New Bronco Based on Subcompact?!?!?

[Dusty]

Admit it guys, Ford abandoned us long ago and has no intention of appealing to us hard core Ford afficionados whose brand loyalty is rooted in generations-long adherence to the brand. I drive Fords because my dad would roll over in his grave if I bought anything else. But its getting harder and harder to justify sticking with Ford just out of brand loyalty, when they demonstrate time and again that I'm not the kind of person they care about keeping as a customer.

Like Tom and the others have said, sure go ahead and build another econobox. I might even buy one myself when my Escort zipper car gets a little long in the tooth. But DON’T call it a Bronco. In fact, calling this POS a Bronco would guarantee me NOT buying one, regardless of how good a commuter car it might be. This is a slap in the face to the enthusiasts who have kept the Bronco brand alive and thriving even through its dormancy as a production vehicle. If they can't do it right why don't they just let the Bronco name continue on in the enthusiast realm, getting stronger every year until they're ready to capitalize on it the right way? Instead they want to dilute and destroy the brand with this pap.

And for those of you who still think we're talking about the "Bronco Concept" vehicle that was shown at the auto shows last year, and vaguely resembles a Bronco, go back to the first post in this thread and click on the link. That concept vehicle is NOT what we're talking about here. They're going to build a new Festiva which, until now, WAS the biggest (littlest?) piece of dung Ford ever put on four wheels), and just slap the Bronco name onto it. THANKS A BUNCH FORD!

I think the Bronco enthusiast community needs to make a concerted effort to speak as one voice on this and let Ford know how we feel about it. Perhaps the EBR could take up the cause. Then again they probably don't give a flying f*** what we think.

Dusty

 

[Steve]

I don't object to Ford making smaller more fuel effecient cars, I do however object to them calling it a Bronco.

Tom, I agree with you. However, Ford will do whatever it takes to sell more vehicles - period. If using the Bronco name will do that, they will and there's nothing we can do about it. We're a pretty small group compared to the entire auto market and I seriously doubt they care what we think.

Look at the current Mustang and think back to the Mustang II. That was an awful car, and I have no doubt that classic Mustang owners hated it and let Ford know it. That didn't stop Ford, and eventually the Mustang came back to its roots. Same thing happened with the Thunderbird name. Maybe bringing back the Bronco name will eventually result in something we would like even if it doesn't start there now? We can hope...

 

[Hogback]

i know we would all like to see the new bronco as at least moderately capable off road, but think back to the EB in its original shape. It wasn't as capable off-road as we like to think. All us guys have extremely modified it to go roack crwlin, etc. When was the last time you saw an original/stocker uncut and unlifted with those little funny tires do any off-roadin? To our standards nowadays stockers are a joke, and so will the new stockers - for a while
i'm sure a lot will get tricked out

 

[73stallion]

i know we would all like to see the new bronco as at least moderately capable off road, but think back to the EB in its original shape. It wasn't as capable off-road as we like to think. All us guys have extremely modified it to go roack crwlin, etc. When was the last time you saw an original/stocker uncut and unlifted with those little funny tires do any off-roadin? To our standards nowadays stockers are a joke, and so will the new stockers - for a while
i'm sure a lot will get tricked out

actually i have a friend who has a stock uncut on P235's who wheels the hell out of it! i'm impressed to how well is keeps up to some modified rigs.

 

[Hogback]

true, but some people are just damn good wheelers too. Some people could drive a yugo adross the grand canyon. Of course i'm not saying the stock eb wasnt any good. They were good for what they were used for, i've got a friend who is in his 80's with a little stock 77. He has used it for farming all its life (and about a third of his) and he just loves that little truck. He thinks it will go anywhere. But he has no clue where these modified rigs will go. He has given it a beaten though pulling logs, pushing through brush and crap, he has pulled many hay wagons with it. He leaves it parked in his driveway (near a busy highway) with the keys in the ignition - i keep warning him that someone's gonna get it. He said he doesnt remember ever taking the keys out of it. NO, i wont say where he lives!

