YOLO's Build

[YOLO]

Well, I did a thing.

A couple of weeks ago I moved back to the US after almost 2 years overseas. I knew I would need a new vehicle to replace the 2014 4Runner that I sold before leaving. I admittedly don't do any serious off-roading, but I like the stance, ride, and ruggedness of a body-on-frame 4x4, and I prefer one to a minivan or crossover for family-hauling duties. I was excited about the new Land Cruiser announcement, but those are still a few months away and waiting lists are a mile long anyway.

Anyway, I missed all of the new Bronco hype while I was out of the country, and was only vaguely aware that they even existed, but the availability of a manual transmission really piqued my interest. When I started researching vehicles, I was pretty keen on picking up a Heritage edition - it seemed to be the most economical way of getting my combination of "must-have" options: 4-doors, hardtop, manual transmission, and heated seats. I called around to a few dealers, but all of the Heritage Broncos I found sitting on dealer lots were custom orders and already claimed. I inquired about the possibility of ordering one, but I was told it would likely be at least 6 months and perhaps a year before I got one. That didn't work for me.

I started looking on CarMax because I didn't want to deal with dealer mark-ups and frankly the whole thing seemed easier. I found an Area 51 MY23 Badlands with <6K miles on it that met my minimum criteria. This particular one had the High package. I had experienced 360-degree cameras in a few rental cars overseas, and really liked the feature - I think it is especially well-suited to a larger vehicle like the Bronco. So, at this point, I really stopped considering any vehicles without the High package.

I was pretty content with the Bronco that I had found at CarMax, but started having qualms about the price - they wanted almost $58K for it, which seemed rather high. I figured dealer mark ups must still be pretty bad. I ran a CarFax on the truck and found the original window sticker, and realized that CarMax's price was several thousand dollars ABOVE the vehicle's MSRP when new! Not only that, but the original build did not include a hardtop. I figured maybe the original owner had spent some serious money acquiring an MIC top, and that was factored into the price. But upon further digging I realized that the hard-top was in fact an aftermarket top, and looked to be a Rally top. The window sticker also revealed that the truck was affected by the subwoofer delete. I figured there was no way I was going to pay over MSRP for a used Bronco with an aftermarket top and a gimped stereo system, so I put the brakes on that one.

So I was back to looking at new Broncos, and found a MY24 Badlands in Cactus Gray with the MIC top and 7MT, plus heated eats and 360-degree camera. I was surprised to find that the High and Lux packages were combined into one package, but that was okay with me - I certainly like the idea of the B&O stereo, wireless charging, integrated garage door opener, etc. I was slowly creeping up the build ladder, and now I was pretty set on Lux as a minimum. The only thing I didn't like about this particular Bronco was the inclusion of the Sasquatch package. I know it is a desirable build, but I actually prefer the look of the standard 33" tires on the Badlands to the more overstuffed look of the 35" tires, and I didn't want to take a road noise and MPG penalty for a wheel and tire package that wasn't my first choice anyway. But what really bothered me was paying an additional $5K for wheels and tires, since the 7MT Badlands gets the rest of the package standard anyway.

I found an Eruption Green Badlands with 7MT and MIC top that looked lovely, but it was only Mid package which turned me off a bit. Plus the dealer had already drilled the bumper for the front plate bracket - annoying! So I kept looking.

Then I found it. A MY24 Badlands with MIC top, 7MT, High/Lux, and no Sasquatch package. I asked for a price, and was pleasantly surprised that the quote included no markup above MSRP. This truck was over $5K less than the one with the Sasquatch package, and only $2K more than the CarMax truck - despite being one model year newer and having almost 6K fewer miles on the odometer, an actual OEM hardtop, and the addition of the Lux package - plus the dealer would deliver to the house where I was staying for free (they were a couple hours away). About the only thing I wasn't super excited about was the color, Oxford White. Not that it looks bad, but I usually prefer an actual color, something a little bit more exciting - I kind of wanted one of the blues or the green. But I decided to go for it, figuring color was an okay thing to compromise on. I felt a little rushed because of some factors unique to my personal situation right now, otherwise I might have held out a little longer, but I felt that this truck was about as close to perfect as I was going to get right now.

