New To Off-Roading...manual or auto trans?

Did you get to drive a stick at the off-roadeo? The standard with its gearing being so low should be fairly easy to drive even crawling. But if you have any hesitation I’d get the auto your stress level will go down. I am going to drive mine all the time so that means it will be on road 60% Of the time so I really want the manual for the 60% and the 40% off-road will be bonus.

They did not have any sticks at the rodeo, unfortunately. 80%+ of my driving will be road, which makes me lean toward stick. I also now live in LA so that may be a mistake as well lol

I would say an auto is easier and a manual is more fun/frustrating off road.

I'm partial to manual both on and offroad. If you know how to float the clutch so to not fry it while offroading, go with the manual. But if you fry your clutch offroad, you can still drive back to paved roads via "start in gear" option. Plus its just more fun. However, if doing lots of city commuting go with automatic. I have the 2.3 MT with 4.7 axle option. Its great.

Ps-more info in both pics below on start in gear feature via my old personal B6G profile.

Also, not second-guessing you personally, but just a reminder in general to be honest about how you'll use your vehicle. When someone says they'll use their vehicle on road 80% of the time, that means out of every 10,000 miles, 2,000 of those miles will be off road. It's not likely that most people will use their vehicle that much off road. I imagine most of us who think we'll use our vehicles off road a lot of the time will be in the <5% category. I think many of us will drive 20 miles to dirt, 20 miles home, and during the time off road we might put another 20 miles on the dirt. If we do that once a month, that ends up being 250 miles a year of real off road driving. That's probably 250 "real" miles off road out of 10,000 a year; which if we're being honest with ourselves is 98% on road.

AcesandEights

Also, not second-guessing you personally, but just a reminder in general to be honest about how you'll use your vehicle. When someone says they'll use their vehicle on road 80% of the time, that means out of every 10,000 miles, 2,000 of those miles will be off road. It's not likely that most people will use their vehicle that much off road. I imagine most of us who think we'll use our vehicles off road a lot of the time will be in the <5% category. I think many of us will drive 20 miles to dirt, 20 miles home, and during the time off road we might put another 20 miles on the dirt. If we do that once a month, that ends up being 250 miles a year of real off road driving. That's probably 250 "real" miles off road out of 10,000 a year; which if we're being honest with ourselves is 98% on road.

100% accurate. less than 2%.

Most all competition and serious crawler off roaders are automatic for good reason (better control, less breakage...). While manual transmissions are kinda fun and involving on road (I have two of them) they are not the choice for any serious duty.
The percentage thing should be about time not miles...I may drive 50-100 miles (less than 2 hours) to a trail head, the 5-10 miles of trail could take 8-12+ hours. So It is easy 20% on road - 80% off road...even counting the maybe 10 hours (way high) driving around all week it is stlll 50-50.

Oldhippie

Most all competition and serious crawler off roaders are automatic for good reason (better control, less breakage...). While manual transmissions are kinda fun and involving on road (I have two of them) they are not the choice for any serious duty.

This 100%. The 10-speed auto is really a great design and the auto takes a ton of stress off for off roading. I really don’t think the manual gains anything when going Offroad except simplicity.

Wimmah603

They did not have any sticks at the rodeo, unfortunately. 80%+ of my driving will be road, which makes me lean toward stick. I also now live in LA so that may be a mistake as well lol

Yeah, if you spend a lot of time in LA traffic, I would seriously consider the automatic. Maybe I'm just getting old and lazy...

The "old school" off-roaders (my father being one of them) will tell you that you are only really driving when you are driving a manual transmission. That said, @Oldhippie is absolutely correct, and anyone serious about off-roading these days is driving an automatic.

Personally, I ordered a manual transmission. My 1989 Bronco was a manual transmission, I've only ever owned manual tranmission vehicles, and this Bronco will likely be the last manual transmission vehicle I buy. The next car I replace after I receive my Bronco with be my daily driver (Ford Focus with a manual trans), and with the way the market is going there is a very good chance I'll be replacing it with an all-electric vehicle, or a hybrid with a CVT. In the next 10 - 20 years I expect manual transmissions to become one of those things that are exclusive to sports, muscle, and pony cars.

BUT, you should get an automatic. Those who buy a manual transmission know they want a manual transmission and there is very little you can do to get get them to switch. So if you are questioning it, you should probably buy an automatic.

Wimmah603

They did not have any sticks at the rodeo, unfortunately. 80%+ of my driving will be road, which makes me lean toward stick. I also now live in LA so that may be a mistake as well lol

You may want to go with an automatic if you have a lot of stop & go so cal traffic, unless you're already driving a manual in that environment and you're used to it. The manual trans on the bronco is designed for off-road activities.

