Ok, so we all know that this new "Big" Bronco launch has been a complete shit show... honestly, I don't think Ford could have botched this launch any more than they did. But I thought I would share my experience so far with the TCG crew, so here we go.
Launch Night:
- July 2020, Ford does a huge unveiling of the new Ford Bronco and Bronco Sport(Baby Bronco, basically a Ford Escape). They successfully built the hype, and had an incredible launch getting hundreds of thousands of people excited for the launch and the possibility of some competition for the Jeep Wrangler that has been dominating the 4x4 market for years with ZERO competition. Following the launch they opened up a reservation system, that would allow you to reserve a new Bronco with $100 deposit and choose your dealer that you would like to purchase from. This proved to be a huge FAIL as the system was crashing and unstable all night. As someone who has fallen in love with Jeeping and off-roading, I felt it would be good to give one a try and good for my Youtube channel so I jumped on trying to reserve one. It took me about an hour and a half to finally get my order through for purchase at Packey Webb Ford. My dad also told me for a $100 deposit to go ahead and reserve him one and I got his reservation in about 2 hours after the launch.
- Fall 2020, Ford starts building the Bronco Sport and these start hitting the streets... Everyone that sees these on the road starts messaging me that they can't believe I would order that because it looks so mall. I really think it was a huge mistake for Ford to release the Bronco Sport ahead of the "Big" Bronco because people were confused about all of the hype.
- Early 2021, Ford finally begins converting the 200,000 reservations they took into official Orders. At the end of January, I was asked to visit Packey Webb Ford to convert my reservation to an Order. I spent a ton of time on the build and price on the website trying to decide on my order options. I knew I wanted a Bronco Badlands because it was the most comparable performance wise to my Jeep Rubicons and would be the best comparison. But the rest of the options were hard to decide on because many of the materials, etc. were not available to see first hand such as the difference between the Marine Grade Vinyl seats and the Leather option. When I arrived to convert my order, I had hoped they would have some more info and possibly some material swatches for comparison but they had no additional materials than what was found online. We were also informed that many options would potentially delay the orders, and was advised that if I wanted to get my Bronco faster I should avoid options like the Lux Interior, Leather Seats, the larger TT V6 Engine, Sasquatch package, etc. I wanted to get my hands on one as quick as possible, so I skipped all of the potential delayed options except the TT V6 Engine. My dad also converted his reservation that night and he loaded his up not caring when he would receive his order. We were also told that I was Packey Webb's 9th Reservation in order and my dad as the 19th.
- Mid 2021, I get a scheduled build date in July for the end of July. This date got pushed back twice to the end of August... The day before mine was expected to begin production, Ford announces that they are haulting production on all Hardtops for the Broncos because the tops were actually changing color when they got wet. This forced my order into limbo while they fixed the hardtops. My order was locked because I had a VIN assigned already, but I convinced my dad to convert his order to a soft top to get it faster. He converted to soft top and within a week had a build date and it got built two weeks later. We picked up his Rapid Red Badlands Sasquatch right at the begining of October and his has been perfect except he hates the soft top.
- Late 2021, my Shadow Black Bronco Badlands with a Molded In Color hard top finally gets built and I picked it up right around mid November. Immediately, my hardtop creaks so bad it was actually making me not want to drive the Bronco. Also, I noticed when I got it home that the middle seatbelt in the back does not work at all, it will not pull out. I have yet to address the seatbelt, but I removed the hard top and put a little double sided tape on the passenger rear corner and that has stopped it completely.
- January 2022, on January 1st we completely dismantled the Bronco to begin our Neon Orange Wrap process. Taking it all apart was fairly easy in comparison to our Gladiator and there was a lot less to wrap. The wrap process went fairly smooth, but wrapping the front fenders proved to be above our skill level so we had to call in
LoveSpank to make it look easy. We are super happy with the wrap and are loving the 3m Neon Orange.
WRAP VIDEO:
Next we installed 2 sets of Rock Lights under the Neon Bronco:
And just this past weekend I installed AWE's newest exhaust system for the Bronco's that they have named the 0FG Catback Exhaust. I chose to go with the dual 4.5" Black Exhaust tips for ours, and every one of their kits comes with the BashGuard offroad exhaust dump so you don't damage the tips when offroading.
I am starting to finally get some actual seat time in the Bronco, and my thoughts are that overall it is a much smoother ride with better technology inside & out than the Jeeps. The hardtop on the Bronco's is really pretty bad and needs a lot of work. It is very windy/noisy and it's almost impossible to have a conversation with someone in the back seat while on the highway. It makes weird popping noises that many people have complained about. The 12" touch screen works great and looks very nice, and features like the G.O.A.T Modes and Trail Turn assist are nice features for when you hit the trails or experience inclement weather. The standard stereo is pretty bad, and even their upgrades B&O sound system is lacking in comparison to the Alpine in the Jeeps.
Next up for me is to figure out a lift kit, wheels, tires, etc. I did pick up a Whipple Tuner for it that is supposed to gain 50hp/80tq but I am not afraid to install it as there are reports of a group of stock 2.7L engines blowing withing 1k-2k miles!
