230+ miles and compare. Mine were different by a couple MPG when I did the same.

 

[BenderSquatch]

So, we did it. We loaded the family and our luggage into our 2 door BaseSquatch and we left Cleveland for St. Louis. We stayed there for 6 days and returned home in one piece.

Packing the Bronco was a bit challenging. Before the 4 door brigade comes swooping down on me, let me explain - this is the first time I’ve traveled for more than 2 hours and stayed somewhere that is not home with a 10 month old child. So when I say it was challenging, I mean I didn’t know what I needed for him to survive, so I guessed. But it ended up okay.

Another curveball was that my wife was still pumping so, not only did we have to transport a lot of breastmilk, she had to pump in the vehicle. But because of the roomy cabin, number of cup holders, and flat surfaces available for use, it was no trouble at all.

I planned out three 3 hour intervals from Cleveland to St. Louis partly to ensure the little human could stretch his legs and also based on my differential equations for calculating fuel economy, it seemed logical.

The ride out was great with a few delays for constructions and one for an accident. The short wheelbase at 70mph+ felt confident and smooth. Typically shorter wheelbase vehicles like to get squirrely but this was planted. The cloth seats did great for the duration of the trip and where I used to get a bit of a stiff back, I did not this time so that made vacay a lot better!

The window tint helped a lot with temperature management without the use of the A/C on max which possibly contributed so somewhat decent fuel economy. My lifetime average sits at 19.3 mpg in after about 2,200 miles of mixed driving.

I, very thankfully, did not have any mechanical issues. It was a flawless trip, the Bronco is a GREAT vehicle for road trips, it will definitely be superb for fishing trips, camping, overlanding, etc. I thought something got knocked loose while I was in Indiana, coming home, but realized the little plastic ring on my water bottle cap was the culprit. Only took me about 40 miles to figure it out.

The dreaded MIC top…so I did have a small amount of water get blown into where the two front panels come together up against the windshield frame. It was a few drops and it was during a pretty biblical rain we got in St. Louis. It’s also worth noting I parked it outside in the sun to bake in what was perhaps the hottest week of the year down there. Not only was it consistent highs in the upper 90s, the humidity was Amazonian level and the UV Index got up to 9-10 most days we were there. I did not get any shrinking, swelling, or snake skin appearing during the trip. But my dealer called and told me I’m getting a new hardtop when they are available.

Here are a few photos for your enjoyment and dissection

Lifetime mileage and fuel economy

Infant seat and a couple bags. Cool not present but is under the diaper bag. It’s a smaller sized cooler, what I use for trout fishing to bring home the best ones.

Fully loaded, got a Coleman backpack cooler behind my MR pack. The Coleman was filled with breast milk, not even beer….

a satisfied youngster who was a great travel companion and a good boy in the truck!

As always, I’m happy to answer any questions for the B6G gang! Sorry about the hang ups for those that have not taken delivery. This is your reminder that it’s worth the wait.

Awww, cutest backseat driver of a Bronco yet!

 

[BroAD]

Thank you for sharing, it sounds like it was an amazing trip! We love seeing people getting the most out of their Broncos.

 

[GSchmitz]

2.0 or 2.7 if the 2.0 how was it through the mountains loaded down?

 

[BenderSquatch]

This is great! As a family of 3 that takes road trips I'm so happy to see this. I am 100% certain my 2 door order is my perfect vehicle. We had a 2 door Mark VIII when my son was an infant and it honestly wasn't bad getting him in the back seat. I then had an Explorer for a couple years and hated it. Replaced it with a Focus because I wanted a stick shift and the first thing we did was take a 2 week trip to Canada including camping gear. I didnt miss the space of the Explorer one bit. My car has served us well but I can't wait to get my Bronco!! Worth noting we have also taken this road trip in a 93 Bronco, probably my favorite road trip car lol

Whoa, your Focus is a workhorse! Mine is a blue hatchback, 2012, that has an easy commute life (80k miles). I should push it harder and make it earn its keep!
For trips we use wifey's Acura RDX, though.

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