FORD's long term reliabilty?

[Denicio]

Been eyeing an Edge for the past few days. I have owned ONE Ford product in the past. It was a Ford Probe back in 1997. Loved that car but SO glad that I bought an extended warranty as I ended up replacing the entire tranny in that thing. My dad's always driven ford's. Explorers and now Expiditions. He's had his fair share of trips to the dealership and week long waits for a repair.

 

NOT trying to start some riot in here but I do have a question about long term reliability. We've all heard that for stands for Fix Or Repair Daily. I've always dismissed that as some 8th grade nonsense. Here in the mid south you see Ford's EVERYWHERE!

 

I am seeing a lot of noise about Edge's being put on hold, leaks, condensation and engines shutting down while in motion. I am fully aware that manufactured items are NOT perfect. But damn!

I really like the Edge and its bells and whistles but am starting to become very cautious on its short and long term reliability. How do fords do after 100K, 150K or even 200K miles?

My wife drove her Mitsubishi Outlander to 260K miles and never had a major issue ever. Just simply drove it into the ground. As stated before my Probe needed a Tranny. Since then I have been driving Mitsu's, Honda's and now Mazda. Never once had a single MAJOR issue. Actually the only one of the 3 brands I mentioned is the Mazda. The only issue I had out of it was the gawd awful Infotainment System. Mazda just don't get it. Its insufferably bad. But besides that its a good car. Now its a 2014 and only has 36K miles on it so its still a baby.

 

I know I am in a Ford forum but still....what are you thoughts on Ford's over all reliability?

 

Thanks!

Denicio

[WingNut]

To preface, I own a 2011 Mustang GT (that was purchased new in 2010) and lease a 2015 Edge Sport.

 

If you go on the Mustang Forum in the section that is for the 2011-2014 Mustangs, you too will find negative stuff and think the car is junk. But it is not. Besides the manual transmission not being as smooth as we'd like it to be, I have been very satisfied with the quality of my Mustang. All issues were taken care of before the warranty was up.

 

Forums will always bring out those who are trying to find a solution to a problem or leave negative reports about their experience. It is just how it goes. Happy customers with no issues that are not enthusiasts won't be found on forums or review sites. It is just the way it goes.

 

If you browse this forum, you will see a lot of people who bring up problems, don't return or participate after the problem is resolved. So of course browsing through here may give you the wrong impression about the Edge.

 

So far I have been happy with the Edge. I avoided the leak issue. My only issue I have had is the rattle in the exhaust which is getting fixed now. Doesn't seem to be a wide spread problem.

 

Of all the American companies, I believe Ford has the best quality and why I stuck with them for this lease. If the Edge holds up, I would not hesitate to get another a few years down the road.

[Denicio]

Thanks for your insightful answer and not bashing me. I gotta tell ya, the fellers in the Toyota Tacoma forums are out for BLOOD! You ask a simple question and they do their best to insult you and dog pile on ya.

 

D

[Waldo]

The tranny in your Probe was a Mazda tranny. Just FYI.

[Denicio]

OUCH! Waldo, that hurt :-) Well, I wont have this Mazda for long. I am too old and too fat to be climbing UP and out of this car.

[WingNut]

Thanks for your insightful answer and not bashing me. I gotta tell ya, the fellers in the Toyota Tacoma forums are out for BLOOD! You ask a simple question and they do their best to insult you and dog pile on ya.

 

D

 

Certain forums bring out the real A-holes. The Mustang forums have been that way in the past so I kindly nodded out only going back to find solutions to issues. It has since been cleaned up. It usually comes with the age of the average driver. The Edge isn't exactly an enthuisiast vehicle so not many young people are going to be buying and modding them. So forum traffic will be down.

 

My experience with the Edge forum so far leads me to believe we have a lot of owners that owned other cars in the past that brought them to forums. And when they moved on to a SUV, the thought "Wonder if there is a forum for the Edge". A more mature crowd.

