Driver impressions wanted

[GatorCat]

Question for those who have gotten their 2011s, primarily Sports...

 

I'm about ready to pull the trigger on a Sport AWD, but this is my first crossover/SUV. I've generally had 4dr sports sedans, such as G35, TL, A4, etc. but with the kiddies I really need more room and am not driving my car as much as I would like.

 

I realize this will not handle like a sport sedan, but for those of you who have driven those and are coming into the Edge, can you provide your impressions on the fun quotient and handling capability of the Edge or Edge Sport? I can't drive a Sport here but I have driven a LTD and like it very much, but it is hard to get a good feel from a 10 min drive around the dealer.

 

Thoughts?

 

Thanks much and hoping to make a final decision this week as my G35 lease is about over!

[mleber]

GatorCat,

 

I picked up my tux black sport yesterday late afternoon. I have test driven the 2011 limited about 5 days ago. I would say the Sport has a much sportier steering feel, probably because of the fat tires. You really dont notice the 22's unless you look at them. You do not get a HARD and BUMPY ride, like you would think. The suspension is tighter than the limited but VERY smooth. I tested it on road construction going on around me here and it is smoother than my old ride, BMW X5 Sport 4.8. They did a good job on that. The brakes are good but the discs look small when viewing the HUGE wheels, but they do the job. we have highway exit ramps here that you can take at full highway speeds (or higher, very nice exits). I took the ramp at 80 and never drifted, felt like my old ride. Railroad tracks feel the same too, if not then smother than old ride. The seat base is a little soft and not bucketed enough to qualify as a "sport" seat. The back upright is bucketed more and would qualify as a "sport" style seat. The eninge sounds nice for a 6cyl. The sound inside vehicle of outside noise and engine noise is great. Only the limited and sport versions have the special window glass (in the doors) that has the 2 glass layers and plastic middle, for sound suppression. You can really feel the difference when you run your finger across the top edge of the window. My old ride didnt have that glass, thickness similar to this layered glass. Sony is good, layout is very minimalistic and is great looking. ( No overload of buttons, gadgets, etc.)

IMO, sport is more fun than limited. It is not a shelby cobra, it is a crossover; a very well designed crossover. The sport makes it more fun, if you like ripping around corners and shifting and stuff.

Make sure you get the Drivers Entry Package, Vision Package (works good) at minimum. Nav Package and the Vista roof are also GREAT.

CARGO Package SUCKS - Do not get. If you want the liner and bumper sticker, get it for less individually.

[Barry11LTD]

Hi,

 

My Limited isn't a Sport, but I just rode about 1,200 miles in two days and can give you a good overall assessment of the Edge generally.

 

Driving feel:

Acceleration, cornering, and overall handling is very good. The 3.5L motor is very responsive, and has good acceleration. The six speed transmission is tight, and the manual mode works great and shifts fairly quickly between gears when commanded. Good power all the way up to redline. In automatic mode the tranny tends to shift to higher gears rather quickly and sits there for less rpm's and quieter ride, and translates to sedate driving. Manual mode fun and sporty, auto mode quiet and sedate. Being front drive in default until wheel spin is detected is not noticeable in regular driving. When I accelerated VERY hard on the highway to pass though (from 80 mph to just over 100 - oops) the front drive torque steer could be felt, particularly when hard on the pedal and steering back into the right hand lane fairly abruptly. In town the handling is very predictable, steering a bit heavy with some under steer, but fine. On highway the feel is very balanced and seems not as heavy, other than the feel of torque steer when accelerating VERY hard and changing direction aggressively, tracks quite straight, though a bit of a tendency to drift to right side if last steering command was in that direction. I should state that I could not tell it was front wheel drive any other time, and even under hard acceleration at higher speed it was only marginally evident. Steering overall was good.

 

Braking is good but the feel can be slightly unpredictable at times. It feels as thought the initial bite varies at once in a while and is inconsistent. In town while braking the driver can be caught off guard having to apply unexpected additional force for the final feet of stopping. Also on highway, one time the initial bite was unexpectedly strong, even though foot force was very mild. This may have been a result of the emergency braking assist, that provides stronger braking forces under emergency braking, however being that force was light it was unexpected. Overall the braking issues were very infrequent and minimal, and the braking was good. Although I did view a "Truck Trend" video test of the 2011 Sport that showed braking distances poor and fade substantial (brakes are same on ALL 2011 Edge models). I'm hoping a simple brake pad upgrade will fix a lot of this. But again, overall the braking seemed fine other than a couple quirks.

