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I was driving by my local dealer and noticed a Bronco outside—so immediately swung in and asked for a test drive. I’ve got a Rapid Red Badlands optional wheels, high, tow package on order. I’ve been wondering about how the Sasquatch package and the 35” wheels would drive and sound, so I was glad to be able to take it for a spin. Here are my impressions. Keep in mind my current vehicles are a 2005 Jeep LJ with a 3 inch lift and 33” General Grabber A/T new replacements for Wrangler MTs, a 2007 E350 Sportsmobile, and a 2015 Porsche Macan daily driver—the Bronco will be replacing the Macan as I am moving from the suburbs to the country.
My two cents:
Overall Exterior look: Rapid Red seemed just ok—it’s what I ordered and I’m not going to change it but didn’t knock my socks off. Am hoping it will grow on me. I am not a fan of the wildtrak graphics. The tires looked great and in proportion to the vehicle. I would prefer a 2 door Jeep replacement but the 4 door did not seem overwhelmingly long. The rear windows do look a bit wavy, but not terrible. It was SO much easier to open the rear hatch than on my Jeep.
Cockpit: I’m 5’5” and the seats felt a little long to start, hitting under my knees, but by the time I was done with the drive I didn’t notice that. Right away, when I stashed the key in the center console cup holder and touched the plastic I would agree it felt cheap. Felt very thin and unsubstantial. This didn’t bother me too much because this is going to be a vehicle I don’t want to have to worry about getting dirty and it should be easy to clean, but it was noticeable even compared to my 16 year old Jeep. Another reviewer thought the 12” screen was too big but I thought it was fine. The rest of the dash is a bit of a barren wasteland but again simple and easy to clean. Visibility through the dash is a bit obstructed in the center top but not as bulky there as in the Bronco Sport and fine when driving. Windshield broad—hood seemed to stretch on for ever (again I am vertically challenged) but when driving I still had a sense of where it ended and wasn’t concerned about accidentally bumping something due to not being able to understand where the vehicle bumper ends-which is a feeling I have in some vehicles. Took a second to remember that the mirror adjustments are in the center but they are intuitively located for an unfamiliar place.
Stereo sound. Yikes! I agree they B&O system must be suffering from the lack of door speakers. Very little ability to tune the sound beyond rudimentary settings. Passable, and at higher volumes with the top back I could hear it well, but not much depth or tone. I am not an audiophile but I like good sound and this was not really it. For my husband with his army hearing loss, it would probably be fine. This is one area where I am underwhelmed—have been following the threads about upgrades but am concerned with the warning in the manual (page 204 I checked it out) that says changing out speakers can affect the stability control [In addition, installing any stereo speakers may interfere with and adversely affect the electronic stability control system] Wt*?
Driving (on-road, stop and go and highway)— exceeded my expectations. The tires did grab the pavement a bit especially around 40-45 mph. I thought the shifting in sport mode was awkward—timing seemed off—and in normal as well, but maybe that is just the break-in/learning mode with many different test drivers. Acceleration was fine, though the sound was pretty sad. Better than my Jeep, but for the amount of HP it sounded more like a mini-van than a truck. (I’ll just turn up the volume on the radio—oh wait that’s pretty bad too). Yet, I got used to it very quickly, and it handled SO MUCH BETTER than my Jeep. I could hear the tires, but not the road noise of my Jeep, and not obtrusive. Wind noise is evident, but again not intrusive or dominating (unless a tractor trailer truck is going by on the highway.). Night and day compared to the flapping of my Bestop soft top (which has never leaked). After a few miles I just had a grin on my face, even though I was on a highway and strip mall suburbia, and I can’t wait to get mine out to the country and off of pavement. I don’t know how to explain it but to say the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts. I pulled into a parking lot (better turning radius than I expected) and pushed the roof back—very simple and easy and headed back to the highway with the windows down. Again, wind and road noise commensurate with no roof up front and windows down, but quieter than my Jeep and more of a fun experience than deafening ordeal.
