Comparing the '08 to the '11

[tiaquessa]

I leased an '08 Edge Limited. I loved it so much, that when my lease was up, I automatically went with the 2011 Edge. I love the upgrades. (HID headlamps, totally redesigned interior). Now saying that, I do have some complaints.

 

1) The transmission shifts in weird spots, especially when going around corners after lets say a right on red arrow. I can keep pushing the pedal down and it doesn't seem to catch a gear. Then all of a sudden, it grabs first gear and the engine cranks to 4k RPM. That's really pissing me off.

 

2) Even though I love the new interior, I think they went too far with the "touch" buttons. It's almost to a point where you start keeping your eyes off the road to see what the hell your doing.

 

3) As others have said, the hazard light switch is way too sensitive. so Ford- "PLEASE MOVE THE FREAKIN' HAZARD LIGHT SWITCH" I can't tell you how may times in the past month I've turned it on accidentally.

 

4) This Edge seems almost harder to see out of. I mean, I drove my other one for 3 years, and never even came close to a curb when going around a corner in a parking lot. I had 250 miles on my 2011, and scuffed the damn chrome on the right rear wheel already. I think the seating position is different.

 

5) The blind spot mirrors that they incorporated suck in plain english.

 

OK - enough bitching. Believe me, the '08 had plenty of quirky things that bugged me.

[JonsTintedTails]

Interesting thread. I was considering doing the same thing.

 

We just turned in our 08 Limited AWD and got a 2011 Limited AWD. Let me share my thoughts after our first few days...

 

New stuff:

 

1. The BLIS and Adaptive Cruise work great. We tried the ACC last night and it did a great job. We did not have to touch the pedals for the entire highway run as it kept the proper distance from the car in front of us. Very impressive. The BLIS lit up every time at the right time.

 

2. MyFordTouch: A really cool system. Not perfect but overall a really impressive system.

 

Huge Improvements:

1. From day one our 08 felt like it had no brakes. We had to press the pedal so far just to get the car to slow down. The brakes on the 08 were to me the biggest issue. The brakes were really that bad. Ford has really addressed the braking on the 2011. That is the reason why we got another one because the brakes are that much better. If Ford didn't fix the brakes we wouldn't' have gotten another one.

 

2. Our 08 had no 6th gear power at all. Any sort of uphill climb in 6th gear would require a downshift to 5th and even 4th sometimes. The 08 felt heavy all the time. The 2011 did not need to downshift at all on the same highways that the 08 would have downshifted on. It really improves the driving experience of the car. I did notice that the gearing is a little different in 6th gear. The 2011 runs at a slightly higher RPM compared to the 08. NO complaint there. It still feels heavyish but the better gearing and 20 extra HP seem to help alot.

 

3. Ride wise the 2011 feels more like a premium car compared to the 08. Both cars had 20" wheels but the 08 felt like it would have a shimy on certain roads. Tough to explain. Could be the tires (08 had Scorpions, 2011 has Pirelli's) The ride on the 08 never was bad though. The 2011 just improves things a little bit more.

 

4. 2011 has manual control of the transmission: THANK YOU FORD

 

5. Interior Quality: No comparison at all. The materials on the 08 never made me cringe but the 2011 really makes you feel like you are driving a premium car. Leather covered armrest instead of hard plastic, dashboard materials improved. Just a sense of quality throughout that the 08 lacked. Seats feel very similar though.

 

6. The Sony radio is definitely better than the 08. Not a great system but its pretty decent.

 

 

Complaints:

1. So far my biggest concern is how the slow the system is when you first start the car. There is definitely a lag in the system for the first minute or so. It's not a huge deal but our 08 we had no trouble setting up the NAV quickly where with the 2011 you have to wait through the lag to get the NAV set up. Not a huge deal as we are still learning the system and how to quickly access everything. The ability to set up an address in the NAV with your voice is a great perk.

 

2. The hazard switch is in a bad spot. I have not had a problem with it but my wife said she turned it on by mistake once so far.

 

3. Windshield glare: The 08 had some horrendous windshield glare form the dashboard materials and trim pieces. The reflected off the windhsield and sometimes would make it very difficult to see out of the windshield. The 2011 improves this but was surprised to see that the glare is still there a little bit.

 

 

Cheezy:

The ambient lighting feature. Cool but cheezy. Just thought I'd throw that one in

 

 

 

 

 

That's it so far.