Are there bash plates behind the felt liner? I assume the felt liner is there only for sound deadening, or is it supposed to provide protection as well?
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It's used as sound deadening, I don't' know why they'd put it underneath the Badlands. That's a poor design choice.
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I think the only Bronco Off rodeo you qualify for is the one in Texas. I am going next week.
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Bash plates should just be a straight up add on option dealer installed. It is a no brainer up sell for Ford.
Wow, I am so thankful for these posts. I have a Bronco Sport Badlands and had a reservation for the Moab Off-Roadeo (and the overpriced hotel). After I read these posts I called Ford and it seems they had mistakenly put me down as owning the full sized Bronco. Imagine how happy a camper I would have been had I showed up in my Sport and been turned away. Luckily I was able to cancel everything except my disappointment without fees.
Looks like a great learning experience. Hopefully can attend something like this in the future.This weekend, I took an offroad driving skills class from Will Gillette, a I4WDTA certified trainer with Backroad 4WD Training up a trail south of the Skagit River, Washington. I decided to do this rather than going to the Off Roadeo (which would have taken three days and nearly a thousand bucks). And I wanted to get the training before going into the hills for a ham radio event.
BOTTOM LINE
The instructor was impressed with the Bronco Sport Badlands' capabilities. He had already read and watched reviews, but seeing it in person and what it could do let him see what a surprisingly capable rig it is.
This Bronco Sport Badlands is a joy to drive. It isn't its big brother but it has nothing to be ashamed of. I feel confident with it. I think this was a wise investment over the Roadeo.
And now, I need to get time in seat.
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
Here are some points from the day I had with him. In no particular order.
- Looking at the rig. We started with a nose-to-tail walk through, noting things to be careful of. Getting a look from a well-informed and vehicle agnostic person seems good.
- The pluses and minuses of independent suspension vs. solid axle, how the vehicle will compress and step over rocks.
- The clearances we have and the relative merits of doing a lift.
- The good approach and departure angles but being careful about the breakover angle.
- The skid plates are adequate. I got a few scratches and bumps and they came through fine. Wished there was something better up front.
- Good advice: Understand what kind of vehicle you have (and what you don't have) and drive to its capabilities.
- The extraction points (hooks) up front are good and adequate to the GVWR). There are no points at the back (the tow point would ...maybe... be ok in a pinch but you would want a lot of safety zone).
- Tires
- Falken Wildpeaks OEMs did fine especially for passenger/standard load tires. They aren't E-rated, heavy duty but they did really well in loose rock and gravel. Looking forward to what they do in snow.
- Deflation to 24 pounds. He was cautious about going lower than that without knowing about the geometry of the rims and if they could hold a bead.
- Goat Modes and lack of 4WD Low.
- One point of concern for him was the BS/BL lack of 4WD Low.
- It was clear that in Normal Mode, the BS/BL was way to punchy for any sort of loose rock or slippery surfaces. Even a light touch on the throttle produced such a quick response it guarantees you will slip.
- Enter Rock/Crawl mode. This difference this mode made was a revelation. Suddenly, the BS/BL settled down to a capable crawler. It blew us away.
- Driving skills
- Approaching water bars and obstacles at an angle rather than straight on. This turned out to be really important due to the clearance of the BL and independent suspension. It gives the chance for the BS to step over the obstacle one at a time rather than bashing the bottom.
- Rear tire scoot exercise. A good exercise was to try to turn the car so that both the front tire and the rear tire stepped over a rock. It was really hard because the rear tire does not follow the front... you have to turn late and wide. This exercise is how you avoid bashing the bottom with an obstacle that you cannot avoid.
- Failed Hill Climb maneuver. Something he practices every year: What happens when you get up a hill and get stuck or start slipping. STOP-Get your bearings-Get into reverse and descend under power... it is even more important if you are slipping.
- Left foot braking. Possibly the Trail Control mode does the same thing but it is good to know who to do this on your own.
- Recommended gear. Here are a couple of things he recommended along the way.
- Scan Gauge (or something similar) especially for monitoring the temperature of the differentials which is important in many contexts
- ARB Deflator (this was so much faster than my Joe's racing tire gauge and deflator; although going just to 24 pounds would have been fine with it).
- Radios: Amateur if you have them or FRS/GMRS if you don't. It was invaluable to have a scout up ahead warning of obstacles.
- Superwinch. I asked him about the superwinch, which some folks have mentioned. He did not think it a good option for the BS/BL.
- Winching and extraction
- One of the reasons I wanted this sort of training rather than the Off-Roadeo is I also wanted instruction in getting unstuck and emergencies. We spent a third of the day just going over this stuff.
- The BS/BL can be winched out or traction pulled from the front.
- You could use it to try to extract something equivalent or smaller (a Subaru) but never want to try to extract something bigger. That is probably obvious but good advice.
- The High Lift Jack is a great tool for this.
- We practiced traction and momentum rigging and extraction using my gear from Safe-Xtract / ASR Offroad. I'm really happy we tried this because I thought the front end was going to get pulled off with the traction pull. It all worked just fine at these low speeds and it got me unstuck just fine (whew!)
- Protection. The undercarriage protection was spotty.
- The bash plates did what they were supposed to, protecting items when I landed on an obstacle.
- That fabric liner on the bottom is useless. I caught a rock and it immediately shredded (see the pictures). It looks like I am dragging a branch under there and I have to cut it away.
- The front bumper is almost useless. It got cut as well. I wish there were some more plating at the front. I hope someone comes up with an aftermarket option.
LEARNING TO THINK
VIDEOS AND PICTURES
- A lot of driving takes place in the mind. Being aware. Keeping eyes up. Paying attention to your corners. Paying attention to compression. Getting out to walk a trail before driving it.
- When we first pulled up to the gravel pit, I could see two obstacles that played with my head.
- One was a twisty 10 degree sideways slope I had to drive over. That was a clencher and when I started to slip, he had me stop, get my bearings, back up, and start again. (His fellow instructor didn't actually finish that path but the BS/BL did! Whoop!)
- One was a four-story, 24 degree, loose rock scramble that looked to me like it went up forever. Finally, at the end of the day, it was time to decide: could I push through the mental challenge, know that I could do the failed hill climb, trust the rig and give it a try. WOW! As you can see in the video (which does not do justice to the hill), that little BS/BL conquered the hill like it was a big nothing. No slips, no hesitation.
Here are some videos and pictures from my day.
Climbing the hill (you can see getting over the first bump)
Rigging for momentum extraction
View above Skagit River
Fabric tear (no harm done but not pretty)
We went in July and it was an absolute blast! You are going to have so much fun! Would love to hear your takeaways ?
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Imagine how thrilled I would have been if I had arrived in my Sport and been turned away. Fortunately, I was able to cancel everything except my disappointment without incurring any expenses.
You can’t drive your own vehicle there and they wouldn’t have let you sign up for a location that sport owners don’t qualify for so this would have zero chance of happening.
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I looked at nyoffroaddriving, it says they require a 4x4 system with lockers and low range, did they give you a hard time about you bringing a BS? I'm thinking their should be some off road driving schools in the northeast that are fine with AWD systems, as people have been off-roading with Subarus up here for a long time.
No hard time for me they were excited to see a bs on their course I belive I was the second person to bring a badlands there. They work with you every step of the way just have to take it slow on the rocks. They instructed me to use the goat modes and that the intelligent 4x4 system would do all the work. Handled the course like a champ they were surprised on how well my bs was doing Outperforming the Jeep Wrangler and defender in certain areas of the course. Waiting for more snow to come togo up there n see what my badlands could do.
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standard issue, nothing better
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