My thoughts on my 2016 Ford Edge

[JLPS-Edge]

Hi,

Here are my thoughts on my 2016 ford Edge. I have the V6 engine, and the Titanium version with most of the options. I purchased this vehicle because I could tow it behind my RV with all 4 wheels down. The 4 cyl. eco boost version of the Edge can't be towed with all 4 wheels down.

 

1. Heated steering wheel. I live in northern Ohio and winter does send some cold air our way. This is one of the best options on the car. I rarely use the heated seats, but love the heated steering wheel. It is easy to turn on and off since it has an icon on the home screen of the Sync 3 touchscreen.

 

2. Adaptive cruise control. This allows you to set a distance you want to travel behind the car in front of you. When you come up behind a slower car, it will slow the car down to match the speed of the car in front of you. When the lane is clear, it will speed up to the speed you set. Love this feature. It takes a little use to getting use to. At first I wanted to be in total control of the car. Now I have learned to let it do its thing.

 

3. Panoramic moon roof. I have had a moon roof in my previous 2 cars. I really like having it bright in the car. But the glass in this car is very different from my previous cars. It lets in way too much heat when driving in the summer, and way to much cold air in the winter. So unfortunately, it stays shut most of the time. And this is one of the few reason I will have to take back to the dealer to get fixed under the warranty. I have a slight air whistle in the cab that is really notable at highway speeds. It was not like this when I drove the car off the lot.

 

4. Rain sensing wipers. So far I think this is just a gimmick. I don't like how often it wipes my windshield. I think there should be a user function that would let you teach the system when you think there is enough water on the windshield to warrant a wipe. The computer really seems to struggle at night. It will do a few wipes then all of a sudden go into 4 or 5 very fast wipes. This still needs some development.

 

5. Lane assist. When I drive the car or the first time with the Lane assist feature turned on it really freaked me out. you feel the steering wheel start to turn on its own to get back into the center of the lane. Then you start to experiment to see just how well this feature works. Obviously you do this with no other cars around. So you let the car wonder at feel the system adjust. I even took both hands off the wheel to see what happens. After a few seconds there was a beep with a message to put my hands back on the wheel. How did it know? Anyway, I give this a 7 out of 10. Ford is working hard on using technology to avoid getting into accidents.

 

6. Opening the rear hatch with a wave of the foot. Once you know where the sensor is, this is a great option of you find yourself carrying objects in both arms a lot. Otherwise it is not necessary. I have the towing packing so I have a hitch on the car. The sensor had to be moved slightly to make room for the hitch. So it took a little trial and error to find out how to make it work.

 

7. Navigation feature is a disappointment. The main reason is the maps are not updated frequently enough. I don't understand why all off the car companies keep trying to come out with their own version of a navigation system. Google maps gets updated all the time. And Waze lets you update the map if you find an error, and will route you around an accident or other traffic backups. Plus Waze will let you know if there is a cop nearby, or stuff on the road, or car on the shoulder. So I am glad that I can use Android Auto so I can use waze. The latest version of Sync 3 will let you go back and forth between the Sync 3 software and Android Auto. Plus the radio is not affected by switching.

 

8. Sync 3 version 3. This is ok. It works as advertised but I am not a huge fan. Being 62 years old I have driven enough without having a screen to look at all the time. I often turn off the screen as I find it distracting. I do like the voice commands and hope Ford will continue to add more commands options to use.

 

9. USB ports. I find these to be very hard it push a flash drive into the USB ports. I also think there should be USB ports in the back. There are 2 power ports ( the old cigarettes lighter port) for the people in the rear seats to use. I had to purchase a device that would be able to plug into the power ports and would allow for a USB cable to plug into it. I do like the power port in the rear of the car as I have a cooler that has a air pump that runs on 12 volts. So I can plug my cooling into the power port and it will keep my food cold ( or warm) as I drive.

 

10. Speaking of the rear of the vehicle I really like the option of folding down the rear seats with a push of a button. I seem to be using this feature much more than I thought I would. Thanks Ford.

 

11. Adaptive steering. I love this option. When you are parked and need to turn the steering wheel so the tires rotate 90 degrees, this system allows you to do this with little effort and minimum turning of the wheel. Very useful for parking the car.

 

12. Speaking of parking the car, with one of the options I bought, the park assist cam with that option. I have only used it once. I wanted to see how it worked. I looks for a space in between 2 cars, not a space between lines in a parking lot. I don't want door nicks so I park way out there and walk. I don't want to park between to other cars. After 40 plus years of driving I have no issues parallel parking or pulling into an empty spot 90 degrees to the direction I am traveling. So to me this is a waste of money.

 

13. And speaking of door nicks I did get one. So I called a company that specializes in paint less dent removals. He said the red paint (which I have) was the hardest to do without breaking the paint. So I told him to try and it worked very will. I looked very hard at the area that had the dent and I could not find a flaw in the paint.

 

14. Automatic headlights. If you use this option it will turn your bright lights on and off as needed. If it "sees" another car heading toward you, it turns off the high beams. If there in nobody coming, it will turn on high beams. This works fairly well, but it gets confused by street lights and reflectors on mailboxes.

 

15. Air conditioning systems works well. You can get into a car that has been siting in the sun for 8 hours with all the windows rolled up. It may be 110 degrees in the car. Start it up and put it on max and it is cooled down in just a few minutes.

 

16. Heater. This is just the opposite of the air conditioner. This car takes forever to get up to normal operating temperature. I think the thermostat is bad. But after 15 minuets of driving it is up to temp and pumping out plenty of warm air.

 

17. Instrument panel seems to give you 2 ways of displaying everything. It is not 100% user optional. I find it redundant, and wishing I could find a way to display what I like.

 

18. I chose to get the larger tires and wheels because I liked the looks of the wheels. I know I will pay a premium when I have to buy new tires for this larger size.

 

19. Love the keyless entry system. You just have to have the key fob on you ( in your pants or purse) and you can touch the door handle and the door opens. And with the keyless start button you don't have to insert a key and turn the key. Very convenient. I also love the keyless entry system on the side of the drivers door.

 

20. Remote start. I use this a lot in the winter. The system lets you start the car and turn on the heated seats and steering wheel if you set it up that way.

 

21. Ambient lighting. I like having just a little light on the floor. And you can pick the color you like.

 

22. And last but not least it the upgraded stereo system. I like the Sony system, but I guess I never listened to the other stereo.

 

23. Crash test results. I like the fact that the Edge was rated very well in the crash test. I hope I never have to find out if the test results are valid.

 

That about sums it up.

 

Jim

 

[akirby]

On the rain sensing wipers, you can adjust the sensitivity on the stalk. You also have to make sure the area behind the sensor (in front of the rear view mirror at the top of the windshield) is clean and don’t put anything like rain-x on that area. Mine have worked perfectly 99% of the time on multiple vehicles for the last 20 years.

[tk2fast]

Nice review Jim... thanks