Left the Jeep Wrangler for Ford Bronco, my first impressions after crossing 1K miles

[MeesterHeester]

Your "Before and After" pics reminded me of somebody else that had a similar change........

Must be someone you know with very good taste i imagine

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[Southern Girl]

Angry eyes.

 

[MeesterHeester]

Good pics. Great story. The brown leather looks great with the Green Eruption. Thinking of the same . Planning to finally place an order on 8/15. Funny how the console grab handles are different between models. How was the Adaptive Cruise Control? I got a Jeep Gladiator Launch Edition but only kept it for 2 years and 6k miles. Sold it. I liked it but liking the Bronco a lot more. How was that B&O sound system cranked all the way up? It must've helped the miles pass. I drove my Gladiator from Denver to MD on a southerly route with several detours. Quite an adventure. I kept it it on Adaptive Cruise Control for most of the Interstate miles, and cranked the 9 speaker Alpine system. The hardtop had the sound deadening liner but it was still loud at 80mph wind noise. The sound system almost drowned it out. Oh yeah,...and my windshield broke from pebble strike.

Had a friend with a sedan from Ford complain about not liking the Adaptive Cruise control because they feared it always got too close, so I made a very distinct effort to test it out. The ACC is surprisingly accurate based on the distance of car space you select for it. You can alternate between 1 to 4 car lengths of space and the distance before the ACC kicks in feels very comfortable. Additionally, it reacts pretty promptly to cars cutting you off of intersecting your designated distance and slows down very accordingly as well. accelerating back up is a little slow though.
B&O sound system is pretty great, especially after tweaking with the tone settings to match the music i put on in the Bronco, the headliners work nice to keep acoustics in the car, so with the speakers up you hear 0 wind. Sounds like your driving in any other sedan.

 

[MeesterHeester]

Angry eyes.

Cut me some slack I was trying to fit in with the community

 

[Erock]

Congrats

 

[F OR D]

Awesome! What is the WARN setup you have there? Need to do something, thinking JCR mount..

 

[old goat]

the wench ! whats her name ? does your significant other know about her

maybe you should try winch
PS very nice write up and the bronco is awesome
JUST KIDDING YOU

 

[MeesterHeester]

Awesome! What is the WARN setup you have there? Need to do something, thinking JCR mount..

The WARN setup is a dealership install from a winch that Ford offers as an accessory for the Bronco. Initially I was thinking of doing a similar setup for a winch that i had on my Wrangler, but I was more than interested in having a synthetic winch line as opposed to the traditional. It is rated for 10,000lbs, but the WARN accessory has the OEM fit and finish, so i didn't have to worry too much about an aftermarket part not taking away too much from the front facing camera.

On that note, be aware that having the dealership install the winch was the most painless route for me personally, due to the fact that they needed to readjust the programming of the 360 view to accommodate the winch being within the range of the front facing lens

 

[Brockdog12]

My highway mileage has climbed to just shy of 25mpg, I’m at 6600 miles. That is running at 75 to 80+mph.

 

[DD214]

Nice Bronco. My wife and kids felt there was too much green in my life…as well as browns and different Camo patterns. I went with Black.

BTW…I never got the angry jeep thing either.
Good luck with the Bronco!

 

[MeesterHeester]

My highway mileage has climbed to just shy of 25mpg, I’m at 6600 miles. That is running at 75 to 80+mph.

I am pretty sure the original estimate for the Bronco was 16mpg, of course factors like engine, tire size and driving city or highway driving affect it. That all being said, I think across the board it has outperformed all initial estimates on fuel economy, and I have no doubt if you're aiming to maximize fuel you can easily average low-to-mid 20's!

But with 6,600 miles? that's pretty good insight, makes me look forward to it only getting better. What engine are you running and what grade of fuel do you fill with?

 

[Strykerwsu]

I'm by no means a seasoned off-roader, but i'm also no stranger to being able to enjoy a car that's more than capable when it comes to getting off the pavement. For years, I have owned a 2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara, by no means a revolutionary car today, but for the time I had it while living in Texas I could think of no better sidekick when it came to rock climbing and general off-roading. Most of my time owning the Wrangler i was active duty in the Army, and the big green wrangler felt like owning a humvee that could also be a daily commuter. Eventually I finished my contract and moved to Michigan for school and work, and the Wrangler came with me. I ended up getting 2 dogs who lived being outdoors with me, and if it wasn't for the gas mileage that old Wrangler was getting, i don't think I ever would have even considered leaving Jeep. And then in June of 2020 the trailers for the Bronco were released and everything changed in my mind.

Now that we got the backstory out of the way, getting the Bronco was no easy task, initially I reserved a Big Bend with the mid-package back in October of 2020, and I was eagerly awaiting the summer arrival of the Bronco in 2021, that is until i realized that was not happening. Timelines kept getting pushed back and eventually I had to reorder for 2022, and at that time, I saved up a lot more for the down payment, and decided when i reordered I was gonna make some pretty major upgrades. So, I ordered a 4 door Outerbanks, eruption green, lux package, leather seats, 2.7L, wench, aux switches, MIC hardtop and tow package. At this point I was used to waiting, so I figured if it was gonna be another year before I got it, I may as well get it exactly how I wanted it.

