First Group @ Moab Off-Roadeo: Bronco Drive Notes & Video

[brettclutch]

Bronco6g,

I live in Denver, CO region so I had been waiting for the Off Rodeo Moab location to announce availability. When they did I furiously signed up and found that the off rodeo first availability was August 16th (today), and that corresponded to my Birthday. I saw “the sign” and instantly registered.

What an amazing experience, we were the first ever group run through the Moab location today and we got to run the trails hard. The whole team made us feel welcome and a special shout out to our Trail Guides Jeff and Mandy who were simply amazing. We had flexibility in choosing lines and we ran the trails fast, we ran these trucks HARD and the Bronco didn’t care, it just kept going and ate up Moab.

They took us out to a Moab trail called ‘Dom Plateau’, its a rated 4 (or 5) level trail and we absolutely ‘killed it’. Section after section I grew more and more confident in the Bronco and what it can do. I can’t state it enough, we ran the trail FAST and HARD, doing things I would have considered abuse but it simply wasn’t abuse for the Bronco.

Here is a quick and dirty ‘iPhone memories’ video for those that want to watch only 1/16th of what we did, unfortunately I didn’t get many of the bigger obstacles on my iPhone. I did get some on my go-pro but that will take me some time to edit.




My Personal Notes of the Bronco after running this Moab Trail:

• * I have on order a 2.7 Badlands automatic, I will be calling my dealership this week to upgrade to Sasquatch package. I drove a wildtrak and it was awesome, I wasn’t missing the sta bar disconnect. I was able to cross the trail with ease, however the badlands behind me with 33’s several times had some rubbing and I did not.
• * The front and rear locking diffs on the top of the dash with quick on and off engagement are game changers. It’s so easy to flip both the lockers on before a large hill and turn the fronts right off after you up. I found myself toggling them on and off on demand naturally. WOW. (Didn’t realize how amazing that would be)
• * The trail turn assist is no joke, especially on the 4 door, i had one point been wondering would it actually be useful on the trail or just fun in the sand. OMG was it useful on the trail in several tight turns, it was amazing.
• * I had been wondering for a while if manual would be the way to go. The automatic is where its at no question after this trail ride. Specifically when your in 4 lo the transmission programming is so good. It will with purpose as soon as you let off the accelerator try to shift down and engine brake you. It engine brakes HARD. It’s exactly what you want when running the trails. It’s no question better including the trail turn assist in my mind (which I’m glad no more wishful thinking towards the manual I have to deal with personally yay)
• * The one pedal where you’re just on the gas to mimic two feet driving, maybe I just need more time to get used to it but it seems like a gimmick, at first it felt awesome, I tried several times to make it work but there is an issue. I will try to explain: If you just take the gas pedal and say the gas pedal travel from barely on to full gas is 0-100 range, then when in one pedal mode the same gas pedal now has a 0-500 range, where you have to push the pedal down WAY more then you would in normal circumstances. As you come down off an obstacle the vehicle is moving all around you and its instinct to get off the gas when your coming down off a cliff and the bouncing of the cabin makes your foot move on the pedal slightly. Unfortunately this causes the bronco to ‘panic brake’ which is exactly what you didn’t want, you wanted to slow to a gentle roll.
• * The GOAT modes was all useless when in 4LO, they all required 4HI. No goat mode for trail running, I wasn’t missing it since I was flipping the lockers on and off with ease as we went. No muss no fuss.
• * There was legit concern by the off rodeo team about a specific order in which to park the Bronco. Come to a stop, shift to neutral, put on park brake, let off regular brake, then move shifter to park. I don’t know the route cause for that concern.
• * Noise levels on the road with the hard top and 35’s tires was a non issue, per Apple Watch it was 60db, which is the same as one of my current Honda Civic. I will call my dealer and upgrade to the 35’s. Road manners and everything where all there and I was happy.
• * Sport mode on the wildtrak, I didn’t find the point in it. The automatic has so many gears anyways that no matter if your in normal or sport on the road the auto shifts so much to respond to your gas pedal it doesn’t much matter. It doesn’t map to sport mode in a 6 speed like you would think where gears could be held onto longer and had a bigger dynamic range where you would want to hold something. With this 10 speed it is a constant shift fest, it takes some getting used to. As such the sport mode I don’t think really matters. I wont miss it in my Badlands after this trip. (Yay)

