Ford’s PR guys don’t seem to like many of our comments about their cars—we get the same routine with other car companies—so we decided to rent a Ford Edge Limited for a working week in coastal Orange County. Both Editor Ewing and I had seat time.  The first-gen Edge was CEO Mulally’s first rescue project, turning loose the quality engineer he poached from Toyota’s US operations to fix the many failings of the original Edge. Have they made big strides with the second generation? Yes and no. Is it the best of its kind? No.

Engine, Transmission, Drivetrain

First, the bad news. I was shocked to find out this vehicle has a V6. I was sure it had a big four-banger under the hood because it was so loud and thrashy when I asked for a sudden burst of acceleration, a mandatory component of what some people call my Death Race 2000 driving style.

Many times, I’d punch it and would then wait almost two full seconds for the power to engage, to start flowing and moving the vehicle. Not impressive. By then, hell, the latte I ordered from Starbucks could have been ready. In heavy traffic, you will not be able to make those split-second decisions to accelerate when needed. In manual shift mode, shifts improve a bit, but then you have to totally concentrate on the + and – push button on the side of the shifter. It would have been better to use a separate shift gate instead of a fiddly little button.  The argument can be made that Ford damped the downshifts under heavy throttle to please mama, and not to please a crazed collector of 25-year-old BMWs who has the Fangio Gene. But the Edge can be a real dog in traffic. When I see a hole in traffic in Orange County or LA, I’m gonna take it. This engine and transmission did not deliver excellent acceleration. Maybe I’m spoiled, as my girlfriend and I have a loaded Honda Accord V6 for everyday driving, and I’ve had Camry and Maxima rentals in the past. Those cars deliver acceleration when your right foot stands down hard.

Clearly Ford is starving the engine for  fuel to boost fuel mileage, and the GM/Ford transaxle is designed and calibrated to enhance fuel mileage, not deliver performance or plush shifts. Our advice? Drop an MPG or two on the EPA cycle and let the engine have more fuel and air. It’s being strangled.

Also, a point we will cover again below, the Edge body is not constructed with high-strength steel, something to do with bad management decisions and cost-cutting when the car was initially developed. Stronger, lighter steel would have helped keep the Edge from having a double chin. To be brief, the car is far too heavy for the engine to lug around. Seems like a multi-track development issue: cut the weight by using stronger, more expensive steel—which also helps raise crash test performance in most cases—and refine the powertrain by pumping more fuel and air and also making the transmission a bit more responsive. These are the major flaws in the vehicle.

A bit more on the transmission. It’s a Ford/GM co-production from the pre-collapse days when both companies were merely hurting and had to partner on such projects. Small, lightweight and efficient it may be, but I found that it could get pretty rough. It doesn’t have a torque converter to soak up the harshness of up- and downshifts. The argument can be made that the lack of a torque converter makes it more efficient. Yeah, well, I want it all, so this gearbox needs work.

As calibrated, this Ford engine is not in the same universe as V6s from Toyota, Honda or Nissan. I hope they enjoy bragging about a couple extra MPG.

Steering, Suspension, Brakes

Edge has a decent ride. Considering it does not have electric power steering, I would have hoped for more steering feel, but for shuttling around town and hauling kids to Tae Kwon Do, it’s OK.  Steering feel has never been the Edge’s greatest strength.

Ford’s chassis guys also reengineered the rear suspension, adopting components from the Flex, so you won’t get a lot of suspension harshness in the cabin, a major accomplishment in any CUV, where a trunk cannot mask rear suspension rumbling.

So the ride is nice and quiet, but the handling not so great. Steering was numb and the cornering was roly-poly. Edge was pretty quiet over the many types of surfaces you find in Southern California, which I’m sure had much to do with the fact that our car had Michelins which are, IMO, THE BEST tires on the face of the planet. Those Frenchmen know their chemistry. The Edge can also be equipped with Pirellis, so Ford is drawing on European firms for this vehicle. Certainly better than the horrible Korean Hankooks they put on cars like Fiesta.

Body, Design, Quality

I started calling the Edge my Space Shuttle, in part because of the space pod looks and in part because of the MyFord Touch evolution of Sync.

Design is excellent. This is a really handsome car. Though sometimes the new grille makes me laugh, thinking of that double chin, Edge has a strong presence on the road, readily identifiable in traffic. Edge has strongly sculpted forms, with no flabby lines. Ford design themes are maturing, drawing heavily on that Interceptor show car of several years ago, so we’re in one of those rare good periods of Ford design when the overall sculpture and the trim are balanced and in harmony.

The sideview mirrors were kinda cool with the built-in fisheye mirrors. The fisheye mirrors help meet safety needs without the expense of sonar sensors that tell you if someone is in your blind spot. A mechanical solution is usually more reliable long-term than an electronic one. So, not bad.

