2021 Bronco Reviews

[silvrsvt]

Figured I'd separate this out from the enormous Bronco Thread we have already LOL

 

Stole the links from here-which also has Youtube reviews

https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/2021-bronco-reviews-embargo-has-lifted-compilation-thread-?.18389/

 

 

Autoblog - 2021 Ford Bronco First Drive Review | As great as you hoped
Car and Driver - 2021 Ford Bronco Is as Refined as It Is Rugged
CNET Road/Show - 2021 Ford Bronco first drive review: Legit Jeep killer
Edmunds - The 2021 Ford Bronco Is Everything You Hoped It Would Be
Forbes - 2021 Ford Bronco Road Test Review: Iconic History Joins Advanced Tech
Fox News - First test: The 2021 Ford Bronco is back to battle Jeep
Four Wheeler - 2021 Ford Bronco First Drive
Gear Patrol - The 2021 Ford Bronco Is the Jeep Wrangler's Worst Nightmare
Hagerty - First-look Review: 2021 Ford Bronco
Inverse - The 2021 Ford Bronco is an off-roading beast
Jalopnik - The 2021 Ford Bronco Is The Compromised Off-Road Beast You Dreamed It Would Be
Motor Authority - 2021 Ford Bronco bucking for king of the hill
Motor Trend - 2021 Ford Bronco First Drive Review: The Long-Awaited 4x4 SUV Is Absolutely the Real Deal
Motor1 - 2021 Ford Bronco First Drive Review: Patience, Rewarded
TFLCar - Review: First City Drive in the New 2021 Ford Bronco
The Detroit Bureau - First Drive: 2021 Ford Bronco
The Drive - 2021 Ford Bronco Review: A New Off-Road God Is Born
 

Edited June 28, 2021 by silvrsvt

[PREMiERdrum]

Did I set my alarm an hour early to wake up and read these? Maybe. Was I disappointed? Nope. 

Seriously - they nailed it. 

Mine is still sitting in the yard at MAP as of this morning - hopeful for delivery this week. 

[silvrsvt]

First the Mach E, then the Bronco Sport and now the Bronco and finally the Maverick, finally ends the 36+ month long shit show (not even counting COVID in that) that Ford has embarked on with killing off its sedans and all the turmoil that it has caused. Stock prices are moving in the right direction and the future looks good with the F-150 Lightning, next gen Ranger and the BEV versions of the Explorer and other products coming soon. 

[PREMiERdrum]

6 minutes ago, silvrsvt said:

First the Mach E, then the Bronco Sport and now the Bronco and finally the Maverick, finally ends the 36+ month long shit show (not even counting COVID in that) that Ford has embarked on with killing off its sedans and all the turmoil that it has caused. Stock prices are moving in the right direction and the future looks good with the F-150 Lightning, next gen Ranger and the BEV versions of the Explorer and other products coming soon. 

If I didn't know any better, I'd think that Hackett made a lot of decisions that seemed ugly in the short term but ended up setting the table for Farley and Co. to  absolutely knock their product range out of the park. 

[twintornados]

27 minutes ago, PREMiERdrum said:

Did I set my alarm an hour early to wake up and read these? Maybe. Was I disappointed? Nope. 

Seriously - they nailed it. 

Mine is still sitting in the yard at MAP as of this morning - hopeful for delivery this week. 

 

Wishing mine was sitting next to yours.....oh, well..the local Lincoln store has a nice 2021 Corsair Reserve I am going to go look at.

[silvrsvt]

15 minutes ago, PREMiERdrum said:

If I didn't know any better, I'd think that Hackett made a lot of decisions that seemed ugly in the short term but ended up setting the table for Farley and Co. to  absolutely knock their product range out of the park. 

 

Yeah I'd agree with you-Hackett was more or less setup to be a fall guy to get the ugly shit that needed to get done. 

[fuzzymoomoo]

57 minutes ago, silvrsvt said:

 

Yeah I'd agree with you-Hackett was more or less setup to be a fall guy to get the ugly shit that needed to get done. 

That was stated/speculated when Hackett was first brought in. Akirby was the lead on that train. 

[PREMiERdrum]

39 minutes ago, fuzzymoomoo said:

That was stated/speculated when Hackett was first brought in. Akirby was the lead on that train. 

Remember all the fun comparisons to Jaques Nasser? ?

[akirby]

43 minutes ago, fuzzymoomoo said:

That was stated/speculated when Hackett was first brought in. Akirby was the lead on that train. 

 Not sure I was leading the train but I was definitely onboard.

 

Remember all the angst about his goal of 10% margin?  This is how you get higher margins - by building best in class vehicles that are highly desirable and dropping the commodity vehicles that can only compete on price.