Now that I have the truck, I'm actually pretty happy with the Oxford White. I like the contrast, and I like that the hardtop and grill match, but in Carbonized Gray rather than black - I really want to avoid the "stormtrooper" or "panda" look that I feel is common in a lot of modded white vehicles. I'm going to try not to go too crazy with mods - I went that way with a BMW that I own, and while I'm still very happy with that car, it was definitely a rabbit-hole and a time and money sink. Will probably stay pretty close to OEM on this one, especially since it will be more of a family vehicle and maybe even my wife's daily.

I think I'm going to try and play up the vintage look, and think the white will be particularly well-suited to some retro stripes. I have some other ideas as well, which I will document along the way here. Probably some changes to the wheels and badging, that kind of thing. One thing that I would LOVE is a Trektop for the summer, but it would have to be brown or tan - and unfortunately Bestop has confirmed that they have no plans to make any other color than black. But if a slant-back brown soft top ever does become available, I will likely be first in line.

Some pleasant surprises with the MY24 Badlands are the inclusion of the heavy-duty steering rack (from the Wildtrak) as standard now, and especially the padded and stitched dash. I was wondering why people were complaining about the "plasticky" interior but didn't realize that the upgraded dash was a new thing. The only place I really notice cheap-feeling hard plastics in the cabin are the doors, but I realize that it doesn't make much sense to add padding and such to doors that are intended to be removed.

Overall, I think the cabin on the MY24 feels really nice, and passengers have been very complementary. I'm also loving all of the tech, which I know many people think of as superfluous, but it really feels very modern and high end. I really love the way the truck drives and handles - the 2.3L engine is more than adequate and feels quite zippy, especially when paired to the manual transmission, which shifts great. That said, I will probably do the Ford Performance tune not only for the additional power, but I'd like to try the rev-matching. The suspension is much less floaty and nose-divey than my 4Runner was, and is pretty confidence-inspiring for a truck! Definitely no complaints there. I may try out Forscan to enable sport mode, and see how the throttle and steering response changes feel.

Anyway, I'm really happy with this vehicle. I think Ford really nailed it with this one, and I'm happy to support American design, engineering, and manufacturing - and not feel like I'm settling by doing so. 10/10, would definitely recommend!

Anyway, here's a picture of my Bronco at baseline:

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[Warhorn]

Congrats on what sounds like a great deal after a decent search! I like the idea you called out of not going with a "panda" build, and might suggest looking into the painted mirror and door caps from Lethal Performance if you want to take some of that black ABS trim away.

I'm sitting between getting a 24 Everglades versus the 23 Badlands non-sas at the moment trying to decide. I'd like the Sasquatch off the bat since it rolls it all in under the warranty, but from my understanding gettings 35s on a badlands wouldnt be that hard with a slight lift in front and the badlands has the high/lux combo. Since its auto, it would just be missing the 4.7 gearing compared to non-sas 4.46.

On the tech side, how much do you find yourself using the camera options other than reversing? Have you found yourself using the adaptive cruise much? I feel like this is one vehicle where I might not want to set a cruise and zone out since theyre so much fun to drive!

 

[YOLO]

Thanks for the tips on the painted mirror caps, etc. I'll look into it. Definitely at the stage where I have a million ideas and it's hard to do everything all at once, but it's nice to know what is out there.

The tech on this truck seems to be a touchy subject. Seems like lots of folks deride it all as just a bunch of unnecessary nonsense, but it's 2024 - I personally don't really want to be spending $50K+ on a vehicle without a few modern amenities. In fact, one of the things I love about this truck is its dual personalities - super retro styling, and even old school driving feel with the manual transmission, yet loaded with tech.

The 360-degree camera for me is a standout feature. It's just so damn cool and handy. I use it all the time when parking, not just when backing in, but also to check my alignment in a parking space or distance to a curb, for example. Definitely more nice-to-have than must-have, but its pretty cool and useful nonetheless.