Thank You to everyone at the Bronco Off Rodoa team for making it a trip to remember and letting us run in Moab. I simultaneously can’t wait to get my Bronco and are willing to wait longer knowing it will be worth it after today. Anyone on the fence absolutely should go, you will learn what your rig will be capable of.

Let me know if any questions.

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[broncbeau]

right on man. looks sweet

 

[P52Ranch]

Thanks for taking the time and writing up your review. Sounds awesome.

 

[AceGoliath]

Thanks for the info. I’m booked for next week.

 

[Gamecock]

Very good review. Your point about the advantages of Sas is something people should listen to. That extra clearance and increase in angles is important.

 

[M&M Beer]

Bronco6g,

I live in Denver, CO region so I had been waiting for the Off Rodeo Moab location to announce availability. When they did I furiously signed up and found that the off rodeo first availability was August 16th (today), and that corresponded to my Birthday. I saw “the sign” and instantly registered.

What an amazing experience, we were the first ever group run through the Moab location today and we got to run the trails hard. The whole team made us feel welcome and a special shout out to our Trail Guides Jeff and Mandy who were simply amazing. We had flexibility in choosing lines and we ran the trails fast, we ran these trucks HARD and the Bronco didn’t care, it just kept going and ate up Moab.

They took us out to a Moab trail called ‘Dom Plateau’, its a rated 4 (or 5) level trail and we absolutely ‘killed it’. Section after section I grew more and more confident in the Bronco and what it can do. I can’t state it enough, we ran the trail FAST and HARD, doing things I would have considered abuse but it simply wasn’t abuse for the Bronco.

Here is a quick and dirty ‘iPhone memories’ video for those that want to watch only 1/16th of what we did, unfortunately I didn’t get many of the bigger obstacles on my iPhone. I did get some on my go-pro but that will take me some time to edit.



My Personal Notes of the Bronco after running this Moab Trail:

* I have on order a 2.7 Badlands automatic, I will be calling my dealership this week to upgrade to Sasquatch package. I drove a wildtrak and it was awesome, I wasn’t missing the sta bar disconnect. I was able to cross the trail with ease, however the badlands behind me with 33’s several times had some rubbing and I did not.
* The front and rear locking diffs on the top of the dash with quick on and off engagement are game changers. It’s so easy to flip both the lockers on before a large hill and turn the fronts right off after you up. I found myself toggling them on and off on demand naturally. WOW. (Didn’t realize how amazing that would be)
* The trail turn assist is no joke, especially on the 4 door, i had one point been wondering would it actually be useful on the trail or just fun in the sand. OMG was it useful on the trail in several tight turns, it was amazing.
* I had been wondering for a while if manual would be the way to go. The automatic is where its at no question after this trail ride. Specifically when your in 4 lo the transmission programming is so good. It will with purpose as soon as you let off the accelerator try to shift down and engine brake you. It engine brakes HARD. It’s exactly what you want when running the trails. It’s no question better including the trail turn assist in my mind (which I’m glad no more wishful thinking towards the manual I have to deal with personally yay)
* The one pedal where you’re just on the gas to mimic two feet driving, maybe I just need more time to get used to it but it seems like a gimmick, at first it felt awesome, I tried several times to make it work but there is an issue. I will try to explain: If you just take the gas pedal and say the gas pedal travel from barely on to full gas is 0-100 range, then when in one pedal mode the same gas pedal now has a 0-500 range, where you have to push the pedal down WAY more then you would in normal circumstances. As you come down off an obstacle the vehicle is moving all around you and its instinct to get off the gas when your coming down off a cliff and the bouncing of the cabin makes your foot move on the pedal slightly. Unfortunately this causes the bronco to ‘panic brake’ which is exactly what you didn’t want, you wanted to slow to a gentle roll.
* The GOAT modes was all useless when in 4LO, they all required 4HI. No goat mode for trail running, I wasn’t missing it since I was flipping the lockers on and off with ease as we went. No muss no fuss.
* There was legit concern by the off rodeo team about a specific order in which to park the Bronco. Come to a stop, shift to neutral, put on park brake, let off regular brake, then move shifter to park. I don’t know the route cause for that concern.
* Noise levels on the road with the hard top and 35’s tires was a non issue, per Apple Watch it was 60db, which is the same as one of my current Honda Civic. I will call my dealer and upgrade to the 35’s. Road manners and everything where all there and I was happy.
* Sport mode on the wildtrak, I didn’t find the point in it. The automatic has so many gears anyways that no matter if your in normal or sport on the road the auto shifts so much to respond to your gas pedal it doesn’t much matter. It doesn’t map to sport mode in a 6 speed like you would think where gears could be held onto longer and had a bigger dynamic range where you would want to hold something. With this 10 speed it is a constant shift fest, it takes some getting used to. As such the sport mode I don’t think really matters. I wont miss it in my Badlands after this trip. (Yay)