May 26th 2022 I got a text from my rep saying hey we finally got a VIN, and a build date during the last week of July. Cool, it finally felt real for once. June 9th I get an email from Ford saying my production week is now June 13! I cross reference with my dealer, he was surprised as well, but confirmed that is what he then saw on his end too. Estimated delivery comes out to July 11th, and then like magic, it got delivered June 21st.

So what actually happened at the dealer? I was missing a few things that were important to me, the tow package, the roof rack, and most importantly my AUX switches. This was crushing because as of right now, there is no real substitute for that AUX panel, and that really blew. We talked and found out during transferring the 2021 order to 2022, he missed a few things, and after almost 2 years of waiting there was no real turning around. What was offered was a couple of free accessories, some gifts from Ford, a rebate of $250 and a 5 year wheel warranty included in my offer leaving the lot. The AUX panel was important to me, but i happily took the other deal. My dealership has been very transparent and amazing to work with, they didn't sneak in any fees and made sure my initial MSRP had still been locked in, they genuinely were working in my best interest, and the loss of some selections sucked but was an honest mistake.

So, i finally crossed 1,000 miles this week. Very short amount of time but man did we do some serious road trips, I drove all the way to Munising MI, to go see pictured rocks for the 4th. Here are some of my takeaways-

Gas mileage was SIGNIFICANTLY better than estimated, during my drive I averaged 22.8mpg while staying in ECO mode and using cruise control. My current average right now is 20.6mpg. After filling my tank before leaving Munising the car read 445 miles till E.

The MIC hardtop with the deadliner was very tolerable, of course you hear wind in a vehicle shaped like Chinese takeout box, but it was much more quiet than i expected, I could talk to passengers without shouting, and the top made the acoustics for the audio much better.

The wireless charging tub is cool, and having ApplePlay was game changing for a drive that long, BUT be wary, the longer you keep electronics in the tub the warmer they get, and they warmer they get you will notice your Bluetooth performance getting worse, make sure to take it out after about an hour or so to cool down for a few minutes to keep everything running smooth.

Switching GOAT modes on the fly was a lot of fun, and the 4x4 modes feel incredibly reliable on dirt roads. I could comfortably drive 45mph on a dirt road and not feel any give with my traction, and these are dirt roads, not gravel.

The electronics definitely took some getting used to after leaving the 2007 wrangler, but the interface of the screen made everything incredibly straight forward and I quickly got the hang of all the features after a few drives!

After prolonged use of AC, leaving your vehicle you may hear what sounds like sizzling, fear not, its just the water dripping down onto a very warm plate underneath the driver side, I saw another forum about it and even confirmed the concern myself, no need for concern.

Anyways, this has turned into quite a novel, but i'm willing to answer anything you guys have questions for on the thread, until then ill just do the reveal of the car

Here is a photo of my old Wrangler for reference!

You can add the Aux switches for a little over $700 yourself, as of a couple months ago. A few of us have done it. Took about 5 hours in total, taking time for no mistakes, with simple tools. Really glad I did it. https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/thre...talled-diy-writeup-instructions-photos.35388/

 

[MeesterHeester]

Nice Bronco. My wife and kids felt there was too much green in my life…as well as browns and different Camo patterns. I went with Black.

BTW…I never got the angry jeep thing either.
Good luck with the Bronco!

I appreciate it! initially the plan was to go with Area 51 or Cactus Grey before my reorder, however I am glad I didn't, with a car that's already so hard to get your hands on as is, I am appreciating having a color that doesn't match every other Bronco I see on the road. And to be fair, the green has grown on my quite quickly. My favorite color is yellow, but I did not want to be caught driving the only Bronco School Bus Edition on the roads

 

[MeesterHeester]

You can add the Aux switches for a little over $700 yourself, as of a couple months ago. A few of us have done it. Took about 5 hours in total, taking time for no mistakes, with simple tools. Really glad I did it. https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/thre...talled-diy-writeup-instructions-photos.35388/

This is actually huge, thanks for sharing the forum link too

 

[Space Cat]

Had a friend with a sedan from Ford complain about not liking the Adaptive Cruise control because they feared it always got too close, so I made a very distinct effort to test it out. The ACC is surprisingly accurate based on the distance of car space you select for it. You can alternate between 1 to 4 car lengths of space and the distance before the ACC kicks in feels very comfortable. Additionally, it reacts pretty promptly to cars cutting you off of intersecting your designated distance and slows down very accordingly as well. accelerating back up is a little slow though.
B&O sound system is pretty great, especially after tweaking with the tone settings to match the music i put on in the Bronco, the headliners work nice to keep acoustics in the car, so with the speakers up you hear 0 wind. Sounds like your driving in any other sedan.

Good to know. Thanks.

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