Ford Bronco Hardtop Vs Soft Top: Pros & Cons (And Can They Be Interchanged?)

It's a bit of an anomaly for an SUV to offer a convertible top. Have you ever seen a Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet? On top of being rare, that particular four-door drop top is downright strange. Putting a folding top on something with four doors is difficult to execute without creating a strange aesthetic. But some off-roaders seem to do it well. More commonly amongst serious off-road SUVs rather than city-going crossovers, you'll see a convertible top designed for open-top outdoor motoring. Both the Jeep Wrangler and the Ford Bronco, two of the toughest off-road SUVs, are offered with soft tops and hardtops, directly from the factory — and I've driven both configurations of the Bronco over long distances, getting used to each top's benefits and drawbacks. 

With the Ford Bronco, there are varying configurations that allow for the removal of parts or the entire top. Add that to the capability of driving around with no doors and you've got a truly wild experience with no shelter from the elements. It isn't practical for daily driving, but taking off the top is relatively easy (with the hardtop or the soft top). And it's especially rewarding to open the cabin up to the sights and sounds of the outside world, especially if it's for the first time. But what is the ownership experience like with the soft top or the hardtop? And if you pick one top and change your mind at a later date, can you switch it up?

One of the biggest pros of the standard soft top is the fact that it's cheaper. Want to fold it back? That's extra. Want the hardtop, also extra. The Bronco has a highly customizable top, but it can get pricey if you want to swap things out (we'll go over some of the prices below). Unfortunately, the soft top also contributes to a pretty noisy driving experience. While driving various Broncos out on the highway, I experienced a lot of extra wind noise via the soft top, requiring that I turn the stereo up pretty loud to drown things out. The hardtop does a better job of filtering out noise, but it should be noted that no matter which top you go with, the cabin of the Bronco is pretty noisy.

On top of being loud, the soft top provides less insulation than the hardtop, which should be of special concern amongst buyers that live in very cold or very hot climates. With the soft top, you also lose the ability to use any sort of roof rack. You'll have to store your skis, snowboards, surfboards and other lengthy items inside the cabin instead. The pieces of the soft top can be removed a bit easier than the bulky hardtop sections, but for some it's not quite worth the trade off. 

The short answer is yes — the standard hardtop and soft top for the Ford Bronco are interchangeable. I've changed the tops and it takes some serious work and some special parts like mounts and brackets, but it's doable. I recommend buying the tops from Ford firsthand to be sure they come with all the right equipment. However, aftermarket options are available. Ford will sell customers both tops on certain trim levels as well. On the Big Bend, Outer Banks and Badlands for example, you can get Ford's Dual Tops package which includes the hardtop Molded-in-Color and the black soft top. This option will set you back $2,345 on top of the standard price, but it's worth it if you want the flexibility to go back and forth between the two options. An example of this would be changing tops for winter and summer to deal with the weather a bit easier.

Other versions of the tops are also available across varying trim levels. You can have the hardtop painted "shadow" black ($2,495), the hardtop painted the same color as the body ($2,695), and even soft canvas that can be stretched across the Bronco's roof when the top has been taken off. There are also various versions of retractable tops including a front-row only soft top ($1,790) or a full-length soft top ($3,200). Ford clearly wants their buyers to be able to customize their open-top experience, with options available for just about every preference.