12 Month 7300 Mile Review of Bronco Sport Badlands

[RLader]

Sorry to hear that you have so many problems. I have the 1.5 and enjoy it and have no problems with the transmission to date. I am at 9,000 and one year. See your dealer and tell them your problems.

Lugs the engine

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[BravoAlpha]

Lugs the engine

push down on the pedal harder

 

[fastlax16]

push down on the pedal harder

Not a great solution for around town with stop signs every block, which is unfortunately my predominant driving since I live in Chicago.

There was a Mk6 GolfR guy from Penn State a couple years ago on VWVortex. There is a lot in your life/garage that seemed to align.

Too funny. Love mk6Rs but never had one. I think they're the best looking out of all of the R models, front end has 996 Turbo vibes. I actually don't think I've met any other Penn Staters in the VW community somehow. Hoping to get into a MK8 next year if supply levels out. Not willing to pay over sticker for a new or used one. Only concern is VW raising MSRP like Ford is doing. I think its probably something all OEMs are looking at right now.

 

[69cuda340s]

Most likely dealer wont do anything about transmission shifting. Dealer will say it runs it drives nothing to see here go on your way.

Hopefully oil don't run dry in rear diff and it locks up then ends up at dealer for weeks months waiting for back ordered parts.

Wife likes it despite numerous quality issues? 40k vehicle ect ect? Got it....

 

[fastlax16]

Most likely dealer wont do anything about transmission shifting. Dealer will say it runs it drives nothing to see here go on your way.

Hopefully oil don't run dry in rear diff and it locks up then ends up at dealer for weeks months waiting for back ordered parts.

Wife likes it despite numerous quality issues? 40k vehicle ect ect? Got it....

dealer isn’t going to do anything about the shifting not even going to have them look into it.

The rear diff holds 1.25 quarts of fluid. If it was anywhere near dry I’d have a literal flood of oil on my garage floor by now. Outside of the 4 road trips we’ve put basically 3000 miles on it in a year. We don’t commute in it so all it does is sit in the same spot all day long. It needs to be addressed, and will be next month when it goes in, but it’s not in any danger.

My wife is allowed to value different things. I also said most of my issues were pretty minor but now I'm the guy who thinks we should burn all the bronco sports (vw joke for my vortex guy). Back to the wife. She literally drove an escape for 20 years and loved it. She'd happily still be driving it if not for wanting something safer for a baby. She'll never notice panel gap or cheap plastics, its just not what she cares about. The hatch not unlocking without the key fob is annoying to her but the hatch in the escape literally didn't open so unlocking it with the fob is no biggie to her. Most trips in the car are a few miles round trip so the seat being close to the dash is a very minor inconvenience in her eyes and she has no clue what a rear diff is. What she cares about are aesthetics. She wanted a small boxy suv that didn't look like a generic crossover, didn't have blind spots, and sits up high. Basically she wanted a new version of her escape, and the escape doesn't check those boxes anymore. The sport does, so she loves it.

 

[JerryC]

The hatch thing, there's a thread on here for that with a fix .

 

[Rygar]

Respect for coming to a BS forum and sharing your honest opinions. Truth is that the BS isn't perfect. A lot the appeal is in the styling and having something "new and cool", but the quality issues are a concern for sure.

 

[kingtj]

Appreciate the honest critique!

I have barely owned my own '22 Badlands Bronco Sport a week here, but I've already noticed a couple of the same complaints you mentioned.

The first real "bad impression" I got of cheap interior materials was when I went to turn on the rear wiper. That's got to be the cheapest feeling switch on the end of the stalk that I've *ever* encountered on any vehicle I've ever driven!

Another issue I have is with the whole Ford "Sync 3" system's inability to support wireless Apple CarPlay. IMHO, it borders on brain-dead to include a wireless charging mat for your phone but force you to plug it into a USB port with a cable anyway, just so you can use things like navigation from it!

And as I already commented on in a different message thread here? It's insanity to sell the upgraded B&O stereo system and then use a lousy 6x9" speaker in back as the "bass subwoofer"!

I'm divorced and my daughter just turned 20, so hopefully won't have to worry about car seats anymore -- but the lack of room for rear-facing ones in back is definitely an issue worth warning people about.

