Thoughts on the new Bronco?

[cjshaker]

I was pleasantly surprised to see you can get a manual transmission in it and you can get a base model at a fairly reasonable price.

I agree. A manual is nice, but would be nicer if available with the V6. Not a fan of turbos on a factory vehicle though, they almost always lead to issues, and there have been plenty that I've seen with the turbo EcoTec engines.

2 things that always tick me off; some of the good options are only available in multi-thousand dollar "packages". While the base price isn't terrible as far as new car prices go, the price jumps quick if you want some basic upgrades, which always include a bunch of crap I wouldn't want. And pretty much any interior upgrade will include a bunch of electronic crap that will just give you fits down the road. Then again, vehicles these days are only designed to last for so many years. After that, even if the mileage is still low, electronics will start to suffer and cause nightmares and high repair bills.

Regardless, I would think twice about buying a vehicle on its first year or two of availability. There will inevitably be issues and refinements, and typically, by the 3rd year or so, they start to get the 'new car' bugs worked out.

[HarleyJack17]

The IRS up front is going to hurt them a bit. Harder to lift, more stuff more $. Most Jeeps are mall crawlers BUT many many of them join clubs and use their rigs off road. Solid axles just work better and hold up better, aside from mud.  A person like me would not pay this kind of money and go beat a rig against a rock but that is just me.
The manual transmission is cool to see but unless their crawl ration can compete with the Rubicon it will be useless off road for what most Jeepers do, rocks. An auto in technical/hard core terrain is superior imo.  Just look into the ATV world, CVT's took it over for a reason. Still neat though it will deter younger would be thieves LOL.

Overall I think they made a fair effort to compete in a market that needed some competition. Better than the new Blazer anyway HAHAHA.  Hope they sell a ton, then do a solid axle...grins.
I definitely like that Sasquatch package they been showing with the hole in the doors...but word is it is not 100% confirmed on that.

One last thing on both NEW models, how do all those electronics hold up if you leave the top off and it pours down rain....or dust? One thing I am not a fan of on ALL new vehicles for long term ownership is all these gadgets. They will fail, and it will be costly fix 7 plus years later. But then again, I keep my autos until they fall apart...so my opinion is skewed.

[chilly460]

The manual has a proper ~6.6:1 creeper first gear, crawl ratio is something like 94:1 which is ridiculously low.  I had a SM465  x NP205 x 4.56 which was 59:1 and I thought that was insanely low

[e philpott]

Bad ass'ery ! I bet they fly off the shelves

[Falcon67]

OJ approved

[Drew Pojedinec]

Not sure it is a compliment or not...
My gut reaction was “oh thank god, they didn’t do as horrible of a job as I expected.”

[Joe-JDC]

Reminds me of the International Scout.  Hope there isn't a turquoise and white version.  Joe-JDC

[chilly460]

Reminds me of the International Scout.  Hope there isn't a turquoise and white version.  Joe-JDC

Agreed, I think it's obvious the early Bronco always at least resembled the Scouts.  Now with the higher sides, and new adaptation of the grill and headlights, it does more closely favor the early Scouts. 

[Tommy-T]

It's a good looking rig and with 35 inch tall tires and front and rear electric lockers it should be very capable.

I would enjoy very much dragging a few of these through the rocks with my 33 year old Wrangler with 33 inch tall tires.