Front and rear occupants will appreciate a greatly enhanced level of quality in terms of materials used and their fitment throughout the interior.
How is the centre stack in person? It looks like a really, really cheap effort from photos:
Definitely doesn't scream $50,000 to me, though the mechanicals 'might'.
That's actually always been my criticism of Ford/Lincolns - the centre stack just doesn't look right...flat/blank areas, overwrought with plastic, sometimes shiny, sometimes matte, but never to the quality of its competition. E.g. Murano:
Thanks to its abundance of torque and notable improvement in fuel efficiency, the 2 L EcoBoost should render the V6 option redundant for most buyers.
As for the engine choices, this is exactly what I mean regarding the Mustang:
You have 3 choices for the pony: 300hp, 310hp, or 435hp.
You have 3 choices for the Edge: 245hp, 280hp, or 315hp.
Torque figures are obviously more tell-tale here, but I think Ford needs to either limit the choices or differentiate them further. My $0.02, but I wouldn't spend the money on the V6 where I'd get an extra 35hp, but at a loss of 25lb-ft of torque over the 2.0T. If I wanted MOAR POWAH, the 2.7T is there and makes a helluva lot of sense. But the 2.0T and the 3.5L V6 are too similar to me, as far as power output is concerned (yes, I know...fuel economy, premium fuel, smoothness, blah blah blah). Stop thinking like an autos.ca forum poster and start thinking like a casual consumer...I pushed for the Corolla XRS back in the day, but mi papa said "132hp to 156hp...why bother?" There is a cost to Ford for having more production lines than fewer.
It should be noted that the Sport trim’s optional 22-inch wheels are no longer available – the largest wheel bling available for the 2015 Edge is “only” 21-inch, since too many customers complained about the ride on the 22’s.
That's fantastic! I mean, 21" is ridiculous, too, but at least they realized that bigger does not always equal better.
A base model, FWD SE-trim Edge starts at $31,999
That seems a bit high to me, but I haven't the time to check all of the competitors. IIRC, the Murano starts far cheaper than this does and comes standard with the 3.5L V6.
The 6-speed auto seems a bit dated to me (I can't believe I just said that...) and given Ford's priority for fuel economy, I'm surprised that it hasn't jumped the ZF 8-speed bandwagon...?!
first, what’s taken so long for a manufacturer to do this and two, why not apply this to the rear camera too where our salty winter roads render back-up cameras useless? Ford’s answer to the latter question is that it’s coming
That seems half-assed to me. Why have one without the other when there's full intention to bring it later? It's just unfinished and leaves me with thoughts of the Ford of yore where reliability and short-cuts were seemingly not priorities. I'm not calling this one unreliable, but the thought of cost-cutting lingers in my mind for a $33k-50k vehicle. Not good.
now featuring both parallel and perpendicular parking assist for the first time.
First time in the Edge, maybe, but the Focus, C-Max, and Escape all have that feature.
Some fine-tuning is likely to apply to a few other areas of the new Edge, like the dash-top trim section that had come unglued and popped up on both Sport trim vehicles we were in. Surely this can be chalked up to the pre-production vehicles we drove for this test and not an indicator of future worrisome assembly from our friends at the Oakville, Ontario plant who build the Edge.
I fricken hope you're correct! :| that's unnerving!!
2015 Ford Edge Fuel Economy
Trim Engine Transmission City L/100km Hwy L/100km
Edge FWD 2.0L – I4 GTDI 6-Speed SST 11.5 7.8
Edge FWD 3.5L – V6 6-Speed SST 13.2 9
Edge AWD 2.0L – I4 GTDI 6-Speed SST 11.8 8.4
Edge Sport AWD 2.7L – V6 GTDI 6-Speed SST 13.6 9.8
Edge AWD 3.5L – V6 6-Speed SST 13.7 9.6
This suggests that you can't get the 3.5L with AWD...that can't be true...can it?!?!?!?
Great article, Jeff, lovely photos, and again, much thanks for all the work you do (including Descending!!)
