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While waiting for delivery, car owners who want to become Bronco can experience off-road driving experience in Ford's Bronco Off-Roadeo.
The atmosphere in the room is full of expectation, like we are waiting for a big event, we are like this. Twenty of us, well-dressed and decent, gathered at the foot of the ski mountain at Gunstock Mountain Resort in the Belknapp Mountains, New Hampshire. Since the launch of the new Bronco in July 2020, we are only a small part of it-125,000, according to Ford-they paid $100 to book a new Bronco. Most of us sat there fidgeting like expectant parents because we are still waiting for delivery.
Our own Broncos are not sitting outside the high-end outdoor cabins, but the Broncos are ready. This is what Ford's Bronco Off-Roadeo Park is all about, to make waiting a little easier, and let us taste the 10 best award-winning products that we will eventually drive home.
I deposited my deposit in October 2020 and bought a two-door Bronco in Big Bend decorated with a manual gearbox, a removable anti-matter blue hard top, and a black cloth interior. I want something pure and simple, an old-fashioned truck, and I can imagine going fishing in Liangxin River with Hemingway. What I didn't expect was that I had to wait so long for Bronco.
Ford's Off-Roadeo locations-there are four in total, the others in Nevada, Utah, and Texas-are part of the automaker's marketing campaign to build Bronco as a lifestyle brand. As a result, there was a large number of merchandise on sale, and the walls were covered with Bronco appliances, including photos, old advertisements and a copy of the original inter-office memo of the first Bronco project in 1965, and the bottom of Lee Iacocca's signature.
For me, the new Bronco is love at first sight. I do have a weakness for rectangular things, maybe because I am a bit rectangular myself. Once, walking with a few friends in the evening, passing by a street lamp, our shadows clearly appeared on the sidewalk in front of us. "Hey," my friend said. "Who is holding the shoe box?" He pointed to my head. So I accepted my love honestly.
A couple from Annapolis, Maryland, are waiting for the Mustang Raptor in 2023, a high-performance variant that Ford has not yet publicly demonstrated. When they announced their order, a whisper of appreciation came from the room, and the two smiled. A father and son are traveling from Illinois; the son is waiting for a Wildtrak antimatter blue four-door car with a Sasquatch off-road kit. Another couple is waiting for a four-door Wildtrak.
It's like meeting people in a dog park, where you know your dog instead of your name. Here, your Bronco is your identity.
When I announced my own order, someone nodded in appreciation, but they might just be polite. Among the six trim levels, Big Bend is one higher than the bottom, and everyone may think I am cheap. That was before a man from Ohio announced that he had ordered the first version of the Bronco, which was one of only 7,000 vehicles that Ford offered. The price of the first edition on the aftermarket is $120,000 or even higher, which makes the audience really take a breath. Last summer, one appeared on eBay for $150,000. The initial starting price was US$62,605.
Most of us ordered hard caps, but first because of the pandemic, and then the supplier's quality issues. The soft-top crowd is looking forward to delivery this year. I just found out via email that I will not be able to buy my truck until next spring or later, which will be the 2022 model. Normally, I hate delayed gratification like any American, but the Mustang is a bit indulgent. After years of denial (sailing, airflow, remote cabin, etc.), my lovely wife finally acquiesced. She thinks Bronco is also cool, and she (obviously) also likes rectangles. In any case, waiting allows me to save more down payment, and I can change the order if I want. A late release color called Eruption Green is very cool and it blows my hair back. I am turning to that.
After an introduction and prologue from an Off-Roadeo coach, we went outside, and for many of us, this was our first close observation of Bronco. We gave a safety briefing, and then went through a short teaching cycle, where we will see Bronco's off-road project at work. We are divided into two groups, each with a new Bronco. Each car owner (or future car owner) participated in the driving of one of the demonstration stations, which included wheel articulation, climbing and descent control, rock crawling and Trail Turn Assist. The latter can brake the inner rear tires so that the vehicle can effectively travel Turning on it greatly reduces the turning radius. This is a useful off-road tool. My off-road coach Evan said it should be used with caution because it is difficult on the road.
Of course, all the wild land is worth protecting, and it is easy to feel on the butt hill. The Off-Roadeo circuit winds through some typical New England countries. We seldom stay away from the bright silver streams that inspire poets, the grunting and hissing of water tumbling on mossy rocks. Around, towering trees split the light belt of the cathedral towards the forest floor. The fallen tree slowly returned to the ground and found bright red mushrooms that looked like candy, but I didn't want to eat it—I saw that movie. If there is no row of badass wild horses waiting for me, I might be content to stroll in the woods for a day, like an obsessed Thoreau or waxing Whitman.
But the duty is here-it's time to sit behind the steering wheel and spray some mud. I have participated in a lot of off-road driving activities for novices, most of which are usually Rabbit Mountain difficulty. The New Hampshire Cross Country is not like that. The creator of the course constructed a real off-road challenge, including mud, deep ruts, narrow passages, boulder crawling, and a few obstacles that I really want to know if we can overcome. The most striking of these is a 100-yard long exposed granite trail, some of which have a slope of 30 degrees or greater. I doubt if I can hike, let alone drive.
I am the lead car, and I don't want to be the first to put a new Bronco on the roof. I can live without that reputation. I also don’t want to be the one who flees, so I pressed all the hero buttons—disconnecting the front anti-roll bar, locking the front and rear differentials, engaging the low gear—and maintaining an even, constant pressure on the forward pedal. Almost Without any fanfare or hesitation, Bronco finished its job and climbed to the top, where I exhaled and dreamed in Eruption Green. All the excitement we felt at the beginning of the day? Waiting to get my Mustang? worth.