I felt like the transmission had pretty good shift points for the eco, normal and sport modes? I wouldn't be that surprised if Ford didn't have multiple firmware releases for the transmission computer to modify those, though? (When I had my Wrangler, Chrysler released several updates like that for its transmission shift points over time. I always had to ask them to "apply the latest firmware updates" when I took it in and they did them for me free as warranty work. But I don't think they would have ever mentioned they existed if I hadn't gone in and asked for them?)

 

[graybuts]

I really appreciate your post here, It's extremely relevant to me!

I currently own a 2018 Golf R, and we have a 2 year old, still in a rear facing car seat. The plan is to get more of a family oriented daily vehicle, and the Bronco Sport was in the running for me, until I came across this thread!

I find the Golf R to be a bit tight with a rear facing seat, so I think this would be a dealbreaker!

Anyways - really appreciate the post!

 

[Jumbo1953]

We hit the one year mark with the car today so thought I'd get some thoughts out after 12 months of ownership. We picked up a Cactus Gray Badlands last April and were torn between grabbing this car (250 miles away) a few months earlier than necessary or placing an order that our local dealer assured us would be in by June. So glad we went with this one given everything I read about delays as the year went on. Using x-plan pricing we actually got it for under msrp. Purchase price was 36.5 and sticker was 38.3.

We originally purchased it to replace my wife's 2001 Ford Escape in advance of our first child (born last september) but ultimately it became our only vehicle as the used car market "forced" me into selling my car in November when carmax offered me over msrp for my VW and I couldn't justify keeping it given how little we drive.

We live in downtown Chicago, so mostly city driving mixed with 3 longer road trips (Chicago to Delaware 1x (1700 Miles) and Chicago to Kansas City 2x (1100 miles)). So of the 7300 miles we've put on it, 4150 are from 4 road trips including the trip driving it home. We got the badlands solely for the 2.0 and it will never be taken offroad. I didn't enjoy the NVH from the 3 cylinder on test drives and in my opinion it doesn't have enough power.

The only "mods" are the factory thule roof rack and a thule box. Was planning on a JB4 but with gas prices where they are, the requirement for premium once installed, and some concerns with the tranny I've held off.

The good:

The 2.0 is plenty powerful around town and doesn't feel overmatched on the highway until you get into speeds you shouldn't really be trying to pass people at anyway. I've had it cruising at 95-100 for long stretches no issues other than watching the gas gauge decrease in real time

Sport mode is legitimately sporty.

Awesome in the snow, even with the stock all seasons. Garages in Chicago are typically detached behind the house and the entrance is off the alley. Chicago doesn't plow them so things can get dicey in the winter. Even without putting it into "Slippery" we never had an issue getting in and out and we got a lot of snow this winter (including yesterday...). We've had neighbors get stuck what feels like weekly.

Still love the looks and that it's different than all of the generic crossovers. Get a ton of compliments on it.

The 360+ features are really nice on long road trips (minus the steering wheel vibrating as a lane departure alert)

A couple of features we like from the badlands that are great for city living:

The front facing camera. We have a really tight garage and the front facing camera has let my wife basically kiss the front wall when she pulls in, ditto for parallel parking tight spots.

Love having the 17s over the 18s from the OB. My wife would have curbed the sh*t out of the 18s by now between parallel parking and pot holes and the extra sidewall is nice on shitty broken pavement and potholes. I'd be worried about cracking the 18s.

Having no interior carpet is really nice. Being able to wipe everything down is great. We've had some bottle spills that would have been nasty with carpet that are no big deal.


The Bad:

Mostly minor complaints or issues I just need to have the service department deal with, with the exception of the transmission and child seat fitment.

The trans (or the transmission tune) is not very good. It doesn't shift smoothly around town/has trouble deciding when to shift. It will either hold gears too long, or shift way too soon and you end up lugging the engine with no real logic that I can figure out tied throttle input. It often feels like someone learning to drive a stick shift when we're at lower speeds. Sport mode is great if you're driving it with a little more aggression but it holds gears too long for real city driving. It does take care of the early shifts in normal mode. Given Ford's track record with recent transmission recalls this is the one area that has me considering extending the warranty, and so far has kept me from modifying the engine. I've had some flashbacks to the transmissions in a bunch of my coworkers fiesta company cars that basically fell apart.

