The problem with that is it's now too nice to wheel, but maybe you weren't planning on wheeling new bronco either.
Ha, that's right - forgot about this banner. For as little as we know about the (Bronco)Bronco, Ford has said enough for us to have some reasonable expectations. Could this just be a steaming pile, an Escape with a flat-windshield, or just a gadget-oriented crossover that actually doesn't have any kind of measurable capability outside of flexing that you've got a (Bronco)Bronco? Well, I guess, but at least we know enough(?) to know what Ford is aiming at - and likely don't have to worry about anything like GM's Blazer* redux. Yes, Ford is running a business and sometimes the product falls flat from the customer's POV. But as Chrispy mentioned, I don't think there's many people that would consider the Raptor as a poser-truck, I think. I'm sure it gets its criticisms but it isn't like the Raptor is a royal FX4 package. Seems Ford has the capabilities, and though pretty much everything has been under wraps, images like this tell me that Ford actually has a target we can presumably hold them to. It's on them to follow-through of course and if they drop the ball - well you can tell us how right you were... which should be fun.I think some people forgot that we already know Ford’s goal with the Bronco:
Where does it say "Bronco"?I think some people forgot that we already know Ford’s goal with the Bronco:
I would take this with a grain of salt. For example most people who claim to have seen the Bronco at a "Ford Presentation" are probably confused about the small rugged ute. (which does look decently rugged by todays standards). There are even some of our own engineers on unrelated projects who get confused by this. As for the actual Bronco, I highly doubt anyone including upper management has seen a non franken ranger version of the Bronco, until perhaps VERY recently. And its not typical fashion to drive it from NMPDC to the nearest dealership meeting either. This real stuff is made for engineers by engineers to get data and hit objectives. The marketing is its own, and often there is a disconnect. Perhaps people have seen physical mockups, or nice CAD/Renders, but most people who have seen or know anything of consequence cant/wont spill the beans on it yet.
Please pose a link to such a quote.
Here's why I kinda doubt Bronco will match 'rugged capability'. Textbook approach to competing with a market-leader is to match price...and create headspace on one of the three performance dynamics most important to customers. Each of those dynamics is directly linked to design/production costs - so when you spend more in one area, by definition you're spending less in other areas. Of course, all this is determined at the strategy/concept stage. Seems like the Farley quote, "more about comfort than performance" spills the beans.
Did anyone watch Farley speak on the Aviator reveal, or Explorer reveal? (Separate events) its not exactly reading off a teleprompter... it was honestly embarrassing as he stumbled to come up with what to say from his own information or what ever he was practicing in the mirror. I would not treat it as scripture, ever. Hau Thai Tang, or Kumar Galhotra are FAR better sources for technical information and coherence.
) A lot of this was a while ago so public statements and internal meetings may be melding in my memory and I am not about to say anything incriminating yet 
Beat in off road capability to some degree would be assumed, yes. That doesn't mean directly spec for spec though, Bronco may still end up with a higher speed raptor style upper trim to fight the Rubicon rather than trying to directly match the Wrangler's rock crawling. Both would be 'high performance offroad SUVs' to the general public. That would still fit with 'attacking' that trim level.
The problem with that is the short wheelbase that we know the Bronco will have is not good for high speed... and we also know the next gen Ranger raptor is coming to the U.S. a year or two after the bronco. The ranger raptor will definitely be focused on the high speed off road stuff, which would make the Bronco pointless.
Give me some advice here. Not having seen Bronco in either wheelbase, I've been leaning towards the 2-door, as a daily driver. 90% of my driving is in a small town or the national forest - but a couple of times a month I'll drive 2 hours down the interstate to Atlanta & back. And I'll generally drive 20-odd hours each way to hunt up near the Canadian border each fall.
