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TigerBronco

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Just completed a trip from Madison, AL to Moab, UT and back that covered a total of 3849.2 miles. Made the journey in my 2021 4dr Ford Bronco First Edition along with my wife and daughter.

Notable places visited:
- Cadillac Ranch near Amarillo, TX
- Petrified Forrest and Painted Desert in Arizona
- Desert View Tower on the south rim of the Grand Canyon
- Monument Valley, UT
- Moab, UT (Bronco Off Rodeo and Arches National Park)
- Marble, CO to Crystal Mill trail (more on that below)
- Lawrence, KS and O'Fallon, IL (former duty station) on the way home

The good:
- Bronco is an INCREDIBLE road trip vehicle! Super comfortable and very easy to drive. Even let my wife drive several hours and she was amazed at how easy it was to drive.
- Gas mileage over the whole trip was 19.3. Not bad in my estimation as I was not going easy on the throttle at all
- Off Rodeo was outstanding! Can't recommend it highly enough. These machines can do incredible things, way beyond what I would have normally been comfortable with.
- Met a lot of great people across what is still a great and beautiful country
- Beautiful tent camping at the Grand Canyon.
- A little noisy inside (compared to a fixed roof vehicle) but not horrible at all.
- Zero water leaks from the roof
- Engine was flawless!
- DIY shelf I built after finding out about on this forum worked beautifully! I attached from anchors around the edges and netted all the cargo down with carabiners. Easy way to keep things secure and organized.
- Swing gate table (@JcrOffroad ) worked very well. Made a very handy shelf moving things in and out and never rattled!


The not so good:
- TWO punctured tires as we completed the ~10 mile round trip on the Marble to Crystal Mill trail. Was worth it but a pain in the ass getting fixed in the very small town of Marble, CO. All the locals were great though and very helpful is taking care of me and my family. Lesson learned: Air down your tires and have onboard air available (my ARB twin compressor is now on order)! I left way too much air in my tires for that trail and finding air in that very small town was a challenge.
- Cracked windshield that will have to be replaced. Some yahoo went off the payment to fly by me through a small town in Utah. Heard a large impact from one of his rocks but didn't see any damage. When I got home, I checked the glass closely and noticed a divot in the black part of the glass to the left and in the corner in front of the driver. That divot also has a crack that runs to the edge so it cannot be repaired, the whole thing has to be replaced :(
- Had an odd thing at a couple of stops where the vehicle said it couldn't detect my key even though I was sitting in the seat holding the key. The fix was to walk away from the vehicle (maybe 10 ft) and return. After that, no problem.
- Gas prices! Ouch.
- Wireless Apple CarPlay would occasionally fail to connect or drop the connection. Only happened 3-4 times.

Bottom line: This rig is a beast and so much fun! Watch out for those tires and the windshield though :)

Ford Bronco Moab and Back 1


Ford Bronco Moab and Back 2


Ford Bronco Moab and Back 3
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dcaero

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Great trip! I just went to Crystal Mill a month ago and the area is beautiful. You'll appreciate the off road experience much more in aired down tires. I was able to get along on that trail pretty quickly and comfortably.
 
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TigerBronco

TigerBronco

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Great trip! I just went to Crystal Mill a month ago and the area is beautiful. You'll appreciate the off road experience much more in aired down tires. I was able to get along on that trail pretty quickly and comfortably.
Was a very cool trail. Just very stressed after puncturing one tire right after getting on the trail. The other happened coming off. Still worth it!
 

titleistforged

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Awesome! I did something similar, although less miles. Norcal -> Palm Desert -> Las Vegas -> LA -> Norcal.

I also have a horribly cracked windshield (thanks random truck on the highway!). Gas mileage is around 18mpg on my base with 32s, and my CarPlay also crapped out a few times. Atrocious wind noise. Otherwise, comfortable and easy to drive long distance.
 
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TigerBronco

TigerBronco

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Also of note, I had the opportunity to experience the side-view mirror whistle I've heard about. Not on my rig but on the non-squatch Badlands I drove during Off Roadeo.

When we got onto the road (you have to drive on blacktop a few miles to get to/from the trail) and rolled down the driver's window, there was a god-awful screeching coming directly from the mirror on the driver's side! Way worse that I'd even imagined when reading the reports.

