I am torn. Bronco vs. Daily Driving a Guzzler

[JT58Bronc]

I had my heart set on a Bronco, Jeez that's my first two vehicles I owned as soon as I started driving- a 1970 and a 1971. Yeah, I bought 2 back to back. So I wanted to start and end with a Bronco. I am not wealthy, just have a lot of knowledge on vehicles and know how to work on them so they never go to a shop. I don't make a lot of $$, my career, talent and passion of my very much earlier life has been replaced by computers. At one point in the height of my career I did make a lot of $$ and I was able to buy a new Toyota Landcruiser, new Jeep CJ5, etc. after those Broncos- those were the days!

When I reserved my Bronco in 2020 I picked the cheapest one that I could get with the larger tires to mimic my Broncos of the 70's. Basesquatch for 39,XXX. I had a plan to sell my 97 TJ and most likely my 2019 LD Silverado to get it. It was going to be my daily driver until I retired in about 3 years. I drive 100 miles round trip a day- I have a long commute. I drive my Silverado now and my gas bill is about 400 a month with current prices. It gets pretty good MPG- around 23. I have no vehicle payment. I had planned on no payment with the Bronco. I figured the MPG would be worse at 17 than my truck but would be able to pick up the difference. Even with gas at the current prices it was a stretch for me to afford 400 plus a month. Now with the Ukraine war, gas prices are going to be 4.50, 5.00 or even more. So I have to be out- no Bronco now. I can't afford gas payment of nearly 500 a month, never mind a payment. So I am looking at a Civic or Corolla, unfortunately and not too happy about it!

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[CT203]

EV's aren't magically clean. They are as clean as your electricity source, which could very well be fossil fuels. And then there's the electricity that is lost in transmission between the plant and your vehicle.

Bronco won't be winning any environmental awards, but if your trepidation is about carbon dioxide emissions rather than the cost of gas, the difference between different car models is minor in the grand scheme of your life, especially if you ever fly.

For me, it's less about the environmental aspect and more about it being just really nice never having to fuel up. There is also a lot less maintenance and insane torque. I had a friends Tesla for a while and for the most part I fully drank the EV cool-aid. I do prefer being high up which negates much of the aerodynamics, but they have a ton going for them.

 

[ColtN0ir]

how am I wrestling with it? i'm not.

 

[Jdc]

Volvo has release a report a few weeks ago comparing the CO2 emissions impact of the XC40 electric versus ICE. from mining for batteries to building engines, Volvo is able to directly compare both equally as Volvo build both cars and they are both the same just different powertrains.

long story short, the ICE XC40 can be manufactured, shipped, driven to 150,000km and it would equal the same amount of CO2 emissions as the electric XC40 being built and shipped. that includes the mining and shipment of batteries, parts, etc for both vehicles. not just being built in the factory.

this is something a lot of companies cannot report on as they don't build two equal vehicles in the same plant. here's a link to the report. https://www.volvocars.com/images/v/...electric-light/volvo-cars-LCA-report-xc40.pdf

I'll see your report and raise you one from Yale.
https://environment.yale.edu/news/a...ide-lower-carbon-emissions-through-additional

But a recent study from the Yale School of the Environment published in Nature Communications found that the total indirect emissions from electric vehicles pale in comparison to the indirect emissions from fossil fuel-powered vehicles. This is in addition to the direct emissions from combusting fossil fuels — either at the tailpipe for conventional vehicles or at the power plant smokestack for electricity generation — showing electric vehicles have a clear advantage emissions-wise over conventional vehicles.

 

[ABorges]

Not trying to start a climate change debate...
So I am stoked about the Bronco. It was the first car in a long time that made me consider swapping out my Subaru. I found a lot of cars recently follow the same bland look and the Bronco checks all the boxes for me from a design standpoint. For practicality reasons I need the 4 door as I am the usual driver of people and stuff for holiday, ski, beach, etc trips. I never forgot that the Bronco being a box on wheels and thus never going to be great on gas but this extended wait time has allowed me to continually contemplate the responsibility of driving said box 45min to work each way on top of trips. I know EVs have their own environmental impacts but it does feel selfish to DD a Bronco while it largely isn't being used off road. Any one else have this internal debate? How are you wrestling with this?

