How are those new Broncos doing quality-wise?

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/ford/2021/08/12/bronco-bug-ford-replace-all-hardtop-roofs-fix-quality-issues/8111220002/

Lol

 

Only one way to react to the Ford Bronco reboot.

 

People never learn. Some of these suckers paid thousands over sticker to get saddled with a subpar product. Patience is a virtue. Wait until 2023 and maybe they'll be up to Jeep quality standards

 

I think the first ones are the best. I talked to the guy with the Area 51, Badlands. No problems no recalls. Even has a safe.

 

I had a Full-sized Bronco on order....canceled it after seeing all of the quality issues. I expected some out of the gate but not this many...on top of that it was going to be at least another 6 months before they would be able to build my order due to specific parts shortages. I bet there were 120,000 orders ahead of mine. Ford seems to be having lots of 3rd party Manufacturing challenges with pretty common parts for the Bronco.

 

Outsourcing decisions are often made due to time deadlines or cost, but as a decision maker in the company I work in, I often rant against these reasons. Cost, as the only metric, instead of one of the many metrics, makes for a poor decision. These 3rd parties don't have a name, Ford themselves bears the reputation for their work. Vetting 3rd parties should be a QA concern more than a cost concern.

I'm not saying 3rd parties are bad, I'm saying determining who to let build your products based on nothing but cost and "sure, we can get that done!" is a bad business idea for the benefactor if their name will be attached to all the issues.

 

Totally agree. I'm sure it sounded great at the time when they picked Webasto as the primary hardtop manufacture. I read that the primary Manufacturing plants for the tops were in Italy and Wuhan China. Then COVID happened and it all went to shit. Ford had to pick a new vendor for the hardtops midstream...and that is just one 3rd party challenge.

We make plans, God laughs

 

Agree. I bought my 4Runner because I figured it would be the best for long term reliability and a safe bet to buy used.

Quite frankly, I never really liked Toyotas other than the Marty McFly truck and the 80 series, and find the hardcore Toyobros insufferable.

Give the Bronco a few years, then it'll be a safer buy. Even the first year or 2 of the 3rd gen Taco had plenty of issues. I spent some time on Tacoworld before I got the 4R, most posts seemed to be complaints.

 

I watched a video in which they did a towing test comparing the Bronco to an older FJ Cruiser (odd comparison). I use my 4Runner to tow a 10x7 utility trailer with a UTV in it, and am thinking about getting a small camper RV to tow.

Watching the boondoggle that they went through to get the Bronco set up to tow was a joke. First, they had a $60k First Edition loaded Bronco that was supposed to come with a hitch, but due to shortages, didn't. So they had to order one through Ford later for $450, then had to order the wiring harness since Broncos don't come with the wiring like most other SUVs and pickups in it's class. Total cost was $850.

Then, they realized the rear camera doesn't show the hitch like it does on the 4Runner, making it useless for hooking up.

After all of the headaches getting it ready to tow, they hit the grade and couldn't figure out how to get it into tow mode and a warning that said to reduce towing capacity by 2% for every 1000' in elevation. They were towing at 11,000 ft, so would have to reduce the capacity to 2700 lbs.

Seems every video I watch of the new Bronco is either fanboys making excuses for problems and glitches, or actual owners running into some new issue that Ford promises to fix next year.

I still think the Bronco is very cool-looking and impressive in the dirt, and I really hope they get the issues sorted out, but hard to believe that Ford produced a vehicle even less reliable than the Jeep Wrangler.

 

I'll add to this too.

My 4.0L NA v6 2020 4Runner with 3.73 rear end (like the rest of you all) was heading to Colorado a few months ago.

I'd been the previous year, without the trailer. At 10,000 feet it was a little out of breath (and I was a LOTTA out of breath...whew I'm out of shape....).

The entire next year, I wondered, would it be able to tow my 1700# trailer. The extra weight....aerodynamics....NA engines at high altitude....I was over thinking it. Maybe I should get a turbo engine, maybe a bigger tow rig. We sit up at night on the internet and overthink this.

So July 2021 rolls around, I set off with my T@G teardrop and....oh....nevermind it did fine.

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Overthought it all. Sure, I ran 4k RPMs a little, probably shaved a few miles off the 500k I'd normally get on this engine, but really....wasn't a big deal.

I'm going 4.56 gears soon, that will make things even easier.

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TLDR: I thought I needed bigger tow rigs, Turbos, regears, superchargers, etc. What I really needed was just to go enjoy the trip and stop trying to justify me wanting more power. Surprisingly, I don't even feel the 4Runner was struggling, other than running higher RPMs, it pulled my family and trailer up Wolf Creek Pass no problem, which is actually harder than the Ike Guantlet from TFL video you were watching.

 

To be fair, how many people need to tow something at 11,000ft elevation?

The rest though, yah that's just exercise in stupidity it seems.