Who's Excited for the 2021 (if we're lucky) Ford Bronco?

[CR-Venturer]

I'm amazed there isn't already a thread for this, but who's excited for the new Bronco? With front and rear live axles, rear mounted spare, aggressive off road geometry, what seems like a gorgeous boxy design with lots of cargo room, and most importantly for me, a speculative price point way less than the bloated cost of a Jeep, it's got me pretty excited, let me tell you.

What do you guys think? If it turns out to be affordable and as awesome as it looks, I'm thinking I may just save up and buy a used one a few years after it debuts.

 

[Louiston]

If in fact it has live axles front and rear, it will be a WELCOME addition, especially coming from Ford. It appears they have done their homework and if so, it will put a huge dent in the Fiat Wrangler/Rubicon market. Please don't give me a hard time (Fiat), trust me ............ been there, done that!

I am very curious too, although I will NOT be giving up my FJ any time in the distant future. I may have to get one for my wife though!

 

[9Mike2]

The all "new" Jeronco, Ha Ha, can't beat them, copy them. Being a Ford the price will be up there too, for awhile, maybe the competition will bring the prices down for all

 

[CR-Venturer]

If in fact it has live axles front and rear, it will be a WELCOME addition, especially coming from Ford. It appears they have done their homework and if so, it will put a huge dent in the Fiat Wrangler/Rubicon market. Please don't give me a hard time (Fiat), trust me ............ been there, done that!

I am very curious too, although I will NOT be giving up my FJ any time in the distant future. I may have to get one for my wife though!

The intelligence on the interwebs says live axles front and rear. If they really want to go toe to toe with Wrangler as they say is their whole point in making the Bronco, they MUST have live axles in the front.

 

[GrayStone Ghost Rider]

In all the information I have seen, pictures, and video leaked out the new Bronco will have IFS and not a live axle. I'm not sure how many different models they will come out with, but the ones I saw were independent front suspension. This doesn't change my excitement at all with a new Bronco coming out. I can't wait to see it.

 

[Smileyshaun]

Looks like the top of a control arm in the front wheel well

 

[CR-Venturer]

It's still interesting if it's IFS, but I think it would be a mistake on Ford's part if they want to compete with Jeep.

 

[Smokinjoe]

Bronco will be IFS for sure and will be fabulous mall crawler but only time will tell if off-road community will love it or leave it... Jeep has no worries

 

[Rath]

No chance it will be a solid front end, sadly. The race version has already been debuted and said to use a lot of the same parts/design as production model will. So. That tells me it's 100% ifs.

I had high hopes when I heard they were bringing it back. But, alas ford has let me down again like they have been doing a lot as of late.

 

[Dilldog]

It's supposed to use a front end based off of the Raptor, so coil over IFS. Honestly, unless your rock crawling or hauling some serious loads IFS is a better set up. Most people base (i did too) their opinion of IFS off of torsion bar set ups which is now 40 year old tech. Suspension design has come a long way. IFS works well for mild to moderate off road and vastly better on any kind of road. Really the only place it suffers is in hard abusive situations you find in hard core wheeling, and honestly since all of your light duty solid front axles went to ball joints the strength difference isn't as much as many people believe. We aren't talking about king pin Dana 60s with 3/8 wall tubes anymore.

 

[J.W.]

I'm looking forward to seeing how the secondary parts market reacts to it. If it gets a lot of aftermarket support, I think it will have some staying power. Either way, I'm glad Ford brought it back.

 

[Rath]

people want solid axles for ease of lift, reliability, ease of maintenance, and most of all... articulation.

IFS is great for super mild stuff, and daily driving. Solid axles definitely still have their place in today's world. Jeeps prove that. Which is why so many people were hopeful the new bronco would have one. to actually compete properly with its competitors.

 

[DadJokes]

I might go to Moab one day but I don’t think I’ll do anything past moderate trails which works out better since I’ll only have 33’s on a Sahara anyway. That said, a Bronco will probably do everything my Sahara will do for us. I’d be open to it being our second vehicle if it’s a good one.

 

[Louiston]

people want solid axles for ease of lift, reliability, ease of maintenance, and most of all... articulation.

IFS is great for super mild stuff, and daily driving. Solid axles definitely still have their place in today's world. Jeeps prove that. Which is why so many people were hopeful the new bronco would have one. to actually compete properly with its competitors.

IFS is FAR MORE capable than "super mild stuff". To say different is just plain old, worn out "Jeep" talk.

 

[Rath]

people want solid axles for ease of lift, reliability, ease of maintenance, and most of all... articulation.

IFS is great for super mild stuff, and daily driving. Solid axles definitely still have their place in today's world. Jeeps prove that. Which is why so many people were hopeful the new bronco would have one. to actually compete properly with its competitors.

IFS is FAR MORE capable than "super mild stuff". To say different is just plain old, worn out "Jeep" talk.

Depends what you consider capable, I suppose.

This is also coming from someone who doesn't own a solid axle front end vehicle. I'm not some jeep fanboy or IFS hater. Just calling it like it is. Solid axle will always outdo IFS on the trail when things get more intense. If this wasn't the case, people would be SAS'ing ifs rigs.

 

[Matthew Reed]

Personally I think it’s just a matter of time before Jeep goes to IFS anyways.

The percentage of people who buy a wrangler for serious off-roading is probably less than 1%. The vast majority are buying them because they look cool and they have the Jeep name. Maybe they drive down a dirt road once a year. For these people, IFS vs solid axle means nothing. Most probably can’t tell you the difference. It’s for these buyers that I think Jeep will go to IFS for. Someone buying a new vehicle because it looks cool isn’t going to say “death wobble is ok, it’s part of having a Jeep”. A lot of new JLs have it from the factory which is just not acceptable to most car buyers. Give it time and they will cave to demands as less people care about their off-road prowess and more about the on road comfort.

 

[IronPercheron]

Long time bronco man here, owned several.

This will not compete in the rocks and logs with a wrangler. It will be a more direct competition for the 4runner (i own one of those too).

The ecoboost will make impressive numbers as always, and the 8 or 10 speed trans is no joke.

It will based on the ranger chassis, with coil spring rear live axle, and IFS in the front. Just like a 4runner.

Its as if they smashed a wrangler and a 4 runner together.

 

[Dilldog]

Depends what you consider capable, I suppose.

This is also coming from someone who doesn't own a solid axle front end vehicle. I'm not some jeep fanboy or IFS hater. Just calling it like it is. Solid axle will always outdo IFS on the trail when things get more intense. If this wasn't the case, people would be SAS'ing ifs rigs.

A solid axle is just easier is all. It tends to take a bit more abuse, and its cheap and easy to get a high level of off road performance from it. That is why its so popular, also it takes A LOT of math and experience to make IFS work for serious wheeling and is out of reach of your typical guy building a rig in the shop. Even the most complex solid axle suspension systems are easy to to build from scratch.

 

[MidOH]

And LR.

It's IFS front. Based on Ranger, not Raptor.

 

[Dilldog]

I heard they were basing the design off of the Raptor and just scaling it to the smaller chassis. At any rate independent suspension is no reason to discount a rig.