- First Name
- Tom
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2020
- Threads
- 6
- Messages
- 375
- Reaction score
- 871
- Location
- Atlanta, GA
- Vehicle(s)
- '22 Br BD, '22 5BW, '95 Integra, '94 VFR, '04 SV
- Your Bronco Model
- Black Diamond
- Thread starter
- #1
Just got back from the Bronco Off-Roadeo in Horseshoe Bay, Texas, about an hour west of Austin. I highly recommend going!
First day was really hot, maybe 93 or 94, and humid. Not “Houston humid” (I hear it’s *really* humid there), but just normal humid. Bring hats, sunscreen, water, whatever you need. Rain was possible on our second day, which would have precluded doing laps around the dirt track (including some sand) they had set up. But the rain held off, and Day 2 wasn’t as brutally sunny as Day 1. Doesn’t matter, though, the heat was a minor inconvenience.
Great group of people, lots to talk about as you’d expect. Good to see others who “get it” where it’s not (too) strange to talk about Broncos all the time! And you get to hear a few stories from the instructors who’ve driven the Broncos a lot by this time.
So what do you get to drive? Well, there were a variety of trim levels available to pick from. HOWEVER, with the exception of some of them with the Badlands trim level, it looked like they all had the Sasquatch package (front and rear lockers, 35" tires, etc.). And of course the Badlands trim level already has all the good off-roading stuff, just with 33" tires. The few I saw personally all had the larger 12" screen with all the cameras to show any view you wanted around the vehicle--you could pick a line easily even if there was no way of you physically seeing it from the driver's seat. Point is, all the Broncos there were *very* capable--at least out of the sample that I saw.
It was a blast trying all the features. I drove a Badlands 2-door automatic transmission with the Sasquatch package on Day 1. We got to try the trail turn assist, trail control, one pedal driving, etc. Kind of cool. Even better was being able to engage or disengage the lockers practically at any time, same with the sway bar disconnect. I don't know how much of a big deal it is but I think at one point the instructor said that in the Bronco you can engage the front lockers without first engaging the rear lockers, whereas in a Wrangler you must do rear first, then front. Not sure I'm remembering what he said correctly, and I have no experience off-roading in a Wrangler so feel free to correct me.
I think the Day 1 Bronco I picked had the V-6 but I'm not 100% sure of that now that I think back. I had the 4-cylinder on Day 2 and didn't notice any difference for what we were doing--which is good for 4-cylinder buyers like me. Okay, fine, maybe on the dirt track on Day 2 if I didn't carry enough speed in a corner the 2.3-liter four took a half beat to get back in the power band. I didn't drive the V-6 in the same situation so I can't compare, but I'd imagine that the V-6 would be better there.
I only drove an automatic on Day 1 because that's all they had sitting out available to choose from, even though I would have chosen a manual if I had seen one. Since I vastly prefer driving vehicles with manual transmissions, I asked the instructors if they had one. They said there were a couple, and on Day 2 they rustled one up for me. Yay!
Bad news: It was a four-door, that's all they had for manuals. (Incidentally, when you look through the gift shop at the Off-Roadeo you'll see a bunch of t-shirts--none of which show off a 4-door, I wonder why....) Forget about how many kids you have or what looks best, though, I like two-door vehicles because I'm tall. When I put the seat back I don't want to turn my head to the left and look at a pillar, nor do I want to bang my left elbow on a pillar at the end of the arm rest.
Having said all that, I found the four-door surprisingly okay. I might even go so far as to call it "acceptable" (gasp). The Bronco is a big enough vehicle that it was a non-issue. Yeah, the door is a little shorter than on the two-door. Yeah, maybe the pillar was there if I turned my head left far enough. But it was never an issue. Getting bounced around all day, hopping in and out of the car many times, I never noticed anything to complain about like I do in most other four-door vehicles. For the record, I'm 6'3" and when driving the manual I didn't even put the seat all the way back like I do in most vehicles. I can honestly say that I am impressed.
Back to the driving. Since I am not an experienced off-road driver I was a tiny bit worried that it would be tougher to do all this stuff with the manual transmission. Turns out that there was *nothing* to be worried about. Believe me, Ford has us manual drivers covered. Put it in 4L, then a low gear, Crawler gear if you need it, the car will just chug along or hold your speed on a downhill just with engine braking. I did not miss any of the driving aids I tried on Day 1, not for a minute.
The Off-Roadeo made me want all the off-road goodies I got to try (front locking diff, sway bar disconnect, etc.) But I don't know when/if I would ever really use them. Others who hadn’t already ordered a Badlands or Sasquatch were in a similar boat--they loved the features, but not quite enough to change their orders.
If I want a larger vehicle in the future I learned that I could be very happy with a four-door (never thought I'd say that), so my conviction to absolutely buy a two-door was weakened. I could live with and enjoy a four-door.
But my conviction to get the manual transmission is even more set in stone than ever. By far the better choice in my opinion. It didn't shift perfectly like an old Honda, it was just average by manual transmission standards. But merely being an average manual in a class full of automatics makes it the star student. By far.
I'm also surprised how much I liked the 12" screen with all the cameras on the vehicle. I don't care about the 12" screen itself. But holy cow, I had no idea how useful it is to flip between various camera views of things you can't see from the driver's seat.
