I test drove a Bronco today. Ran it through it's paces. The one I drove had the soft top. I've looked at the removable hard top (panels) version too.
My impressions compared to the H3:
1) Ford did a real nice job. Frame heavy duty, the front header surround assembly in front of the engine is a 'tough' hydro-formed beam assembly which should make it nice and stiff. Engine lay-out seems clean and easy to get at the main maintenance items. Alternator was down low and kind of stuffed in which might be a challenge, so was the ac compressor. This one had the DOHC 4-cyl. A nice lattice-work formed steel support beneath the hood looks like it could hold the weight of a tire on the hood (probably the intent). Why oh why did Ford pinch pennies and provide a flimsy hood prop rod instead of real hood support struts!!? Hood struts oooz a sense of 'quality' when you open a hood that just 'pops' open and stays there. My experience is prop rods kind of suck when you need to do work on your rig. I guess you can't have it all ...I'm sure gas strut mounts could be easily fabbed up.
2) Suspension looks good. Rear trailing arms could be longer. Would have been nice if they were like 10" longer for larger tire articulation. They seem robust enough. Upper control arms are a lot like the aluminum H3's BUT the ball joints are REMOVABLE!! Kudo's to Ford on that detail!
3) Exterior: Ford kind of copied the upright design of the H3's A-pillars. So there's some commonality there between the two vehicles. View over the Ford's 'aircraft carrier flat' long hood isn't nearly as good as the H3. You really get an appreciation of the fundamentally short front end design of the H3 after you sit in the Bronco. It's not a deal-breaker but that's one nice thing I like about the H3 driving experience. IDK the seating height is as tall either. I personally don't care for the design of the Bronco's fender tops and those plastic hooks, I'd probably take them off if I owned one. But I can see where they might come in handy for securing a canoe/kayaks or for keeping branches out of the way. Visibility out the rear of the Bronco is quite good (better than the H3). It's shorter and my lasting impression is the rear window is lower. The rear door isn't as robust as the H3, but it was nice to see Ford used cast iron hinges which should do the job long term, and not wear themselves out too quick from bobbing on the trail.
4) Tops I thought the Bronco's soft top would make the driving experience noisy, but it wasn't. And I was going 65mph down the highway. And this Bronco didn't have the optional insulating pad which would dampen things even more. A bikini top would be neat with the doors off. Another bronco I looked at had the remoable panels. For long-term ownership, they're going to be a water-leak nightmare. I'd get the open soft-top and I'm sure there will be a hard top one can install in place of the soft top for winter or non-trail DD usage. But if you live in the city, the soft top could be a thief's delight, whereas the glass tops would be more secure.
5) Interior. They did a good job. Nice layout. My H3 has nice leather seats, so it's hard to compare to the Bronco's cloth seats. Manual radio controls, manual HVAC controls and kind of a neat toggle-up/down fan control button. I didn't care for some of the nuisance LCD screen notifications (like volume number every TIME you change the volume), and a few other nonsense notifications.
6) Rear Locker: I finally answered a couple of my questions: You CAN engage the rear locker and drive in 4-hi (Thanks Ford!!!), and, also in 2wd (double-thanks Ford!!). At least around town, I went up to about 30mph, which is all I attempted, so I don't know if there's a speed limit on the locker. That's one complaint about the H3 (only works in 4low). You get into some deep snow and you don't want to stop and go to 4 low and lose momentum to engage the locker.
7) Driveability: The Bronco drives nice. I found myself easily and unexpectedly hitting 65 mph (on a 55 hwy) and repeatedly having to back off. Had no problem on some long hills. So it goes down the road nice. The one I drove had 32" tires, it tracked nice and straight. Acceleration is good. On paper the Bronco has more power. But with the twin turbo and 10-spd automatic transmission there was a lot of shifting and buzzing around. What's nice about the 3.7L H3 is it's no-nonsense and just goes and does what I need w/o a bunch of hunting and revving. Of course in the mountains a v8 is nicer. An annoyance is the engine auto start/stop feature. But fortunately Ford put a disengage button on the dash! Nice. I didn't get a chance to try passing anyone, but the H3 with the 3.7 isn't strong on passing either.
8) Misc: The standard or upgraded stereo on the Bronco is so-so. I guess it's fine for the standard radio. My H3 has the Monsoon system which blows the Bronco's out of the water. I would personally want the Harman Kardon system, but with the Bronco they only offer that on the most expensive package. I guess that's how GM did it too with the Monsoon system. I hope Ford eventually allows the H/K system to be fitted on more mainstream pkgs. Wheels: I really don't like any of the wheels Ford offers for the Bronco. Sure a guy can buy new aftermarket wheels, but hopefully in yrs 2-3 they'll offer a wheel that appeals to me more (in looks). Chrome/aluminum or a polished aluminum. Again I might be nitpicking ...but just tossing it out there.
Summary: Overall, Ford has a real nice vehicle ...and a 'hit' on their hands. They did a great job checking most of the key boxes to make what should be a nice DD with good off-road (stock) capability. And a lot of room to customize. And the base packages are pretty affordable when you look at similar style vehicles. But personally, I really like the driving experience of the H3, the ergonomics, the up-turned steering wheel, ...it's a basic vehicle (the H3) that does what I ask (and doesn't give a nuisance notification when I adjust normal things). Other than being new and the doors easily removable, I can't see any real advantage for ME to spend good coin on a new Bronco anytime soon. At least with the pkgs they have now. But that's mostly on me, not anything wrong with the Bronco. After driving away and driving in my H3 I'm thinking, "Man, this is a really SWEEET rig GM designed!" However, for a lot of guys who don't like maintaining their aged H3 that much, and want something newer or different, the Bronco is going to make a very nice option. It's got the goods. There's going to be a lot of aftermarket support for it too. .....and it's available in 2-dr!