Child seat fitment. Putting in a rear facing child seat renders the front passenger seat basically unusable. Obviously not an issue for everyone but we're pretty disappointed in this considering they fit into the back of a Taos without a problem. It fit better in the back of my Golf as well. Would never get one behind the drivers seat in a million years. if we have a second kid before this one graduates to a front facing seat we will probably have sell the car.

Short wheel base can follow grooves on the highway and it feels less stable in high winds than I'd like.

Rear dif leaks oil.

Rear hatch keeps failing to detect the key and wont open if the car is locked (glass works fine).

Not sure if there is a software update but there are times where the screen just goes black and the only way to get it back on is to restart the car.

Sporadically it becomes impossible to fill the tank without the shutoff valve triggering multiple times.

Rear brakes squeak like a mother f*er backing up.

The big flat hood reflects sunlight if you're going the wrong way at the wrong time.


The personal annoyances:

The engine doesn't feel all that refined. Makes some weird noises when you start moving from a stop. I've got a lot of experience with turbo 4 cylinders and this one just makes some flat out strange noises when you step on the gas. Loud injectors are part of the problem but there are some others I can't quite pin down.

Not being able to adjust the angle of the seat bottoms even with the power seats sucks. The seat bottoms are too flat and on longer drives it becomes uncomfortable with the lack of thigh support. On a car with a sticker of almost 40k (now over 40k based on the latest price hike) you should be able to adjust pitch of the seat bottoms

Cheap plastics. There are some reaaaaaaally cheap interior plastics. The plastic surrounding the cluster feels like its the same material as a coke bottle

Light colored headliner. They inevitably just get dirty over time. Black is the way to go, wish it had been an option, or standard. We've got black smudges in the back from the sealant that is inside the rubber seals around the hatch.

Watching the hood flex at highway speeds can be a little unnerving.

The under-seat storage in the back is under the passenger side, which is where you have to put a child seat, making accessing it impossible without removing the seat and the base.

My Ford dealer has no Saturday hours for service and with a baby I've had no free time to get it to them m-f to have some of the above problems looked at.

The stock tires are reaaaally skinny. They look ridiculous from the front or behind.

Not an annoyance just an observation. It doesn't like it above about ~105-110 (to be expected) and its not a fun place to be at those speeds.

What's next:

Tinting the front windows either 35 or 50%
JB4 once gas prices go down or I can finally get the car into the shop to have some of the issues sorted. Then obligatory trip to the dragstrip.
Make a second baby, sell bronco sport, profit, buy rs6 avant (or a Taos) for dual baby seat space.



And since words aren't fun without pics. (We all know what a stock bronco sport looks like so I'll keep it light.)

Where's the beef? Never considered the Golf's tires particularly wide but they sure look it by comparison.

We have had our Badlands for 7 months and 6,000 miles with no major issues other than the replacement of the manual shift cable. Our local Ford dealer has a top notch service department. That said, we love our BS even with some quirkiness in its build.
We traded a 2019 Acura RDX on the BS because the RDX didn’t inspire us. It looked like all the other SUV’s. We miss the memory seats the RDX had and the automatic lift gate but that’s about it. I purchased the best extended warranty you can get right out of the box because this was a new vehicle. At this point we are very happy with our purchase and hope to trade our 2019 Honda CR-V on a full size Bronco in 2 years.

 

[fastlax16]

I really appreciate your post here, It's extremely relevant to me!

I currently own a 2018 Golf R, and we have a 2 year old, still in a rear facing car seat. The plan is to get more of a family oriented daily vehicle, and the Bronco Sport was in the running for me, until I came across this thread!

I find the Golf R to be a bit tight with a rear facing seat, so I think this would be a dealbreaker!

Anyways - really appreciate the post!

The R has more room for the child seat and I struggle to figure out how. It must be an MQB thing because the reviews I read on the Taos have said you can get a rear facing seat in without even needing to move the passenger seat up to accommodate... Another weird quirk is the sports rear windows are pretty narrow, and none of the sunshades I've been able to find locally actually fit it even though they fit in the golf. The MK8 R is bigger than the 7 so maybe you just need a new R?

