The 2011 Ford Edge received an extensive exterior freshening as well as industry-first technologies, features and conveniences.
If you base your opinion of the controversial MyFordTouch, the latest iteration of Ford’s revolutionary Sync infotainment system, on an hour or so with the system, your thoughts about it are likely to be negative. But spending a week with the system brings greater understanding.
Is it perfect? No? Despite improvements including a greatly expanded number of commands the system recognizes, it still needs more. Details, details, details. We’ll get to those.
This Edge is a mid-cycle refresh of Ford’s wildly popular mid-size two-row crossover. There are improvements throughout the vehicle, including upgraded engines, slightly revised styling, bigger wheel options and improved fuel economy. But MyFordTouch is stealing most of the headlines.
Some critics have blasted the system as cumbersome, difficult to use, distracting and complicated.
The big news for the Edge is MyFordTouch, the latest update to Ford's groundbreaking Sync system. While it's an improvement, Ford still has some work to do tweaking the software.
The name is sort of a misnomer. In fact, while the system does feature an 8-inch touch screen and the optional Sony stereo has touch-sensitive “buttons” instead of actual buttons, the whole point is to avoid using them. Instead, the system is designed for the driver to control the climate control, entertainment, phone and navigation system with their voice and a single button on the steering wheel.
The idea is to help drivers keep their hands on the wheel so they can focus on the road rather than reaching for the center console.
For many functions, the system works great. Want to change the radio station? Click the voice button and say Sirius 120 and you’ll get Mike & Mike in the Morning on ESPN Radio. Want to check the weather? Push the button and say “Travel Link, weather.”
MyFordTouch features an 8-inch touch screen in the center console.
We needed to contact a local superstore, so I said “destination, POI (point of interest).” It asked me the city in Michigan. I said “White Lake.” It asked for a choice of line numbers, 1 for Clam Lake, 2 for White Lake, shown on center console screen. I then said the name of the store and it gave me choices to set as destination or to dial the phone number displayed on the screen. We did this while driving. Better than grabbing a phonebook, dialing information or looking up the information on your smartphone.
While having the ability to find a phone number for a local store is great, why does MFT require looking at the screen? Couldn’t it say “Choose 1 for Clam Lake, choose 2 for White Lake”? The point is to keep your eyes on the road, but choosing a number requires a glance at the screen.
The Edge's instrument panel features customizable screens that are controlled by five-way button clusters on the steering wheel.
One of MyFordTouch’s best features is a five-button system on the right side of the steering wheel and an information screen in the instrument panel that can be used to access some basic functions within climate, navigation, entertainment and phone. A similar setup on the left side of the steering wheel changes the left side of the screen. Options include fuel economy, tachometer, fuel level and coolant temperature.
While Ford has expanded the voice commands the system recognizes, the system still failed to recognize many words. For example, it didn’t recognize “I-275.” Eventually, it did recognize the massive metro Detroit freeway, but it insisted on choosing North or South. I was trying to choose the freeway’s intersection with 7 Mile Road, so why does it need to know north or south? Can’t it figure that out on its own? It wouldn’t recognize “Interstate 275” or “275” either. Ultimately, it rejected both north and south. Ugh. It couldn’t do I-696 and Orchard Lake Road either.
Bigger wheels are part of the redesigned Edge.
But it did just great finding the GM Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit. But on the way, the system said it had found traffic problems. It asked about detouring around it, but there doesn’t seem to be a way to respond by voice. Isn’t the point to avoid reaching for the touchscreen? Instead, you have to push a tiny button in the middle of the screen.
Using the touch-sensitive buttons on the stylish piano-black center console is frustrating, because the only feedback is a barely audible beep. There’s no buttons to feel, no haptic feedback to let you know that you found the button on the smooth surface. Again, you have to look down to see what you’re doing, which goes against Ford’s intent with MFT.
There is no doubt that Ford is pushing the envelope in infotainment system design. Introduced just four years ago, Ford’s latest improvements make the system better, so it wouldn’t be too much to expect it to improve even more in the future. Is it fully baked now? No.
Ford has designed the system so that it can be easily updated. So it’s possible that some of these annoyances could be fixed in a future upgrade. The hardware is almost all good. It’s just the software that needs some help.
OK, so that’s MyFordTouch, but there’s a whole crossover wrapped around that groundbreaking infotainment system, and Ford saw fit to tweak much of it.
The styling looks as though Ford knew it had to do something new, but didn’t want to do much. The biggest change is a new grille with more chrome that now extends down into the bumper. New, bigger wheels are also an option.
But the changes under the skin are far more important. The engineers went after fuel economy improvements with a vengeance. First, they updated the Edge’s already excellent 3.5-liter V-6 with an improved variable valve timing system. Yes, the goal was increased efficiency, but a bump in horsepower from 265 to 285 is a bonus.
The exhaust has a sexy growl just off idle that sounds pleasing. It revs smoothly and delivers decent power.
Ford didn’t stop there. The Edge introduces a new system that closes off some grille openings to improve aerodynamics.
A new charging system increases alternator output when braking or decelerating. An aggressive fuel shutoff cuts fuel in situations such as decelerating on the freeway. New tires further extend fuel economy. Underbody shielding further improves airflow.
It all adds up to a significant improvement in fuel economy, up from 18 city to 19 mpg in front-wheel-drive models. The highway number swells from 25 to 27 in up-trim models. Ford says those are class-leading numbers. We saw 25 mpg in mostly freeway driving.
Performance is on par with others in the category. It drives well, with excellent path control, a good ride and excellent road manners. The steering is nicely weighted and has excellent feel.
The interior is comfortable and the front seats have plenty of room. Back seat passengers have good room as well, although the power front seats limit toe room. That back seat is far cushier than the fronts. The well-finished cargo area in this Limited trim level also featured power-folding 60/40 split rear seats.
The Edge starts at $28,290, including the V-6 and the six-speed automatic transmission. All-wheel drive is a $1,850 option, but is not available on the base SE. The Limited tested here starts at $35,300, including destination charges. A $5,000 option package adds a two-panel sunroof, adaptive cruise control, collision warning system, HID headlights, blind-spot monitoring system, the voice-activated navigation system and other goodies, bringing the as-tested price to $39,995.
Criticisms? Always, but beyond the aforementioned complaints about MyFordTouch, carps about the Edge are generally of the nitpicky variety. The biggest criticism is hard plastic on the door panels. Its graining at least matches that of the expansive soft-touch material on the dashboard, but lacks any visual interest. The soft-touch button for the hazards is right where you want to rest your wrist while messing with the touch screen. The button’s location led to accidentally activating the hazards repeatedly. The touchscreen sometimes disappears in sunlight and a sea of fingerprints.
The cargo-area button to close the tailgate is inconveniently located inside the cargo area, rather than on the bottom of the tailgate. The sunroof and radio antenna, which sits just in front of the forward glass panel, conspire to transmit significant wind noise at freeway speeds.
There are a lot of people who enjoy living on the leading edge of technology. For those folks, the Edge is absolutely crammed to the roof with high-tech gadgetry, from powertrain improvements resulting in more power and more MPGs to infotainment controls that push past anything else on the road, except some other Fords or Lincolns.
That MyFordTouch needs a further improvement isn’t really surprising. Almost all new technologies need tweaking. But Ford’s strategy to allow continuous improvements to the system mean it will get better, even after you buy the car.