The main thing i dislike about ALL new vehicles is their fragilness. And, this is exactly what we all love about the EB, it's damn rugged. A lot of these computerized traction device newer rides will do pretty good as far as climbing a hill or making it across a mud patch, which is all urban people want to do anyway. But try to put them through moab!
One thing is for sure ...
If they build this new "bronco" sometime there will be a collision between old and new (an accident) and we'll see who comes out with the scratches and who comes smashed all to bits.
I think if they at least build it to look tough, we can take care of the neccesary mods just like we've done to the old ones.

 

[scottmcwms]

EVERYBODY...We are talking about two different autos. The first post was describing an economy CAR. The second post was describing the auto show concept TRUCK that Ford put out. Please don't confuse the two. The most recent "Bronco" description was that of a CAR. You know, those front-wheel drive things that scoot along the ground and get a lot better gas mileage. There is no way that you could drive one of these on a dirt road much less take it to an area where people are off-roading. I had to drive an Aveo once while my truck was being worked on. That piece of junk (I apologize for anyone that might have one) had no suspension. I drove it in June and kept the A/C on max for the two hours I was driving it. It never cooled off. Granted Texas gets hot during the summer, but there was absolutely no insulation on the firewall. My feet were sweating from the engine heat.

I know that some of you feel that we are small peas in a big pod and won't be able to influence Ford, but we have what...6159 members on this forum. I'm sure some of the other forums would join in and support a petition. Maybe even some nostalgic Heep owners. Don't roll over and play dead. Does anyone here have any connections to Ford or know how to get our voice heard. We can't let an economy car use the Bronco name. It makes me sick to my stomach.

 

[74BroncoCO]

Call it the broncette and my wife will drive it to the mall. If they are going to produce the "car", they shouldn't call it a bronco. I like the SUV concept. With a diesel engine, you could get pretty good mileage (20+). I've had aspirations to become a designer for Ford, but it seems like the worst time to get in because all they want is some eco-car, not a capable off-road rig or hard working truck.

That Jeep Rescue is looking better and better. What happened to the Powr wagon concept??

J.D.

 

[grs44310]

After building such an offroad capable concept that actually looks like a Bronco Ford is going to build this POS and slap a Bronco badge on it? This is a disgrace to the name and makes me want to puke.

 

[joser]

I had been hoping the new Bronco would compete against the new FJ Cruiser http://www.toyota.com/vehicles/futu.../www.toyota.com/fj&ref=http://www.toyota.com/

Alas, it is not to be
:'(

WOW, that thing looks like a Mini Cooper on steroids!

 

[Socal Tom]

i know we would all like to see the new bronco as at least moderately capable off road, but think back to the EB in its original shape. It wasn't as capable off-road as we like to think. All us guys have extremely modified it to go roack crwlin, etc. When was the last time you saw an original/stocker uncut and unlifted with those little funny tires do any off-roadin? To our standards nowadays stockers are a joke, and so will the new stockers - for a while
i'm sure a lot will get tricked out

Actually there are a few guys down here in Socal that wheel the hell out of some uncuts. Mike Bautista has been wheeling his wifes uncut stocker for a while. It's got a 5.0 EFI and dual lockers. At TDS he was making some lifted heeps look real bad. %)
Tom

 

[joser]

Just sent my email to the email addresses above.

I see so much energy aroung getting this site listed as "the top 4X4 site" each month. I challenge everyone to write an email to those email addresses and see if we cannot make a difference.

I have always hated when auto manufacturers recycle brands and put them on something terrible when it once stood for something great. I would hate to see that happen to our Bronco.

Long live the Bronco - The way it was meant to be. A truck, a 4X4, a machine!