Takeaways— My heart wanted to order a 2Dr manual sasquatch, but my head settled on the 2.7 automatic 4 Dr, non-squatch, and I think I will be happy with my Bronco once it arrives. I don’t really need the sasquatch package as I am mostly a forest service road off-roader, and I’d rather not risk the delays—same reason I am fine with high package and trying to upgrade the stereo rather than go for lux and a bunch of tech I don’t want. Some areas could use improvement and upgrading options, but overall it is an engaging, fun, rugged vehicle and I predict many happy bronco owners in the future.
My two cents:
Overall Exterior look: Rapid Red seemed just ok—it’s what I ordered and I’m not going to change it but didn’t knock my socks off. Am hoping it will grow on me. I am not a fan of the wildtrak graphics. The tires looked great and in proportion to the vehicle. I would prefer a 2 door Jeep replacement but the 4 door did not seem overwhelmingly long. The rear windows do look a bit wavy, but not terrible. It was SO much easier to open the rear hatch than on my Jeep.
Cockpit: I’m 5’5” and the seats felt a little long to start, hitting under my knees, but by the time I was done with the drive I didn’t notice that. Right away, when I stashed the key in the center console cup holder and touched the plastic I would agree it felt cheap. Felt very thin and unsubstantial. This didn’t bother me too much because this is going to be a vehicle I don’t want to have to worry about getting dirty and it should be easy to clean, but it was noticeable even compared to my 16 year old Jeep. Another reviewer thought the 12” screen was too big but I thought it was fine. The rest of the dash is a bit of a barren wasteland but again simple and easy to clean. Visibility through the dash is a bit obstructed in the center top but not as bulky there as in the Bronco Sport and fine when driving. Windshield broad—hood seemed to stretch on for ever (again I am vertically challenged) but when driving I still had a sense of where it ended and wasn’t concerned about accidentally bumping something due to not being able to understand where the vehicle bumper ends-which is a feeling I have in some vehicles. Took a second to remember that the mirror adjustments are in the center but they are intuitively located for an unfamiliar place.
Stereo sound. Yikes! I agree they B&O system must be suffering from the lack of door speakers. Very little ability to tune the sound beyond rudimentary settings. Passable, and at higher volumes with the top back I could hear it well, but not much depth or tone. I am not an audiophile but I like good sound and this was not really it. For my husband with his army hearing loss, it would probably be fine. This is one area where I am underwhelmed—have been following the threads about upgrades but am concerned with the warning in the manual (page 204 I checked it out) that says changing out speakers can affect the stability control [In addition, installing any stereo speakers may interfere with and adversely affect the electronic stability control system] Wt*?
Driving (on-road, stop and go and highway)— exceeded my expectations. The tires did grab the pavement a bit especially around 40-45 mph. I thought the shifting in sport mode was awkward—timing seemed off—and in normal as well, but maybe that is just the break-in/learning mode with many different test drivers. Acceleration was fine, though the sound was pretty sad. Better than my Jeep, but for the amount of HP it sounded more like a mini-van than a truck. (I’ll just turn up the volume on the radio—oh wait that’s pretty bad too). Yet, I got used to it very quickly, and it handled SO MUCH BETTER than my Jeep. I could hear the tires, but not the road noise of my Jeep, and not obtrusive. Wind noise is evident, but again not intrusive or dominating (unless a tractor trailer truck is going by on the highway.). Night and day compared to the flapping of my Bestop soft top (which has never leaked). After a few miles I just had a grin on my face, even though I was on a highway and strip mall suburbia, and I can’t wait to get mine out to the country and off of pavement. I don’t know how to explain it but to say the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts. I pulled into a parking lot (better turning radius than I expected) and pushed the roof back—very simple and easy and headed back to the highway with the windows down. Again, wind and road noise commensurate with no roof up front and windows down, but quieter than my Jeep and more of a fun experience than deafening ordeal.
Takeaways— My heart wanted to order a 2Dr manual sasquatch, but my head settled on the 2.7 automatic 4 Dr, non-squatch, and I think I will be happy with my Bronco once it arrives. I don’t really need the sasquatch package as I am mostly a forest service road off-roader, and I’d rather not risk the delays—same reason I am fine with high package and trying to upgrade the stereo rather than go for lux and a bunch of tech I don’t want. Some areas could use improvement and upgrading options, but overall it is an engaging, fun, rugged vehicle and I predict many happy bronco owners in the future.
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