I'm really liking mine as a daily driver. On the freeway, at 75 I got 20 miles per gallon and that is the V6. Hope this helps, I wouldn't trade it for anything!!

 

[harpo]

Not trying to start a climate change debate...
So I am stoked about the Bronco. It was the first car in a long time that made me consider swapping out my Subaru. I found a lot of cars recently follow the same bland look and the Bronco checks all the boxes for me from a design standpoint. For practicality reasons I need the 4 door as I am the usual driver of people and stuff for holiday, ski, beach, etc trips. I never forgot that the Bronco being a box on wheels and thus never going to be great on gas but this extended wait time has allowed me to continually contemplate the responsibility of driving said box 45min to work each way on top of trips. I know EVs have their own environmental impacts but it does feel selfish to DD a Bronco while it largely isn't being used off road. Any one else have this internal debate? How are you wrestling with this?

I understand your view, and really only you can answer it. For me it is a secondary concern but I may hold on to my old subaru just for commuting. The subaru is already paid for and gas savings will pay for registration and insurance. Plus I could get the indirect benefit of not piling the miles on the bronco.

As for all the no impact comments, it is an impact no matter how small, 100,000,000 small impacts add up. Recognizing we are part of the problem is the first step. Just to clarify for me the problem isn't even climate change (I think that ship sailed) it's local air quality, congestion, resource usage etc.

As my daughter likes to say - you do you.

 

[ramblinwreck]

Not trying to start a climate change debate...
So I am stoked about the Bronco. It was the first car in a long time that made me consider swapping out my Subaru. I found a lot of cars recently follow the same bland look and the Bronco checks all the boxes for me from a design standpoint. For practicality reasons I need the 4 door as I am the usual driver of people and stuff for holiday, ski, beach, etc trips. I never forgot that the Bronco being a box on wheels and thus never going to be great on gas but this extended wait time has allowed me to continually contemplate the responsibility of driving said box 45min to work each way on top of trips. I know EVs have their own environmental impacts but it does feel selfish to DD a Bronco while it largely isn't being used off road. Any one else have this internal debate? How are you wrestling with this?

If you really care about the environment, you would focus your time on reducing that commute. 45 minutes each way....Shorten that to 5 minutes and you can save nearly 1.5 horus a day in a car, along with a tremendous amount of fuel! Then it won't matter what you drive.

 

[Destroyer]

You're one of 7.75 BILLION people on this earth. Trust me, your choice to drive a Bronco vs an EV (that arguably causes more pollution from battery disposal) ultimately doesn't matter

 

[77Highboy]

Consider overall household average...in my case, in the summer for commutes to work, I ride my motorcycle.. Harley Streetglide or Ducati Monster - probably around 40-45mpg. Jag XKR, about 18-20, Ford F-250 (only driven when I need the pickup), about 8-10. So if and when the Bronco shows, around 20...so on average, i'd say I'm still in the 30-ish mpg range, which I can rationalize as "responsible".

But yeah, as others have said, don't over-think it. issue for all of us is that no matter what we drive, per - mile costs are going up.

 

[TripleB]

Stop watching the news, worrying and enjoy life

 

[PartyMarty]

I completely understand your sentiment. Here's how I view it. First of all, I'm going from a vw rabbit that averages about 27 mpg to a sas bronco at 17 mpg, the first thing I'm going to be concerned about is the hit to my wallet which impacts my long distance traveling financial freedom. I'm keeping my 257k mile vw as long as its running with no major repairs (tires and basic maintenance only), so I can bank a lot of profit on reimbursed vehicle mileage for work trips (about 20k miles a year *58.5c isn't insignificant). My VW ain't worth shit even in today's market, but its my little extra money maker.

Second, I'm a millennial and have never owned a new car before. Considering I own my cars for about 10 years, this will probably be my last ice vehicle and I'm going out with a bang. Live it up with that sweet sweet gasoline while you can, because the rest of your life (2030's and beyond) will be electric. And who's to say that there won't be cool electric cars with fast charging stations as common as a gas station in 10-15 years, optimistically, it'll all be good, but electric vehicles aren't there yet. If I'm gonna burn gasoline, I'm gonna get as many smiles per gallon out of it while I can.

