Yes, another first weeks (1000+ mile) ownership impressions, stats, and issues.

[Cbiggs]

Great write up. I’m a non-sas BL with the 2.7 with 6,900 miles and have almost the exact same observations and opinions. .

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[fwade4]

Took delivery 11/19 and started the half assed break-in period trying to get some easy miles on it before a long thanksgiving road trip. Immediately installed the Bestop Trektop, console vault in the armrest, and hood struts. Left for Thanksgiving road-trip with about 400 miles on it. Returned on Saturday with 1750 miles on it. Here are the nuts and bolts of driving a Sasqutach/Badlands/Lux/2.7 with 4.70 gearing.

Observations​

• Averaged 18.9 mpg since purchase using 91 octane. Half of the miles were at altitude and in the mountains (6000 ft.+)
• Trektop is louder than the factory soft top at speeds below 60 mph. Above 60 the Trektop seems to handle the speed quieter. Totally fine to have conversations, listen to music, sports, or podcats at 80 mph and above.
• Heated steering wheel seems plenty hot to me. I have had several cars with them and it is on par with all of the others. Could be a few degrees under our Yukon but those I have to turn off after a few minutes because they get too hot. The Broncos you can leave on and it is pleasant here in the mountains.
• Very comfortable seats. Loved them on my 8 hr. drive home and I have a jacked up lower back that usually is sore for a day or two after a long road trip. The 2020 4Runner I traded in was awful in comparison and I had the top level trim on that.
• Handled about the same or better than the 4Runner but so much better on road than my past Jeeps.
• Travelled to Palm Springs and was able to take doors and top off. Easy and awesome! They are light and easily handled. Wouldn't hesitate to remove them just for a Sunday drive or something short. Takes all of five minutes both directions.
• Easiest and best performing adaptive cruise control I have used (even in traffic).
• Sound system was great even with a soft top.
• 2.7 sounds great under acceleration and is far superior to anything Jeep offers at least in terms of power (392 obviously excluded). We will see about reliability going forward. I've driven the 2.3 and I can't imagine purchasing that after having the 2.7. My impression of the 2.3 with an automatic was that of a Nissan Sentra rental car. The 2.7 gets after it so much more it is hard to understand people buying the 2.3 unless they want a manual.
• The 10 speed transmission is very smooth and efficient. So much so that I had to use manual mode to select proper rpm ranges during break-in. Otherwise speed didn't matter...always in the 2000-2300 rpm range at highway speeds (65 mph+).
• Auto start/stop did not annoy me and is super easy to bypass anyhow.
• Love the 12" infotainment screen but the driver instrument cluster is bad. Ford really needs to rethink this. Absolutely hated it at first but now I that I am used to it I can live with it, though still not happy with it. Why put the speedometer gauge taking up half the space when you have to have the fixed digital readout there also? As reviews have said it needs improvement.
• Ran at 195-205 degrees almost all tehe time regardless of outside temperature. Going up a long steep grad it crept up to 226 for some time. Not sure if this is normal (seems a tad high compared to my other vehicles), but it cools down very fast when the grade eases up. Transmission never went above 210 but normally in the 200 range.

Problems and First Service

• No warning lights or warnings on the infotainment system but the Ford Pass app sent me a warning. "Hill Start Assist Warning." "The Hill Start Assist System has detected a failure." "Please have the system checked by an authorized dealer." So that will need to be checked soon but it did not affect drivability in any way.
• Changed oil after the road trip at 1763 miles. Got out almost exactly 7 qts. out and put same back in. Very easy DIY. Only four easy bolts to remove on the skid plate to get to the oil pan. In fact it takes about half the time as doing the same on my 4Runner or Tundras in the past (and that's never having done in before on the Bronco and not looking anything up).

In summary, it is as much fun to own as I was hoping for and I haven't even been able to off-road it yet. People will follow you and come take pictures and ask questions. Jeep owners are all green with jealousy when you smoothly pass them up mountain passes while they whine away at redline. If I was ordering it all over again I'd spec it the same if I had the $$$. After having driven both engines I'd 100% go 2.7 unless I had to have the manual transmission. Also, be aware it will immediately become the most popular car between you, your spouse, and your teenager when someone leaves the house.

Your bronco looks fantastic. Did you get the fender badge from bronco depot? Was the original badge hard to remove?