Our Edge Limited had navi and that means a backup camera, which displays on the dash. It worked great, very much in the German style, with colored boundaries appearing on the screen, showing where the back end is headed. I loved it. But you still better use the fisheyes and turn your head. California is filled with a lot of stupid people who will walk right behind your car even when the backup lights are on. Classic California sense of entitlement. A wonder more of them are not run over.

I liked the dual exhaust tips at the rear, but they need to be hooked up to a much better engine.

And to hammer it home again, Edge is much heavier than Ford wanted, as they didn’t use enough high-strength steel, as mentioned above. So they saved money on build cost, using cheaper steel, but ended up with a porky car. The next version is coming sometime around 2014 with the next-gen Fusion.

Interior, Ergonomics

Interior and Sync. This is where Edge scores highest points. Interior build quality was pretty good. In the past, Detroit interiors seemed like total garbage to me. Edge showed me how much Ford has improved over the last few years. Elegant design with pretty good ergo.

The first thing I noticed? The indigo blue lighting everywhere! I also loved the “mood lighting” in the foot wells, an aftermarket accessory idea Ford’s Chief Marketing Officer, Jim Farley, cribbed from his days managing Scion. The lighting stays on while driving for both front and rear passengers and is not distracting at all. I may find aftermarket LED mood lighting for my girlfriend’s Accord.  I think Audi was the first to incorporate this into their production cars, with pale LED light emitting from the underside of wooden trim on the doors, and into the footwells.

The fake wood has to go. Unless it’s real veneer, like on high-end cars, or really, really good fake wood, stick with solid colors or metals. Brushed aluminum or material with an alloy finish would have been nice, or even faux carbon-fiber.

None of us know why Ford has such trouble with fake wood. It’s even worse on the F-150/250 pickups. J Mays, the Ford design guy who spends most of his time in London, seems to like matte finish wood. Maybe it’s due to childhood memories of the housing of his father’s first RCA color TV. It looks horrible, and spoils what is an otherwise very nice interior.

Seat rails are recessed into the floor to enhance foot room, just like everyone else is doing. But it’s a nice design component that is spreading throughout the industry, first seen, I think, on minivans.

The dashtop did not reflect into the windshield, but we had classic overcast spring weather at the beach in So Cal.  And that dashtop is soft skin, as are the door tops. Very nice. And it appeared to be firmly attached, so it won’t peel off like a big dash toupee a few years from now.

There are a lot of bits and pieces on the dash and doors that might rattle loose later, but I’d be willing to take the bet the interior will hold up. It seems pretty well pieced together.

I am median or slightly less then median height and pudgy—way too many bottles of Starbucks Frappuccino while sitting at the computer. Editor Ewing is well over median height and a big oaf. We were both comfortable in the Edge. I thought the seat bottom was a bit flat; I prefer more bolstering, but that’s why I drive BMWs. For the typical buyer of this rig, a flat seat probably makes sense. Plenty of room for America’s portliest drivers.

Cargo area was big enough to swallow Editor Ewing’s new HD TV screen which, by the way, did not have fake wood trim resembling the Edge’s dashboard. I had multiple black computer bags in the hold of the Space Shuttle for my rounds with clients, and also a bag with Ewing’s Apple TV hockey puck and cabling. We upgraded Ewing from rabbit ears to Apple TV. Edge could have swallowed two HD screens in their boxes, and plenty more, without putting down the rear seats. No shortage of room for your stash. Edge’s interior package is pretty good.

With my 60GB iPod plugged into the USB port on the center console, the Sync system went right to work indexing all my content. It took quite a long time, but once done I could search my music files both from the touch panel and via voice commands. If you own the car, you’re only doing this big transfer once. The voice commands could use a bit of work—not quite there yet.

Sync is the defining experience in any current Ford. It’s cool to have all that functionality, but do you really need so many screens and options? It is very distracting while driving, especially if you’re an over-stimulated tech geek like me.

You end up focusing so much on the Sync system and steering controls that you don’t pay attention to the road as much as you should. I find this more distracting than even being on the cell phone using Bluetooth. Maybe it’s because I am a gadgets guy and like to play with all those options and functions. Compulsive behavior, I guess, and after the first drive I had to force myself NOT to use Sync except at lights and when parked. Sync is definitely best operated by a co-pilot, or used in pre-flight planning.

The first thing I noticed when I started playing with the Sync interface? The previous drivers’ data listed in the phone section. Obviously, that is something the rental car companies should remove as part of their prep process, but all those phone numbers from several other people available to me show how easily vulnerabilities appear with this technology.

I can see how Sync and systems like it might become a huge security issue in the future, especially utilizing Bluetooth technology, and encryption will be the next step for these systems. I’m obsessed with encryption. You’re already starting to see Bluetooth snarfing, hacking, etc. There is technology available now where you can scan Bluetooth signals of all cars driving by while you are parked on an overpass, capturing info from up to two miles out. Perhaps I digress from a review of a car, but networks security is my business and I am not recommending this or any similar system to my clients until encryption is possible. For most people, maybe it’s no big deal, but I wouldn’t have this in my own car until encryption arrives.