If you want to offset your lifestyle choices, cut back a bit on red meat. Just running the math, a pound of beef is the equivalent amount of greenhouse gas as burning a gallon of gas. I'm faar from a vegetarian, but if I had to choose, I get a lot more out of life experiences with what gasoline can do to me vs beef on a daily basis.

 

[AllthePonies]

If you really care about the environment, you would focus your time on reducing that commute. 45 minutes each way....Shorten that to 5 minutes and you can save nearly 1.5 horus a day in a car, along with a tremendous amount of fuel! Then it won't matter what you drive.

I completely agree. I feel like the idea of minimizing commuting and overall waste isn’t ever seriously considered. We just proved that we can reduce emissions by a massive amount by working from home and yet people are still talking about going back to work. I live smack in the middle of everywhere I need to travel so I don’t worry too much.

I do get why folks living in huge cities care about this though; smog is no joke! I was in Beijing prior to the summer Olympics before they took all the cars off the road and shut the factories down. I could hardly breathe and you couldn’t see much. It was like permafog, but made up of cancer causing gas. I prefer living in flyover territory where things are still mostly clean.

 

[AllthePonies]

I completely understand your sentiment. Here's how I view it. First of all, I'm going from a vw rabbit that averages about 27 mpg to a sas bronco at 17 mpg, the first thing I'm going to be concerned about is the hit to my wallet which impacts my long distance traveling financial freedom. I'm keeping my 257k mile vw as long as its running with no major repairs (tires and basic maintenance only), so I can bank a lot of profit on reimbursed vehicle mileage for work trips (about 20k miles a year *58.5c isn't insignificant). My VW ain't worth shit even in today's market, but its my little extra money maker.

Second, I'm a millennial and have never owned a new car before. Considering I own my cars for about 10 years, this will probably be my last ice vehicle and I'm going out with a bang. Live it up with that sweet sweet gasoline while you can, because the rest of your life (2030's and beyond) will be electric. And who's to say that there won't be cool electric cars with fast charging stations as common as a gas station in 10-15 years, optimistically, it'll all be good, but electric vehicles aren't there yet. If I'm gonna burn gasoline, I'm gonna get as many smiles per gallon out of it while I can.

If you want to offset your lifestyle choices, cut back a bit on red meat. Just running the math, a pound of beef is the equivalent amount of greenhouse gas as burning a gallon of gas. I'm faar from a vegetarian, but if I had to choose, I get a lot more out of life experiences with what gasoline can do to me vs beef on a daily basis.

It’s always good to have a fuel efficient “beater” although yours sounds a bit more fun than some.

I’m not so sure that ICE vehicles will be gone in 10 years though. I would think of it as more of a 50 year transition based on all the white papers I’ve read. Too much infrastructure is needed for both electricity production and charging combined with a lack of affordability for non middle to upper class folks. It would take massive government subsidies to make this happen in just a decade in my view.

I’d eat less red meat all day long to keep Mustang 5.0s and manual Broncos available for sale! It will help us all live a bit longer too.

 

[shimmy825]

ICE vs EV debate aside, I am in a position where I am now working from home and I'm not sure that will change any time soon. Knowing that the only miles I put on my bronco right now are for pleasure and/or errands and not a daily commute makes me feel better (albeit, very little because it wasn't a concern) about my environmental impact than when I was driving my Mazda Cx5 daily.

What I AM concerned about is the impact of FoMoCo throwing my engine in the ocean when it eventually blows up after 2200 miles. That doesn't seem responsible.

 

[calgecko]

My Bronco gets about the same or maybe a little better fuel economy than my R32. So it's a lateral move for me. My R32 however, only likes 91+ octane. So ultimately, its a bit more costly to run. I wouldn't worry about it too much. The Bronco is so much fun to drive, it offsets the cost.

bad ass .. I bet that Skyline gets some attention!! Photos? Don't see too many of them around!

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