I Remember When ...

[MississippiMule]

Yes, a Bronco is a truck. So is a 4Runner. Both on a truck chassis.

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[dgorsett]

what is your definition of a truck?

My wife is a farm girl, her family won't even allow you to call a pick up a truck. A car is a car, a pick up is a pick up , a truck is a 2 ton plus hauling machine and ( even to me) a Jeep, Scout or Bronco is a Jeep Scout or Bronco. The term SUV has been so bastardized that it means nothing, or at best, an AWD station wagon.

 

[Fordmanbob]

I remember when Wilton Brimley wasn't old (and alive).

Yule Gibbons

 

[Haustkraft]

My wife is a farm girl, her family won't even allow you to call a pick up a truck. A car is a car, a pick up is a pick up , a truck is a 2 ton plus hauling machine and ( even to me) a Jeep, Scout or Bronco is a Jeep Scout or Bronco. The term SUV has been so bastardized that it means nothing, or at best, an AWD station wagon.

um k. The rest of us on planet earth would call it a truck. What does your registration type say ? Utility perhaps?

 

[Karl_in_Chicago]

So lets get this straight, you reminisce about the good ol bare bone days of gas chugging underpowered off road rigs and how nit picky people are for a 2021 model, BUT, you also ordered one of the higher trims available with the HIGH package no less....

AND posted about it on the Intertubes!

 

[Haustkraft]

AND posted about it on the Intertubes!

Um yup, but both seem to miss the point that I would by a base and be just as happy if that were the only option. Unlike the audience I was referring too.

 

[MrJoe]

OK boomer.

Get off my lawn!!!

 

[Haustkraft]

My son's vehicle was unavailable so he barrowed my F250 6.2 liter for a three month work assignment in North Carolina. While there the truck became due for an oil change, he took it to the local Valvoline quick lube.. I always do my own work, but figured any oil change was better than none.

So the truck was due for a change again so I did an oil change today...interesting.

some one used the wrong term

 

[jaspercasidino]

From August 25th everyone!

As I spent some time perusing the site this weekend I was taken aback by some things.

To me (as a 47 year old guy) the Bronco harkens back to the rugged individualists like our fathers and grandfathers. A tough as nails ride that could do things unheard of at the time for a commercially produced vehicle.

But are we too modern? Are we too soft?

I see threads complaining about not being able to get air conditioned seats at a certain trim level. Do you think your grandad was worried about cold air blowing up his rear end while he ran his Bronco down to the lake to go fishing? If cold air up the backside is so important then just maybe a vehicle designed to have the top and doors off may not be right for you.

Lots of complaints about vinyl seats being too hot and sweaty. Basically, see the above comments. Some of y'all never rode around on vinyl bench seats in your grandmas old car without air conditioning back in the day and it shows. I can remember peeling myself off the vinyl/pleather seats in an old VW my aunt drove back then. No permanent harm. You too shall survive.

I saw some nit picking about not having built in garage door openers in the visors at some trim levels. Really? Are we really this needy? Is the indignity of having to carry around a garage door opener just going to be a deal breaker? It's possibly the most capable off road vehicle straight off the showroom floor ever produced. . . but we're going to stress no opener. C'mon man.

Complaints about not being able to get a 12 inch screen at some trims abound as well. You're driving a vehicle, not watching netflix. You don't need a giant flat screen planted in the middle of your dash in order to properly operate your rig. Look out the window. See the world around you. Pay attention to the idiots driving around looking at their screen(s) and take evasive action. Stop staring at the thing parked in your dash. It's overkill.

I think some here may be better serviced by getting something like a Land Rover/Range Rover or other luxury SUV. There you can ride around pampered, cold air blowing up your arse, as you push the button to open the garage to park your ride in so it won't dare get dirty. I've owned those. They are great. But they are a FAR cry from their off road/rugged heritage. If that's what you want or need, go get it.

A Bronco is going to be many different things to many different people but the breed/brand is hard and outdoorsy. It's not refinement and luxury. It's rugged and rough around the edges. It is not skinny jeans sipping a latte on the way to spin class . . . it's wearing carharts with some black coffee on the way to spend time in the outdoors on a mountain bike. So behave accordingly.

Just one grumpy old man opinion. Rant is over. Now, get off my lawn. ;-)

 

[Squatch]

When did this happen? In the era post four-doored Jeeps and all of the other things @TJconvert2.7 mentioned. Those things saved the company's bottom lines from reckless executive salaries, wild expenditures, and poor investments, but it doesn't mean they don't SUCK!

Maybe you'll live five years longer eating cruciferous vegetables and bubble wrapping yourselves while never eating steak or playing with fire, but that, to me, is merely existing and not living.

Let companies die. I don't know why we hold onto the familiar so vehemently that we have to bail out every company that struggles, but only when they are gargantuan. We act as if nobody else could fill their shoes--meaning no one else could do what they do better, but obviously someone can if they are struggling so badly after growing to such a size and existing for so many decades.

So what if Porsche had died off instead of making a Boxster? or the Cayenne? Maybe we would see a bunch of Pagani luxury SUVs around town or a new car manufacturer that would now be about 20 years old.

 

[Karl_in_Chicago]

This reminds me of the debates forever going on in the Porsche community. “Why is there a Macan and Cayenne for soccer moms? Porsche should only make manual 911s with no A/C etc”. Because the Macans and Cayennes and the heavily-optioned 911s enable Porsche to make the hardcore editions of the 911 and Cayman.

Next time the hypothetical “true” Bronco driver is in his/her 2 door base Bronco with steelies and a manual remember to thank Ford for making $60k Wildtraks and FEs and the people—including soccer moms and dads—buying them. The new Bronco wouldn’t exist without those customers.

It seems like Ford is doing a decent job thus far of meeting the needs of a wide range of potential Bronco drivers.

Yeah, I despise the Cayennes, Macans and even the Panamera (new slogan - "Not as ugly as it used to be!") but without them there would no longer BE a 911. Porsche's 2020 US sales were just over 57K units total (57,294). Of that total Cayennes and Macans accounted for almost half (18,092 and 18,631 respectively) while 911 sales volume was 8,840 - or about 15%. People tend to lose sight of the fact that while it's great to strive for the "one true thing" few are willing to pay the one true cost.

There's nothing stopping anyone from building their vision of the "perfect" Bronco (sans obvious branding and trademark stuff) except the lack of a market capable of supporting such an endeavor.

 

[MorgansRun]

Remember when gas was $0.89 for regular leaded and you paid through a drive through because pumps didn't have credit card readers and then you went to pick up McDonald's for the family because hamburgers were on sale for $0.10 and cheeseburgers for $0.15?

Yeah, good times...

 

[Karl_in_Chicago]

My wife is a farm girl, her family won't even allow you to call a pick up a truck. A car is a car, a pick up is a pick up , a truck is a 2 ton plus hauling machine and ( even to me) a Jeep, Scout or Bronco is a Jeep Scout or Bronco. The term SUV has been so bastardized that it means nothing, or at best, an AWD station wagon.

So where does her family stand on "snowmobile" vs "snowmachine"?

 

[Dillhole]

um k. The rest of us on planet earth would call it a truck. What does your registration type say ? Utility perhaps?

NY calls my Jeep a "Suburban"

 

[MississippiMule]

Yes, us Spartan 2-door devotees need to appreciate that the 4-door and Sport sales, as well as luxury options, enable Ford to provide us the Bronco 2-door again, which was discontinued in 1996 exactly because of the new “need” for four doors.

That said, Ford has screwed this up with too many trim levels and two many options. Should have just gone with one luxury trim level for those who “need” that. It has caused a cluster fuck.

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