 

[broncnaz]

i know we would all like to see the new bronco as at least moderately capable off road, but think back to the EB in its original shape. It wasn't as capable off-road as we like to think. All us guys have extremely modified it to go roack crwlin, etc. When was the last time you saw an original/stocker uncut and unlifted with those little funny tires do any off-roadin? To our standards nowadays stockers are a joke, and so will the new stockers - for a while
i'm sure a lot will get tricked out

It was way better than you think even in stock form in its day it competed against jeeps and scouts That had 4 cyl engines The bronco had a smaller turning radius, more ground clearance, better approach and departure angles, it also came with better running gear than most of the others. Remember back then no one was trying to climb cliffs. while true most of us have cut the funny looking rear fenders to fit bigger tires but that hardly counts as extremely modified I'd say most broncos are still in realatively stock form. As far as nowaday standards look at jeeps they are basically unchanged yes they do sell 1 model that is very well equiped but I wouldnt call it extreme.
My 71 sport only has cut fenders the rest is stock my 73 only has a 2.5 lift and a NP 435 tranny other wise its pretty stock besides the engine. Most people have only upgraded what was already there I would take a stock bronco anyday over some of these so called extreme trail rigs that people build to throw at the big rocks.
Also knowing how to drive is half the battle some people dont know how to wheel so they need the bullet proof setups. I've seen modified rigs struggle up an obstacle while a stock rig walks right up because the driver of the stock rig knew how to drive.

 

[Jason TN]

Defender 90 Rover

Here is the modern day Bronco. Also Ford owns a large part in Land Rover company. So if your wondering where the good design went...

http://www.roverparts.com/defender-90.html

http://www.sharpstudent.com/rangerover/index.htm

http://www.eastcoastrover.com/Sweedler90.html

http://rebornco.com/landrover.htm

http://www.neneoverland.co.uk/popups/lr90stock1.html

I love my Bronco but aluminum body and diesel motor would be nice things to have.

 

[Socal Tom]

When the EB came out in 66, the CJ5 offered a V6. Didn't the Scout have a V8? I'm not saying the EB wasn't a capable rig. But I belive it was also targeted to be more female friendly. The body styling was more like a car than a truck. Most off road rigs have low hoods so you can see more as you climb a hill, EBs have little "fins" that stick up to make visibility worse. The uncut fenders limited tire size. They were wider and longer than the Jeeps of the day. They are still wider than jeeps are today. They also offered roll up windows that you couldn't get on a jeep in 66.

They also offered automatic trannies, power steering that provided additional street worthiness.
I'm just saying when ford launched the EB it wasn't to get the same customers that jeep was after. Instead they were after people that wanted 4wd, but wanted something that they could drive to work everyday with reasonable creature comforts. If we'd been jeep guys in the 60s we would probably have made fun of the EB.
Tom

 

[broncnaz]

Not real sure who offered what in what year but base model jeep and scouts were 4 cyl everyone optioned them with bigger engines at some point as ford did soon after the bronco hit the market. While the Bronco did have shortcomings it was as good or better than its competetion. Tire size back then was limited so the fenders really were not an issue when it was designed as wide tires had not made it to the offroad world yet. Had it been incapible. I'm sure there would be relatively few running the roads today.
Its true the bronco was marketed as more of a family wagon that a jeep type vehicle.

 

[KJHill]

It's nice to see that Ford is easily as stupid as GM when it comes to making crappy new cars with good old names. I've never been a Ford fan (except my 2 EB's that I've owned). I've been a GM truck fan and a foreign car fan. Both companies have their heads up their @$$. Can you imagine if Toyota came out with a FJ40 based on the Corolla platform? Sometimes I think GM & Ford are just trying to make it easier for foreign automakers to steal more market share that they should have been able to hold on to, with out much effort. They are trying to play the foreign auto makers game, and they will lose. Domestics should stick to what they know, good tuff trucks.
Just my worthless $.02 worth.

 

[sstlaure]

Alright, I've got to throw my 0.02 in.

I'm an Engineer at Ford, I work on the Mustang program (I'm glad it got done right.)

Ford is a business, all businesses are in business to make profit.

To make the Bronco everyone wants (including myself) the price-tag would likely exceed $30K (Just like the Heep Rubicon.). And just like the Rubicon, the sales of said vehicle would be abysmally small. (Not profitable.)

