Brainwashed Crossovers That Think They Compete with the Bronco
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Brainwashed Crossovers That Think They Compete with the Bronco
Brainwashed Crossovers That Think They Compete with the Bronco
By Geoff Castaneda
The closer we get to 2020, the easier it is to speculate about the upcoming Bronco. While we await the return of the king, let's take a look at some of the posers that have been masquerading as off-road worthy SUVs.
By Geoff Castaneda
The closer we get to 2020, the easier it is to speculate about the upcoming Bronco. While we await the return of the king, let's take a look at some of the posers that have been masquerading as off-road worthy SUVs.
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It's not hard to compete with a Bronco that is not yet here... But this article is silly. The Honda CR-V is a mainstream compact sport ute that sells in huge numbers and has no off-road claims made about it. On the other hand, a Subaru with a bit of lift and some gnarly tires can do amazingly well off-road unless you really want to go bouncing off boulders, in which case you need a Wrangler with a bunch of armor on it. We shall see what the Bronco ends up being. I used to think it would be an Everest with restyled front and rear ends, but am now thinking that Ford will go a bit wilder on the bodywork--but they will have to be careful how much they invest in it.
The percentage of SUV buyers who seriously go off-road is very small. I would bet that 80% or more of the Raptors that Ford sells are barely used for any serious off-roading. They exist for people to "wear". My dentist, a 45ish outdoorsy woman, drives a Wrangler, probably mostly to get to hiking trailheads and campsites with graded roads.
George
The percentage of SUV buyers who seriously go off-road is very small. I would bet that 80% or more of the Raptors that Ford sells are barely used for any serious off-roading. They exist for people to "wear". My dentist, a 45ish outdoorsy woman, drives a Wrangler, probably mostly to get to hiking trailheads and campsites with graded roads.
George
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Ford has the Edge already and the Blazer falls on top of that in size and function. Ford is hopefully going to try to differentiate the Bronco significantly, much like Toyota differentiates the Highlander from the 4Runner... The Bronco will be based off a pickup truck chassis, so that is a clear difference from the unit body used on the Edge and the new Blazer.
The conflict between vehicles that are "too close" in the Ford line is pretty clear when you compare Explorer sales to Flex sales...
The conflict between vehicles that are "too close" in the Ford line is pretty clear when you compare Explorer sales to Flex sales...
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Ford cloned the big Blazer with the full sized Bronco which came out for 1978 (and that became the Expedition in 1997).
The Trailblazer didn't exist till the current century, something like 2002, so it is relatively new...guess it depends on when your youth was
And for a minute there was the Dodge Ramcharger. And lots of Jeep Cherokees and Wagoneers over the years. Actually the Suburban was the predecessor of all of these and dates back to when dinosaurs roamed the earth
George
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The original full size Blazer came out as the first sawed-off full size pickup sport ute in 1969 (shortly after the 1966 small Bronco) and went through various versions including the S-10 Blazer (which got the regular Blazer name when the big Blazer got 2 extra doors and became the Tahoe). And the S-10 version came in 2 and 4 door versions.
Ford cloned the big Blazer with the full sized Bronco which came out for 1978 (and that became the Expedition in 1997).
The Trailblazer didn't exist till the current century, something like 2002, so it is relatively new...guess it depends on when your youth was
And for a minute there was the Dodge Ramcharger. And lots of Jeep Cherokees and Wagoneers over the years. Actually the Suburban was the predecessor of all of these and dates back to when dinosaurs roamed the earth
George
Ford cloned the big Blazer with the full sized Bronco which came out for 1978 (and that became the Expedition in 1997).
The Trailblazer didn't exist till the current century, something like 2002, so it is relatively new...guess it depends on when your youth was
And for a minute there was the Dodge Ramcharger. And lots of Jeep Cherokees and Wagoneers over the years. Actually the Suburban was the predecessor of all of these and dates back to when dinosaurs roamed the earth
George
Yes, I'm plenty old enough to remember of this, lol and old enough to not only remember the Suburban but also the long forgotten International Harvester (IH) Travelall.
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Im still not sure what you meant by “Notice that GM isn't calling the new Blazer a Trailblazer like the old ones that we remember in our youth.” especially if you’re in your 50’s as listed in your profile.
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The original full size Blazer came out as the first sawed-off full size pickup sport ute in 1969 (shortly after the 1966 small Bronco) and went through various versions including the S-10 Blazer (which got the regular Blazer name when the big Blazer got 2 extra doors and became the Tahoe). And the S-10 version came in 2 and 4 door versions.
Ford cloned the big Blazer with the full sized Bronco which came out for 1978 (and that became the Expedition in 1997).
The Trailblazer didn't exist till the current century, something like 2002, so it is relatively new...guess it depends on when your youth was
And for a minute there was the Dodge Ramcharger. And lots of Jeep Cherokees and Wagoneers over the years. Actually the Suburban was the predecessor of all of these and dates back to when dinosaurs roamed the earth
George
Ford cloned the big Blazer with the full sized Bronco which came out for 1978 (and that became the Expedition in 1997).
The Trailblazer didn't exist till the current century, something like 2002, so it is relatively new...guess it depends on when your youth was
And for a minute there was the Dodge Ramcharger. And lots of Jeep Cherokees and Wagoneers over the years. Actually the Suburban was the predecessor of all of these and dates back to when dinosaurs roamed the earth
George
As far as heaviest removable top? That honor should go to the '71-'80 Scout II.
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Good point on the Scout preceding the early Bronco. As some of my old brain cells awaken, I will note that the Land Rover came out in 1948 as a full-bodied vehicle on a Jeep chassis so that was one of the missing links that probably led to the Scout...
No idea how much a Scout top weighed, but I had a 1980 FJ40 Land Crusher (note that the Land Cruiser also dated back to 1951 with a jeepish body and got station wagon type bodies circa 1960). The top from my FJ40 was heavy...not even including the steel rear doors that came off separately. I rigged up pulleys in my garage to lift the top off and swear the whole garage roof sagged when I pulled the top off I find sunroofs handy these days...
No idea how much a Scout top weighed, but I had a 1980 FJ40 Land Crusher (note that the Land Cruiser also dated back to 1951 with a jeepish body and got station wagon type bodies circa 1960). The top from my FJ40 was heavy...not even including the steel rear doors that came off separately. I rigged up pulleys in my garage to lift the top off and swear the whole garage roof sagged when I pulled the top off I find sunroofs handy these days...