Jrl

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Ahhh. I think you're right. From the Manual:


It doesn't say what gear it keeps the transmission in, but my guess would 2nd. Anyone know?
That would be my guess also , just makes sense.

Ford Bronco Sport Badlands in deep sand - personal review 4112B97B-F151-4C4C-B71D-15CF8B8557DF


Ford Bronco Sport Badlands in deep sand - personal review D689C53B-5421-449D-9CC2-13C5BDEA4AF6
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Jrl

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Rojo13

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Great review. I have been wanting to take my BS Outer Banks down to South Padre National SeaShore to check it out. The sand can get pretty deep so this was good feedback!
 


Jrl

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So the "M" is the Low "button' on the 2.0?
No , it is in the place of the L on the 2.0 . It is the manual button for the paddle shifters.
 

Mark S.

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"L" used to mean "lower gears," as in 1st or 2nd with a three-speed auto. It was used primarily to prevent the the transmission from upshifting so you could engine brake on long downhills. The owner's manual doesn't go into much detail, but I imagine it works similarly for the Bronco Sport. In other words, it's not a granny low for rock crawling, it just prevents upshifting to the higher gears.
 

Jrl

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No wrap , the only difference is the shifter trim .

Ford Bronco Sport Badlands in deep sand - personal review 4A390009-B38F-4226-BCA3-CFFAE6EC4F52


Ford Bronco Sport Badlands in deep sand - personal review E955A717-C55D-4383-A5A4-BFC2295B5ED7
I see then I guess it is a wrap . The trim piece .
 


Glamdring70

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[You can manually engage it in Normal but the car shuts it off when you get moving fast enough.]
I know why this happens.
Bunch’s guys out drinking in the woods, one is bound to come up with it.
“Hey boyz I got a great idea!
We can leave the windshield shade in place and drive to the liquor store all hunched down using the front camera ! That way the police won’t se us !!”
You can still do that, but you have to be blitzed enough to try it and not too blitzed to engage sand mode to make the drive there.
 

fourthgear

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I would say "LOW" is first gear on the OB trim ( could be 2 nd), I forgot the fist time to switch the low off & drove the side street off the Beach , then onto a highway ,the BS acted like it was in first , got to almost 40 mph before I realized it wasn't going to shift & remembered to switch low off & I let off the gas & switched it off & it started to shift as normal .

What ever tranny gear its in in Low it won't shift out of it & I thought the little 3 banger was going take off in flight .
 

Zadazoo

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I haven't had great luck with sand mode in deeper sand on an ascent. I've had better luck with sport mode. We just tried it out this past weekend in some California dunes. All else equal, we got stuck in sand mode but cruised up in sport mode.
 

O Nelly

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Let me preface this by saying I drive three 8 hours shifts a week in an F-150 or 250 patrolling 18 miles of soft, deep sandy trails and beaches in a refuge where the public can get permits to drive. I finally got the time (and courage) to take my Bronco Sport Badlands out for a day and thought I'd share my findings.

Ground clearance - The refuge has a requirement of 6" minimum ground clearance. After dropping air pressure from my stock Pirelli Scorpion tires down to 13# I lost two inches and ended up at a hair under 7" clearance. All good there except that I did feel the bash plate level out the tops of some of the deeper ruts, but my Wrangler used to do that too so it didn't bother me.

Four Wheel Drive - To get a permit to drive on the beach and trails the vehicle must have locking 4 wheel drive. Newer vehicles must have this indicated on the dash by a light, while older ones can be by practical demonstration. Up until last year AWD vehicles could get a permit if they had the ground clearance, but with the many types of AWD they are now all banned because they get stuck too often. Right or wrong, only FE or BS trim levels are permitted on the refuge.

On the beach - Since this was my first time in the BS I knew how I wanted it to handle based on my experience with the F-150 I usually drive. But rather than doing what I wanted I decided to stick with Ford's plan, so I selected the G.O.A.T. Sand Mode and also turned the Advanced Traction Control off (we require all drivers to do this as vehicles handle better in the sand and save their brake pads). The BS actually handled a bit better than the F-150, probably because it is lighter. It could jump from on track to another much more easily (see the photos below). The only time I felt it want to spin was reversing across tracks in a U-turn, but I just feathered the gas and it locked right in and moved across.

What I didn't like - My only complaint is that in G.O.A.T Sand Mode the shift to a higher gear is delayed.... a lot. I found running at 3000 RPM and 14 MPH annoying so I mostly stayed at 12 MPH which was 2500 RPM (still annoying). I have never tried the manual gear management on the F-150 and didn't want to try it on this trip in the BS because I had nothing to compare it to.