[FordBuyer]

That seems to be the theme of these reviews.......superior off road, but refined on road also. I haven't been in a Jeep in years that was horrible on the freeway, but I was talking to a guy who test drove a new Jeep Wrangler, and he said the driving experience on the road was unacceptable to his tastes. And these reviews seem to verfy this........Bronco more refined on the road and better off road also. Not perfect with those big tires and soft top, but better than Jeep. Maybe much better. 

[akirby]

Did somebody at Ford piss off Jalopnik?  Good grief.

[PREMiERdrum]

5 minutes ago, akirby said:

Did somebody at Ford piss off Jalopnik?  Good grief.

There's always a market to have the grittiest / harshest review of a new product. LOTS of clicks from competing vehicles' fan groups. 

In all honestly, Jalopnik has been a bit of a shitshow since the Gizmodo mess started. 

[jcartwright99]

18 minutes ago, akirby said:

Did somebody at Ford piss off Jalopnik?  Good grief.

 

I don't think so. David is the 1% of off road truck owners. A self proclaimed Jeep shit box rescuer, who knows how to wrench and go off road. I think his opinion will be very different than most reviewers but I appreciate it. Keep in mind, David was an engineer for Jeep for a while, so he knows what it took for Ford to create the Bronco. I expected his review to be less rosy than others since he has a higher standard, and he didn't disappoint.

 

Now, are his gripes warranted (about the ride)? Who knows! I think we'll find out as more folks get these in their hands and more trims get tested. I fully expect the Base, Big Bend, and Outer Banks to be most civilized for on road duty. The other models (or models with SAS package) will be more wallowy and louder, as to be expected.

[jpd80]

48 minutes ago, akirby said:

 Not sure I was leading the train but I was definitely onboard.

 

Remember all the angst about his goal of 10% margin?  This is how you get higher margins - by building best in class vehicles that are highly desirable and dropping the commodity vehicles that can only compete on price.

Ford prospered in spite of Hackett who basically deferred product and major decisions to his subordinates

and to this day, I suspect that Farley did a lot of the heavy lifting behind the scenes.

The 2017 Hackett was clueless, wanting 10% return with existing 2017 products and then surprised

when he couldn’t achieve that, discovering the $11 billion hole to fix Ford Europe was all Farley’s work.

Fixing and changing C-Max into MME was again Farley suggestion. The current CEO had a big say in

the products he thought needed to be developed, Hackett deserves praise for letting that happen and

then getting out of the road so Farley could see it through.

 

 

Edited June 28, 2021 by jpd80

[Anthony]

12 minutes ago, jcartwright99 said:

 

I don't think so. David is the 1% of off road truck owners. A self proclaimed Jeep shit box rescuer, who knows how to wrench and go off road. I think his opinion will be very different than most reviewers but I appreciate it. Keep in mind, David was an engineer for Jeep for a while, so he knows what it took for Ford to create the Bronco. I expected his review to be less rosy than others since he has a higher standard, and he didn't disappoint.

 

Now, are his gripes warranted (about the ride)? Who knows! I think we'll find out as more folks get these in their hands and more trims get tested. I fully expect the Base, Big Bend, and Outer Banks to be most civilized for on road duty. The other models (or models with SAS package) will be more wallowy and louder, as to be expected.

 

I didn't find his review really bad at all. Just honest from his point of view with his background. Anything negative he said was backed up with his reasoning and still the end result was that he thinks it is most likely better than the Wrangler.

[fuzzymoomoo]

1 hour ago, akirby said:

Did somebody at Ford piss off Jalopnik?  Good grief.

I didn't think it was bad. He's just one of the few auto reviewers who has a legit off-roading background. For several years he drove some shitbox Jeep to Moab and took them down some pretty extreme trails, including one old USPS Jeep. He knows his shit and was able to back up his thoughts with technical explanations and was clear that he thought it could very well be better than Wrangler. I got the impression he just didn't want to outright say it until he has more time behind the wheel than what he got at the press event. 
 

Hell, David Tracy is probably the only writer left at Jalopnik I find worth reading regularly, everyone else just seems to hate cars anymore. 

[fuzzymoomoo]

2 hours ago, PREMiERdrum said:

Remember all the fun comparisons to Jaques Nasser? ?

Guilty. I fell into that for a while. 

[fuzzymoomoo]

1 hour ago, PREMiERdrum said:

In all honestly, Jalopnik has been a bit of a shitshow since the Gizmodo mess started. 

All of their good writers left. The only 2 that are left I find worth reading are David and Torch. 

[Anthony]

I've only read two reviews so far (Jalopnik and TFL) and they both mention that the on-road driving experience isn't really much different from the Wrangler as we expected.  TFL mentioning the difference is really subtle and David saying the Jeep was actually smoother on-road (though advised the Bronco felt a bit more stable at speed).  I only mention this because I know that was surmised to be one of the big differentiators for the two vehicles.  From the sounds of the TFL article, it sounds like the ride will be similar to the Ranger (which is fine by me!)

