Bronco II - worst car of all time?

[Crankcase]

Originally posted by 410Fortune
Hey Crankcase!
I think you have that backwards!

The first Gen X looks like a Bronco!!! hahaha

Don't ya mean BroncoII ????

Yeah, I simply like the grille/lights and dash that is shared between the 89-94 Ford trucks... I think the BII would be perfect looking if that rear window was cut even with the door glass.....

 

[sonik]

Originally posted by 410Fortune
Ford is looking to make the BII mistake all over again with their new Bronco concept, I personally don't think the Escape platform deserves the Bronco nameplate, the Ranger platform maybe but not the Escape!!

Damn, I didn't realize the Bronco concept was so small. I figured it was being built on the F-150 platform, like the old Bronco's. I now see that it's two feet shorter than the first gen 4 door explorer, a couple inches wider, and about the same height with tires a full 3" taller than mine. I've always liked full-size half-ton based two door SUV's.

 

[410Fortune]

Yeah but the BII is just like en EB when you get down to brass tacks.

hahahaha or at least with a 5.0L , a D44 and a chop top they are....

 

[97BlackX5.0]

yeah bronco II's are great little trucks... i had a 89 Bronco II Eddie 2.9 with the a4ld... It was great....weve had it since new and other than U-joints, tranny, rear springs, manual hubs, valve cover gaskets and a radiator its never had anything done to the motor... we used to haul very heavy farm equipment and loaded hay wagons around with it and it did the job and never complained.... About the only thing i can complain about is the body rust....We still have it and it runs great but we use it for our trail beater and go getter more than daily transport now... im trying to convince my parents to put chains and a plow on it and use it for a plow truck... As for the rollover BS the bronco was my first car... and ive had it up on 2 wheels more than once... but always due to driver neglect(horsing around trying to get on a circle on ramp at like 65) or out in the field bouncing over the hills... I always felt safe to have a full framed truck around me rather than some of my friends who topped out there escorts on back country roads.... Its been in two accidents... I slid into our backhoe in the winter... needed new fender and bumper and rearended a geo trecker which caused over 2000 damage to the trecker and barely bent my bumper.... Long live the Bronco II... i wish they would bring it back in something comparable in abilities to the jeep... I can see a 4 wheel drive solid axle small truck doing well against all the utility vehicle impersonaters there are now.... including the escape.... and just maybe ,,, maybe ford would put a small diesel in it... .with all the new technology around diesels now they could put maybe the same 5 cyl diesel that volvo has in there cars in that and that sucker would move and be fuel effiecient.....

 

[Bwana Bob]

Bronco II

No, Its certainly not one of the worst vehicels of al times. I have a simple criterion for best and worst: How many are still on the road? The last year the B-II was made was 90 or 91 when it was replaced by the Explorer, but I still see a lot of them around, so they must be 14 or more years old. Of the other "worst cars" and many "good" cars, how many do you still see on the road? The B-II has outlasted them all.

I always liked the utility and styling of the B-II. The only thing that kept me from buying one was the limited cargo space. When the Explorer came out I was excited because it was just the kind of vehicle I wanted.

I get really annoyed by those "we hate SUV's" TV shows that claim how unsafe the B-II and Explorer are. If these trucks were really that bad there would be many many more rollovers and they simply would no longer exist, either on the road or on the market.

Bob

 

[F14CRAZY]

If you don't like it, don't buy it.

TV always complaining about SUVs with bad fuel milage, roll overs, etc. Not often do we weave Explorers or Bronco IIs through cones either. It's drive error.

Was it the vehicles fault that the steering wheel was sharply turned when a tire blew out?

I think Chrysler is doing a good thing (economic wise) with their cross overs because it's kind of an SUV/mini van, and both ma and pa buying it won't be worried about rolling it over. AWD is good enough for them anyway.

Soccer mom won't cry about their Durango with wheels flying off. (I blame this case on failure to maintain the vehicle properly. Most everything does eventually wear out, and that's part of owning a vehicle)

I agree that Ford needs to make a truck for us who enjoy driving and off roading (I guess Jeep did this with the Rubicon). An Explorer (both 2 and 4 door versions) with conventional suspension, 4x4 with low range, manual transmission option, and bla bla bla.

 

[Bwana Bob]

Yes, F14CRAZY, I agree completely. The crossovers are here, like the Mazda MPV 4WD minivan and the new Ford AWD Freestyle wagon, which will probably be pretty nice for a daily driver with lots of cargo room.

However, I was really annoyed when they restyled the Explorer to make it bigger and "rounder" like a mini-Expedition, and dropped the manual transmission. They seem to be catering to the soccer moms and ignoring "our" part of the market. Now the only 4X4 they offer with a manual tranny is the Ranger and the base model escape with the 2.3L engine. Actually that Escape might be OK. Its rated at 153 hp and my 92 Ex with the manual trans is only rated at 145 hp! (Don't know why the automatic was rated at 160 hp).

I didn't know Durango wheels fell off. I heard about a 2004 Explorer that broke the rear axle 3 times and the owners sold it back to Ford and bought a Durango.

Bob

 

[Rhett]

Regarding the concept "Bronco", some you may recall the 66-76 Broncos, which were small, 2 door trucks. The full-size Bronc wasn't added til 1978. This concept Bronc isn't necessarily too small, it's just I'm worried about it's suspension. Probably 4-wheel independent, probably cost $5000 to lift it 2".

 

[F14CRAZY]

I didn't know Durango wheels fell off. I heard about a 2004 Explorer that broke the rear axle 3 times and the owners sold it back to Ford and bought a Durango.

Bob

The Durango was on a CBS report, the type out to be biased and slaughter everything they don't think is perfect for every soccer mom.

I heard about that Explorer too.

 

[F14CRAZY]

Oh, and one more thing...

I liked the old MPV. A mini van minus the sliding door but with a front engine thats facing the way it should and rear wheel drive.

Did the "4WD" MPV have low range?