I've also been surprised with the lane-keeping assist feature - it sounds like it's going to be horribly intrusive, but I did notice a subtle steering correction on the highway yesterday that I found helpful.

I honestly am not much of a cruise control user, and adaptive cruise sounds like some strange sort of witchcraft. My wife does use cruise quite a bit though, so hopefully she likes it. I do have a long drive up the west coast coming up, so maybe I'll give it a try. If nothing else it might keep me out of a speeding ticket, lol.

But you're definitely right about these things being fun to drive. I actually bought mine without even test driving because the reviews were so positive, and even then I was surprised at how fun and engaging the experience is. For me part of it definitely boils down to rowing my own gears, but it goes beyond that - I just think the drivetrain overall is really good, even with the 2.3L. The suspension is very composed on the road, too, which kind of surprised me - it just handles and rides really well, way better than my 4Runner did that's for sure (and I loved that truck).

I really would not want an automatic on this truck, but if I had to have one I for sure would want the 2.7L as a consolation - I bet that's a nice engine. To me the 2.3L does not feel underpowered at all, which makes me think the 2.7L must feel pretty amazing. I'd say the way to option this truck is either 2.3L MT or 2.7L AT - I feel like a 2.3L AT is maybe the worst of both worlds. The nice thing about the manual with the 2.3L is the better gearing with the 4.7 final drive and of course being able to keep the engine in its power band, but with the 2.7L you can probably just mash the pedal and go, lol.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

Well, I did a thing.

A couple of weeks ago I moved back to the US after almost 2 years overseas. I knew I would need a new vehicle to replace the 2014 4Runner that I sold before leaving. I admittedly don't do any serious off-roading, but I like the stance, ride, and ruggedness of a body-on-frame 4x4, and I prefer one to a minivan or crossover for family-hauling duties. I was excited about the new Land Cruiser announcement, but those are still a few months away and waiting lists are a mile long anyway.

Anyway, I missed all of the new Bronco hype while I was out of the country, and was only vaguely aware that they even existed, but the availability of a manual transmission really piqued my interest. When I started researching vehicles, I was pretty keen on picking up a Heritage edition - it seemed to be the most economical way of getting my combination of "must-have" options: 4-doors, hardtop, manual transmission, and heated seats. I called around to a few dealers, but all of the Heritage Broncos I found sitting on dealer lots were custom orders and already claimed. I inquired about the possibility of ordering one, but I was told it would likely be at least 6 months and perhaps a year before I got one. That didn't work for me.

I started looking on CarMax because I didn't want to deal with dealer mark-ups and frankly the whole thing seemed easier. I found an Area 51 MY23 Badlands with <6K miles on it that met my minimum criteria. This particular one had the High package. I had experienced 360-degree cameras in a few rental cars overseas, and really liked the feature - I think it is especially well-suited to a larger vehicle like the Bronco. So, at this point, I really stopped considering any vehicles without the High package.

I was pretty content with the Bronco that I had found at CarMax, but started having qualms about the price - they wanted almost $58K for it, which seemed rather high. I figured dealer mark ups must still be pretty bad. I ran a CarFax on the truck and found the original window sticker, and realized that CarMax's price was several thousand dollars ABOVE the vehicle's MSRP when new! Not only that, but the original build did not include a hardtop. I figured maybe the original owner had spent some serious money acquiring an MIC top, and that was factored into the price. But upon further digging I realized that the hard-top was in fact an aftermarket top, and looked to be a Rally top. The window sticker also revealed that the truck was affected by the subwoofer delete. I figured there was no way I was going to pay over MSRP for a used Bronco with an aftermarket top and a gimped stereo system, so I put the brakes on that one.

