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Moab Ride Along – Why I was disappointed

DaveH

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I jumped on the chance to do a ride along in Moab, not only to see and ride in the Bronco, but when else was I ever going to get a chance to ride off road with a professional driver? Mentally, I was prepared for a ride that, at times, would require me to hold onto those grab handles and get uncomfortable.

That was not the experience I got. Our ride was Curt LeDuc in a 4-door Badlands, soft top, manual, no squatch. Throughout the ride, I indicated we were there to experience the Bronco. No need to hold back on our account. At the end of the ride, it just didn’t feel like we had done anything that particularly amazing. However, after having time to reflect on the ride, I realized that our seemingly uneventful experience was due to some combination of riding in an amazing vehicle and having an outstanding driver. In other words, had we done the same ride in a less capable vehicle with a lessor driver, the ride would have seemed more extreme.

Ride quality: Truly amazing off road. Part of the big Bronco route overlaps the route used for the Sport. Even though the sport is quite capable, the full size was so much smoother. Things that caused the sport to jostle around were absorbed by the full size. The outstanding ride quality is what made the ride so comfortable.

Throughout the ride, everything seemed completely under control, and I never felt like we were actually pushing the limits of the Bronco. I have no doubt that Curt LeDuc’s driving skill played a part in this, but there was very little in the ride that I don’t think I would be perfectly comfortable doing, although at a slower speed. I would equate the Bronco to a trophy truck for the everyday enthusiast.

Headroom: I have not seen this noted elsewhere. My son is 6’ 1”, and he was in the backseat. Going down the road, headroom was fine. However, if the Bronco was tilted to the side, he had to lean that way as well to avoid hitting his head on the roll bar above the window. It wasn’t a big deal, but if you have 3 people in the back seat, they might find themselves to be leaning on each other.

MT: I may have missed it, but a feature that I was not aware of is that if you stall it, the Bronco will automatically restart as soon as you push in the clutch. I also got a better explanation of how hill assist works. It will keep the brake engaged until you start to engage the clutch. (This may be bad news for those of you how don’t like the nanny features. You’ll miss out on that panicked feeling you get when you stall at a busy intersection.)

Conclusion: This is a truly amazing vehicle. You should probably all cancel your orders so that I can get mine sooner.

I apologize for no video. We did a Sport drive earlier in the day, and I practiced doing video on that ride. However, trying to hold and monitor the camera gave me some motion sickness. I decided that for the ride in the full size, I would not bother with the video so I could soak up the experience.

Ford Bronco Moab Ride Along – Why I was disappointed IMG_0553[1].JPG
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ColoradoGuy

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You got me with the title, Dave. :ROFLMAO:

Cool feedback and perspective. The smooth riding offroad is something I'm really looking forward to. We have some great backroads in Colorado that can get you to some beautiful places and I can't wait to get the family out there.
 

Cappy

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Nice write up. I thought for sure your were gonna say it was that you didn't actually get to drive it yourself. :)

Headroom: I have not seen this noted elsewhere. My son is 6’ 1”, and he was in the backseat. Going down the road, headroom was fine. However, if the Bronco was tilted to the side, he had to lean that way as well to avoid hitting his head on the roll bar above the window. It wasn’t a big deal, but if you have 3 people in the back seat, they might find themselves to be leaning on each other.

MT: I may have missed it, but a feature that I was not aware of is that if you stall it, the Bronco will automatically restart as soon as you push in the clutch. I also got a better explanation of how hill assist works. It will keep the brake engaged until you start to engage the clutch. (This may be bad news for those of you how don’t like the nanny features. You’ll miss out on that panicked feeling you get when you stall at a busy intersection.)
This is new information! Thank you for sharing it. I was wondering what the clearance was like on the rollbar in the back.

And that auto start feature on the manual is something I didn't know existed but am glad it does.
 

sledboy

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I found your perspective interesting. We also got to ride with Curt in the same vehicle and, as you said, he is an amazing driver. We got every bit of excitement out of that ride as we expected. He was flying down the roads at 50 to 60 miles per hour and jumped the Bronco a few times. But we never felt unsafe. The Bronco is an amazing vehicle and he is an amazing driver!
 

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Wonder if the clutch in restart with the stall is tied to auto stop start vice the hill descent? Either way, if brakes will hold you and restart is a quick clutch in it's a cool feature.

Good write up, thanks!
 

Rick Astley

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MT: I may have missed it, but a feature that I was not aware of is that if you stall it, the Bronco will automatically restart as soon as you push in the clutch. I also got a better explanation of how hill assist works. It will keep the brake engaged until you start to engage the clutch. (This may be bad news for those of you how don’t like the nanny features. You’ll miss out on that panicked feeling you get when you stall at a busy intersection.)
Interesting to hear more about these additional functions built into the MT package, thanks for sharing that and this is something I'm interested to see in action. (y)

Also, don't tell me how I'm allowed to feel when I kill the car at an intersection! I can still feel like an idiot, thank you very much! :ROFLMAO:
 
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Erock

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Congrats... especially getting to experience it with your son
 
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DaveH

DaveH

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Also, don't tell me how I'm allowed to feel when I kill the car at an intersection! I can still feel like an idiot, thank you very much! :ROFLMAO:
That experience is a right of passage when learning to drive an MT. One of my most vivid memories of learning to drive is stalling my dad's VW van in heavy traffic while trying to downshift on the drive up to the Eisenhower tunnel. With the Bronco, you'll lose a lot of that. A quick depress of the clutch, the engine starts back up, and you are on your way.
 

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DaveH

DaveH

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I found your perspective interesting. We also got to ride with Curt in the same vehicle and, as you said, he is an amazing driver. We got every bit of excitement out of that ride as we expected. He was flying down the roads at 50 to 60 miles per hour and jumped the Bronco a few times. But we never felt unsafe. The Bronco is an amazing vehicle and he is an amazing driver!
I should have paid closer attention to the speed. Curt said we left the ground going over one hill. I'll have to take his word for it because the landing was so smooth, I couldn't tell for certain.
 

BigFootie

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Thanks for the write up Dave. Seems like 100 years ago since I stalled a vehicle. That will be a feature that I doubt I’ll get to experience in real life anymore.
 

hellahella

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Interesting to hear more about these additional functions built into the MT package, thanks for sharing that and this is something I'm interested to see in action. (y)

Also, don't tell me how I'm allowed to feel when I kill the car at an intersection! I can still feel like an idiot, thank you very much! :ROFLMAO:
I ordered MT too and I didn't know these nanny features existed, I'm really curious if there are any more.

Also, Im curious with these modern MT, can you still do mechanical stuff like push start etc?
 

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Ride quality: Truly amazing off road. Part of the big Bronco route overlaps the route used for the Sport. Even though the sport is quite capable, the full size was so much smoother. Things that caused the sport to jostle around were absorbed by the full size. The outstanding ride quality is what made the ride so comfortable.
Great report, thank you, your comparisons of the ride quality vs the Sport is great to see.

It's interesting that a BOF could ride smoother than a Unibody, even one designed to go offroad. So what magic has Ford done to the Bronco suspension to achieve this?
 
 


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