In summation - When we packed up and left the beach I forgot to put it into G.O.A.T. Sand Mode and simply drove off. The F-150 stays in 4WD after shutting it off but does turn Advanced Traction Control Back on. The BS reverts to Normal with ATC on. After hopping across a couple of tracks and driving fine I noticed and put it in Sand Mode and turned ATC off. Honestly, except for it downshifting and higher PRMs I didn't notice any handling change.

Takeaways - I think that when tires are properly aired down to 13-15#, the G.O.A.T. Normal Mode on all trim levels will handle 95% of all beaches. I would not want to tackle ours without the locking 4WD. Also, I think I am done with G.O.A.T Sand Mode and next week when we go out again I will simply hit the 4WD and ATC buttons and go for it. While I realize the higher RPMs drive more cooling to the Badlands clutch units, I don't think it will be an issue... unless I get the dreaded "Off Road Capabilities Disabled" message!

Ford Bronco Sport Badlands in deep sand - personal review Beach1
Ford Bronco Sport Badlands in deep sand - personal review Beach2
Thanks for the great info. We are outside Houston and the beach is the closes we'll get to really using this little mule for what it was meant to do.
 

TonyACK

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Let me preface this by saying I drive three 8 hours shifts a week in an F-150 or 250 patrolling 18 miles of soft, deep sandy trails and beaches in a refuge where the public can get permits to drive. I finally got the time (and courage) to take my Bronco Sport Badlands out for a day and thought I'd share my findings.

Ground clearance - The refuge has a requirement of 6" minimum ground clearance. After dropping air pressure from my stock Pirelli Scorpion tires down to 13# I lost two inches and ended up at a hair under 7" clearance. All good there except that I did feel the bash plate level out the tops of some of the deeper ruts, but my Wrangler used to do that too so it didn't bother me.

Four Wheel Drive - To get a permit to drive on the beach and trails the vehicle must have locking 4 wheel drive. Newer vehicles must have this indicated on the dash by a light, while older ones can be by practical demonstration. Up until last year AWD vehicles could get a permit if they had the ground clearance, but with the many types of AWD they are now all banned because they get stuck too often. Right or wrong, only FE or BS trim levels are permitted on the refuge.

On the beach - Since this was my first time in the BS I knew how I wanted it to handle based on my experience with the F-150 I usually drive. But rather than doing what I wanted I decided to stick with Ford's plan, so I selected the G.O.A.T. Sand Mode and also turned the Advanced Traction Control off (we require all drivers to do this as vehicles handle better in the sand and save their brake pads). The BS actually handled a bit better than the F-150, probably because it is lighter. It could jump from on track to another much more easily (see the photos below). The only time I felt it want to spin was reversing across tracks in a U-turn, but I just feathered the gas and it locked right in and moved across.

What I didn't like - My only complaint is that in G.O.A.T Sand Mode the shift to a higher gear is delayed.... a lot. I found running at 3000 RPM and 14 MPH annoying so I mostly stayed at 12 MPH which was 2500 RPM (still annoying). I have never tried the manual gear management on the F-150 and didn't want to try it on this trip in the BS because I had nothing to compare it to.

In summation - When we packed up and left the beach I forgot to put it into G.O.A.T. Sand Mode and simply drove off. The F-150 stays in 4WD after shutting it off but does turn Advanced Traction Control Back on. The BS reverts to Normal with ATC on. After hopping across a couple of tracks and driving fine I noticed and put it in Sand Mode and turned ATC off. Honestly, except for it downshifting and higher PRMs I didn't notice any handling change.

Takeaways - I think that when tires are properly aired down to 13-15#, the G.O.A.T. Normal Mode on all trim levels will handle 95% of all beaches. I would not want to tackle ours without the locking 4WD. Also, I think I am done with G.O.A.T Sand Mode and next week when we go out again I will simply hit the 4WD and ATC buttons and go for it. While I realize the higher RPMs drive more cooling to the Badlands clutch units, I don't think it will be an issue... unless I get the dreaded "Off Road Capabilities Disabled" message!

Ford Bronco Sport Badlands in deep sand - personal review Beach1
Ford Bronco Sport Badlands in deep sand - personal review Beach2
Reading your adventure on the beach, has encouraged me to drive my Badlands on the same refuge. I will soon be out on the same beach. See you soon. Tony
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