So I was back to looking at new Broncos, and found a MY24 Badlands in Cactus Gray with the MIC top and 7MT, plus heated eats and 360-degree camera. I was surprised to find that the High and Lux packages were combined into one package, but that was okay with me - I certainly like the idea of the B&O stereo, wireless charging, integrated garage door opener, etc. I was slowly creeping up the build ladder, and now I was pretty set on Lux as a minimum. The only thing I didn't like about this particular Bronco was the inclusion of the Sasquatch package. I know it is a desirable build, but I actually prefer the look of the standard 33" tires on the Badlands to the more overstuffed look of the 35" tires, and I didn't want to take a road noise and MPG penalty for a wheel and tire package that wasn't my first choice anyway. But what really bothered me was paying an additional $5K for wheels and tires, since the 7MT Badlands gets the rest of the package standard anyway.

I found an Eruption Green Badlands with 7MT and MIC top that looked lovely, but it was only Mid package which turned me off a bit. Plus the dealer had already drilled the bumper for the front plate bracket - annoying! So I kept looking.

Then I found it. A MY24 Badlands with MIC top, 7MT, High/Lux, and no Sasquatch package. I asked for a price, and was pleasantly surprised that the quote included no markup above MSRP. This truck was over $5K less than the one with the Sasquatch package, and only $2K more than the CarMax truck - despite being one model year newer and having almost 6K fewer miles on the odometer, an actual OEM hardtop, and the addition of the Lux package - plus the dealer would deliver to the house where I was staying for free (they were a couple hours away). About the only thing I wasn't super excited about was the color, Oxford White. Not that it looks bad, but I usually prefer an actual color, something a little bit more exciting - I kind of wanted one of the blues or the green. But I decided to go for it, figuring color was an okay thing to compromise on. I felt a little rushed because of some factors unique to my personal situation right now, otherwise I might have held out a little longer, but I felt that this truck was about as close to perfect as I was going to get right now.

Now that I have the truck, I'm actually pretty happy with the Oxford White. I like the contrast, and I like that the hardtop and grill match, but in Carbonized Gray rather than black - I really want to avoid the "stormtrooper" or "panda" look that I feel is common in a lot of modded white vehicles. I'm going to try not to go too crazy with mods - I went that way with a BMW that I own, and while I'm still very happy with that car, it was definitely a rabbit-hole and a time and money sink. Will probably stay pretty close to OEM on this one, especially since it will be more of a family vehicle and maybe even my wife's daily.

I think I'm going to try and play up the vintage look, and think the white will be particularly well-suited to some retro stripes. I have some other ideas as well, which I will document along the way here. Probably some changes to the wheels and badging, that kind of thing. One thing that I would LOVE is a Trektop for the summer, but it would have to be brown or tan - and unfortunately Bestop has confirmed that they have no plans to make any other color than black. But if a slant-back brown soft top ever does become available, I will likely be first in line.

Some pleasant surprises with the MY24 Badlands are the inclusion of the heavy-duty steering rack (from the Wildtrak) as standard now, and especially the padded and stitched dash. I was wondering why people were complaining about the "plasticky" interior but didn't realize that the upgraded dash was a new thing. The only place I really notice cheap-feeling hard plastics in the cabin are the doors, but I realize that it doesn't make much sense to add padding and such to doors that are intended to be removed.

Overall, I think the cabin on the MY24 feels really nice, and passengers have been very complementary. I'm also loving all of the tech, which I know many people think of as superfluous, but it really feels very modern and high end. I really love the way the truck drives and handles - the 2.3L engine is more than adequate and feels quite zippy, especially when paired to the manual transmission, which shifts great. That said, I will probably do the Ford Performance tune not only for the additional power, but I'd like to try the rev-matching. The suspension is much less floaty and nose-divey than my 4Runner was, and is pretty confidence-inspiring for a truck! Definitely no complaints there. I may try out Forscan to enable sport mode, and see how the throttle and steering response changes feel.

Anyway, I'm really happy with this vehicle. I think Ford really nailed it with this one, and I'm happy to support American design, engineering, and manufacturing - and not feel like I'm settling by doing so. 10/10, would definitely recommend!

Anyway, here's a picture of my Bronco at baseline:

Sweet ride!!

