My Owner Impression

[Manish R. Patel]

Okay, so I guess this falls into the realm of just another review of a CUV? Is that what they're calling them these days? To me it really falls into an SUV category, as much as the next truck, it has many uses and to be honest, can haul a decent amount of stuff, all the seats seem to fall down and extend the already pretty good cargo space. Well, where to start? Lets start with the paint, its the thing you really learn to appreciate the most, the thing you tend to fall in love with over and over again as you approach and leave your vehicle, the part of it that really makes you turn your head and look back. From the day I picked it up, 5pm under rainy skies set underneath fluorescent dealership parking lot lights, I was blown away by how deep and metallic the paint is, for a moment, I thought, it cant be Ford. The Tuxedo Black metallic is really an awesome color, there is no comparison to be honest and I have to admit, Ford has outdone themselves. The paint is one of those things where, you hope, in the dead of summer, under the blaring sun, an intensely cleaned truck will look better than when it was new and I know this paint, for certain, will definitely live up to the hype you've placed upon it. Well, regardless, definitely impressed. I have to say that, 4 days after taking delivery, I had it professionally detailed, just wow. The metallic qualities of the paint just really pop and its a solid bang for the buck, especially if black is your first or second choice, you wont be let down.

 

Where to go from there? I mean, the 22's, big ol' wheels but they fit the stout demeanor of the truck, they fit the sportiness of it, they fit the size and the style of the wheels really are perfect in being a part of the total package. The Pirelli Scorpions, definitely a solid set of tires but to date, I'm certain the Sumitomo's in the same size can compare if not beat them out for the same price. A complaint, absolutely not, just food for thought after these Pirelli's go the way of the dodo. These wheels and tires, on this truck, well, you'd think, especially with the NJ roads I have to put up with, would kill the ride? No, not even close. Once you get it turned on and are driving, its a different world to that perfectly delivered truck you admire so much when its standing still. The ride is nowhere near being as taut as people make it out to be, its really, more than just an SUV, a truck with almost car-like handling and the ride of something luxury but sporty. Not bad, just tight and perfectly suited for the everyday style of driving you'd expect to get out of something you just shelled out 40-45k for.

 

Well, the inevitable, the interior. The first time I opened the door, I thought, wow, inviting. I loved putting my hand into the door handle and having all the doors unlock, I loved being 20 feet from the truck inside the dealership lobby and testing the up up, down down, right left right left the salesman told me I needed to hit to crank up the auto start. It started up without fail the first time and has yet, I suppose, a week and change later, to disappoint. The interior is of many attributes, so lets get that straight first and foremost. I want to split it into comfort, options, cargo and feel. I think the feel of the interior is as important as any other attribute only because if this is a long term investment for you, the feel of basically everything is uncompromising.

 

The comfort of this truck is top notch, I've owned practically every major brand of vehicle in my years and this is no slouch in the comfort department, the seats adjust enough to find the best position and the memory feature makes life considerably easier. I have mine set up for highway and really alert high speed driving in #1, and then, I also have the #2 set up for the casual local driving I do when I want to just sink into my heated seats and enjoy the chaos that's going on outside of the extremely and surprisingly quiet interior. More on comfort? Well, when you slip in to the drivers seat, its so well bolstered for me, the leather is the perfect amount of thick and the comfort is in all the right places, so much that I feel like I was sitting on something that was inflated more than cushioned. It felt like I had sat on something that gave way just enough to compliment your seating position but not sucking you in. I want to say perfect but no, close to perfect, its not a recaro seat and its not the couch style seats from the Broughams of the late seventies and eighties, its just the right blend of comfort and driver support.

 

Next, well, with comfort, the positioning of such items as the shift lever, the armrest, the ergonomics of all the controls, so far, no complaints. I will say this, the Sony touch panel, when the vehicle is in park, has a few buttons/controls that tend to be covered by the shifter and not necessarily awkward, but odd enough that its something I'd mention, however, nothing close to being a deal breaker for sure. I love the placement of all of the controls and that includes the steering wheel, the tilt and telescope option are excellent and really give you the option to put the wheel wherever you may need it. I would say this, if Ford has gone to the extent of offering a memory seat function, it might work out well, for the future, to offer the tilt/telescope in power, it would be awesome to get in, hit the brake then the start button and have it just approach you, in an almost futuristic wrap around sort of manner. Food for thought, but its not lacking in current form at all.