 

Ergonomics and comfort while driving is good. Steering wheel tilt and telescope are good, though could go a little lower and closer to driver for optimal highway positioning. Manual shifter easy to operate and easy to reach. Switches well designed and easy to reach. Turn signal is a bit of getting used to as it doesn't actually positively click when turning. Hard push for turning, soft push for 3 signal lane change is what is required. Lots of driver distraction with the steering wheel controls (two LCD instrument pods in instrument cluster), My FordTouch Phone/Nav/Radio/Climate touch screen, Voice command, and all other features of the Edge. Highly recommended for new owners to spend tons of time learning features BEFORE going out on the road. Even with the Locked out features that can't be accessed while driving, there are WAY too many that you can access while driving, and can distract you to danger. I'm not going to say how distracted I got, only that I highly recommend knowing all the features before going out on the road. Front door interior pull handles are located a bit too far forward on the doors, causing it to be a harder to pull the doors closed. Also these handles could be useful for passenger to hold during cornering, but again are too far forward for that use.

 

My FordTouch had tons of user options, and very well designed overall. Climate Control very easy to use. Selecting automatic dual temp control worked well. Along with heated seats with two temp selections, it was very comfortable. Nice to have a choice of touch screen detail control or bottons on center stack for quick tweaks of settings. Phone bluetooth worked fine and predictably, though text feature didn't work with my iPhone 4. Plugged my phone into the USB port and could not access my photos as I wanted to load into Touch data and change the main screen wallpaper. Hands free talking worked pretty well, though at 80 mph my caller had to keep asking me to repeat myself due to "cutting out" as she put it. Road a bit rough and may have been a factor. Also no good spot to place cell phone if you have two drinks in front center cup holders. Phone use good overall though. Using front door cup holder not very good as located too far forward for easy reach, and size and shape of holders don't work very well. Satelite radio controls adequate, but setting favorite stations and searching is too labor intensive and menu is limited. Navigation is good overall, but slow to set destination. Points of interest searching was inadequate, especially compared to Google Maps. Too bad one can't do POI name searching. Street views are very good. Nav good when all considered though. Touch screen is a bit slow in all functions. Hopefully software upgrades come available to speed things up. Owners manual does not contain detailed enough instructions for most of Touch features. Especially needs more on Satelite radio and Nav system big time. Touch screen needs to be able to dim more on highway. Brightness can be set, but needs to go dimmer.

 

Sunroof a little wind noise from front at 70 mph or greater, very noticable at 90 mph when passing. May be a seal that needs a bit of adjustment. Overall panoramic is huge and works very nicely. I like.

 

Overall a pleasure to drive, seems more upscale than price suggests. Very classy and comfortable, and easy to drive in town, and good power and comfort on highway. A tight vehicle that has good power and acceleration. Passes on the highway very nicely.

 

Miscellaneous:

Easy to wash. 20 inch wheels a bit nook and cranny ish, as are door jams for wiping clean as a lot of road grime gets into door jams and hatch jam. Windshield wipers work fine front and back. Auto hatch opener/closer works great. Even continues to work after border Customs officer tries to manually close using brute force. (Be sure to read manual on how to reset hatch to auto mode if it becomes inoperative - you have to disconnect battery and other steps). Rear seat remote fold down from hatch area is a great idea and works great. Oh when loading luggage or other items on trips, be sure to locate them away from rear subwoofer if you like to blast tunes while on the road. We had to reposition luggage mid trip when we noticed base muffle while blasting some classic rock tunes. Stereo quality nice sound, little distortion and good range even when near full blast . Ambient lighting nice, and can set brightness. Keyless system works great. Keeping it in pocket to start and lock is so sweet. Even being able to lock key into vehicle and using combination keypad is a great feature (say if you want to go bicycling without having to carry keyfob in your pocket). The key becomes inoperative once locked inside vehicle, say in the event of a break in, until keypad combo is input, or other keyfob is in proxmimity. No fuel cap is convenient for gas stops and works great.

 

One concern over Sport is that Truck Trend reported Sport 0-60 slower than FWD versions due to increased vehicle weight and larger wheels. A bit odd considering large motor of Sport.

 

Otherwise, so far I am highly satisfied with the Edge LTD and it's capabilities.

Edited September 18, 2010 by Barry11LTD

[brucedmd]

GatorCat,

 

I The sound inside vehicle of outside noise and engine noise is great. Only the limited and sport versions have the special window glass (in the doors) that has the 2 glass layers and plastic middle, for sound suppression. You can really feel the difference when you run your finger across the top edge of the window. My old ride didnt have that glass, thickness similar to this layered glass.

 

 

I was under the impression that the SEL also had the special windshield glass for noise suppression. Do you have a sourse i could go to to verify SEL do NOT have this glass?

Web site notes no differentiation for glass between all models.

Thanks!

[choff1138]

Awesome write up Barry - I really appreciated reading it. Can't wait for my limited to get here around the end of the month.

[GatorCat]

Thanks for indepth write-ups. Lots of terrific observations. Sounds like a a real solid improvement over past Edge models. Really looking forward to getting it. Glad it can run in same league as X5. Sure as hell cheaper!

 

I too did notice some Mytouch screen lags when I test drove the LTD model. Sounds like there's going to be a system update later this year/early next that will do some app/web browser implementation. Maybe they'll speed up some of the controls with that release.

 

We're going to have to start thinking of our cars as computers with system updates, etc. Brave new world!

