February 16, 2007 - In what has to be the most pun-tastic ad campaign of the new millennium, Ford's latest media campaign boldly claims buying a Ford Edge crossover will allow one to truly live life "on the edge". Ha ha! Clever! We guess Phil - Ford's 30-something "active lifestyle"-living target customer - needs reassurance that driving a tall Blue Oval-badged station wagon has the same level of "extreme-ness" that bungee jumping, sky surfing and recycling Mountain Dew cans (to the EXTREME) do. However, these ads are somewhat misleading as there is nothing extreme, "edgy" or particularly exciting about the CUV.

The Edge is a good vehicle; we feel that it is probably one of the best Fords ever sold in the U.S. It's just not "driving-on-the-sides-of-skyscrapers" great. That said, we do feel that the Edge is good enough to bring some new buyers to the Ford brand. This CUV's exterior is certainly eye-catching (and in a good way), the interior is one of the best we've seen in an American car, and its performance/handling is on-par with (if not better than) most of the other vehicles in this segment.

There's no denying that the Edge is quite a looker. We feel that it is the best-looking crossover utility trucklet on the market, likely because it's one of the only CUVs we can think of that doesn't look like an over-designed rolling shoe. Thanks to the steeply raked windscreen, flared fenders and roof spoiler, the Edge has a bit of a Euro sport wagon-look to it (likely because the Edge was designed by a Brit). Many other CUVs try to pull off that "exotic tall sports wagon"-look, only the Edge is able to retain that "manly" boxiness that Americans crave.

The interior of the Edge is nice, too; it's easily the best we've seen from Ford. A lot of the panel gaps we saw on the pre-production vehicle have been fixed, and we have yet to see any fit and finish issues in our test vehicle. Ford did a lot of things right in the Edge; the seats are soft and supportive, the dash layout is clean and uncluttered, and as there is no useless third row, front/back seat passengers have ample head and leg room.


We were even able to get our Edge loaded with all of the latest and greatest goodies. Our test car came equipped with things like a touch-screen nav system, high-end 6-disc stereo system with auxiliary input, heated leather seats and a power-operated panoramic roof. The textured plastics on the doors, dash and switch gear are getting close to Honda-like levels of quality, but the gauges and striped silver satin-finish plastic that surrounds the center console still look a little bit cheap. We feel that Ford can stand to pony up the extra 75 cents per vehicle needed to improve these last two areas...

Ford could also stand to spend a little more cash giving the Edge more power. Power for the Edge comes from a 3.5-liter DOHC 24-valve V6 that is good for 265 horsepower and 250 lb.-ft. of torque. Those numbers sound okay, but the engine has to rev high to achieve them; peak power is reached at a Honda-like 6,250 rpm while maximum torque is achieved at 4,500. Rev-happy engines may be great in small sports cars, but they are poor matches for 4,200 pound vehicles like the Edge. This CUV is simply "okay" off the line, and is "not-very-good-at-all" at passing cars while at freeway cruising speeds.


The six-speed automatic transmission may be the reason for the Edge's sluggish response; even when we "floor it" on the freeway, the transmission pauses for a second, goes to the next-lowest gear, doesn't go any faster, waits a few more seconds and then kicks down to a gear that allows the Edge to actually increase speed. A "sportshift"/"manumatic" transmission may not seem like it's needed on a vehicle with no sporting pretensions, but having the ability to select and hold a gear on demand would do a lot for the Edge's overall acceleration/freeway performance. Oh yeah, we still only averaged about 17 miles per gallon in mixed driving with this "small" V6. So this V6-powered vehicle offers no real performance, nor does it offer any real kind of fuel savings; it's a lose-lose situation.

The rest of the Edge's driving dynamics are pretty good, though. It definitely doesn't feel like a sports car, but the Edge seems to corner okay for a vehicle of its size. The ride is soft and comfortable, yet we don't feel like we'll scrape the door handles or roll over when taking turns at moderate speeds. Steering feel seems to have improved greatly over the pre-production car we drove a few months back. On-center feel now actually exists in the car, and the steering weight is dialed-in just enough so that things don't feel completely numb. Things are still too "soft" for our tastes, but as the Edge was never designed to be a sports car, everything is okay as-is.

So there's nothing really edgy about the Edge. It's a solid, competent vehicle that is on-par with the rest of the CUV crowd. Ford's CUV may not be as sporty or as refined as high-dollar CUVs like the Infiniti FX, but it's one of the best in the $26-$30K (fully-loaded) price range. That said, there are still a few things Ford could improve upon; let's hope that Ford continues to refine the Edge so that it can become the class-beating vehicle it aspires to be.