Lost faith

[MB_Ray]

My 2022 Badlands celebrated it’s 4th anniversary. No issues what so ever unless you count the extra loud back up horn when damp out. Ford did come out to the house once after I finally got sick of them bugging me to replace a perfectly good battery. I found out later it was a huge money maker for the dealerships. I had no less than three calling me to have their mobile service do this.


In all fairness, I did buy the extended warrenty when I purchased it from Granger. My expectations with all the electronic Nannie’s wasn’t great.

Wait...they came to your place to replace the battery or fix the back-up howl?

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[petegee77]

It's not about cost. The BS is a sport suv and the Forester is a family SUV. Different class vehicles.

My wife and I intend to do mild off roading in the Subaru like we did with the BSBB, especially since it has nearly 1" more ground clearance. And like it or not : It's all about the Benjamins.

 

[petegee77]

Wait...they came to your place to replace the battery or fix the back-up howl?

They replaced my battery right in my driveway. Took it in for the rear brake howl which did the trick FINALLY.

 

[petegee77]

I agree with you on the 3 banger but a Forester is a different class vehicle than a BS.

What has that to do with trusting a car ???

 

[jonsfiend]

I am also hesitant about any CVT, but is the 8F35 any better?

We have a Mavrick work truck that has the SAME transmission 8F35 as the BS; over 200k no issues

 

[Sport Fan]

I'm still very happy with my 2023 Bronco Sport HLE. The 2.0L engine has so much pep, and I still love the Robin's Egg Blue color, and receive so many compliments! I've addressed the couple of recalls during oil change visits to the dealership. Although I just had to have a passenger side Window Regulator replaced, it was under warranty, and thanks to a dedicated Parts employee, I received the vehicle back in three days.


But, I totally understand the concerns about the 1.5L engines - I traded-in my previous 2021 Outer Banks model.

 

[Escape2Bronco]

Wait...they came to your place to replace the battery or fix the back-up howl?

No, the battery recall. I still have the howl. It doesn’t bother me enough to take it in.

 

[rocks]

What has that to do with trusting a car ???

Nothing other than people don't usually shop for a BS and a Forester. Two completely different class vehicles. Sport SUV and family SUV.

 

[petegee77]

It's not about cost. The BS is a sport suv and the Forester is a family SUV. Different class vehicles.

You must be loads of fun at a party.

 

[coopny]

I drive the BS as a grocery getter, I'm not aggressively towing or offroading it or whatever. In terms of actual reliability issues in the car (ignoring bog standard stuff like oil changes, tire changes, brake changes) at 3 years/~32K miles:

1. I never had the brake moan problem that bad; under certain conditions it would eke out. Gone after a brake job.
2. My struts for the liftgate went at ~15K. Replaced and no issues since.
3. The Ford factory EFBs are complete crap. I'd argue the AGMs are crap too (the 760 CCA AGM part was in my parent's expedition from the factory, and it died at the 2 year mark, replaced under the bumper-to-bumper). I just gave up recently after getting out of the bumper to bumper and seeing the voltage of the battery drop to <12V within seconds of ignition off and replaced it with an AGM. (This is a known weak point, they started only factory equipping these vehicles with AGMs in 2024, and replacing failed EFBs with AGMs prior to that.)

I'm kind of bought in at this point because I have the 10 year 100K warranty from Granger with no deductible and all the trimmings (rental car coverage, lighting coverage, etc.).

I was looking at a 2026 Explorer (larger vehicle, somewhat disillusioned with this vehicle after battling the mouse nesting smell so long [which I will not blame ford for it happens in other makes/models to people with bad luck)but decided against it within the overall economic climate (employment/inflation and fuel prices) and the fact that I freely own the BS and have the extended first party coverage.

I know it's a "popular" topic around here, but I am less concerned both in the relative lack of issues I've experienced, and overall just having the 2.0L engine.

I also have more relief in that I have a 2023... Ford had two years to learn a lot of the common mistakes in the build. Not every quality improvement/part iteration gets a customer satisfaction program or a recall or a TSB... The deletions from 2021 kinda suck, but you do get some reliability improvements along with it.

In OP's shoes, my unsolicited opinion would be flip the car. Without coverage and with that many prior failures it's a huge dice roll.

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