Are you happy with your Bronco Sport? My wife told me last night that's our next ride

[Vyper]

I did 36k on my escape with the 1.5 3pot engine. Changed oil every 5k. Not one hiccup. Granted that's one vehicle at relatively low miles. I know the old 1.5 4-cylinder in the last gen escape had issues, bad block design with the coolant passages between the cylinders. The dragon 1.5 seems to be more robust, minus some water pump leaks.

Yeah, YMMV. I'm sure most of them are totally fine, however seeing as he's posting here at all tells me he has some hesitancy on the motor. The easiest solution is to just get the 2.0 and then you bypass all of that. All of the known engine issues up to this point have all been reported on the 1.5.

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[Elegance]

I've had two. I put 12.5k miles on a '21 Big Bend before I traded up to my '22 Badlands which now has 1k miles.

The Big Bend was flawless except for one issue with the fuel injector (which was a posted recall at the time). It died when I was on a state highway and lost all acceleration. I restarted it, drove it to the dealer for the recall, and it never had any further issues. Took it from AZ to NC and back and it was fantastic.

I picked up my Badlands after a 7 month wait and the wrench light came home as soon as I put it into my garage for the first time. My heart sank, but it was as simple as replacing the shift knob which apparently came faulty from the factory. No further issues and I love it WAY more than I did my Big Bend. I am so proud to be driving my Bronco.

 

[Brad & Karin]

20k miles on our 21 Badlands. We have the brake noise issue, (not a big deal) and are getting a rear seat belt monitor fault which we haven't had checked yet. Otherwise, it's been great! 27mpg average, interior cleans up well and it's reasonably comfortable. Windsheild seems to chip easy but I think that's pretty common with all new cars. I'm not a fan of the lane centering or the auto start so I turn those off, but my wife likes them both. It's a beast in the snow!

 

[Glamdring70]

Last night my wife told me she is in love with the BS Outer Banks and wants to go car shopping this weekend. I'm good with that. I'm retiring next year and will no longer have a commutes to Dallas. I did some initial checking and found the following...

• Consumer reports downgraded the BS and no longer recommends it. In their annual survey the 'trouble spots' were Body Integrity 1/5, Brakes 1/5, and Engine Major 2/5. The rest of the categories did really well and ranked 5/5.
• The Ford recall makes me a bit nervous.

What's your experience in repairs? Are you satisfied or has it been a money pit?
Thanks in advance for your comments.

I wouldn't pay large attention to the CR ranking. I haven't joined to see the exact scores you posted. But I can tell you why it got them. It's owner feedback right? Well a lot of people are really, reeally picky about the car and seem to want it to remain in showroom condition with 5, 10 or 20,000 miles on it. There's just no way.

Now, Ford did make some questionable choices for materials in an "off road" oriented marketed car. There are tons of gloss black plastic panels- inside and out- and they are really really touchy about swirls and scratches and susceptible to a lot of different things. So I can get why that gets lower scored. But the car, what I would call the "body" is built like a tank. The body is really strong and a bunch of people post pics of rolled Bronco Sports that look like they can drive off the accident site. I've even seen many pics of rolled BS with intact windshields despite the crazy amount of people that complain about catching rocks over on Faceplace. Most of them must have never driven a less aerodynamic car before. Rocks are a road hazard. This is such a thing with Jeep that now they offer Gorilla Glass as a option to upgrade the screen. I would carry glass coverage for any car I drive because replacement is a pita and expensive. Will surely eat a whole deductible of even $1,000 or $1,500. Totally worth the maybe $10 rider for $0 deductible glass.

Brakes are a source of pain since they had one of the first and most confusing recall rollouts. Everyone assumed that it was about the noise, but it wasn't. The first recall was for an issue with (some) brake boosters. Later on Ford started to address the noise rear brakes make when cold, damp, parked overight etc. It will make a noise when reversing and then stop after a short drive. I guess a lot of people park outside and deal with it on a regular basis. I park in a garage and I back in, so I have only heard the noise maybe 4 times in 18 months. Again, it's a feedback score and people are annoyed, so it scored low. The brakes themselves are safe and work fine. The score isn't based on that.

Recalls, and I will catch a lot of crap for this here, if recalls are a concern, then look at a Badlands with the 2.0 engine. This dodges almost all the recalls Ford has had so far and the ones that apply won't apply to new builds because they were for a handful of cars build in certain weeks for stuff like sunroof seals. A Badlands with the upgrade package is not significantly more money than an Outer Banks and basically the only thing you miss out on is automatic wipers and ambient lighting, which has been scaled back by Ford anyhow.

As an owner, I have had no mechanical issues to speak of. Nothing that I can't deal with in my garage as part of regular maintenance of a car. The only lingering issue I have had is the weird noise the car makes when coasting or slowing in 3rd gear. Some people have had Ford replace a cable and some are trying to get a new Turbo Gate installed to deal with the sound. Ford says there is no concern for mechanical failure so I just haven't had them do anything to it because I have had no reason to take the car to a dealer for service!

 

[Escape2Bronco]

I've had my '22 Badlands for 9 months and have 6K miles on it. This wasn't the vehicle I was originally looking for. I have an order in for a full size 2 door Bronco but because of allocations, I probably wont see for a year or two. My dealer (Granger) in Iowa, offered us to order the Sport at 6% under invoice. We decided to do that as my 2006 Escape is dying of iron oxide cancer and since the delay for the 2 door was longer than Ford predicted, we would take them up on the offer.

