I finally decided to look at American cars for the first time in my 40-something year life. I wanted a mid-size SUV with enough space for the family to travel, good gas mileage, and lots of features. After Consumer Reports recommended it, I decided to test-drive the Edge.
I was very impressed with EcoBoost. (It had better pickup than my 2012 V4 Camry which was also pretty good.) I had heard terrible things about Sync, but that Sync 3 was a significant improvement. And I also understand that CarPlay is coming "soon" to the 2016 Edge with Sync 3 for a small hardware fee, and that was a clincher for me. If that's not true, I'll probably never look at a Ford again.
So I sent an email to seven Ford dealerships in the area with my requirements and asked for an itemized final walk-out price. Five responded with offers. (A couple didn't want to give an exact price or said they didn't have anything close.) The "winner" sold me a grey exterior / black interior (you know the real color names) Titanium with the 301A option and nothing else. According to TrueCar.com, my price was "exceptional."
Likes:
- The ride is very comfortable
- The "details" are very good
- It fits easily in my garage
- Good space for luggage
- The voice recognition is good and let's me control a lot of things
- Exterior has a good "look"
- I think my favorite feature so far is the cooled seats!
Dislikes:
- Not a fan of Sync 3 for audio. It's too hard to switch between presets. Why does it try to emulate "old fashion" presets with a limited number of choices in banks for AM, FM, and Satellite? And who needs 12 AM presets anyway? With a big screen like that in 2016, it should allow an "unlimited" number of independent presets all available on one screen. Even my Camry had 36 independent presets that I could easily switch between using my thumb.
- The printed manual is terrible. Not well written, not well organized, and several typos. (Yes, I read the manuals!) You'd think after spending hundreds of millions on development, Ford could create a decent manual. And while I'm on it, there aren't that many options. Why can't Ford give me a manual specific to the vehicle without all the "if equipped" asterisks? The online version should at least know what I have, right? The videos are pretty good, however.
So overall, I'm very happy with my decision!