Bottom line: Since I don't plan on doing hard core off-roading, I'll stick with the plan. I'm not changing my Black Diamond trim, two-door, manual order.
First day was really hot, maybe 93 or 94, and humid. Not “Houston humid” (I hear it’s *really* humid there), but just normal humid. Bring hats, sunscreen, water, whatever you need. Rain was possible on our second day, which would have precluded doing laps around the dirt track (including some sand) they had set up. But the rain held off, and Day 2 wasn’t as brutally sunny as Day 1. Doesn’t matter, though, the heat was a minor inconvenience.
Great group of people, lots to talk about as you’d expect. Good to see others who “get it” where it’s not (too) strange to talk about Broncos all the time! And you get to hear a few stories from the instructors who’ve driven the Broncos a lot by this time.
So what do you get to drive? Well, there were a variety of trim levels available to pick from. HOWEVER, with the exception of some of them with the Badlands trim level, it looked like they all had the Sasquatch package (front and rear lockers, 35" tires, etc.). And of course the Badlands trim level already has all the good off-roading stuff, just with 33" tires. The few I saw personally all had the larger 12" screen with all the cameras to show any view you wanted around the vehicle--you could pick a line easily even if there was no way of you physically seeing it from the driver's seat. Point is, all the Broncos there were *very* capable--at least out of the sample that I saw.
It was a blast trying all the features. I drove a Badlands 2-door automatic transmission with the Sasquatch package on Day 1. We got to try the trail turn assist, trail control, one pedal driving, etc. Kind of cool. Even better was being able to engage or disengage the lockers practically at any time, same with the sway bar disconnect. I don't know how much of a big deal it is but I think at one point the instructor said that in the Bronco you can engage the front lockers without first engaging the rear lockers, whereas in a Wrangler you must do rear first, then front. Not sure I'm remembering what he said correctly, and I have no experience off-roading in a Wrangler so feel free to correct me.
I think the Day 1 Bronco I picked had the V-6 but I'm not 100% sure of that now that I think back. I had the 4-cylinder on Day 2 and didn't notice any difference for what we were doing--which is good for 4-cylinder buyers like me. Okay, fine, maybe on the dirt track on Day 2 if I didn't carry enough speed in a corner the 2.3-liter four took a half beat to get back in the power band. I didn't drive the V-6 in the same situation so I can't compare, but I'd imagine that the V-6 would be better there.
I only drove an automatic on Day 1 because that's all they had sitting out available to choose from, even though I would have chosen a manual if I had seen one. Since I vastly prefer driving vehicles with manual transmissions, I asked the instructors if they had one. They said there were a couple, and on Day 2 they rustled one up for me. Yay!
Bad news: It was a four-door, that's all they had for manuals. (Incidentally, when you look through the gift shop at the Off-Roadeo you'll see a bunch of t-shirts--none of which show off a 4-door, I wonder why....) Forget about how many kids you have or what looks best, though, I like two-door vehicles because I'm tall. When I put the seat back I don't want to turn my head to the left and look at a pillar, nor do I want to bang my left elbow on a pillar at the end of the arm rest.
Having said all that, I found the four-door surprisingly okay. I might even go so far as to call it "acceptable" (gasp). The Bronco is a big enough vehicle that it was a non-issue. Yeah, the door is a little shorter than on the two-door. Yeah, maybe the pillar was there if I turned my head left far enough. But it was never an issue. Getting bounced around all day, hopping in and out of the car many times, I never noticed anything to complain about like I do in most other four-door vehicles. For the record, I'm 6'3" and when driving the manual I didn't even put the seat all the way back like I do in most vehicles. I can honestly say that I am impressed.
Back to the driving. Since I am not an experienced off-road driver I was a tiny bit worried that it would be tougher to do all this stuff with the manual transmission. Turns out that there was *nothing* to be worried about. Believe me, Ford has us manual drivers covered. Put it in 4L, then a low gear, Crawler gear if you need it, the car will just chug along or hold your speed on a downhill just with engine braking. I did not miss any of the driving aids I tried on Day 1, not for a minute.
The Off-Roadeo made me want all the off-road goodies I got to try (front locking diff, sway bar disconnect, etc.) But I don't know when/if I would ever really use them. Others who hadn’t already ordered a Badlands or Sasquatch were in a similar boat--they loved the features, but not quite enough to change their orders.
If I want a larger vehicle in the future I learned that I could be very happy with a four-door (never thought I'd say that), so my conviction to absolutely buy a two-door was weakened. I could live with and enjoy a four-door.
But my conviction to get the manual transmission is even more set in stone than ever. By far the better choice in my opinion. It didn't shift perfectly like an old Honda, it was just average by manual transmission standards. But merely being an average manual in a class full of automatics makes it the star student. By far.
I'm also surprised how much I liked the 12" screen with all the cameras on the vehicle. I don't care about the 12" screen itself. But holy cow, I had no idea how useful it is to flip between various camera views of things you can't see from the driver's seat.
Bottom line: Since I don't plan on doing hard core off-roading, I'll stick with the plan. I'm not changing my Black Diamond trim, two-door, manual order.
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