 

So, comfort aside, lets consider the options. What does this truck not have? The first thing I can think of is the Applink feature, where I can basically hit up the app's in my smartphone and get them working through the Audio system that does everything else. I hear thats coming in the future, so a great thing, something to look forward to, how can you go wrong? Well, lets see, I want to start with the entry package, its awesome, I love the fact that besides remote starting the truck, I never take the key out of my pocket. I've owned other cars with this system but this is a no brainer, definitely the best example I've had the opportunity to experience to date. I love the fact that its just a brake pedal and strike of the button to get the show on the road. From there, you cant move on without mentioned the panoramic roof, its a monster, its awesome, its dual pane with the MASSIVE front pane opening all the way, just amazing. I think it was 50 out the other day and partially cloudy, I had that sucker open, its just so neat and reminds me of my t-tops on the supra I had in the late nineties, just awesome and makes you feel like you're really out there experiencing that nature. Well, the rear tailgate, totally power, very cool that its operated from 3 different places, the front where the button is, the key fob and of course, to close it, on the inside of the cargo area. I have a child so the first day I tested the gate to see if something got in its way, it would open back up... Yup. Perfect. I love this feature, its just convenient and so far so good. I'm sure you're seeing a trend here and it really, more than anything, deals with the automation of the vehicle. There is nothing out there that for this price and this much charm and looks will net you this much technology. It just isnt happening with other brands on this level, unless of course you have another 10-20k, perhaps more.

 

One last and large set of options I love is the Sync and MyFordTouch system, its awesome, I love the dual USB ports, the AUX inputs and even the SD slot. I do have a gripe about the SD slot, it has an SD card with the NAV information on it, well, it basically kills the use of that slot by an SD card loaded with tunes. No big deal, it just means better and more efficient use of the USB flash drives, but, I'd have thought the Navi would have had a built-in 5gig memory or something, so that SD card can be used for updates or something of the like? Not a gripe but something that I found to be an oddity. I will say this, the touchscreen is the heart of all thats technological in this SUV and it does its job, so far, flawlessly. I've read a lot about people having issues and just getting tired of it being laggy or just stopping working, so far, so good. I am content with the Sony Audio, I listen to all sorts of music and it has volume and consistency enough to satisfy my needs. In almost every other vehicle I've owned I have managed to turn into Mr.Audiophile and start tinkering and adding amps/speakers etc... but this, for now and probably, for a while, will suffice.

 

So outside of options, we have Cargo. Not a whole lot to say about this except that its sufficient. It carry's all I need and has room for more. The fact the seats are so easy to fold and create more room, even better, although I feel like I may never need that extra room, its there and available, a true peace of mind. I will say this, the armrest compartment and the glovebox up front, deep and roomy, has room for everyones crap in them, be it CD's or whatever you might choose to throw in them, they can handle it, and as an added pleasure, I loved the clips in the glove compartment for the manuals in their little cover, that was a nice touch and helps keep things organized. As far as cargo or room might be concerned, I'm six foot three and I've noticed with my seat in its most laxed position, there is enough room behind me for an adult to sit comfortably. I love that, its awesome and has road trip potential. One of the things that I feel is interesting is that the Mazda CX-9 is a direct competitor and based off the same chassis? Not sure about that information but it has the third seat and we dont get the option? I guess it was a squeeze to get it in there and perhaps they lengthened the CX-9 a bit to make that a viable option. Even if I had a third seat, it wont get used.