Our Edge’s Sony stereo was excellent. Editor Ewing tells me that a vehicle line engineer he worked with at Ford SVT really boosted the relationship with Sony, as he spec’ed the old Mach 460 sound system for the Mustang. The engineer is now retired and has a studio-quality sound system in his home.  The Edge’s sound system was great and the bass levels were awesome. My one issue was a rattle coming from the dash or passenger-side A-pillar. Editor Ewing told me to use the “big words” of product planning, and ask for more fasteners or padding. It was cheap. They could have used some Dynamat.

Conclusion

An old joke about the so-called enthusiast magazines: “Some of us thought the Edge was red, others thought it was blue, but we all agreed that it was a great vehicle and we can’t wait to have another one.”

Well, we’re not so willing to pander, and though Edge has many admirable traits, the engineering is not yet up to scratch. This is the second evolution of Edge, which traces its engineering roots to the last-gen Mazda6.

Edge was also the first Mulally project, after he had poached a quality engineer from Toyota’s US operations. In typical pre-Mulally fashion, Ford was going to start producing the Edge even though the car had known quality and design flaws. Mulally put a stop to that. Good on him. Launch of the vehicle was delayed a considerable time while fixes were found for the most obvious flaws. So Edge can be viewed as the pivot point for Ford’s most recent sidestep of the abyss. Edge is where Ford’s recovery began.

How well have they done with a second swing at Edge? Build quality and materials are reasonably high, with good body build and decent paint, and overall an excellent interior design with a few minor flaws. Edge is handsome inside and out, and the interior makes good use of available space. Sync is a great system, though the Japanese and Koreans have similar and in many ways better systems on the way this year. Ford can pimp with Leo LaPorte all they want, but other companies will match this system soon. When I used it, I transferred music, but not my other data. But it’s a slick system. The name? MyFord Touch? I don’t know. Someone in the branding department didn’t quite hack it. Makes me think of the Ford TouchMyself.

Where does Edge fall down? The engine and transmission are not even close to the best from Toyota, Honda and Nissan. Ford is at work on new powertrains, and they need them. Considering the strides Ford has made in interior and body quality, we won’t bet against their next-gen V6.

Editor Ewing states that I have a Fangio Complex and, well, I like to drive a car hard and enjoy moving quickly through traffic. Performance gives a car a safety edge (pun intended) because if you’re perceptive and see what’s happening in traffic ahead of you (and in California you have to watch the idiots lurking behind you), braking, steering and acceleration can help you avoid an accident. The Edge transmission and engine were not up to the job. Great for driving my kid to pre-school or the dogs to the vet, but not enough for me.

We price out all test vehicles on a company’s build configurators, a step to keep them “in context.” Edge Limited started at something like 35 grand and change, putting it up against the Toyota Highlander Limited, which for a few dollars more has three-row seating (Highlander’s third row is for small children or a mother-in-law you really don’t like much) and a much, much more refined engine and transmission. Toyota unveiled its entune wireless audio system at CES, so the MyFord Touch advantage will soon go away.

Also, you can easily spend over $40,000 on a front-drive Edge, with various option packages. Based on the features we had, our Edge Limited would have bumped 40 grand. A Toyota Venza offers better engines and transmissions, equal or better build quality, excellent features, fantastic interior room, and the most loaded front-drive V6 Venza can be had for less than a loaded Edge. Venza is also a handsome, nicely chiseled vehicle.

Editor Ewing may call it the Pregnant Narwhal, but the Honda Crosstour with its kick-ass Honda V6 is also an excellent and superior alternative to Edge, though Edge certainly has a more useful rear seat and cargo area. And Edge sure is a lot better looking than the Narwhal.

Last but not least, a vehicle that helped define this strata of the CUV market, the Nissan Murano, which is one of Nissan’s best. Not as distinctively styled as the first-gen Murano, but definitely a strong player in this field.

Any of these four—Highlander, Venza, Crosstour, Murano—will prove a better choice, though we might rent a new Ford Explorer CUV, a vehicle developed under the Mulally Regime, to see how it stacks up. Ford is pricing up against the Japanese, but they don’t yet have the reputation, and they don’t have the engines. They haven’t earned the right to charge that kind of cash. Detroit always has a problem with this, thanks to the town’s bizarre need to flex ego to compensate for decades of inferior products. Look at the Cadillac CTS. A very nice car, one that should make most owners pretty happy, but it should sell for LESS than a BMW 3-series or Audi A4 to make sense, not equal money. Same thing here. Detroit has to sell at a price advantage.

Also, if you are like most consumers, and not enthusiast geeks who can be swayed more readily, you should remember that Consumer Reports recommends nearly all Toyotas. Honda? Six of their eleven products are recommended by Consumer Reports, though they do not recommend the Pilot, one minor reason for its absence from our cross-shop list–frankly, we’re not too thrilled with the Pilot. Ford is gaining ground, but the whole product line is not there yet. Next, we need to try a Flex or an Explorer to sample the Full Mulally.