 

It is hard to argue with Toyota's quality though. If I had the money, I would probably be driving a Lexus right now. Their quality and service is really hard to beat. But I am VERY happy with my Edge and glad I went with the 2015 over the 2014. I feel they are in different classes.

[WingNut]

But I'll be honest. If I were buying a Ford in 2015, I would be buying the Premium Extended warranty for the length of any loan I have on the vehicle. I did it with the Mustang and broke even on the cost of the warranty (Though I was complaining about little things in the end just to get some new parts).

 

For me it is about the peace of mind. Or I'd take the money that the extended warranty would cost you and bank it for possible repairs in the future.

[Redbow]

Darn, I always thought FORD ment "First On Race Day" I own a Thunderbird, a 1957 Thunderbird. Speedo shows 7498 miles. And yes that is 107496 miles. Has it never had a problem? I doubt that. But is it still on the road after 58 years? You betcha. Have I ever had another make vehicle? At 83 years old you know I have, VW's, Chrysler's, Chevy's, Mazda's, Willis's. Audi, and a huge number of Fords. I even traded my 2013 Chevy Malibu with 4936 miles for a 2013 Edgd with 52952 miles because the Chevy was just NOT the quality I was use to in a Ford product. Do I expect to have some problems with my Edge? Sure but that's part of owning something with moving parts. The Edge is a very good looking vehicle that is comfortable, has respectable fuel mileage and good driving manors. WhAT ELSE COULD YOU

 

Burke

Edited November 17, 2015 by Redbow

[akirby]

Ford's problems, for the most part, has been parts issues with suppliers, factory screwups or bad engineering - once fixed these don't normally reoccur.

 

PTUs and door sensors are the exception - they still seem to be failing even with new parts. Hopefully the door sensors in the 2015s are new.

 

So while you may experience a problem with a few specific parts, it's not like the vehicle falls apart or you have a multitude of different things that start failing after 100K or 200K miles.

 

So it depends on how you define reliability.

[luminator]

Wingnut. Lets just say I was highly disappointed with the the 2 5 seat offering from Lexus. The NX200 with the F-Sport kit was very loose in the stealing and felt sloppy on the road and sluggish in takeoff, was also tight for room. So I tried the RX350 with the F-sport pack and had all the similar issues except more room. And I test drove it right after testing the Edge sport and Cherokee Limited and Trailhawk.

[WingNut]

Wingnut. Lets just say I was highly disappointed with the the 2 5 seat offering from Lexus. The NX200 with the F-Sport kit was very loose in the stealing and felt sloppy on the road and sluggish in takeoff, was also tight for room. So I tried the RX350 with the F-sport pack and had all the similar issues except more room. And I test drove it right after testing the Edge sport and Cherokee Limited and Trailhawk.

 

Good to know. I didn't even step foot in the Lexus dealer because I knew it was out of my budget. I did drive the RDX (2015) and MDX. Felt really boring.

[Heffy]

I just went from a 2012 Flex to a 2015 Edge. Put 64k on the Flex, and the only issue it had was the cracked D-pillar, which is just the plastic cover and cracked on a good majority of them. Mechanically, it was great. No issues whatsoever, and that was the 3.5 V-6 SEL model.

[Chipster]

 

Certain forums bring out the real A-holes. The Mustang forums have been that way in the past so I kindly nodded out only going back to find solutions to issues. It has since been cleaned up. It usually comes with the age of the average driver. The Edge isn't exactly an enthuisiast vehicle so not many young people are going to be buying and modding them. So forum traffic will be down...

 

 

I think age does have a lot to do with the "flavor" (for the lack of a better term) of the individuals that contribute to it. I don't spend much time in / on the other year groups on this forum, but what I do see seems to me like reasonable discourse. The key to any forum is exchange of good information and a group of contributors that are willing to suffer what on the surface seem like "stupid" questions or replies. As has been said by much smarter people than myself "there are no stupid questions only stupid answers". As far as I can tell in my rather short tenure here this group seems to have created a good environment for thoughtful discussions. I believe A Kirby does a good job at light handed moderation, (which I know can be a thankless task) as well as providing great info. for the forum as a whole. Good on you AK!

