Motortrend bias article (watch my video from moab)

[WuNgUn]

So, basically the Wrangler is a better off-roader because it comes with KO2's...
The only reason.
Watching videos of Squatched Bronco's, it seems the Territories do really well or they're utter crap

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[Mdeamon]

So, basically the Wrangler is a better off-roader because it comes with KO2's...
The only reason.
Watching videos of Squatched Bronco's, it seems the Territories do really well or they're utter crap

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[Snowdogyyz]

Let’s also remember that Ford really hasn’t had a dog in the fight for a long time. At least not anything to compete with Jeep in off-roading. So it makes sense to me that many off-road publications probably do lean towards Jeep because they were essentially the top brand for extreme off-roading and most of these folks probably owned or own Jeep’s.

 

[fergthulhu]

It looked like this was a mostly fair article to me. Many of their complaints are things that owners on this forum have pointed out; some of which are due to Ford trying some new things, some are due to the options on the model they tested (35s on the road), and many will likely be addressed as the bronco evolves. In other words, I found very little surprising in their complaints after reading this forum for over a year.

The only real problem I have is that I'd like to see what they struggled to get up in 4-lo and fully locked that the jeep went up open in 4-hi. That seems like a pretty big disparity and it would be nice if they had a photo or video of any of this terrain that it struggled on. Is it possible that they're just more used to driving jeeps and aren't yet as comfortable with the bronco? Seems likely.

One other, minor, quibble is their dismissal of the desert running. It could be significantly better there than the jeep, and if that's your use case then you probably don't really care about a lot of the other stuff.

 

[Mdeamon]

I do call into question only 'airing down' to 30psi - what's the point? Need to drop to at least 20psi to make a difference. And I think it would have helped the Bronco more in increased traction.

The thing is, every 'disparagement' in the article of the Bronco has been posted in this forum. It's pretty accurate.
The window rattle has been described in detail here:
https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/violent-window-rattle.25251/

And the difficulty to climb relatively easy obstacles without lockers has been covered as well:


Hopefully the off road traction control will get tweaked to perform better. But for now, you really need lockers in the Bronco. Both Jeep and Toyota have a separate system when in 4L that operates differently from standard TC and makes the need for lockers much less.

As for pavement feel, well, it is really subjective. I love how my 2 door JL drives. I do 75 - 80 on the freeway everyday and its solid as a rock. I prefer it to my wife's Land Rover as it feels more alive and connected. But, we have great, smooth roads, if I had to drive on some of those eastern highways, with heavy expansion joints every 20 feet, I would absolutely favor something with a more forgiving suspension.

The rest of the stuff is all relative to personal preferences - of which the writer does definitely favor the Wrangler, though he points out, albeit in passing, those opinions are split amongst the testers.

But in the end his conclusion is pretty spot on:
"The Bronco is an excellent Wrangler competitor, but it's no Wrangler killer"

Go back a year and look at all the posts on here about how the Wrangler will be dead once the Bronco hits the street. Hyperbole runs strong in these forums...

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[Bronco cat]

I thought the article was pretty accurate. The 35s arent doing the Bronco any favors on the road vs the 33s on the wrangler. If the Bronco had 33s, it would have tracked better on the road. Bronco is going to ride smoother. The wrangler is a better off-roader with the Solid Front axle.
The big difference between the jeep and the Bronco is that you can actually buy a jeep.

I totally disagree the SAS I had to test drive for almost a week was very tolerable on the road. I took some off ramps, by accident at close to 80 and the tire was fine.

 

[Razorbak86]

The only thing I’ve learned from reading MotorTrend is that everything new is leading, cutting edge, and redefines the segment.

Everything two years old is two years overdue for a refresh.

It’s almost like they’re… … focused on trends.

 

[Bronco cat]

At the end of the day the article was a bullshit hack job. Agree with others on here that @motortrend is heavily biased toward mopar and this article shows it. Basically saying the bronco sucks and then pointing out that the tires are the major culprit. I just did the NH off-rodeo and our day was after a night of torrential downpours in the woods with mud, rocks and leaves everywhere. 6 of the 7 vehicles in our group were territories and mine was the lone K02 on 33’s no one had any issues climbing over anything and other than running in low range, Bc we were serious rock crawling, we barely used any of the lockers and it was usually only the rear and only as long as it took us to get moving. That was because we actually had a legit trail guide that knew what they were doing. Based on the way the article was written I have a hard time believing any of the guys have truly spent any amount of time actually truly 4-wheeling. We had zero issues and got no broncos stuck or even close to stuck all day.

 

[WuNgUn]

I totally disagree the SAS I had to test drive for almost a week was very tolerable on the road. I took some off ramps, by accident at close to 80 and the tire was fine.

"By accident" lol
That dog don't hunt

 

[WuNgUn]

It's "car" and driver... I'll look for an actual review from a truck/offroad rag

 

[Kos]

It’s almost like they’re… … focused on trends.

It’s just annoying that everything they like today you know they are just going to trash in 18 months.

 

[406g]

At the end of the day the article was a bullshit hack job. Agree with others on here that @motortrend is heavily biased toward mopar and this article shows it. Basically saying the bronco sucks and then pointing out that the tires are the major culprit. I just did the NH off-rodeo and our day was after a night of torrential downpours in the woods with mud, rocks and leaves everywhere. 6 of the 7 vehicles in our group were territories and mine was the lone K02 on 33’s no one had any issues climbing over anything and other than running in low range, Bc we were serious rock crawling, we barely used any of the lockers and it was usually only the rear and only as long as it took us to get moving. That was because we actually had a legit trail guide that knew what they were doing. Based on the way the article was written I have a hard time believing any of the guys have truly spent any amount of time actually truly 4-wheeling. We had zero issues and got no broncos stuck or even close to stuck all day.

Side note - how did you feel your non sas badlands compared to the Sasquatch broncos around you? I did the Nevada Off-Roadeo, but everything there was Squatched, so I couldn’t compare.

 

[Jdc]

Look at the videos of even basic trails. The wrangler does better all the way around, not just extreme rock crawling. The article was pretty accurate in that respect as well. If you are looking for a smooth offroad ride, then yeah the Bronco is the way to go.

I'm not an off-road expert and my experience with the bronco is limited to the off-roadeo I did in New Hampshire, but it didn't struggle up any of those challenges I'm sure 95% of people who buy either of these vehicles would take it out in those conditions. They mentioned the bronco is a better desert runner, which means it'll be a smoother ride going down fire roads or washboard roads. I was in a lot of mud and it had no issues so yeah I'll stick with my original statement, Jeeps might be better crawlers but that's not all off-roading

 

[HotdogThud]

You dont know more than motortrend.

Oh yeah buddy?! what about Motortred?! I bet I know more than them!

 

[Lilj4425]

Subaru and Tesla are better than either of them.

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