[mleber]

I was under the impression that the SEL also had the special windshield glass for noise suppression. Do you have a sourse i could go to to verify SEL do NOT have this glass?

Web site notes no differentiation for glass between all models.

Thanks!

I havent checked the windshield, because I think they are the same across all models. I was taking about the door windows. My method of verification was checking the fordparts website. I checked because I remembered reading it somewhere but couldnt find it again. So I parted out the car from the website and the SE and SEL use one type and the Limited and Sport use a different part number.

 

If you ever have the opportunity to see several models at a dealer, roll the window down half way and the look at the glass from the top. Run your finger over the top edge. You will see right away and feel immediately.

[choff1138]

I was under the impression that the SEL also had the special windshield glass for noise suppression. Do you have a sourse i could go to to verify SEL do NOT have this glass?

Web site notes no differentiation for glass between all models.

Thanks!

 

 

I don't remember where I saw it either but it is just the front door glass that is different for the sport and limited.

Edited September 18, 2010 by choff1138

[mleber]

I don't remember where I saw it either but it is just the front door glass that is different for the sport and limited.

You may be right on that. I didnt check the rear doors manually. Also didn't check the parts site for rear window. I got my windows tinted earlier today, so I wont be able to roll them down for 3 days in order to check. Sorry about the assumption.

[Ctrl-z]

Wonder if someone could give their impression of the engine start/stop feature? I understand that when you take your foot off of the gas the engine shuts off while coasting and restarts when the gas pedal is pushed. Does it work like this or do you have to first put the transmission into neutral? Does the A/C continue to work when the automatic engine shut off activates?

[akirby]

Wonder if someone could give their impression of the engine start/stop feature? I understand that when you take your foot off of the gas the engine shuts off while coasting and restarts when the gas pedal is pushed. Does it work like this or do you have to first put the transmission into neutral? Does the A/C continue to work when the automatic engine shut off activates?

 

It works automatically - you don't do anything. It just cuts fuel to the engine when possible and starts it again when you press the gas pedal again. Since the engine is still turning over and the alternator is still turning all of the accessories continue working as normal.

[mleber]

It works automatically - you don't do anything. It just cuts fuel to the engine when possible and starts it again when you press the gas pedal again. Since the engine is still turning over and the alternator is still turning all of the accessories continue working as normal.

This is very interesting. Where did you get this from? I havent noticed the engine ever turning off. Is there a source to research this further? Is it in the manual anywhere?

 

thanks

[wilsons66604]

It works automatically - you don't do anything. It just cuts fuel to the engine when possible and starts it again when you press the gas pedal again. Since the engine is still turning over and the alternator is still turning all of the accessories continue working as normal.

I'm curious to see how this is implemented in the Edge. My Camry Hybrid does this and it's not easy to tell when it stop/starts the ICE (Internal Combustion Engine)

[akirby]

This is very interesting. Where did you get this from? I havent noticed the engine ever turning off. Is there a source to research this further? Is it in the manual anywhere?

 

thanks

 

Not much detail. It shuts off fuel to the engine whenever possible. If it's working correctly you shouldn't notice anything.

 

http://media.ford.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=32009

 

Fuel shutoff: Aggressive deceleration fuel shutoff control system shuts off the engine when the customer doesn’t command engine torque – such as decelerating at freeway speeds.

[mleber]

thanks Akirby,

 

That is where I remembered something from slightly. It was so long ago I forgot about the fuel shutoff and effects. I remember taking the car for the test drive. I touched the gas for a second and it jumped forward and then it was like an engine brake. I thought, this is no super-car, why would the engine be geared so tight to use the engine for braking. It did it a couple more times during the test drive since I was not use to this car yet. I was just trying to coast and it was like a diesel truck downshifting a gear to slow down. (that may be an exaggeration but that is what I am trying to describe to all). It was noticeable to me immediately, but I didn't know what it was. Now I know. Don't know about the other models, but the Sport is noticeable when you let off the gas and the fuel thing kicks in. I do not think the engine shuts off. Even the manual doesn't say that completely. It would be interesting to find out if it does shut off.

[akirby]

thanks Akirby,

 

That is where I remembered something from slightly. It was so long ago I forgot about the fuel shutoff and effects. I remember taking the car for the test drive. I touched the gas for a second and it jumped forward and then it was like an engine brake. I thought, this is no super-car, why would the engine be geared so tight to use the engine for braking. It did it a couple more times during the test drive since I was not use to this car yet. I was just trying to coast and it was like a diesel truck downshifting a gear to slow down. (that may be an exaggeration but that is what I am trying to describe to all). It was noticeable to me immediately, but I didn't know what it was. Now I know. Don't know about the other models, but the Sport is noticeable when you let off the gas and the fuel thing kicks in. I do not think the engine shuts off. Even the manual doesn't say that completely. It would be interesting to find out if it does shut off.

 

If there is no fuel going to the engine then it's effectively off - there is no combustion taking place. However, it should not cause engine braking and I don't think it would kick in at very low speeds. I'm guessing you were feeling something else.