Owner impressions requested on Badlands Manual Transmission

[Mattyfly42]

Love the manual. Super fun to drive. Added the tune, pedal commander and blowoff valve and I love ripping it around. Trails are more fun in a Manual if you ask me. And you don't have donut mode mode but pop the clutch in first in dirt and it spins on a dime. Crawler gear will climb up a wall and great for traffic.

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[SuperDave150]

The recent news (at least what we know now) on the Wildtrak situation has me thinking. To qualify for the $2500 credit, a Non-Sasquatch Badlands 4-door with the soft top and the High package gets me as close as I can to my WT order.

I drove stick in high school and have borrowed stick-shift cars on occasion from family members over the years. The last one that I drove regularly was my brother's 1991 Izuzu Trooper, we he let go for the Obama 'Cash for Clunkers' program.

So my experience is with older manual transmissions.

What are your thoughts on the 2.3/ manual set up?

How does it compare with other manual transmission vehicles you have owned or test driven?

I grew up with manuals and have owned many in my lifetime. Test drove a Bronco with the manual. Here’s my 2 cents:

• The transmission & clutch is fantastic
• The engine is awesome but “peaky“ - it doesn’t have low end torque, then the turbo kicks in, then you‘re out of RPM.
• The combination of the short-RPM peakiness with the manual is exactly like driving a stick shift turbodiesel truck; not a wide RPM band to work with so you’re always working to keep the engine happy.

As fun & awesome as the manual is, the 10 speed automatic is awesomer. It keeps the engine in the sweet spot, and shifts fast, negating almost all of the engine peakiness.

Off road, here’s where an automatic wins big time: You’re going to climb a big long steep hill, or cross a deep mud bog. With an automatic you floor it and let the automatic pick & shift gears on the fly without ever losing momentum. With a stick shift you guess beforehand what gear you’re going to need but if you’re wrong there’s no human on earth who can shift as quickly as a modern automatic.

#speakingFromExperience

 

[Boreal]

Echoing almost everything here:

Its cable notchyness is validating. Once you've nailed the shift point and synchro timing, its a very smooth operation.

First and Second gear are long, let the engine Rev. Three and four are where most city driving takes place. The boost builds from 2-3k and 3-5k she really pulls when you tip into it.

The clutch is forgiving, and when you are crawling you don't need any throttle, just slowly feed it out. Im 5'7" and the pedal is just the tiniest bit too long, where my heel lifts off the floor during full application.

The 2.3L is stout. The 2.3/7MT are a few hundred pounds lighter than the 2.7/10AT combo.

The swaybar disco, you will use it more than you think if you do any trails. The Hill Descent, simply magic (Im sure One Pedal would provide the same control).

35's can be shoved in the wheels wells with no mods (according to B6G). But a small lift and you got yourself a 4.7 geared Mansquatch.

Even with the Novel MT Grind, I still wouldn't change the drivetrain combo

 

[amazingjason]

although be nice to not need 3 shifts to get to 60

Are you starting in crawl?

Jason

 

[DrewBronc21]

Many of us wouldn‘t buy a Bronco without manual transmission And Having had almost all manual transmission vehicles since the 1990s I can say that the Bronco manual is as easy to drive as any modern manual. Its very forgiving If you’re new to manual. Crawler gear is excellent. You also get hill start assist on new manuals which some people hate but I’ve gotten used to on modern manuals. With the ford Perfoamce tune you can also get rev matching downshift . I learned to drive manual on an 86 Toyota 22re pickup and that truck would buck all over the place if you didn’t shift right. It didn’t do you any favors.

 

[indio22]

I test drove a 2-door manual trans Bronco on an off-road coarse, and thought it performed very well. No issues shifting, climbing or descending. Plenty of gearing for control and power. The supposed synchro/gear defect some folks are encountering, does trouble me though.

I definitely would have gone manual, if the 28k base 2-door had worked out. It would have been a relatively low cost and simple (in this day and age anyway) off-road vehicle. I enjoy maneuvering smaller manual trans vehicles.

But with the latest Ford debacle offer putting the kybosh on 2-door orders, I'm less inclined to get the manual on a more expensive larger 4-door. With 4 passengers, gear and maybe towing, I'd be more inclined to consider the V6 with auto.

For the record, I'm a long time off-roader, and have owned both manual and automatic open top 4x4s. Each has advantages and disadvantages. Overall though, for slower trail work, the auto is better. Because of the essentially infinite low speed control, and ease on the drivetrain.

 

[stickshifthappy]

Real men drive stick shifts......

I love the manual transmission, easy pedal work, great pick up, and you get the crawler gear. Less shit to break over time.

I wouldn't have bought the Bronco if I couldn't t get the manual

 

[kodiakisland]

I would not have bought a Bronco if manual wasn’t an option.
15 months and 18,000 miles later, my mind hasn’t changed.

I’d also take some of the assessments here based on one test ride or just reading the forum for what they are.

 

[LT. DAN ICE CREAM!!!]

Having never driven a stick shift before, I decided it was a great idea to buy a $50,000 vehicle with a manual transmission. Best decision I ever made.

Now if they could only get a window regulator for me so I can get her back, I'd be golden.

 

[Lèòn]

Are you starting in crawl?

Jason

No, only use crawl on trails

2nd gear ends around 55

 

[JerryC]

No, only use crawl on trails

and bumper to bumper traffic

 

[cyberfalco]

Mine was originally a 2021 and since I wanted the Sasquatch package I couldn't get the manual in 2021. That didn't stop me from ordering.

It got pushed to a 2022 so when I reordered I changed to a manual.

Not having a manual would have not stopped me from ordering. The auto is great but I do like my manual.

I can see where having a 4 door you would want the trail turn assist of the auto. I don't miss it in the 2 door.

 

[bradcd]

Another very convenient factor I don't think I've seen mentioned yet is that the manual plays well with the auto start/stop function. The computer shuts the engine off when conditions are met, like in neutral with the clutch out. As soon as you can push the clutch back in again the engine will start back up. So in most scenarios you can't mechanically kill the engine. This makes it a wonderful vehicle to teach someone how to drive a manual. If they kill it then they just push the clutch in and it'll fire right back up. Super forgiving.

 

[djm101]

OP - I think you've got all the information you need from everyone who chimed in. The manual is awesome and I wouldn't have had mine any other way.

 

[amazingjason]

No, only use crawl on trails

2nd gear ends around 55

So two shifts to 60.

Jason

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