 

[YOLO]

First real mods.

I mentioned not being crazy about the Oxford White. I mean, it looks good. Classy and classic. But still just a bit boring - I typically prefer vehicles with a more bold or distinctive color. But I also wanted to start playing up the vintage vibe, so I opted for some retro stripes to give the truck a pop of color and some old school feel.

I opted for the Visco kit for several reasons. One, I just like the look of the kit. I know that some people really don't care for it (especially the hood cowl decal), but I think it's killer, at least on a white truck. I'll admit that I was a little unsure about it the first day or two, but I figured it would either grow on me, or I could get rid of it. Well, it grew on me. I think if I had a different color Bronco, like maybe an Area 51, then a white hockey stick would look really cool - but obviously that doesn't work on a white truck. I have seen similar black stripes on white Broncos, but again, I'm a little wary of falling down a "black and white" rabbit hole.

The other reason that I chose the Visco kit over other equally cool options was simply the ease and cost of installation, and with a 36 month warranty. I bought the kit on the Ford Accessories site, paid an extra $120 for installation, and just dropped it off for the day. No calling around to vinyl and wrap shops and begging someone to install my decals (maybe that's easy in some places, but I don't live in a big metro area).

I still have some more ideas to continue this theme, so I'll continue to update along the way.

The other thing I had done while at the dealer was the Trailer Tow Package retrofit. Normally I would opt to do a job like this myself, but I currently don't have any of my tools, and Ford was only charging a measly $168 for install, which seemed like a no brainer, especially since the truck needs dealer coding anyway (to activate the Trailer Sway Control and other functions of the trailer control module that gets installed as part of the kit).

I do plan on doing some towing in the future, so this kit was a necessity, but I also like that it makes the rear end look like a proper truck now, with the hitch receiver and 4-/7-pin connectors. I also picked up a prancing pony hitch cover.

Finally, as long as I was getting the trailer tow kit installed, I figured I might as well get the trailer brake controller installed as well. Again, I totally would've preffered to do this one myself (especially because it had a slightly higher labor rate and I don't think required any coding), but no tools means it would've had to wait, and it was already at the dealer anyway.

One thing I really like about the Redarc controller that Ford sells is that it has a very clean OEM-like install, and supposedly integrates with the vehicle safety systems and such more tightly than a third party controller.

My last brake controller was a Tekonsha mounted under the dash of a 4Runner. Although that was very much plug-and-play with a pigtail already tucked up in there, it was clearly "tacked-on", and I would often bump my left knee against it - so much so that I took to dismounting the controller when I wasn't towing. The Ford (Redarc) controller lives permanently behind the glove compartment and is controlled by a discreet dial that (also permanently) mounts to the center console. Clean.

Some people question the need for a brake controller at all on a truck like this, that is only rated to tow up to 3500#. My reasoning is that the trailer I'm looking at buying comes equipped with electric brakes, so I might as well take advantage of them. Plus, to be honest, I just like to be as safe as possible when I tow. I've literally hauled a car trailer for nearly 8,000 miles at the 4Runner's 5,000# tow limit (but not over, and with proper tongue weights). I definitely put a lot of effort into making sure I'm towing as safely as possible, and it's kind of a pet peeve of mine to see how haphazardly some people operate when towing. I don't mean to preach, only to explain myself - if given the choice to use trailer brakes or not, I will always choose to do so.

Anyway, I can't really speak to the functionality of the towing bits yet, as I'm still in the process of ordering my trailer, but I'll keep everyone posted when I finally hook up. In any case, it's nice to know this stuff is there.

 

[YOLO]

Finally - new wheels!

Wheels are one of the most important mods to consider for any vehicle, as they can really make a massive difference in first impressions, and let you shake off the factory look a bit, if that's what you're after. But, you have to be careful, because there are plenty of aftermarket wheels that just look kind of tacky, or don't complement a particular vehicle very well. Of course, this is aall very subjective, and I'll leave it up to you to decide whether I got it right or not.

