tourproto

Currently in the market for a new SUV/Crossover. CR-V was out of the running right out of the gates. Way too small and very poor visibility from the driving position. Also pretty darn expensive and Honda dealers don't discount much. Honda Pilot and the new Acura RDX are the ones that are under serious consideration. RDX with the tech package and the Pilot in EX-L trim are going to run $37K out the door which by my estimates is about $3-4K higher than what it will cost for the Edge Limited AWD.

I like the RDX best, but the car is for my wife so she gets to decide. The Ford dealer offered a multi-day test drive for my wife. Great "puppy dog" approach from the dealer

We'll see how it goes.

Went to the Ford dealership last weekend intending to test drive the new Explorer to replace a 98 XLT. The 2013 XLT stickered at $47K and we ended up looking at an Edge Limited AWD for $40K list. If you don't go off-roading and don't need a 3rd row seat, the Edge is a great deal. We need AWD because of the occasional snow in the NW and we live in an area that does not get the roads plowed until after everywhere else. My wife likes to sit up high and the Edge gets her high enough off the road to feel comfortable.

May not end up with the Edge, but is certainly a better deal than the Explorer for what we need.

Thanks again for all the replies!!

My wife and I did drive the 2013 RDX and the steering felt very loose and not connected with the road at all. Sitting in the back felt like being in a cheap car from the 70's considering this was an Acura fully loaded.

 

The MFT has really done what I need it to do with just a slight learning curve. I have for the first time recorded music onto a USB flash and got it to work in the Edge! I know I am never going to use the system to more than 30 percent of what it is capable of (streaming music, setting up mobile hot spots, etc) but that's OK. I can work the basic climate controls, the navigation, the radio, and the phone connection. Little by little I am learning more and I have no regrets in my purchase. I even did the first download off the web for a MFT update last month without a problem.

 

The Ford SYNC and MFT website leaves a lot to be desired in my opinion. I have found better answers and more information on various forums than over there.

 

Very surprised about your comments about the 2013 RDX. I thought it was a pretty nice car. My wife liked it too. The only disappointment in the back seat was no separate ventilation controls. The leather seats were quite comfy IMHO.

I am pretty sure my wife will also use at most 30% of the MFT. Microsoft builds crappy products IMO, was overly complex and not intuitive. And that is my concern that they bundle in climate control, nav etc. into one interface. Using the RDX as an example again, the nav is the nav. There are separate (analog) controls for audio and climate. That seems much smarter to me and also drives the concern about needing and ESP with Ford because if the MFT craps out, it will be big bucks.

tourproto: I bought 4 Hondas in a row and defected to Ford when I bought my 2013 Edge Limited AWD with MFT. To me, Honda was getting very pricy and the dealers won't deal with you. My Honda sales guy on the last 3 visits had his hand so deep in my wallet that it was the worst car buying experience I've had in the past couple of decades. But in earlier years, this same salesman always seemed to give me a fair deal. The Honda guys now have the "3 TO's" (3 Turnovers) and "4-Square" selling methods so drilled into their heads that they've lost sight of what the buying experience is all about. The guy had the audacity to tell me that Honda was immune from the recession so they can keep their prices up. Really? Not sure about the other import dealers, but I did get the same treatment at Toyota when I looked at the Highlander (so frustrating that I never even took the test drive). Honda quality ratings have taken a hit or two over recent years too. I haven't bought a new Ford since I bought my shiny new '71 Maverick, but after visiting 4 dealers this time out, Ford treated me the best, gave me the best deal, and sold me the best looking, best handling, smoothest, and quietest car of the bunch, and I figured it was time to buy American again. Well, errr, Canadian, but that's ok.

 

No issues on the mechanical systems. Body and interior are really tight and well-fit, and no squeaks or rattles.

 

I did opt for the ESP plan, but as others pointed out I would have definitely done that with any car, import or domestic. The electronics are just too complex on any car these days. I got the 75k/7 year Ford ESP plan and a great price (that plan suited my tendency to hang onto cars a long time and rach up only about 10k miles per year). BTW, the price my dealer quoted for ESP was a lot less than the price I was quoted by Ford via phone.

 

No question on the snootyness of Honda and Acura. Haven't heard from either of them since we visited them and did the testdrive, and they have our phone numbers. Ford has called twice in the past week, not to pressure us per se, but more to ask if there is any information they can provide to help with our decision making. The call we got today was to tell us they will provide us with an Edge Limited AWD to drive for two days so my wife can experience the car in real-world conditions driving to work, sitting in traffic, dealing with wet roads etc. I thought that was pretty smart of them.

If you don't mind me asking, what did you pay for the 7yr/75K ESP plan? and what was your deductible? I have gotten a price of $1600 for the 7yr/100K plan with $50 deductible.

Can't you order a SEL model with leather , hands free phone, and most of the goodies..... without MFT?

 

We have a 2012 Edge Limited with NAV, no special problems that have not been worked out, but I could live just fine without MFT. I just like how the car drives, and suits our needs.