 

[pakrat]

This all sounds good. I have 2 door trektop waiting for spring to put on.

At first I didn’t like that the trektop folds back on the top of the roll bar but I had JL and JK Jeeps with soft tops and when the top is down it is hard to see out the rear because the folded top blocks a lot of the view. I think this is a better functional design and have gotten used to the look.

And I am glad that if you want to take off the entire top it is only 3 screws so if I get a stretch of no rain I can easily take the top off.

Like I said, I have not done that yet and I went out yesterday to double check. I don't want to leave a false impression of it being easy if it is not.

So there are the two latches in the front, you have to slide out the rear window and rear side windows, two (might be a third) screws for the pivoting arms, and on top of the rear cross bar/roll bar there is a bracket on each side that has two bolts (they can be accessed pretty easily with a socket wrench), lastly there is either a third screw or bolt that attaches a bracket and pivot between the rear rollbar speakers (removing the bolt might be easiest). That is it.

Now if you bought it from Bestop and had it shipped to you to install yourself they claim it should take 1.5 hrs. to assemble and install. I call BS on that. I am mechanically inclined and in took me the better part of 4 hrs. It's obviously expensive and I was installing it on my 6 hr. old Bronco so I was going slow, reading everything 2x, and I did it by myself at night in the driveway. Could you do it faster with help, in a well lighted area, and not out in 50 degree weather? Sure, but I doubt 1.5 hrs. unless you have done one before.

Lastly I will say if you install it yourself then you will know how to take it off pretty easy. I'm guessing 10-15 minutes to do it safely without causing damage and you have help with will be mandatory to handle it. Putting it back on will propbably be in the neighborhood of 20 minutes with help. I wouldn't do this for a Sunday drive but if you know you want it off for a week or so I would go for it.

 

[pakrat]

6th Gen 4Runner coming 2023 I think. He could grab a 5 year old GX & do some mild cutting. That gets him a V8, full-time 4WD, and a very cozy interior…and very capable.

4Runner was a good ride. Talk about a car that you can jump in and have confidence there will be no mechanical breakdowns! That being said, I had several major complaints. While the engine and transmission are bombproof, the combination sucked. No power and no gears to help out. It is rated at 5000 lbs. towing but you couldn't tow 1000 lbs. up a mtn grade and not be the slowest thing on the road. Redline the whole time to hold any speed and forget about passing. And forget about the seating for alot of people. I'm not alone (just check the T4R forums) in saying that for anything past an hour tops the seats are awful. Compare that to my 8hr + roadtrip in the new Bronco where I barely shifted position and got out feeling great with no back pain. Even the steering wheel was uncomfortable w/o a custom leather wrap.

But really the kicker for me was the 4Runner was just not fun. It got you where you wanted to go with near 100% certainty but it was just so vanilla. The Bronco is fun in a way that is hard to describe and you can change it's personality in minutes by taking doors off, or top back or top off.

 

[pakrat]

Your bronco looks fantastic. Did you get the fender badge from bronco depot? Was the original badge hard to remove?

Yes. Just thought the factory badging was half-arsed. Kinda cheesy and it's removal really just cleans it up to me.

 

[pakrat]

Is that based on calculating mileage at the end of the tank or the dash display? I suspect the dash displays are slightly optimistic.

Both. The dash was actually slightly lower but I could have topped off at the start of the trip with a little extra and just let the auto shut-off do its thing when I got home.

 

[pakrat]

Thanks for the info. I tried to talk about the superiority of the 2.7 on my first post, and got blasted into the ground. It's good to hear someone agrees.

Time will tell. I'm of course a little concerned about some of the problems being posted here on B6G. Much less talk of it on BN but still a concern. That said, I personally would not own a Bronco with the 2.3. It seems sufficient around town but my first hand experience after demoing the dealers Big Bend 2.3 w/10 speed made me actually question buying a Bronco at all. Then mine showed up and it was a world of difference. Sound under acceleration, passing, everything seemed just better.