Good luck on your decision making

Old school thought was:
Drive a manual, for better control, engine breaking, and gear reduction. In my 77 and 73 models, I pulled the C4 automatic, and converted to NP435 out of a 60s model dump truck. When it had the auto, I didnt have compression breaking (torque converter was a 1600 rpm stall), had terrible heat issues from the tranny crawling with slow mode, and was hard to throttle control (especially with the Edlebrock and offroad jet kit). Once I swapped trannys, that truck would climb all I wanted.

The Gen 6 bronco with automatic, with hill decent control removes the need for manual transmission. I cant imagine a reason why I would want a manual.

And, I am 25 years older now.....no way do I want to work a clutch all day on the trail. Hard to hold a beverage while shifting too. ;)

Auto. Left foot braking when climbing a tough obstacle to control wheel spin, left foot braking to control and load the suspension when when going over obstacles. Less chance of stalling at a touchy spot. Unless you are an "expert" at shifting (not just knowing how) you will be much happier with an auto off road. On road, personal preference.

thanks everyone, appreciate the quick feedback! Going auto...and gonna love it!

Wimmah603

Hey all - I am new to off roading and can't wait to get my Bronco! I went to the off-rodeo this past weekend and it has me questioning my build. I ordered a manual transmission just because I've always liked driving a stick, but after going through the training they gave us, I'm questioning my ability to tackle tough off-road terrain with a stick. I don't know how realistic it is to think I'll be doing the sort of crawling they had us doing, but it makes me think going with an auto transmission might be wise. I also read you can't get trail turn assist with a stick? Any guidance for a new off-roader??

First of all, I am not a 4 wheeler, but I have owned and driven (off road and on road) 3 different Broncos....77, 82, and a 2021 2dr on the off roadeo. My 4 wheeling (except for the Off Roadeo) was primarily muddy and unimoroved roads and skid roads in the mountains of Idaho when I used to hund elk with my father and uncle).

My father had a manual in his 67 Bronco, but I had automatics in all of mine to include the Off Roadeo machine. I learned to drive with a clutch when I was 12 and first drove an automatic when I was in driver's training at 14. Chalk it up to laziness or lack of knowledge of the "advantages" the manual would gain me, but I favor the automatic. This is especially true because the advanced features that the Bronco displayed in the GOAT modes.

No prejudice to the manual at all or the people who prefer them....but I have logged a lot of Bronco miles with an Auto so it was my pick.

Naturally you will see more auto picks. If you had to question it, then a manual was never an option. I knew as soon as I saw the stick shift I had to have it. I'm getting older so an auto sounded much easier but also took the fun out of it and I like controlling the powerband, which can be a big advantage offroad.. Yes its more foot work offroad (or on) but that's half the fun. When I want an easy drive around town I use my push button trans accord touring and engage every creature comfort from brake hold to ACC. When I want to have fun and feel young again I drive my bronco. Sounds like you chose auto and that's perfectly fine, its your bronco. Now you have to decide do you go with 2.3 or 2.7 lol ;) Jk. *Do what makes you happy and congrats on your purchase!!

I'm transmission over everything else, so it was manual or bust.

The most I've done were trails, so not a real offroader per say, but the crawler, first and second are essentially the most you need unless you're going fast (I.E. desert running). Guess you got a ton more access to trails out there in LA than Dirty Jerzy, enjoy whatever the hell ya want at the end of the day imo

@Wimmah603, congrats on making the correct choice for you. Sometimes it helps to use these forums as a sounding board to help get other people's feedback on pros and con's to help you identify what is important to you. That's the great thing about the Bronco. There is no bad/good choice, just the choice that is right for you.

I drove a '97 Mustang GT with MT transmission for 16 years in Houston, Portland, LA, and Si Valley traffic, and it never bothered me. I've missed a MT ever since I got rid of that car. When I saw the Bronco was offered with MT, I was hooked.

Full disclosure, I've not done an Off-Roadeo yet, but I did drive a manual at the Off-Road demo Ford had here on Phoenix last year. The hill ascent/descent feature was crazy. It allowed the Bronco to move without any throttle to the stall limit of whatever gear you are in. That is SLOW when you are in 4-Low and in the crawler gear and gives you a TON of control. If I'm being honest, if there is a trail so gnarley that I will need more control than that, I'm probably not taking my $60K rig on it (at least until I become a lot more skilled).

All in on the MT and no looking back or second guessing.

I'm getting the manual. I'm not planning on doing any rock crawling but I do expect to be on steep mountain roads. You don't get much engine braking with an automatic. The torque converter slips too much. Descent control is basically the computer riding the brakes. The owner's manual cautions that the descent control module can overheat on a long descent and recommends you switch to manual braking. No such problem with a manual. In a previous job we had Chevy K20 trucks, some automatic, some manual. I always had to ride the brakes on a steep descent with the automatics. I didn't like it. With a manual just use the same gear going down that you did going up and all you have to do is steer.