I hope everyone who had that issue on their rigs got it sorted out by Ford.
 

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Glad you had a blast. Schofield Pass is a great trail. Can you elaborate on your punctures? Where they both sidewall punctures Or in the treads?
 

gac458

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I just did a 1200 mile round trip in my 4 door Wildtrak from Galveston, Texas to Destin, Florida & back. Averaged 18.5 overall for the trip, running between 75 - 85 mph. Gas prices suck by the way, especially running premium fuel!
Ran through lots of rain on the trip to Florida with no roof leaks. Wind noise wasn't terrible, I would say about what I expected as far as cabin noise. Bronco was an easy drive with no issues, it handled great & was very comfortable for both me and my wife.

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Rick Astley

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So glad you got the Lightning Blue paint with your FE, it's a beautiful color!

Dang, you got lucky on gas, that's not bad even considering the monkey-piss RON! About $0.30 a gallon cheaper than WA prices have been and we've held steady just under $6 a gallon for the past year.
 

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TigerBronco

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So glad you got the Lightning Blue paint with your FE, it's a beautiful color!

Dang, you got lucky on gas, that's not bad even considering the monkey-piss RON! About $0.30 a gallon cheaper than WA prices have been and we've held steady just under $6 a gallon for the past year.
Thanks. I love the Lightning Blue. Have to credit my 10yr old for that one. She made the final call!

Gas near $6 a gallon is crazy! The $5.45 in the pic was my max and that was in Moab. What really sucks too is that in NM, UT and CO, the signs advertising prices for "unleaded" is typically 85/86 octane. So, to meet the minimum from Ford, you have to go up the the "mid-grade" stuff that is 20-30 cents more than what you see on the sign. Didn't like that :(
 

Rick Astley

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Thanks. I love the Lightning Blue. Have to credit my 10yr old for that one. She made the final call!

Gas near $6 a gallon is crazy! The $5.45 in the pic was my max and that was in Moab. What really sucks too is that in NM, UT and CO, the signs advertising prices for "unleaded" is typically 85/86 octane. So, to meet the minimum from Ford, you have to go up the the "mid-grade" stuff that is 20-30 cents more than what you see on the sign. Didn't like that :(
Have you noticed the direct correlation between the RON rating of a state's gasoline and how much their beer sucks?

UT has some of the worst beer i've ever had and their gas sucks. Food overall in Moab was pretty terrible, we never found a place we would give over a 4 (out of 10) to.

Lightning Blue does a treat on our Ranger! Really wish it was available on Bronco for us plebs as I would be happy to match that color across multiple vehicles.
Ford Bronco Moab and Back Ranger and Fleetline 2
 

Lowdogg

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This was a great report. I look forward to some nice road trips in the future. I also loved Moab Off-roadeo. Any other accessories that you wish you had, besides what you mentioned?
 
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TigerBronco

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This was a great report. I look forward to some nice road trips in the future. I also loved Moab Off-roadeo. Any other accessories that you wish you had, besides what you mentioned?
Thanks!

I was hoping to have a roof rack and @JTopsUSA bimini but production issues with both meant I got neither before departure. That being said, I didn't need either.

The Bronco held a LOT of cargo and I was kind of glad I didn't have to deal with putting on and taking off cargo from the top of the Bronco.

Just based on our travel schedule, never had much of an opportunity to take roof panels off. Pulled the front two off one night in Arches NP but the sun was already down so no need for the bimini.

The onboard air was the big one I could have really used and will have it installed in the near future. Almost essential if you really plan to do much off-roading, IMHO.
 

TheKim

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Wireless Android Auto and Wireless CarPlay are AWESOME... until they're not, and they start dropping for zero reason.
It's a Wifi connection inside the vehicle, using ADHOC, and it just completely cuts out in some areas. Maybe it's interference, maybe something else, but it's super frustrating when you're just cruising along and all of a sudden everything is gone from the screen.
I've resorted back to just using a USB cable, better connection quality, it charges my phone faster than the wireless pad, and it's less CPU intensive, so my phone isn't as hot.
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