So my original intent was to keep the R plus have the sport (otherwise I would have pushed damn hard for an SQ5 or x3m). If you compare both as family vehicles that you're driving around town and not taking it offroad, or racing, they aren't really all that dissimilar in terms of daily driver capability. I wouldn't have sold the R and replaced it with the sport if the goal was to sell it for something more family oriented. They're both smallish 4 door boxes on wheels and you don't get that much more family friendliness in the sport in my opinion.

Standard equipment on the R is better. It basically has everything, minus the sunroof, you get on a sport with all of the option boxes checked. Obviously depending on trim you can get a sport for way less but a loaded badlands is something like 44k usd now so basically the same as an R. If you want a sunroof, it's not an option on the R (maybe it is in Canada?).

The front seats in the R are more comfortable and the infotainment is light years better. Virtual cockpit puts the sport's cluster to shame. From behind the wheel everything you touch (wheel, switchgear, compartment latches, etc) feels nicer in the golf.

Headroom is better in the Sport. I never felt claustrophobic in the Golf but the Sport is super airy. Sound system is probably a push but I'm not an audiophile. The Bronco has an inch more legroom in the back which isnt a big difference unless you're sticking taller adults in back The hatch in the sport is bigger and definitely holds more (stroller fits better) but I haven't made any local trips in the sport where I wouldn't have been able to fit everything in the Golf if we were taking that instead. For longer trips I fit the same amount of stuff in both and the sport definitely required less finessing to get it all in.

I'm 6'1 and never had visibility issues with the R but my wife is shorter and she always had trouble seeing around parked cars during city driving (probably the number one reason the R is gone and the bronco remains). Sight lines in the badlands are great. You definitely sit up high above most traffic, definitely higher than most other SUVs in the class.

The sport is easier to keep clean and I worry less about little scuffs from the car seat and stuff.

The R is quieter, unless you've modified it.

R gets better way gas mileage but you can get away with 87 octane in the sport.

They're both great in the snow but clearance is an issue in the R if it accumulates beyond a few inches or if you get chunks of ice in the road. Definitely thought I cracked my oil pan a couple of times on big ice chunks. You also dont need a set of winter tires for the sport.

Around town the R is more comfortable if you put it in comfort mode but the extra sidewall you get with the sport makes driving it on bad roads less stressful. I never worry about cracking rims in the sport. I cracked two in the R. Wish the sport had a comfort setting in the goat modes.

Power delivery in the R is better but the 2.0 is absolutely more than adequate for a family hauler (Others will disagree but I don't think the 1.5 is).

 

[fastlax16]

The hatch thing, there's a thread on here for that with a fix .

It never sticks.

 

[JerryC]

It never sticks.

It has for me. A thought came to mind is that I almost never lock it remotely. I use the touch pad on the door. I wonder if that is what does it.

 

[fastlax16]

We traded a 2019 Acura RDX on the BS because the RDX didn’t inspire us.

This probably sums it up best. It's a fun design in an incredibly boring uninspired segment. Everything is vanilla.

 

[AlohaBronco]

The sport is an offroader first and car second. I stand by that statement having done a ton of offroading with everything from wranglers, to crossovers, to sketchy civics. The sport gets a ton of hype because it's the first crossover that people feel can meaningfully offroad. Subarus and trailhawks/etc can go offroad and handle themselves, but they always felt a little hobbled.

Given this, you can understand the design choices. I DO NOT want expensive plastic and wipers and etc, because all that stuff is gonna get scratched, cracked, ripped, and broken if you're doing actual offroad, camping, and the like. For the capability and idea of the car, I'm surprised it's as nice as it looks inside. The engine definitely does not lug when you're ripping through high incline trails, mud, and sand, for example. And I suppose you said it yourself: your wife likes the styling which is why you have it. That stylishness is going to make a lot of people disappointed when they realize they're buying an actual offroader and not a zippy city car.

At the end of the day, it's a budget offroader that is actually capable and looks cool enough to drive around as a daily commuter without shame. If that's not what you're looking for then you bought the wrong car.

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