Launch Night:
- July 2020, Ford does a huge unveiling of the new Ford Bronco and Bronco Sport(Baby Bronco, basically a Ford Escape). They successfully built the hype, and had an incredible launch getting hundreds of thousands of people excited for the launch and the possibility of some competition for the Jeep Wrangler that has been dominating the 4x4 market for years with ZERO competition. Following the launch they opened up a reservation system, that would allow you to reserve a new Bronco with $100 deposit and choose your dealer that you would like to purchase from. This proved to be a huge FAIL as the system was crashing and unstable all night. As someone who has fallen in love with Jeeping and off-roading, I felt it would be good to give one a try and good for my Youtube channel so I jumped on trying to reserve one. It took me about an hour and a half to finally get my order through for purchase at Packey Webb Ford. My dad also told me for a $100 deposit to go ahead and reserve him one and I got his reservation in about 2 hours after the launch.
- Fall 2020, Ford starts building the Bronco Sport and these start hitting the streets... Everyone that sees these on the road starts messaging me that they can't believe I would order that because it looks so mall. I really think it was a huge mistake for Ford to release the Bronco Sport ahead of the "Big" Bronco because people were confused about all of the hype.
- Early 2021, Ford finally begins converting the 200,000 reservations they took into official Orders. At the end of January, I was asked to visit Packey Webb Ford to convert my reservation to an Order. I spent a ton of time on the build and price on the website trying to decide on my order options. I knew I wanted a Bronco Badlands because it was the most comparable performance wise to my Jeep Rubicons and would be the best comparison. But the rest of the options were hard to decide on because many of the materials, etc. were not available to see first hand such as the difference between the Marine Grade Vinyl seats and the Leather option. When I arrived to convert my order, I had hoped they would have some more info and possibly some material swatches for comparison but they had no additional materials than what was found online. We were also informed that many options would potentially delay the orders, and was advised that if I wanted to get my Bronco faster I should avoid options like the Lux Interior, Leather Seats, the larger TT V6 Engine, Sasquatch package, etc. I wanted to get my hands on one as quick as possible, so I skipped all of the potential delayed options except the TT V6 Engine. My dad also converted his reservation that night and he loaded his up not caring when he would receive his order. We were also told that I was Packey Webb's 9th Reservation in order and my dad as the 19th.
- Mid 2021, I get a scheduled build date in July for the end of July. This date got pushed back twice to the end of August... The day before mine was expected to begin production, Ford announces that they are haulting production on all Hardtops for the Broncos because the tops were actually changing color when they got wet. This forced my order into limbo while they fixed the hardtops. My order was locked because I had a VIN assigned already, but I convinced my dad to convert his order to a soft top to get it faster. He converted to soft top and within a week had a build date and it got built two weeks later. We picked up his Rapid Red Badlands Sasquatch right at the begining of October and his has been perfect except he hates the soft top.
- Late 2021, my Shadow Black Bronco Badlands with a Molded In Color hard top finally gets built and I picked it up right around mid November. Immediately, my hardtop creaks so bad it was actually making me not want to drive the Bronco. Also, I noticed when I got it home that the middle seatbelt in the back does not work at all, it will not pull out. I have yet to address the seatbelt, but I removed the hard top and put a little double sided tape on the passenger rear corner and that has stopped it completely.
- January 2022, on January 1st we completely dismantled the Bronco to begin our Neon Orange Wrap process. Taking it all apart was fairly easy in comparison to our Gladiator and there was a lot less to wrap. The wrap process went fairly smooth, but wrapping the front fenders proved to be above our skill level so we had to call in
LoveSpank to make it look easy. We are super happy with the wrap and are loving the 3m Neon Orange.WRAP VIDEO:
Next we installed 2 sets of Rock Lights under the Neon Bronco:
And just this past weekend I installed AWE's newest exhaust system for the Bronco's that they have named the 0FG Catback Exhaust. I chose to go with the dual 4.5" Black Exhaust tips for ours, and every one of their kits comes with the BashGuard offroad exhaust dump so you don't damage the tips when offroading.
I am starting to finally get some actual seat time in the Bronco, and my thoughts are that overall it is a much smoother ride with better technology inside & out than the Jeeps. The hardtop on the Bronco's is really pretty bad and needs a lot of work. It is very windy/noisy and it's almost impossible to have a conversation with someone in the back seat while on the highway. It makes weird popping noises that many people have complained about. The 12" touch screen works great and looks very nice, and features like the G.O.A.T Modes and Trail Turn assist are nice features for when you hit the trails or experience inclement weather. The standard stereo is pretty bad, and even their upgrades B&O sound system is lacking in comparison to the Alpine in the Jeeps.
Next up for me is to figure out a lift kit, wheels, tires, etc. I did pick up a Whipple Tuner for it that is supposed to gain 50hp/80tq but I am not afraid to install it as there are reports of a group of stock 2.7L engines blowing withing 1k-2k miles!
Especially with 37" tires being an option now.