 

So, you asleep yet? Well, there is feel, I mean, this is everything right? All of the other attributes aside, feel is the big one. Well, the interior, it 'feels' great, its all I mentioned earlier and more and I love sitting in the truck, I almost at times, am so comfortable with the 3 stage heated seats, I dont want to get out. So there is the feel of the seats, but more so than that, I'm one of those OCD types where the concept of feel also means the sound, the fit and finish, how it behaves when being driven, all of those things. I want to say this, firstly, this is a very quiet machine, no matter the roads or style of driving, its really peaceful and serene on the inside of this truck and that alone is worthy of the high dollar investment, especially if you commute and need that private time with the least amount of interruptions. Moving on though, lets talk about the 10, 30, 50mph test that I've come to use in all the cars I buy. NJ, luckily for me, has provided me with roads akin to Beirut after their most recent bombing and let me tell you, this truck handles it at all 3 of those speeds pretty well. At 10mph, you're barely moving and have more attention invested into hearing and feeling oddities being reverberated throughout the truck, so far, nothing. At 30mph I realize that the transmission is seamless for the most part, barring the 5-7 minutes it takes to really have it get warm. There is no gear searching and it responds in a very calm and seamless manner. I know everyone says, it has the V6 mustang engine in it, but, it behaves exactly as it should when found in an SUV. The 50mph test is one of those where you're on something that resembles a highway and you're moving at a speed where you have the potential to over take or slow down quickly. So far, its done both flawlessly, it does rev a bit high if you hit that pedal with some spirited feel but it does so in a very confident manner, exactly what you'd expect.

 

As far as slowing down, the truck has a very competent set of brakes but having wheels that weigh 100lbs on each of its 4 corners, you cant really expect it to have the kind of braking that you'd find on the MINI cooper, but, that being said, the brakes respond well and I've yet to slow down without knowing my boundaries or worrying about other people in traffic. Having owned so many cars, I will say that most likely at some point in the future, I'm going to replace the current OEM pads with hawk HPS pads to get a bit more grip out of them and to hopefully, if possible, improve the amount of feet the truck takes to get from high speed down to zero. I figure its one of the smartest and cost effective safety upgrades I can make without compromising anything.

 

The fastest I've gone with it is about 70mph to date and I can say that I've not experienced anything but a smooth ride and comfort, simply, I love it and have yet to feel like I've any regrets or remorse. Somewhere I read that someone experience a jittery ride, I've not experienced anything of the sort and well, with the roads I experience on a daily basis, its almost the perfect set up for it with nil results. There are a few things about the truck that I feel are lacking, and its nothing that is a deal breaker but things that I feel Ford might have been able to take care of from the factory. Firstly, the headlights, although decently bright from factory, well, they and you would have benefited from having a set of HID's with a more broader set of high beams. Again, not a deal breaker, however, its definitely an option that if you can get on the Mazda3, should be standard on a 45k truck. Secondly, although again not a deal breaker, I was hoping that in 2013, this truck would have auto up/down on every single one of the 4 windows. I know its almost nit picking but if you think about it makes sense and isn't the most pricey or impossible option to consider to include in an already heavily optioned truck. I like the auto feature for the headlights, but again, i realized that there wasn't a whole lot of afterthought put into the truck because the vertical light bars in the bumper might have sufficed better either being fog lights or perhaps, as is, being used as DRL's. Just a thought but also something to discuss or debate, because they might not be bright enough to be DRL's, what are your thoughts? Luckily for us, we have a fix for that created by someone right here on the forum so if it were ever an issue, you know where to go! Again, another almost insignificant gripe but I believe that with the black interior on our Ford Edge Sports, if they would have made the upper pillars and headliners in black, being the interior has been put together to be low key and sporty.

 

I dont know if one can consider any of those legitimate complaints but they can all be easily addressed when the vehicle is planned for its next model year and during manufacturing. I want to, although I hate the scale, give the vehicle a rating out of ten to make life a little easier. Right now, I want to say eight out of ten after thinking about all I mentioned above. I think next to my Mazdaspeed6 that I had at one time (06-09), this might be one of the most solid and all around vehicles I've owned. For someone like me, a dad, a business owner and someone who does a lot of city driving, its perfect. I get looks in it and I dont see a whole lot of them which is an added plus, so whenever I do, I'm almost a little giddy (I know, crazy). Well, that's it in a nutshell, I dont know if I missed out touching on things but I feel like its done well for me so far and I hope it does moving forward.