Thank You to everyone at the Bronco Off Rodoa team for making it a trip to remember and letting us run in Moab. I simultaneously can’t wait to get my Bronco and are willing to wait longer knowing it will be worth it after today. Anyone on the fence absolutely should go, you will learn what your rig will be capable of.

Let me know if any questions.

Did you get the added insurance? I am going to be there in September and was wondering if it's needed?

 

[Wanted33]

What a birthday present for you Brett. Thanks for the thorough review. It looks like fun was had by all.

 

[M&M Beer]

I soooo can't wait for this I am going in September. I am not sure what is going to be better camping at the bottom of the Grand Canyon or the Bronco Rodeo we are doing both.

 

[da_jokker]

Well dang it...so I was just thinking of switching my WT to a BL (soft) in hopes of getting it sooner, but I'd have to leave off Sasquatch to keep the prices closer.

Now sounds like I have to stick to my WT.

 

[dgorsett]

I like your description of the One Pedal. This has been my thought, often I completely let off the gas to idle up or idle down an obstacle and would have to retrain myself to avoid the 'panic' stop. And GOAT modes, I see most (except Rock Crawl) default to 4H but will allow 4L. So if you were in 4L and then selected a Goat Mode it shifted to 4H? I suppose you're supposed to shift GOAT first, then 4L, but it would be a pain if you were already 4L and then wanted a different GOAT.

 

[Efthreeoh]

Looks kinda like Dirt Mountain, huh.

 

[BroAD]

What a cool experience to have on your birthday… I enjoyed watching you guys have fun. Our first experience with the 6g was on my toddler’s fourth birthday… he was probably more excited than me! Can’t wait for our turn…

 

[asurfer11]

Excellent write up! Thankyou ! I signed up for the Vegas off rodeo next month.
Do you think the $75 optional insurance coverage is needed?

 

[Broncolli]

" There was legit concern by the off rodeo team about a specific order in which to park the Bronco. Come to a stop, shift to neutral, put on park brake, let off the regular brake, then move the shifter to park. I don’t know the route cause for that concern. "

I was taught this a while back with Land Rovers. I believe it would apply to all automatics. If you place the parking brake on while in neutral, the brake does all the work of holding the car. If you do the reverse, then the transmission takes all the forces and when you turn it back on shift, you will get a transmission clunk sound. Those are the gears grinding while they having the weight of the vehicle on them.
For example, try parking on a hill, place the transmission into Park, the car is not moving, but the transmission is wound up. Then place it in drive and feel the clunk. I would avoid doing that.

 

[TimBee]

Great write up!
I believe the reason for coming to a stop, then neutral, parking brake, then Park is to make sure the drivetrain is unloaded and not causing unnecessary strain/wear on the drivetrain components…..that was the explanation at the Raptor Assault.

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