So my parents have purchased a Badlands model in grey, and they absolutely love the thing. Granted, it's being driven by a 66 year old woman who will likely never need anything other than "slippery road mode", so as has been previously stated it can be considered a "hairdressers off-roader" but it's designed perfectly for the market of people who will be buying them. There are a lot of complaints about what it is, and isn't capable of doing off road, but someone looking to off-road regularly likely wouldn't be looking at this kind of car anyway. Let's be real, the people looking to buy cars in this sector of the market aren't going to be using them off road, but to get groceries every week, and maybe a trip down a dirt road to the cottage on the weekend.
With all that in mind, here are my opinions on the first week I've been able to play with it, and to be honest, I like it. The ride is a little rough, being "off road focused" so it gets a little bouncy over rough roads but not enough to make or break the decision. The off road tires make for a lot of road noise, but for the most part it's quiet enough to be relaxing over long drives. Leather seats are very comfortable, incredibly fast seat heaters and the steering wheel gets hot enough to to make your hands sweat if you're not paying attention. Being a taller vehicle with a taller seating position it provides a feeling of comfort and confidence while also having excellent overall sight lines. If I were to nit pick in this area, the windshield is very compact, and feels squished the same as you would find in a Toyota FJ, also, the bulges in the hood seem to be a) completely unnecessary, and b) bigger then they would ever need to be, but it helps to add to the rough and tumble kind of feeling of the vehicle. Interior space is adequate for anything an old retired couple would need and the floors are all completely lined in rubber in case they... spill said aforementioned groceries? The 2.0t would normally feel gutless in such a heavy car but the 8 speed transmission helps to make the car feel faster in emergency accelerating situations. It certainly has enough power to get out of it's own way, but a light to light racer it is not.
At this point I'd like to move on to the electronics. First off, the infotainment is just kind of okay. The Ford Sync system is an evolution of what can be found in order models and I'm pleased to say that it is a big improvement over what I have in my Fiesta ST. Ergonomically they put a lot more thought into the fact that people might actually need to use these systems for things like; listening to music, the radio, or even as a satnav system. Things move smoother and make more sense in their positioning, and thank the gods of radio design they added a tuning knob!! It is by no means a perfect system, but a big improvement over older models, and with the addition of apple carplay/android auto my grievances are mostly irrelevant. Digital dash is perfectly fine for the majority of the population but personally I found most of the little screens and options to be distracting from the act of driving. I just want to be able to see the speedo, and my instant fuel economy to make sure the little eco boost is living up to it's name. The GOAT knob is interesting, instead of Greatest of All Time, Ford has decided they are changing this acronym to stand for "Goes Over All Terrain" I see what you did there Ford and although clever, it's slightly misleading. The car comes with a number of different modes including Slippery Road, Sport, Eco, Normal, Sand and Mud and Rut. Again these cars will likely spend most of their time switching between Normal, Eco, and Slippery but the car does make some changes to the 4wd system and throttle response in order to provide more traction. While accelerating and switching from Slippery to Normal mode you can really feel the difference in the amount the throttle is pulled back to avoid wheel slip. Eco does as you would imagine and adds the benefit (?) of a stop start mode which can be turned off with the push of a button on the dash. Bronco also provides a 4wd lock button, and a "locking rear diff" which basically just uses the rear brakes to limit the amount of wheel slip between the rear wheels, but is not a true locking differential, and as can be seen in the Throttlehouse video above can be defeated when introduced to rear wheel slip or a little 3 wheeling. Finally, blind spot indicators, lane keep assist and radar cruise... All of these things work just as perfectly fine as they do in every other car brand, but personally I hate them with a passion, and as someone who enjoys the tactile experience of driving and changing gears, I find them to be distracting, imperfect, and create far too much of a sense of comfort and trust in what is generally a flawed system. But this is just the Scotty Kamer coming out of me (insert "old man yells at cloud" meme).
Overall, the car is great, it is everything the parents will ever need, and given it's place in the market it will be able to do everything that is asked of it in the time it spends in the house. Yes it has it's flaws, and yes it's not nearly as focused as a Wrangler would be, but if you're looking to go off-roading every weekend, this isn't really the car for you anyway. From my mom's perspective, it's new, it's funky looking, it can take the both of them, dogs and kayaks away for the weekend and makes her feel like she's driving a Canyonero (YAAAAWW Canyoneroooooo). It will face some love, it will face some hate, but for the people who are interested in this type of vehicle I feel Ford has positioned themselves perfectly in the market. Especially if it means that the extra money made on these can create space for the full-sized model coming soon.
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