This vehicle makes me feel safe on the road with also sporting class and style. The rear rotors are larger this year, and the braking progression has been retuned for more initial bite and shorter overall stopping distances. The got new sheetmetal, tighter handling with the optional track package and a much improved interior, then got much-needed new V-8 and V-6 engines for 2011. Torque creeps up by 3 lb-ft, for a total of 253 at 4000 rpm. Launched in the midst of the crossover boom, the Edge instantly became a gleaming success for Ford, with more than 400,000 units built so far and sales continuing to trend upward. We could quickly dig through our paired phone's contact list or find Sirius Satellite Radio stations. Ford sent us the highest trim model, the Sport with all-wheel drive.
Both engines are paired with Ford's latest six-speed automatic transmission. The windshield also is thicker and now acoustic-laminated on all Ford Edge models. The engine's variable cam timing may be new for Ford, but is not particularly new technology. Our only complaint is that the system seemed a little sluggish as we browsed the music library on a connected iPod. The steering wheel has all the necessary functions available in a very compact area, right where the driver's hand falls as he or she grabs the wheel. This engine, and the 3. The wrapping lines emphasize both the front end and the new wheel lineup.
There's plenty of entertainment to be had aside from the drive experience, thanks to the MyFord updated Sync system and premium Sony audio system. In our driving, much of it along two-lane highways, we came in at 17. All the basic utility features that you might expect in this type of vehicle are here as well; the 2011 Edge now has bottle holders in all four doors, as well as the usual and growing array of pockets, bins, trays, and other areas to put stuff. This is where the MyFord Touch really shines. Key brake system upgrades include steel pistons, larger rear rotors, revised brake friction materials, revised brake booster gain and revised pedal ratios, all of which enable more initial bite and a firmer, more confident feel when customers press on the brake pedal. The interior no longer looks like every other Ford model.
Our car had Ford's all-wheel-drive system, a trim level option. The bigger engine story—but the smaller engine—is the 2. It looks very cool, but we did notice that it is easy to accidentally activate a button by brushing against it. All those gears, and you can't shift them yourself. The result is a love it or hate design — both inside in and out.
A decent percentage of that weight resides, unsprung, in the 22-inch wheels. And Ford has also topped Equinox with about 65,000 of its old Edges. The shocks now feature a high-flow piston, which allows engineers to tune for both road loads and driving dynamics, without compromising ride for handling or vice versa. Now, Ford tackles Equinox and Terrain with the Escape, Edge, the new Explorer and Flex. The design looks good and is very usable, with big, easily understood buttons. To make it easier to register information at a glance, Ford color codes the screens, using green for navigation, red for audio, yellow for the phone, and blue for climate control. It even includes touch-sensitive sliders for the stereo volume and fan speed.
Coolest by far, however, are the black-and-silver 22-inch forged wheels on Sport models. It has everything I've ever wanted. The flush-mounted inductive-type buttons make that impossible in the Edge Sport. We think, altogether, it's possibly the best dashboard offered on mass-market vehicles today. It takes a good second or two before the requested action is performed — even when selecting radio stations.
For example, we could control the temperature on the climate control screen, or change audio sources on the audio screen, but we could not browse a connected iPod's library or change the fan speed. Like in many crossovers, the control seems hidden, as if to prevent most drivers from disabling stability controls. But the systems used lack any the sheer depth and functions found on the 2011 Edge Sport. We was greeted at the door as they knew we on the way to come look at it. Using the directional button on the left steering-wheel spoke, we found it very easy to cycle through the different vehicle information displays. The Good With MyFord Touch, the 2011 Ford Edge features an innovative, configurable instrument cluster display and a very usable cabin tech interface. The 2011 Ford Edge is available with either a 3.
Sporty indeed Consumers generally like crossovers because how they feel. In short order, I joined legions of iPhone sufferers with a device that can do almost anything except make a clear phone call. Until the EcoBoost arrives, the big powertrain news is sideways installation of the Mustang's new 3. In-vehicle buttons should be something you can operate without looking. Conversely, the Edge Sport suffers a fatal flaw: its brakes. . For our car's engine, that meant an output of 305 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque.
The array of voice commands and syntax has expanded from 100 Sync options to more than 10,000 today, and Ford has flattened the command structure somewhat. At first, it was indeed quite distracting. Shocks, springs and stabilizer bars were adjusted to tighten handling. The Sport comes with 10-way driver's and six-way front passenger's power seats, though the driver's seat isn't the most comfortable in Edge's class. A Grand Cherokee Overland recorded 136, two 138s and 137 feet. I had it for about a month and I still love it them same way I drove off the dealer lot.
We were particularly keen on driving the Sport, which gets not only the unique aesthetic treatments but also its own engine. Probably characteristic of the Sport-trimmed Edge, the suspension felt taut, constantly reacting to the road. There's also Ford's Blindspot Information System, which flashes a light when a car in in the adjacent lane out of sight of the mirros, along with cross-traffic alert, which can detect traffic approaching from the side when backing the car out of a parking space. The brakes, too, have been upgraded with new pistons, larger rear discs, and new pads adding some bite as the pedal is depressed, although we would love a bit more. MyFord Touch system will be fitted, Ford estimates, to 80 percent or more of 2011 Edge models, and it also lets drivers operate the telephone, entertainment, and navigation systems using voice commands, as did Sync, but now also the climate control.