 

PS: Thanks for posting all the review links, I'm going to make my way through them all!

[akirby]

35 minutes ago, fuzzymoomoo said:

I didn't think it was bad. He's just one of the few auto reviewers who has a legit off-roading background. For several years he drove some shitbox Jeep to Moab and took them down some pretty extreme trails, including one old USPS Jeep. He knows his shit and was able to back up his thoughts with technical explanations and was clear that he thought it could very well be better than Wrangler. I got the impression he just didn't want to outright say it until he has more time behind the wheel than what he got at the press event. 
 

Hell, David Tracy is probably the only writer left at Jalopnik I find worth reading regularly, everyone else just seems to hate cars anymore. 

Ok after rereading the whole thing it’s not that bad.  But the comment about the 2.3L not having any torque off the line is a head scratcher and completely opposite my experience with ecoboost engines.  I also don’t recall anyone else with that complaint.  
 

I was going to say the same thing about ride quality but I see that he broke it out into multiple categories so that seems more fair.

[FordBuyer]

18 minutes ago, Anthony said:

I've only read two reviews so far (Jalopnik and TFL) and they both mention that the on-road driving experience isn't really much different from the Wrangler as we expected.  TFL mentioning the difference is really subtle and David saying the Jeep was actually smoother on-road (though advised the Bronco felt a bit more stable at speed).  I only mention this because I know that was surmised to be one of the big differentiators for the two vehicles.  From the sounds of the TFL article, it sounds like the ride will be similar to the Ranger (which is fine by me!)

 

PS: Thanks for posting all the review links, I'm going to make my way through them all!

 

Uh, the Wrangler has solid front axle and Bronco has independent front suspension which makes for significant better steering feel over bumps in road. No contest. Wind noise bsy be comparable, but not steering comfort, especially over longer drives. Wrangler wanders over road meaning lots of minute steering corrections.

[T-dubz]

1 hour ago, FordBuyer said:

 

Uh, the Wrangler has solid front axle and Bronco has independent front suspension which makes for significant better steering feel over bumps in road. No contest. Wind noise bsy be comparable, but not steering comfort, especially over longer drives. Wrangler wanders over road meaning lots of minute steering corrections.

Recently had a new Jeep Wrangler rental. I liked everything about it except for the steering. If the bronco is even slightly better, it’s a win.

 

I know we have a few savage geese fans here, here is their review. Their only complaint seemed to be the 2.3. 

 

Edited June 28, 2021 by T-dubz

[Anthony]

1 hour ago, FordBuyer said:

 

Uh, the Wrangler has solid front axle and Bronco has independent front suspension which makes for significant better steering feel over bumps in road. No contest. Wind noise bsy be comparable, but not steering comfort, especially over longer drives. Wrangler wanders over road meaning lots of minute steering corrections.

 

Hey man, it isn't my review. And let's be clear... just because the Bronco has IFS does not automatically mean you are going to see massive improvements in ride quality, especially if the rest of the suspension has been dialed in for use on rugged terrain. I'm only making note that so far, some of stated differences have not been as far apart as some thought they were going to be, more subtle than gigantic.  Counterpoint:  I'd much rather have better steering feel any day of the week.  I had a ZJ and that thing felt like the steering shaft was connected to a jar of mayonnaise before being routed to the wheels.

[FordBuyer]

22 minutes ago, Anthony said:

 

Hey man, it isn't my review. And let's be clear... just because the Bronco has IFS does not automatically mean you are going to see massive improvements in ride quality, especially if the rest of the suspension has been dialed in for use on rugged terrain. I'm only making note that so far, some of stated differences have not been as far apart as some thought they were going to be, more subtle than gigantic.  Counterpoint:  I'd much rather have better steering feel any day of the week.  I had a ZJ and that thing felt like the steering shaft was connected to a jar of mayonnaise before being routed to the wheels.

 

It's pretty obvious to me at least that Ford benchmarked the Wrangler and made it better in every way except fuel mileage. You know Jeep is feeling the heat when they go to default....HEMI POWER. FORD does need a hybrid and plug in Bronco, but I would bet that is coming in 28 months or so. 

[akirby]

30 minutes ago, Anthony said:

 

Hey man, it isn't my review. And let's be clear... just because the Bronco has IFS does not automatically mean you are going to see massive improvements in ride quality, especially if the rest of the suspension has been dialed in for use on rugged terrain. I'm only making note that so far, some of stated differences have not been as far apart as some thought they were going to be, more subtle than gigantic.  Counterpoint:  I'd much rather have better steering feel any day of the week.  I had a ZJ and that thing felt like the steering shaft was connected to a jar of mayonnaise before being routed to the wheels.

Savage Geese just said the ride quality was dramatically better than Wrangler.  So it’s hard to really other than there appears to be a lot of subjectiveness at play here, or maybe comparing different models.