The Bronco already has a pretty dizzying wheel and tire package straight from the factory, with at least 10 different wheel options depending on trim level and options selected, plus a handful of wheels in the accessory catalog. Many of these wheels are perfectly fine, but most of them are very modern designs.

The exception, of course, is the steelies. The white steelies can look super sharp on certain color Broncos - but I'm not sure that I'd care for it very much on my Oxford White truck. The black steelies similarly can look great, butI've already said that I'm trying to avoid a black/white theme, and anyway black wheels in general are a fairly modern phenomenon and don't really go with the 1970's/1980's vibe that I'm after. I did strongly consider a set of the base steelies, and I was even okay with the smaller 16" diameter (which I think is more period correct, actually) but I wasn't crazier about having to go with a slightly narrower tire. The biggest issue ended up being price, as I couldn't find a set that I thought was enough of a bargain to justify going with the Base wheels. And, ifI'm honest, they were perhaps a little TOO utilitarian for my taste, and even though they are supposedly finished in silver, to my eye they really resemble the bare metal of a donut spare and I was afraid that I'd really regret them.

So I started looking at lots of pictures of older Broncos, and noticed a few things. Polished chrome modular wheels, for starters. It's funny, I had never really considered chrome. It seemed so dated, but of course isn't that the point of a retro build? I've spent so much time around debadged and blacked out vehicles that the idea of chrome was just kind of repulsive at first. But I started to really develop a taste for the polished 8-hole and deeply concave wheels I was seeing on so many older Broncos (and other trucks), and decided that was the way that I wanted to go.

Which is how I arrived on these: 16x8 Mickey Thompson Classic III's, in a 0 offset:

It took me a while to find just the right wheels. I kept going back and for the between the American Racing Baja, Ultra Type 164, and the Pro Comp 69 Series Vintage. These are all very similar modular-style wheels, with some variations in hole size and depth. I was on the verge of buying each of these wheels at least once before I finally settled on the M/T Classic III. The 0 offset is fairly aggressive, but not as aggressive as the negative offsets of some of the other options. I think the Baja was also a zero offset, but it just looked kind of flat to me. None of these wheels are going to have the really deep dish vintage look and still fit our trucks, but I think the Mickey Thompsons came the closest. The Pro Comps look really good, too, but -11 offset seemed like a bit too much, and I couldn't find a set in stock anyway.

Notably, I restricted my search to 16" wheels - all of the above are available in 17" as well, although the offsets differ. I just think a tiny bit smaller wheel with a beefier sidewall looks more retro. I went with another set of BFG's, but with the white letters out this time, of course. The overall diameter is still 33", and the width still 285, so they still fill the wheel well the same, and the difference in the odometer is negligible.

Of course, there is a bit of poke...

...although I don't think it looks too bad at all. Certainly nothing a set of Sasquatch flares won't fix, anyway. So I ordered a set of those, and I also ordered an adjustable spare tire carrier from Turn Offroad, because the 0 offset wheel is not sitting flush against the tailgate and is encroaching into my back up cam's view.

You may have noticed that I also updated fender badges to the classic script. I really thought the Badlands trim badge was a bit of an eyesore, and it was worse after I got my stripes because the oranges sort of clashed. But also, chrome badges really sell the old school vibe, IMO. I actually really wanted to try a different badge, the really blocky 80's version from the bricknose Broncos. Probably my favorite rendering of the Bronco name. But I realized after I got my stripes (which also have the Bronco name in script) that I should probably try to match those. Otherwise, I'd have "Bronco" on my truck in THREE different fonts instead of two, and that seemed like a bad choice, lol.

Other mods for today include a Mabbet front license plate bracket as well as the grill lights. Pretty happy with the design of the front license plate bracket, but not too sure about the grill lights yet. I think the look will grow on my, but I'm not crazy about the fuse tap that it takes to power them. I don't really like have wired running out of the box and preventing the cover from getting a good seal, but maybe I'm overthinking it. Anyway, it's fully reversible should I change my mind.

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