Heavy Duty Use?

[Robert Flavor]

I go on 4x4 trails in Colorado almost every weekend (Winter included), my first time getting stuck was this Saturday high centering in some snow. I was stranded until a true hero in an FJ happened upon me at 2am to give me a pull. I can't blame the car though, it's only doing what it was designed for.

(only referring to Badlands models)
Offroad Strengths:
- Gets power to the tires very well
- Approach/departure angles are not bad
- Short wheelbase despite being a 4 door
- Not very wide, giving it an awesome turning radius and allowing it to get in smaller places
- Useful tools: diff locker, front cam, vertical/roll angles, some goat modes help in some scenarios
- Not bad underbody protection from the factory

Offroad Drawbacks:
- Being a unibody, is greatly limited when it comes to frame attachable modification. I need a winch, metal bumpers, etc.
- Clearance is the biggest limiter on where you'll be able to go
- The lack of articulation due to being an independent front/rear suspension
- Cheap, easily damageable plastic parts with no aftermarket alternatives available. 3rd party doesn't give a shit about the Sport compared to the big Bronco, and why should they. Ford made it a nightmare to modify this car.


That said, if it was any taller, I wouldn't be able to fit it in my garage on a snowy day. If I had 33" tires and solid axel suspension, the road feel and noise would be bad. If the car was built like a new 4Runner, it wouldn't be in the same price category.

If I wanted a solid offroader, I would have made the choice of buying a 4Runner or Jeep. The Bronco Sport is a compromise, a really good one at that. Never ever will you do as much as a Jeep offroad, but never ever will a Jeep feel as good as a Bronco Sport on-road.

That's why you need both.

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[Robert Flavor]

A poignant example of why I would want a metal front bumper:

The bozos who did my oil change didn't put in the retaining screws to attach the front bumper to the front skid plate (or all 5 or 6 screws backed out, who fucking knows). I started up a trail in the Fall (Chinns Lake) and had to back down once I realized how high the snow had gotten.

I didn't know the screws were backed out on my bumper, so, as I was backing down I piled snow under the bumper and ripped it off. If you want to know how your bumper is being held on, it's primarily two rivets that go through thin plastic on the upper corners. The rest is basically just plastic tabs and screws to the fender liner. It's cheap bullshit.

I made the repair once I got back into town by using some washers and nuts and bolts to replace the rivet. Honestly, probably more secure than from the factory.

However, this weekend it happened again. The bumper was ripped off and the cheap plastic that was holding it up has officially ripped beyond using washers for a fix. I'll probably have to drill new holes and re-rivet it to get a more permanent repair, and then figure out some way to keep it from happening over and over again.

A car that's designed for offroad shouldn't have the bumper rip off from simply backing up over less than a foot of show. Sure, the screws were backed out, but the skid plate could have been designed to where they wouldn't have ever needed to be removed for an oil change in the first place.

(zoom in to see my ripped bumper while on the trail)