 

[SoCalDawg]

4Runner was a good ride. Talk about a car that you can jump in and have confidence there will be no mechanical breakdowns! That being said, I had several major complaints. While the engine and transmission are bombproof, the combination sucked. No power and no gears to help out. It is rated at 5000 lbs. towing but you couldn't tow 1000 lbs. up a mtn grade and not be the slowest thing on the road. Redline the whole time to hold any speed and forget about passing. And forget about the seating for alot of people. I'm not alone (just check the T4R forums) in saying that for anything past an hour tops the seats are awful. Compare that to my 8hr + roadtrip in the new Bronco where I barely shifted position and got out feeling great with no back pain. Even the steering wheel was uncomfortable w/o a custom leather wrap.

But really the kicker for me was the 4Runner was just not fun. It got you where you wanted to go with near 100% certainty but it was just so vanilla. The Bronco is fun in a way that is hard to describe and you can change it's personality in minutes by taking doors off, or top back or top off.

I love Toyotas but agree on all points. Towed a side by side up to Hungry Valley and Runner did not enjoy the climb. Have had spine surgery and no lingering issues but 4Runner seats did make my back ache. I want a LC .. but my boys say that “isn’t fun”. I do like my GX (my third) but it also is unexciting and lacks any fun factor.

 

[BD1]

Like I said, I have not done that yet and I went out yesterday to double check. I don't want to leave a false impression of it being easy if it is not.

So there are the two latches in the front, you have to slide out the rear window and rear side windows, two (might be a third) screws for the pivoting arms, and on top of the rear cross bar/roll bar there is a bracket on each side that has two bolts (they can be accessed pretty easily with a socket wrench), lastly there is either a third screw or bolt that attaches a bracket and pivot between the rear rollbar speakers (removing the bolt might be easiest). That is it.

Now if you bought it from Bestop and had it shipped to you to install yourself they claim it should take 1.5 hrs. to assemble and install. I call BS on that. I am mechanically inclined and in took me the better part of 4 hrs. It's obviously expensive and I was installing it on my 6 hr. old Bronco so I was going slow, reading everything 2x, and I did it by myself at night in the driveway. Could you do it faster with help, in a well lighted area, and not out in 50 degree weather? Sure, but I doubt 1.5 hrs. unless you have done one before.

Lastly I will say if you install it yourself then you will know how to take it off pretty easy. I'm guessing 10-15 minutes to do it safely without causing damage and you have help with will be mandatory to handle it. Putting it back on will propbably be in the neighborhood of 20 minutes with help. I wouldn't do this for a Sunday drive but if you know you want it off for a week or so I would go for it.

Thanks this is helpful and sounds similar to the JL Jeep soft top which I had (made by Bestop I believe). I looked at the trektop instructions and I agree if you want to take it off for a week or so it could be worth the effort but not for a Sunday afternoon. I also like riding around with ‘safari’ top as Jeep calls it. With just the soft top on but all the windows off/down.

I expect the first time install will take longer because of learning curve and it looks like there are some 1 time tasks like attaching the bows to the fabric? If it is like the Jeep you leave the bows attached going forward.

 

[pakrat]

I think I mentioned that. If you want the manual and that's a deal beaker without a manual...than get the 2.3 Manual and enjoy the heck out of it. I imagine the manual would put the fun factor with the 2.3L!

 

[TheWoo]

My mileage is only 15.3 on average though, a bit disappointing, but most of my daily driving is something like 3 or 4 miles taking my kid and her friend to school or going to the grocery store. Though it didn't change much on our trip along the coast, but I also didn't reset the trip counter.

The power of the 2.7 is pretty amazing, coming from an 18 year old Taco. Plenty passing power, even at 80+ and gets going on an on ramp like a champ. Would not need or want more, but would not want less.

I'm guessing the 80+mph comments are your main culprit. There's no way to drive this brick at 80mph or more and get good mileage unless you've got a strong tailwind and are going downhill.

These things are going to be really sensitive to wind in general at high speeds. A cross or, god forbid, headwind is really going to suck it down.

In my Gladiator Mojave, I can drive the same way on the Interstate around here (I regularly run 80 mph) and get 16+ if there's no wind, but the same route with a crosswind gets me under 15 and a headwind wipes it down under 14. It's brutal. And I live in Kansas, so it's always windy.

I've found anything above 65 mph to be pretty exponential in terms of the impact of cross- or headwinds, and I expect the Bronco to be very similar.

 

[GritDoc]

Same for me about the hill park assist failure. I plan to take it in next Wednesday, will post if I found out.

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