The entry-level trim equips the Edge with 19in alloy wheels, automatic headlights and rear lights, a rear spoiler, electrically folding wing mirrors, parking sensors, chrome roof rails and acoustic side glass as standard. Our test car, which had the Sony system fitted as a £450 option, produced strong, rounded audio quality and streamed music over a Bluetooth link very reliably while making tracks easy both to browse and select.As for trim levels, there are three to choose from - Titatnium, ST-Line and Vignale. Same story as with the Ford S-Max, Ford Mondeo and Ford Focus, then. ST-Line and Vignale-spec cars upgrade the infotainment system with fitted SD card-based satellite navigation and a Sony audio system- which we found to be rather unresponsive when programming and slightly flaky and short on detail with its mapping. Having downloaded Ford AppLink to your smartphone, the system allows you to access the likes of Spotify through the head unit - but it’s nowhere near being a proper mirroring system. The Edge’s multimedia offering starts at a slightly basic level but doesn’t stay that way as you progress upwards through the range.Īll models get a Sync 3 colour touchscreen display which, in the Titanium model’s case, is fitted with a nine-speaker sound system, sat nav and DAB radio. However, we hasten to add that it's a vast improvement on Sync 2 in terms of layout, responsiveness and usability. But the material richness and attention to detail you get in an Audi Q5 or Mercedes-Benz GLC are notable by their absence.Įvery chrome trim – from gear selector surround to door card to starter button – is a slightly different shade of silver from the last, while the seats look more comfortable than they are and the Sync 3 infotainment system is short of the required standards of usability and responsiveness that sets the best in the class apart - think BMW's iDrive, Audi's MMI or Mercedes-Benz's Comand infotainment systems. Its dashboard mouldings are mostly soft-touch, its fixtures and fittings solid-feeling and its leathers reasonably tactile and well stitched. The Edge’s centre console plastics look plain, grey and ordinary. It’s the spectre of exactly these comparisons that must have discouraged Ford from putting up cars at a premium price point so often over the past 20 years, but they’re nonetheless justified. True to expectations, the Edge’s cabin isn’t one that’ll instantly make you feel good about forgoing ownership of a premium-branded German SUV. It varies the directness of the wheel depending on selected mode, prevailing speed and steering position relative to centre, but our test car didn’t have it. The only significant dynamic option offered is the adaptive steering set-up also available on other CD-platform Fords. There’s no height-adjustable air suspension option, no self-levelling rear suspension for towing and no adaptive damping for trading passenger comfort against body control – some or all of which may be a disappointment to SUV buyers. Suspension is all-independent, consisting of struts up front and multiple links at the rear, as well as fixed-height steel coil springs giving ground clearance of just over 200mm. Both versions have clutch-based ‘intelligent’ all-wheel drive. The lesser of the pair, with one turbo, gives 178bhp and 295lb ft and drives through a six-speed manual gearbox the greater is the twin-turbo unit we’re testing, with 207bhp, 332lb ft and a six-speed Powershift dual-clutch automatic gearbox. With a focus on good passive safety and refinement, Ford uses 44 percent ultra-high-strength steel in the construction of the car’s shell, which helped it reach its five-star NCAP rating.īoth European versions of the car are powered by a 2.0-litre diesel engine. Then again, the claim is that the car offers more second-row space than an Audi Q7 or Volkswagen Touareg, and if so, that may be worth giving up an occasional third row for. It’s odd for a car this big not to offer a seven-seat configuration, and you’d imagine that will cost Ford a number of sales. Designed under the ‘One Ford’ philosophy for improved global reach, it is based on the ‘CD’ platform used by the current Ford Mondeo, Ford S-Max and Ford Galaxy. The Edge is built at Ford’s Oakville plant in Ontario, Canada. Steeply raked pillars, sculptured surfaces and a slim glasshouse all add visual allure. In the scale and brashness of features such as the oversize grille up front and full-width lighting strip at the back, there’s a whiff of American vulgarity about the styling.īut there’s no conspicuous lack of sophistication overall and no reason for British buyers to take against it.
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