Unexpected Baby

V8 Yankee

Outer Banks
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Just got back from 21 days camping in Colorado, sleeping in the little Sport every night. Not too bad considering I'm used to an Excursion, which is like taking a medium-sized NYC apartment along with you.

My only complaint was entering "deep sleep" mode a couple times due to infrequent use (3 days without starting) to conserve battery. Having all the videos play and multiple systems remain energized for 30 minutes or so when a door is opened doesn't work well for a vehicle used for extended camping. This caused me to start and run the little beastie for about a half hour every couple days out of fear of having a no start.

Which brings me to fuel economy. So far, this trip registered both the best and the worst fuel economy so far, with some 'splaining. Camp is at 8166', about 2400' above town. A couple trips into town, along with the aforementioned idling left me with one tank at 21.47mpg, calculated. Both tanks that achieved less than 26mpg included extended idling as well as trips up and down a very steep and twisty nine-mile dirt road.

ODO Trip ODO QTY Indicated Calculated

1433.4 353.8 13.319 27.2 32.5

1811.8 378.4 12.561 30.5 30.127

2091.8 280 13.037 NR 21.47

2411.6 319.7 12.909 25.4 24.76

2781.1 369.4 13.727 27.0 26.91

AVG 27.1534

Overall, pretty happy with that. I'll soon find out what city driving results are, no big trips planned for a while.

Instant campsite:
(that's bear poop between the camera and the rear wheel)

Ford Bronco Sport Unexpected Baby 67673273458__708350A6-A89B-4C29-894D-C39C5089580B


Sorry for the laundry in the background!
Pretty decent mpg considering the elevation. The drive up was offset by the coasting down. The idle time is what kills mpg. Next time go to settings on the display, program lights off at shutdown and turn your headlight knob to the off position. This should shut everything off after you shut the door in less than a minute. You will have to turn the headlight knob to off everytime you open the door or it resets to the on position automatically.
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BroncoMike

BroncoMike

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Pretty decent mpg considering the elevation. The drive up was offset by the coasting down. The idle time is what kills mpg. Next time go to settings on the display, program lights off at shutdown and turn your headlight knob to the off position. This should shut everything off after you shut the door in less than a minute. You will have to turn the headlight knob to off everytime you open the door or it resets to the on position automatically.
Yeah, I could see the miles to empty going down as it idled. I don't think it quite works out to even coasting down a hill vs. lugging up it, but there is a certain measure of offset. You're burning gas in either direction, just a lot more on the uphill trip. If gas went back in your tank as you went downhill, I'd agree, but mine never seems to do that.

I was playing around in the settings, but didn't try what you recommend with the lights off at shutdown yet. I don't think it's so much the drain of headlights after ignition off as it is the 30 minutes the accessories seem to run after every door manipulation. Unless it kills the accessories at the same time? That would be cool. I did stumble upon the lights off at the headlight switch trick like you said, and discovered that it defaults back to normal with each ignition cycle as you mentioned. Automatic stuff is nice until it always does something you don't want...

Maybe sometime soon I'll delve into Forscan on this car. A whole 'nuther level of fun, I bet all that stuff can be fine tuned. Thanks for the tips, I'll probably leave the 30-second delay on for normal use but change it to lights off at shutdown when camping.
 

Pigpen

Outer Banks
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I gave up on a Bronco Sport months ago, with all the commodity restrictions, ADM, long waits for orders and such. I was on a lookout list with a couple of Phoenix dealers, most stopped calling me when they learned how specific my must-haves were - Badlands, Premium, 360+, tow, and only a couple colors I liked. My phone stopped ringing back in February, but the only calls I was getting were Big Bends or moderately-optioned OBX packages anyways. Dealers in PHX weren't ordering high-optioned Badlands packages for the floor.

Last night at 6:30, my phone rang.

A customer dropped out of his special-order A51 Badlands, Premium, 360+, tow, moonroof, with Falkens. Even a full-size spare. Straight up MSRP, but this is practically a unicorn in today's market... at least around here. I drove the hour and a half to Phoenix, did the paperwork (1.99% from the credit union), had dinner, and was home by 11:30.

Still kind of shocked that I pulled the trigger. But now I have the agonizing decision of whether to off the '02 7.3l Excursion or the '98 CR-V. The Excursion is big and powerful and fun for weeks of travel camping, and can tow anything I have a mind to, but the CR-V is so cheap to operate and repair on the rare occasion something fails. I use the Excursion once or twice a year, the CR-V constantly. The Sport could entirely replace the CR-V (except... I'd feel compelled to wash and vacuum the Sport once in a while), but not the Excursion. I'd get pennies for the CR-V, even in this used car market, but probably very good money for the Excursion - it's in terrific shape with nice upgrades.

Decisions, decisions... I guess I could even get rid of both. At least I'm part of the Bronco Sport club now!
You were very lucky! I went through the same fruitless search for a loaded Outer Banks. I finally gave up looking and ordered one. Should arrive in the next week or two. On a side note, I’ve heard rumors that Ford may discontinue the Bronco Sport Badlands because it’s hurting sales of the full sized Bronco, and also they’re not selling that many of them compared to the other trim levels. You may have a future collector’s vehicle there!
 

RS1

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DO NOT SELL YOUR EXCURSION.
You will miss it and regret it.
Unfortunately ours just disintegrated, frame looked like Swiss cheese, sills, door bottoms. Only 85,000 miles in 15 years. Never off road and always washed. Damn winter road chemicals. Even with all the issues we got $6,000 trade in towards our Explorer.
 

AndyMac204

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im going to agree with keeping the excursion. those trucks are gold hens teeth, and chances are you may never find another one.
crv’s are great, im a big k-series fan if yours is equipped with that engine.
if you have the room, keep all 3!
 

Feint

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I don't have any experience with the Excursion. But if you used it twice in the last year, and can still get a lot of money for it, I think you'll regret not selling it during this used car bubble. Even if it's two years from now when the bubble bursts, you'll have only used the Excursion 4 times. And from what I've learned recently from interacting with dozens of dealers and online car purchasing robots, your mods and add-ons aren't worth anything unless you sell privately. Even then, the buyer might pretend that they are a liability from a "pure" stock car.

Loved hearing about your overlanding adventures. As someone who lives in the Midwest, I wish I lived in the Colorado area.
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