Drove a new Bronco last week

[jav]

No but I have a older one

 

[6GUNSONLY]

My first truck was a '71 F-100 4x4 with a worn out 360 and a truck 4-speed. I pulled the 360, bought a 390 short block, put 427 heads with SS sodium-filled valves, a factory Ford aluminum intake off a 428 Cobra Jet, a TRW cam, and a hi-volume oil pump. 750 Holley carb. Stoutest 4x4 around, when I could keep it running. Pass anything but a gas station.

 

[Richard76]

I've been looking at new trucks and "SUV's" with manual transmissions and few are made today, but I saw a 2025 Bronco online close to my home and went to check it out.

This Bronco was the only one I've seen or heard of locally with a manual transmission so I went to the dealership to check this used one (~35k miles? a lot for a less than 2 year old car) out. It had the soft top (bummer) which I did not like but I was willing to overlook it.

Ordinarily salesmen are "required" to drive it off the lot and park it when the test drive is over but you know how the dealer parking lots are packed like sardines? This salesman was about my age and surely he could drive a manual but I took it off the lot and returned it to the sardine can with nary a scratch.

I R-E-A-L-L-Y liked driving it, the AC was ice cold, seating was very comfortable, the engine was peppy, even with the soft top the road noise and exhaust were quiet, and shifting was smooth as silk. Even the excessive amount of electronic doodads were easily sorted out.

Strike one. So we finished the drive and the salesman could not figure out how to open the rear of the soft top so you could transport things taller than the tailgate.

Strike two. The dealer looked up the Carfax on it and it seems as if the car was previously owned by TWO people already. Huh? Not good for a low mileage car.

Strike three. I could never figure out the purpose of door locks on a rag top since any moron with a pocket knife can get into the car. Then I was told that a hard top "upgrade" would cost another $4k over the "no haggle price of over $37k.

The "build your own" MSRP of the car WITH the hard top is $45k.

Anyone here have a new Bronco?

My wife has one. She loves it. I haven't been in it much, but it seems nice

 

[Kevin]

I've been looking at new trucks and "SUV's" with manual transmissions and few are made today, but I saw a 2025 Bronco online close to my home and went to check it out.

This Bronco was the only one I've seen or heard of locally with a manual transmission so I went to the dealership to check this used one (~35k miles? a lot for a less than 2 year old car) out. It had the soft top (bummer) which I did not like but I was willing to overlook it.

Ordinarily salesmen are "required" to drive it off the lot and park it when the test drive is over but you know how the dealer parking lots are packed like sardines? This salesman was about my age and surely he could drive a manual but I took it off the lot and returned it to the sardine can with nary a scratch.

I R-E-A-L-L-Y liked driving it, the AC was ice cold, seating was very comfortable, the engine was peppy, even with the soft top the road noise and exhaust were quiet, and shifting was smooth as silk. Even the excessive amount of electronic doodads were easily sorted out.

Strike one. So we finished the drive and the salesman could not figure out how to open the rear of the soft top so you could transport things taller than the tailgate.

Strike two. The dealer looked up the Carfax on it and it seems as if the car was previously owned by TWO people already. Huh? Not good for a low mileage car.

Strike three. I could never figure out the purpose of door locks on a rag top since any moron with a pocket knife can get into the car. Then I was told that a hard top "upgrade" would cost another $4k over the "no haggle price of over $37k.

The "build your own" MSRP of the car WITH the hard top is $45k.

Anyone here have a new Bronco?

@gnappi Any updates? Did you buy this Bronco or keep looking?

How about the sales people? I really can’t stand pushy car sales people anymore. Some call you back for days after .

 

[gnappi]

Still looking, the soft top turned me off and none of the local dealers have a hard top.

 

[Kevin]

Still looking, the soft top turned me off and none of the local dealers have a hard top.

I was just browsing YouTube and watched a video about an upcoming Bronco for 2027. It’s a mesh between Ford and Filson.

The Filson Bronco. They took the engine from the Raptor and put it in the regular sized Bronco. (I guess the Raptor’s are bigger?)

Anyway. It looks very nice. Heated AND ventilated seats. And heated rear seats as well. So it’s more upscale than the regular Broncos. Which as you pointed out are already very nice.


And supposedly they are working on a Lincoln Bronco to compete with the Mercedes G-Wagon. That one will cost a lot more.

 

[gnappi]

Ventilated seats? I suspect that will help after a visit to the taco stand? :-)

 

[kmoore]

Nor did I. And online, I am not finding answers explaining the differences.

I am interested in these Bronco's.

Bronco is a frame on body build, 4 cylinder, 6 cylinder engines. All with a turbo, 4x4. 7 speed manual or 10 speed automatic tranny. It's built as a good on/off vehicle.
Bronco sport is unibody. Smaller, less ground clearance. 4x4. 3 cylinder or 4, turbo, 8 speed tranny. Really not a good off road vehicle due to ground clearance. But it has a tranny that has 4 different types of driving to switch it to. Called GOAT mode. The 2 vehicles are completely different.
I shopped around for a few months for a small 4x4 SUV. Drove a friends Bronco sport. 3 cylinder. I brought 1, 3 months ago. 6,000 plus miles on it without an issue. I do like it a lot. No turbo lag, plenty of power. It has the engine shut off at stop lights, but a switch to stop that stupid feature. Handles and drives well. Since I own a f350 crewcab 4x4 diesel. I wanted a small SUV not anything as large as the Bronco. They start around 38,000. Lots of options and several trim packages available.
I installed off road lights, wired into the ford upfitter switches. A bull bar and will likely lift the body 1.5 or 2 inch.
The Bronco Sport came out around 2020, first several years they had engine problems. I have a 2025, the year they upgraded some stuff into all the trim levels instead of on just the upper levels.