[mjonis]

Been eyeing an Edge for the past few days. I have owned ONE Ford product in the past. It was a Ford Probe back in 1997. Loved that car but SO glad that I bought an extended warranty as I ended up replacing the entire tranny in that thing. My dad's always driven ford's. Explorers and now Expiditions. He's had his fair share of trips to the dealership and week long waits for a repair.

 

NOT trying to start some riot in here but I do have a question about long term reliability. We've all heard that for stands for Fix Or Repair Daily. I've always dismissed that as some 8th grade nonsense. Here in the mid south you see Ford's EVERYWHERE!

 

I am seeing a lot of noise about Edge's being put on hold, leaks, condensation and engines shutting down while in motion. I am fully aware that manufactured items are NOT perfect. But damn!

I really like the Edge and its bells and whistles but am starting to become very cautious on its short and long term reliability. How do fords do after 100K, 150K or even 200K miles?

My wife drove her Mitsubishi Outlander to 260K miles and never had a major issue ever. Just simply drove it into the ground. As stated before my Probe needed a Tranny. Since then I have been driving Mitsu's, Honda's and now Mazda. Never once had a single MAJOR issue. Actually the only one of the 3 brands I mentioned is the Mazda. The only issue I had out of it was the gawd awful Infotainment System. Mazda just don't get it. Its insufferably bad. But besides that its a good car. Now its a 2014 and only has 36K miles on it so its still a baby.

 

I know I am in a Ford forum but still....what are you thoughts on Ford's over all reliability?

 

Thanks!

Denicio

 

The first car I ever "owned" (myself, not given to me by my parents, etc.) was a 1997 Ford Escort Wagon, that I leased (never again I say to leasing, but that's beside the point). Had an annoying whistle at like 55 mph. Took 2 dealers almost a year before Ford issued a TSB where it was caused because they put the roof rails on backwards.

 

I turned that in and bought a 1999 Ford Escort Wagon and kept it for 7 years. Only problems was maybe a few months after I bought it, I had to use the heater and no heat. Turned out the mechanical cable behind the console for the temp control knob was loose so it didn't actually move. Within warranty, clutch died, they replaced it. Other than that, never had a problem. Very reliable car, IMO. It made the Consumer Reports best used car to buy for a '99 model.

 

Then I made the mistake of my 2005 Chevy Equinox. Never buy a Chevy again. Water leaks in the wheel well. Took 3 or 4 visits to get fixed. Rubber seals on rear doors rubs against the body and wears the paint away. Dealer said Malibu had the same problem. They ended up putting clear chip guard strips on the body to keep it from rubbing any further. (still on there). At 38,000 miles, head gasket went because of the POS Dex Coolant that was used that interacts with the rubber gaskets in aluminum engines. GM had a class action settlement, but you had to have had the problem prior to Dec. 2008 (mine was not) and then of course, GM went bankrupt so any warranty you may have had went bye-bye. Cost me about $2,000 to fix. THEN I bought the extended warranty (Carchex--EXCELLENT service, BTW). I still have the vehicle, looking to replace in 1-3 years.

 

I'm looking at the Edge, but no way will I take a new redesign year, especially on the Edge. Too many "major" problems as far as I'm concerned. They're still apparently halting people's orders for weeks/months for reasons unknown.

 

That being said:

Reliability varies from manufacturer and model year to model year. I bet when Consumer Reports gets data on teh 2015 it will be horrible reliability compared to 2014 model year (but 2014 I believe is better than 2013). I will wait for 2016 model year for 2 reasons:

1) Sync 3

2) Hoping that reliability is as good as the competition I'm looking at.

 

I suppose I'm a bit of a hypocrit by saying never to GM again (I won't even consider the 2015/2016 Equinox). But after having water leak issues in my current car, I'm very leery about issues like that in the 2015. Supposedly fixed now, but that coupled with the other issues and past experience make me reconsider any new re-design.

