I was really surprised to have an Edge available to us to evaluate for our trip. It is a vehicle I’ve had my eye on before this trip. I had reserved a 500 to see if it was going to be big enough for 16 days worth of traveling but none were on the lot. I happened to spy a black Ford Edge sitting in the rental lot so i asked about switching. Not a problem (of course it cost a little bit more). So we rented it and gave it a go.
The rental was a black SEL model that was optioned to the gills. The big moon roof, the dual air control, heated seats and the MP3 line in where all options that really added to the experience.
It was brand new on the lot and we were the first to rent it. It had 100 miles on the odometer.
Sarah and I really liked the ride and felt the cargo space was more than adequate. It had 4 power points which is an important metric for all the electronics I’ll want to run (GPS, iPod, etc).
It had really nice power. One thing i did notice is that the MPG dropped pretty quickly once you were in a situation where you not driving at a steady rate (i.e. not on the highway). I seemed to be able to hold it in the 22–23 MPG range (via the on board computer display) at highway speeds. It did start to drop off when the speed got up in the 75–80 range. The Edge seemed pretty happy in the 65–70 MPH range. It was a very low mileage vehicle so I’d assume the MPG would get better as the engine loosened up. It wanted to be in the 18 MPG range with in town type driving.
As you can see from this picture I put a lot of miles on it in the 2 days i had it. The gages were certainly an upgrade from my ‘01 Taurus and even the ‘05 Focus. Being an information geek, i found myself playing with and looking at the message center an inordinate amount of the time.
The middle console was very easy to use with big buttons for everything. A step up from previous Fords. As you can see in this picture, the iPod Nano found a nice home and fits in nicely with the decor.
Cargo area easily fits a human!
Positives:
- Love the look
- Great cargo capacity
- 4 power points!
- MP3 direct line
- Very comfortable seating.
Negatives:
- Lower gas mileage (those 6000 miles will add up!) than i was hoping
- limited availability at the rental facility (may not be available since we can’t reserve a specific vehicle)
All in all a very nice vehicle. If i was in the market, (which i am, just not a new one) this would be a perfect next auto. Its going to be hard, very hard, to settle for a automobile now that doesn’t have a direct line in for the MP3 player (and Sarah has to have her heated seat!). I really think i would prefer this as our trip vehicle all things considered. The real knock is the lower MPG for the 6000 mile tip.
This week, just before our departure, we got about a $0.40 per gallon spike here in Indiana and it looks like the prices rose generally throughout the area of our travel. Oh well.
