I'm looking forward to it. Always a plus when a manufacturer puts out another real SUV.

The comments are all over the place and the Bronco isn't out yet. We don't know what it will really look like yet. We do know that it is a Ford and despite what a few think it will not run circles around the 4 runners. The bronco like the raptor failed to complete the baja 1000 and the Tundra won it in 2014 in the stock class. Reliability is everything offroading and just because you have lockers and I don't doesn't mean you are better. The 4 runner like the Tundra has a extremely capable 4wd system with lockers and Atrac and it goes EVERYWHERE my Jeep bros goes with far less issues. In the open rough desert my IFS allow me to leave them in the dust. On the way to the trail I ride far more comfortable on the road. If you worry about stock to stock you are a mall crawler not an offroader. All offroader build their stock vehicles well beyond stock to meet their needs and the 4 runner last and holds up very well after you build it. The Jeep and Bronco surely will do what we know they will do, break. If I was a rock crawler climbing over 2 foot boulders all day then find I would buy a Rubicon Jeep install 40" tires and dana 60 axles etc but since that is not close to the type of offroading most people do with a 50k+ vehicle I will keep the 4 runner.

Here is a little more detailed info about the Bronco.
CONFIRMED: 2021 Ford Bronco Will Have A Crawler Gear On Its 7-Speed Manual, PLUS Locking Front & Rear Diffs, Suspension Details And More! - The Fast Lane Car

The front lockers are a requirement if they intended to take on the JKU/Wrangler line up.

Ford doesn't care about the 4R - they are targeting the Wrangler.

On paper, it looks very legit. As someone who's significant other bought a Focus though, I'm so jilted on Ford due to the transmission in that car, and apparently the Mustang, I just can't even consider one. (GM Fanboy too...)

The views I've seen, the list of hardware that's been mined (Lockers, swaybar disconnects, off road turn assist, turbo powerplant, crawler gear, tire size, etc) makes it seem like they're not dicking around on this.

Front and Rear lockers + sway bar disco.

Mud testing
YouTube

so youre basing your argument on race trucks and hardcore rock crawling as to why it wont run circles around the 4runner? I fully expect the top tier bronco in stock to be just as capable as an upgraded 4runner in most offroading (think suspension upgrades and tires). Where i doubt it will keep up would be high speed offroad (unless they offer trick 2.5" shocks stock).

what has been speculated/leaked thus far about the bronco really looks better on paper than the 4runner overall for mixed use, save for cargo space and long-term reliability. i expect them to sell like hotcakes.

Ford vs Toyota

Reliability , reliability, reliability. And the winner is...




.

Take a look a the 2014 tundra in the baja 1000. It WAS NOT a race truck. It was stock and finished and won the stock class. Something Ford has been trying to do for awhile and has not. The point is who cares about how Ford builds the Bronco it will be the normal Ford crap and when it breaks on the trail (and it will) please dont ask me to tow you out in my 4 runner. I will take the Atrac and rear locker combo on my 2018 Trd 4 runner all day over lockers on a IFS vehicle. Bigger tires and big rock climbs break diffs quickly in IFS setups. Atrac if you are skilled works better or just as well in most offroad situations. I broke once on the trail trying to muscle up a rock hill. My cv axle broke (not my diff) and we grab a spare and fixed it in under 1 hour and kept going. Anything can break offroading but the Toyota isn't a paper offroader and due to its proven 4 wd system and overall reliability I wouldn't replace it with a fully built Rubicon Jeep (all my bros have them and all we do is trail wrench on them). Btw last year Ford built a full baja race Bronco for the Baja 1000 and it dnf also. A private racer in a Toyota Landcruiser and fully built H1 beat them in that class. Sweet looking but unfortunately it is a Ford. YouTube. Maybe you might be impress by the Ford marketing machine but I've been burned by Ford quality too many times to get circle jerked again.

i dont really think the masses give a shit about baja. also the bronco is going to have the same ifs front rear solid axle set up as the 4runner. ill let the sales speak for themselves here. btw i still own a 4runner, but inevitably, new shit outclasses old shit.

This is why I dont currently have a Rubicon. How they managed to make it that large, and yet that cramped and non-functional is mind blowing. The Bronco will likely have the same issue because 'OMG REMOVABLE ROOFZ'. Bonus points for the stories of missing welds and death wobble as factory options as I was looking it over, and a JK owner telling me in no uncertain terms that he'd rather ride a horse on a road trip than his Jeep was icing on the cake.

My 2012 JKU was truly fatiguing on road. I did a few really big trips with it (including a run up to Glacier and Watertown Lakes National Park in Canada and back to Arizona) and it was a brutal vehicle for long distance travel; even more so once you had 33 inch tires and some weight with it. Seats were generally horrible also. It was a chore to keep that thing cruising at 80 mph on long distance runs out west also.

Had my 2016 4Runner in 27 different states including a cross country run to Massachusetts and back. Oh man is it a way better road trip vehicle in every way (and like my Pro even more with the upgraded suspension). Cruises at 80 to 85 mph no problem also if you want it to (for doing things like crossing Oklahoma ).

When I left Ford they were hiring kids with big GPA's that were expecting to be VP's in 4 years. Especially the young "ladies" who mostly fell flat on their faces. These "high flyers" would go through the rotation program and get 2 years of trips to various "assignments" in different divisions. Many would blow out of the place after a couple years because it didn't meet their lofty aspirations. The rest were not worth the space they took up in the office. The 4th gen. Mustang for example. The dude that was in charge of that pos program got his ass handed to him. Funny. Not as smart as you think you are there right buddy?
Virtually none of them ever worked on their own car/truck.

Ford quit hiring the gear heads, the car fanatics and the locals who grew up in the automotive industry and knew what it meant to work at FORD. I knew a young guy who was a real truck gear head 4x4 enthusiast with a good engineering degree. I mean this guy had a OTR operator license and even once drove the truck and trailer with his test rig trucks on it to the proving grounds in AZ so they would get the testing done on time instead of taking a plane there after dumping them off to a shipper to arrive whenever. I thought for sure this guy would be a Manager in no time and eventually be the Truck VP. His Chinese boss fired him. wtf?

This Bronco will be a piece of shit just like the ones in the past.

I worked at Ruger for a period of time. Sounds like they had the exact philosophy that FORD does, promote idiots and demote or fire the people with knowledge. And the American car companies wonder why Toyota has outdone them on damn near everything. Where I go to explore it is very remote so reliability is at a premium for me. Thanks for sharing this.

absolutely, Toyota's known reliability and unfortunately for the Ford Bronco most people will think of is OJ Simpson