Edited March 5, 2013 by Manish R. Patel

[Limited59]

It's great that you took the time to write this up. Hopefully it will be beneficial to those considering the Edge as their next vehicle.

 

I would comment that ride quality is quite a subjective thing. I personally find my Edge to ride pretty rough and jarring on bad roads, even with the 18" rims at 35 psi. Better than my previous vehicle, a 2010 GMC Terrain, but still not as comfortable as I'd like it. I would recommend that anyone looking at the Edge take a test drive on the worst stretch of road in their commute, if possible.

 

I also don't know why they don't offer HID headlamps on the Sport as it seems to be positioned above the Limited in the lineup. Once you go HID it's hard to do without.

 

And unless they made a mid-cycle change, the seats only have two settings. I wish there was a medium setting as I find hi way too hot and low, well...

[djgcue]

The Edge is definitely a CUV - unibody (car) riding on the CD3 platform (prior Fusion - car) vs. SUV body on frame (truck) >i.e. Nissan Armada (SUV) sharing platforms with the Nissan Titan (pickup).

[Limited59]

The Edge is definitely a CUV - unibody (car) riding on the CD3 platform (prior Fusion - car) vs. SUV body on frame (truck) >i.e. Nissan Armada (SUV) sharing platforms with the Nissan Titan (pickup).

What point are you trying to make? The Edge is a crossover.... always has been.

[Manish R. Patel]

I should have made myself more clear, knowing its a CUV I treat it like its an SUV. I figure it'll reach its limitations pretty soon knowing that, but its got such a solid feel in comparison to other CUV's I've ever driven or driven in. At one time there were only SUV's, oversized vehicles used to haul people. They were a derivative of the big suspension off road style vehicles and were really a craze. This CUV, its a sub-category of something that existed more simply at one point. Some say its a wagon with a higher road clearance, others will say CUV based off the unibody/car frame, my point is that regardless of which it is, I treat it the same.

 

As far as the ride quality, for the most part I've taken it on similar roads where I drive my lowered and more performance oriented cars which feel jarring at times and its performed well, I cannot complain and after reading up on it prior to purchase, it was something a lot of people really put time into talking about. I think the ultimate test is NYC, the roads there vary from block to block and are a true test in many ways. I think in that sort of atmosphere I'd also be testing the brakes, the reverse sensing system, you name it! I'm glad, if you did get through the whole book I wrote, that it made sense, I wrote that at like 2am, not even sure what I was doing but I just started typing and never stopped, lol

[spicaly]

Thank you for the well written review

[Manish R. Patel]

Thank you, I want to add to this as time goes on, I think perspective and driving style, depending on who might be shopping for it, gives the best idea of how it might work for them specifically.

[JOEHIO]

Just to add my 2 cents on the car. I previously had 3 Explorers (1995, 2002, 3006) were great Vehicles. Had more cargo room than my MKX, but definately rode like a truck. My MKX is a pleasure to drive, rides and handles so much nicer than the Explorers, and actually has more rear seat legroom than the Explorers had. Truwe, they are CUV's, but I wonder how many SUV owners go off roading? To each his/her own, I'll stay with what I have.

[Limited59]

Just to add my 2 cents on the car. I previously had 3 Explorers (1995, 2002, 3006) were great Vehicles. Had more cargo room than my MKX, but definately rode like a truck. My MKX is a pleasure to drive, rides and handles so much nicer than the Explorers, and actually has more rear seat legroom than the Explorers had. Truwe, they are CUV's, but I wonder how many SUV owners go off roading? To each his/her own, I'll stay with what I have.

Did you test out the Edge? If so, how did it compare to your MKX? What size wheels on your Lincoln?