The problem is that navigation is a requirement for my wife and that means MFT so regardless of whether we go SEL or Limited, we are stuck with MFT to get nav.

I am also trying to figure out what the cost is to get map updates in the nav system so if anyone has any data there, it would be appreciated. I am a little concerned that I have to keep a Sirius XM contract in order to be able to keep the nav data current and if that is the case ,that doesn't make me too happy.

David

I am glad this is an active forum thank you for the replies.

ls973800, the Edge Limited AWD is what we are looking at as well. I agree the Explorer is way overpriced. The version my wife rejected was an XLT that stickered at $47K. The full-blown Honda Pilot was only $41K MSRP. While I know there is a lot more room to negotiate on Fords, I can't believe that Ford thinks their product is worth more MSRP than a Pilot. Sorry but I don't get that at all.

The 2013 RDX is vastly improved over the 2012 version. If I can get it with the "tech package" for the same price as the Pilot EX-L with navigation, that would be my personal choice. It looks like the out-the-door price for the Edge Limited AWD is about $3-4K less than the Pilot. Even after adding in some $1600 or so to get the 7 year/100K ESP it is still cheaper getting the Edge. Resale value is a moot point because my wife keeps her cars for 10+ years at which point we just donate them to charity and don't even bother trying to sell them.

The dark horse in all of this is the Subaru Outback. The top of the line version, optioned out the wazoo is still $3K less than the Edge. I don't know squat about Subarus, but I gotta say that I was very impressed with the fit and finish of the Outback.

What I haven't heard much about is the mechanical reliability, so I am guessing that this hasn't been a problem for the folks on this forum who read my original post. I take that as a good sign.

The MFT is still a concern for me. My wife is techno-phobic (she doesn't even want an iphone), and I am concerned that the MFT may really irritate her. I guess that if the Edge is her choice, then she can't complain... still a concern though...

Hello,

New member to this forum. I found the site while doing some homework on the Ford Edge. Looking for a new car for my wife who has owned only Fords for her entire life.

First Ford was the Escort, with non-powered steering, manual windows and no rear-window defrost. Sucked driving that car on a cold morning, always having to lift the tailgate and wipe the rear window from the inside so you could see out the back :0

Second car was a Ford Tempo that really was a piece of junk, always had problems. Was surprised she wanted another Ford after that one.

Third and current car is a Ford Explorer XLT that is now 14 years old and about 180K miles on it. Despite having around 10 recalls, it has been surprisingly reliable, although now it is on its last legs. Isn't causing any problems per se, but you can just tell that it is getting tired, so we are in the market for a new rig.

My personal preference is that she get a Japanese SUV like a Highlander or a Pilot. Having owned foreign cars my whole life, I have been pretty happy with them and their reliability (Honda, Acura and Toyota). My wife has looked at them but is also looking at Fords. We were at the dealership last weekend and she immediately nixed the new Explorer. She disliked it so much just sitting in it that she wouldn't even test drive it.

She did drive the new Escape and the Edge. The Escape was pretty tiny inside and while she was OK with it she really liked the Edge. After doing a lot of online research on the car (and how I found this forum), I have a couple of concerns about the Edge. The main one is that the overall reliability ratings appear to be going downhill since 2009. Is this something that the frequent posters on this forum would agree on? I was wondering if a large portion of those lower reliability ratings is due to the massive influx of new electronics going into the car.

I travel quite a bit and rent a lot of different cars and my experiences with the Ford Escape with MyFordTouch is pretty abysmal. IMHO, it is a really nifty system that has way too many bugs in it. In the half dozen or so times I have rented a Ford with the MyFordTouch system it was a 50/50 chance that my iphone would not properly connect to the system after the initial pairing. I would literally be driving in the car, everything working fine, stop somewhere, get back in the car and I would get an error message and the iphone would not connect to the system. Then I would stop again, and when I got back in the car, the iphone would connect. Very irritating to say the least.

So here are my questions:

1. Is the non-electronics reliability a problem with the Ford Edge? Is it going downhill?

2. Is the MyFordTouch a problematic system? Seems very buggy to me.

3. How many people who buy the Edge are getting the extended ESP plan because of concerns about reliability, electronics or otherwise? (I am considering getting the 7 year/100K mile top-of-the-line plan just because of #1 and #2 above if we go with the Ford due to how long my wife keeps her cars)

I won't be driving the car, it will be my wife's car so I just want her to be happy with whatever she gets, and as I've stated, I would rather her get either a Subaru Outback, Acura RDX, Honda Pilot or Toyota Highlander which are all in the same ballpark and she has driven and liked all of them.

So a final question is who ended up buying an Edge over the other cars I mentioned? The price differential is not an issue for us, we can afford any of these cars. So I would really be interested to know the opinions of folks who selected the Edge over other choices when price was not an issue.

Thanks, and sorry for the long first post.

David