After waiting 4 months for it to be built, I can say that I am quite happy with it as a direct replacement of the Escape. Similar in size and ground clearance but with some newer technology. We didn't go for the 360+ since this will not be our traveling car and quite honestly, I don't need as I'm older than dirt so standard cruise control is still way nicer than the ice scraper jammed between the seat and the gas pedal.

While it's quite capable of some off moderate road, the clearances are still quite low and there isn't really too much you can do to raise it substantially being a unibody vehicle. It was never intended to be in the same class as a full size or a Wranger so it's just fine. We happen to like traveling the off roads in southern Colorado and Utah and I want much more ground clearance than what this can ever achieve.

With regards to parts, mine came with all the parts that Ford was putting on them at the time of order. I did add the motor cover for a place to set my beverage, and I added the passenger panel that does nothing but make it harder to get to the fuses. I did pull off the rear headrests so the seate are easier to fold and thru them in the closet as I did with my Escape. The rubber floors in the Badlands are awesome in my opinion.

I love the 2.0 motor and the general feel of the vehicle. I have had no issues or recalls other than the rear brake fog horn in the morning which does not bother me at all. I'll get it fixed when parts are available. My mileage is about the same as the Escape (24ish) but the smiles per mile are much higher.

As far as a money pit, it can be as many have shown on here but that's only because of adding accessories, not part failures.

 

[JamesT]

Ford has produced maybe 200,000 sports by now so there are a lot of them out there now. There are reports of problems on some of them and some of them have been lemon lawed. There are also large numbers of people with no issues.

I have had my '21 for one year now and has around 8,000 miles. Has not been back to the dealer for any problems. So far everything is working. No chips in the paint, no broken windshield, no brake noise (yet), no rattles, fit and finish inside and out is excellent, definitely a high quality look and feel to vehicle overall. Drives very tight, super strong engine, and very refined comfortable ride. It has exceeded my expectations so far.

One thing I did do was took mine on a 45 minute drive before signing to make sure it was a good runner with no issues. I drove it on back roads, stop and go, at speed on highway. I think a good test drive before signing reduces risk of getting stuck with a lemon if you are in a position to walk away which I was.

You might have a look at https://www.broncosportforum.com/forum/threads/whats-your-favorite-thing-about-your-sport.6181/

 

[Adam CW]

I’d say I’m happy overall but my Badlands does have some issues.

Build quality is generally good but it could be better.

At highway speeds, especially when it’s windy, my Badlabds has an annoying flapping/buffeting noise. It sounds like it’s coming from the A pillar or hood on the driver side.

 

[Folkman]

Oh, and mine has not been flagged for ANY recalls yet. Not all of them are subject to recalls.

Same

 

[Folkman]

I’d say I’m happy overall but my Badlands does have some issues.

Build quality is generally good but it could be better.

At highway speeds, especially when it’s windy, my Badlabds has an annoying flapping/buffeting noise. It sounds like it’s coming from the A pillar or hood on the driver side.

That’s because we are driving a box down the freeway.

 

[Folkman]

I love mine. I’m at just shy of 13k and have taken my Badlands out in the desert, super rough with no issues.

had an OB to start and “upgraded”. The tech was nice in the OB…. But I don’t miss it.

mine is a 21. I’m not sure about the newer ones and all the deletes and such

go drive one and look at ALL the control clusters and features you thought it had. That way you aren’t suprised by deletes.

 

[Adam CW]

That’s because we are driving a box down the freeway.

It isn’t normal wind noise. It literally sounds like something is loose and flapping.

 

[Folkman]

It isn’t normal wind noise. It literally sounds like something is loose and flapping.

Huh. I would get that checked out then. I haven’t had that issue before or after I put my lock n load. Maybe something IS flapping around.

 

[Winds of Change]

I live in fear of the amount of time I'll spend in jail if anyone ever harms my Bronco. It's been literally perfect.

I will say that blue is awesome. If it didnt go against a couple of rules I had for my new car I would of picked that. Every care I have owned in the last 20 years seemed to have been either black or blue. So I did not want either of those again. Also did not want a black interior again.

 

[Winds of Change]

Last night my wife told me she is in love with the BS Outer Banks and wants to go car shopping this weekend. I'm good with that. I'm retiring next year and will no longer have a commutes to Dallas. I did some initial checking and found the following...

• Consumer reports downgraded the BS and no longer recommends it. In their annual survey the 'trouble spots' were Body Integrity 1/5, Brakes 1/5, and Engine Major 2/5. The rest of the categories did really well and ranked 5/5.
• The Ford recall makes me a bit nervous.

What's your experience in repairs? Are you satisfied or has it been a money pit?
Thanks in advance for your comments.

Body integrity? Are you referring to fit and finish? Crash tests show good results and I have seen pictures of some off road roll overs that impressed me.

 

[Benanza]

'21 BS OB with 27,000 miles... Forget what you read and get what you want. Every car has a chance of being a lemon. I had the brake recall, they gave me new brakes as mine were getting close to changing... Thank you Ford! The new brakes, leave a lot of dust but if you get your vehicle washed frequently not an issue, cause they still stop like brakes. I had a noise they fixed after ordering a part, yes it took 8 weeks for that part. However, when I was hit and needed parts more recently, the parts came in the following week. It really depends on the issue. With exception of damage from an accident. I've never been without my car for longer then a day of service. No regrets and I love my creature comforts the OB offers. The truth is, it will really come down to the service department. Best of luck!

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