[JOEHIO]

Yes, I did test drive the Edge, thought it was a great vehicle for the bucks, but liked the interior of the MKX a lot more. There is a lot nicer quality of leather in the "X", and more of it everywhere. Also heated and cooled front seats, heated rear seats and steering wheel,

power operated tilt/telescopic steering wheel, that goes up and in upon turning off the car. It also seemed quieter than the Edge. I have the 20 inch wheels in it, fills up the opening a lot nicer, and many people comment on the "cool wheels" on my car. They are the chrome clad ones. I also have the adaptive headlights, they turn in the same direction that you turn the steering wheel, a reallu cool feature. Also have power liftgate, and remote start, which I've gotten to fall in love with. Both are great cars the MKX just does it a little nicer.

[Limited59]

Thanks for the info, Joe. I meant to ask about the difference in ride quality if there is one. I'm on the cusp of ordering an MKX and am having a hard time choosing which wheels. I like the design of the 18s and that they are polished not CC but they seem to look so small compared with the 20s.

 

I intend to drive both when I visit the dealer next week. I've worked this deal backwards as we worked numbers before I've even taken it for a test drive! The nearest dealer is over an hour away from me.

 

Sorry to hijack your thread, Manish!

[Manish R. Patel]

No worries, I hope you get the truck you want for the right price!

[builder1]

I had to add my unpleasant experience so far. Brand new 2013 Edge Limited 2wd. The morning after we got it home it would not start and yes I had foot on brake and the intelligent key in console. Pushed button 5 times with time in between and nothing, just like a dead battery. I tried one more time and it started up like there had never been a problem in the first place. Ok so maybe a fluke right so next day same thing and I saw the red square with the "check charging system" lit up and figured I was doomed, it went into "power saving mode" and would not let me use accessory at all. I'm taking in Tuesday for this and hoping I don't get the famous "could not confirm customer complaint" crap. To add to my frustration I gassed up for the first time since the "free"tank from dealer and I insert the nozzle into the "self sealing" gas cap and go to the front to clean the windshield and to my horror I notice liquid at the rear of the car and think maybe water from exhaust pipe but oh no it's the "self sealing" gas cap allowing fuel to escape around the seal. I tried even slowing the gas nozzle flow but there was still gas drizzling out. It's one thing for the "cap" not to seal but couldn't they have designed a drain detent with a hose or something to prevent the gas from running over my extra cost white exterior? Seems asinine to me. Is this going to be POS? Not been the most positive two weeks of ownership for sure. I bought this instead of an import that I really liked just to "buy American" but so far not happy.

[JOEHIO]

Sorry to read of your problem, builder1, I'm sure your dealer will correct the problem. Probably some stupid relay or something, that went waclo. Limited59, I've been happy with the ride with my 20 inchers, no problem at all. For mee, too, the 18's seem a bit on the small side.

[Limited59]

Limited59, I've been happy with the ride with my 20 inchers, no problem at all. For mee, too, the 18's seem a bit on the small side.

I decided on sticking with the 18s. Looking at both wheel options side by side it didn't seem as pronounced. Of the two 20" options I preferred the polished as opposed to the chrome clad but didn't want to shell out the $1,300. Kind of came down to choosing between the adaptive cruise ($1,500) and the polished 20s so I chose the cruise. I'm still over the $55K budget I set for myself as it is!

 

To be honest, I didn't find the MKX to ride any better than my Limited, and if it was quieter it was barely so. I really like the added feature content and the interior. It's going to be a long 8 weeks!

[Manish R. Patel]

I'm surprised how well my edge rides on these 22's, but I think I want to get a smaller and thinner wheel for the winter with some snow tires. I need to figure out what the smallest wheel we can use is.

[oskar27]

Excellent review and similar to what I think about my Edge

[irishtom]

I consider my Edge a station wagon not an SUV or a "crossover" (a term I consider market talk intended to make a genre of car considered uncool into a cool one). It sure as Hell isn't a truck.

 

My new 2013 Limited has the 20" wheels but I liked the 18s on my 2007 Edge SEL better; the 20s are too big, awkward looking, style over substance, too flashy. But they were on the car and I like everything else about it. The way these stupid big wheels are going pretty soon cars are gonna look like Model Ts again.