 

I'm sure there are 2015 Edges without any issues, but I don't want to spend $40k on a car that I plan on keeping 12-15 years and have it be nothing but hassle. I went through that once before with my car and never again, if I can help it.

[akirby]

Thanks! I try....

[Denicio]

Excellent reply! Thanks for all the info.

 

So I see various mentions of the current Sync but not really sure what the problems are.

 

Also, is the 2015 edge a redesign? As you say that's reason enough to take pause.

 

I've totally eliminated any Nissan product in my search now. Way to much crap about that CVT.

It 'appears' that Subaru has admitted to the windshield crack issue and are fixing those cars but other complaints are about the wind noise generated from the side mirrors. Its apparently pretty obnoxious! I have been tempted to go check out the Santa Fe Sport.

 

Something is telling me to be cautious of the 2015 edge. Its hard with the DEEP cuts in prices they are giving. Crazy deep!

[WingNut]

Current Sync for me works fine. Some find it outdated. I don't spend enough time in my car to really care. As long as I can hear my music, I'm good.

 

Yes the 2015 is a redesign. Big upgrade from the 2014 IMO.

 

Santa Fe is a nice vehicle. But I think once you sit in and drive both, you'll see the difference between the two. Santa Fe felt....cheap...to me .

[Denicio]

I WILL say the audio system in the 2015 Edge knocked my Di*k in the dirt! WOW! FULL, sounds great and LOUD!!!!!!!

 

Audio IS important to me. I am a part time recording engineer/producer and sound is VERY important. This is why the Highlander is not even on my list. Somehow JBL and Toyota managed to screw that up...strange!

[akirby]

Excellent reply! Thanks for all the info.

 

So I see various mentions of the current Sync but not really sure what the problems are.

 

Also, is the 2015 edge a redesign? As you say that's reason enough to take pause.

 

I've totally eliminated any Nissan product in my search now. Way to much crap about that CVT.

It 'appears' that Subaru has admitted to the windshield crack issue and are fixing those cars but other complaints are about the wind noise generated from the side mirrors. Its apparently pretty obnoxious! I have been tempted to go check out the Santa Fe Sport.

 

Something is telling me to be cautious of the 2015 edge. Its hard with the DEEP cuts in prices they are giving. Crazy deep!

 

2015 Edge is not just a redesign - it's an entirely new platform (shared with the 2013+ Fusion).

 

The vast majority of the problems with MFT occured in the first 2 years (and they were really bad initially). Since 3.7 came out it's been very stable with only a few minor issues. If you're not dead set on sync 3 and some of the new features there is nothing wrong with MFT.

 

I would expect that you may have to have one or two things repaired down the road - but probably under warranty. Then again that could also happen with a 2016.

 

We're waiting for a 2016 to get sync3.

[luminator]

Mjonis - I am actually the complete opposite. I have owned nothing but chevy's my whole life and only had one problem one but that was a used 1993 Lumina Z34 Auto that I bought. The transmission in the auto's had a weak link that was addressed in 1995 with the Monte Carlo relaunch, the diff pin would slip and then a gear would lose alignment. But before that I had a 1998 Z24, put 80,000 KM in the first year I owned it and then wrote it off. Was another used vehicle. Then was given a Pontiac 2000 Sunbird, 1984, from my parents drove it for 4 years, leaked oil, was 18 years old when it finally died from the pan gasket giving out. Had the Iron duke engine, it still ran after all the oil went. Next I bought a brand new 2005 Cobalt SS(first model year) and so far the only issues I had in 10 years were condensation in a head light(there was a TSB for it) and the initial ECU program did not like below -32C, it would go into limp mode from time to time. ECU flash fixed it. There were some recalls done but did them because they were there not because I had issues relating to them.

I have always been skeptical of Ford, I was a firm believer in Found On Road Dead but the Edge impressed me and GM has become boring unless you are buying a RWD sports car(corvette.Camero) or a V series caddy(CTS-V/ATS-V). I am not interested in trucks so I don't consider them in a discussion.