To put it another way...from 1966-77, Ford made ~250,000 of OUR Bronco. The first model year we went to the bigger body (78), we sold almost as many trucks as the 11 years previous combined. That, my friends, is what we can in the auto industry a no-brainer. Not that I like it any more than you do, but it's a mere fact of business.

Now as far domestic manufacturers concentrating only on trucks, with gas going upwards of $3.00/gallon, that would be suicide (nevermind the fact that it's illegal, this little thing we call CAFE - Corporate Avg Fuel Economy, basically, if you add all of the vehicles sold by any company, the Avg mileage has to be above a certain threshold...I'm an interior engineer, so I'm not sure what the current threshold is, but I know it's much higher than the 13-17 mpg that most trucks/SUV's get.) We sell more trucks than cars, so for every 13 mpg vehicle you sell, you have to also sell a 30+ mpg car to offset the mileage.

I personally think that Nissan, Honda, and Toyota are eating their shorts on their "full-size" trucks. They couldn't have come to market with those products at a worse time. ;D

Lastly, I couldn't agree more that if the Bronco isn't going to BE a Bronco, then it shouldn't have the name. Unfortunately, Most marketing people are morons and don't really care about heritage, they care about sales figures, that's their job.

On the Mustang program, we had a truly passionate team of enthusiasts working to deliver the best Mustang yet. Luckily, it's not that hard to define what the "best" Mustang is. A 2+2 Sports Coupe w/excellent performance at an affordable price. A Bronco is much more difficult, people want everything out of their SUV. My experience is that if you want everything in a vehicle, you either pay for it, or you don't get it.

Sorry for the rant. I'll stick to my 74 thanks.

 

[KJHill]

Well said sstlaure!

It's hard to stomach an import full size truck & SUV, with what GM, Ford, Dodge have to offer. It's also hard to stomach a domestic car, outside of the Mustang, Corvette & a few others. I forgot how CAFE works, but your right they need to be well rounded with what is offered.
Lets all just cross our fingures that the "new Bronco" wont hurt the heritage of our classics very much.

 

[1977]

Lets all just cross our fingures that the "new Bronco" wont hurt the heritage of our classics very much.

Let's all just hope that they don't call it a Bronco, ESPECIALLY if it's front wheel drive.

I seem to remember that at some point in the not so distant past that Ford was considering making the Mustang front wheel drive. That was quickly squashed. Sometimes you have to put profit and other things aside for the sake of keeping an American Icon alive, or at least true-to-form.

 

[Dusty]

Mr. Ford Engineer, our quarrel isn't with Ford building yet another econobox. Most of us understand market pressures, government regulations and so forth. But calling this POS a Bronco is what we have a problem with. If they can't build something worthy of that name they should keep it in retirement until they do.

I didn't realize the krauts aren't selling many Rubicons. I see them all over so I guess I thought they were selling well. But even if they don't sell very many of those, they're still a valuable standard-bearer for the brand. I doubt Ford sells enough GT's to make a profit from building them. Same thing with the Viper. These aren't built so much for the profit margins in selling them as for the credibility they lend to the manufacturer's name, which translates into more prestige for all of the other, mass-produced products they build. Jeep can claim it builds a bad-ass 4x4 that most men wish they could have bought, but practicality or budget resulted in them purchasing the base model YJ or the Cherokee or Liberty instead. But they can still claim that Jeep heritage even in their grocery-getter and it makes them feel better about settling. If Ford were to build a PROPER Bronco, sure maybe only those of us who truly appreciate it for what it is would actually buy one, but it would lend the prestige of its pedigree to all of the other Ford grocery-getters too, like the exploder, excape, and the new econobox as well. If you just go ahead and name the econobox Bronco, it really does nothing for that product or any of the others other than ruin a once proud name. And it demonstrates Ford's cavalier attitude toward its enthusiast base, who, when the chips are down are the only customers they can always count on.

Dusty