[evilkid500]

Denicico, I too owned a Ford Probe! Bought it in 2003 with 89,700 miles on it. Had it all the way through high school and college. Got rid of it in 2012 at 187,000 miles. In all that time I only had one major issue (oil leak out of the pressure sensor) and had the original automatic transmission and the original, awesome, Mazda 6 cylinder. God I loved that car. Miss it very much.

 

A brand new 2012 Edge limited was the replacement for the Probe GT. I will admit, I have been less than thrilled in regards to mechanical issues. I've had three separate leaks associated with the AWD system. Two from the PTU and one from the rear differential. Like others have already stated, these issues were all caused by faulty engineering in the seals and have all been updated.

 

With that being said, I would say this car has still been an overall positive experience for me. In every one of those instances of mechanical issues, my dealer fixed the part in a timely manner, provided me with alternative transportation, and was very good about communication.

 

After the My Ford Touch was properly updated, I've had zero issues with it. It reads text messages, I use Siri to write messages back, music doesn't mess up over Bluetooth, and best of all, no freezing. It actually is a great system.

 

I do enjoy driving it still. I'm only at 35,000 miles and I'm hoping the mechanical issues are behind me. Time will tell.. Would I recommend it to friends? I think I'd tell them to take a good long look at the Hondas and Toyotas first. If there were still things they liked about the Edge better (price, features, interior design) I'd tell them to go for it.

[Denicio]

@Evilkid,

 

Thanks for the informative reply. Good info here.

 

My wife drives a new Honda HR-V and its just perfect for her. Its a 'neat' Small SUV but not for me. I need something with a bit more power. For performance and towing. Right now the only thing Honda has that can tow is the beastly Pilot. I've owned one and they are great SUV's but with my kids grown and out of the house I don't need THAT MUCH car. The CRV looks nice in its redesign but it cant tow. Toyota's highlander is a looker but near the price of a lexus and a quick walk over to the highlander forums and you will see the multiple threads on how bad the JBL system sounds in that car. I need a good stereo. Music is important to me.

It seems that ford's finally worked the bugs out of MFT right as they are phasing it out. Hmmm. Wonder if the new one will take years to get right? They are apparently in the new explorers.

 

Hearing of your leak problem is concerning. I wont be getting an AWD but it speaks to continued 'issues' that seem to be part of the Ford brand. My dad's always owned fords. His fords are always going into the shop for minor little things beyond the regular maintenance. This is alien to me as I have owned Japanese cars most of my adult hood and only deal with oil changes for the most part. My mazda has been the exception but its only been in the shop for the updates to the catastrophic infotainment system they cant seem to get working properly. Good news is the updates only take a few minutes and a USB drive. Not gaskets, sealants and engine flash updates that the Edge seems troubled with.

 

At this point I am holding off on the 2015 Edge and waiting to see what the 2016's bring. Its just that the 2015's have such HUGE discounts right now. With the friends & family discount and other discounts I could save nearly 4000 on a new 2015! I am torn.

[luminator]

The one thing I have noticed with most new vehicles are ECU updates are common place now, even my 2005 Cobalt went through 4 of them. They tune it for certain conditions and then find out when you do this + this, while driving in the rain it has a hiccup, they flash it and it is fixed.

[Denicio]

Luminator,

Not trying to be combative. But I have owned a 2008 Civic, 2010 Insight, 2012 Pilot and a 2014 Mazda 3. My wife owned a 2006 Outlander that she drove into the ground. NONE of them had an ECU update, that we are aware of. If they did it, they did not tell us a thing about it. I always look at my paperwork when I get oil changes and other things done and never seen it written down. I actually had to google ECU to see what it even means. Maybe its something common with American car companies but its not something I've seen. And I tend to buy too many damn cars :-) (as I noticed as I typed the above list).

 

Sounds like your experience is much different than mine.

 

D

[akirby]

You typically won't get one unless you report a problem and there is a ECU (PCM) update that addresses it. Most dealers won't just update it without a reason.