We are planning to replace my wife's car within the nest 12 months or so, less if I can help it. One of the possible candidates is the Ford Edge, most likely an SEL trim. My one rule, it must be AWD. I'd be willing to consider the Ecoboost 4 cylinder, but would prefer the V6 because that's what I'm more familiar with. Besides that, if the turbo-4 needs premium fuel all the time, it's definitely out of the question. We will be looking at either a slightly used model (2-3 years old with under 30k miles) or a leftover new one, depending on what kind of deal we can get on a leftover new model.
A couple of questions I have for Edge owners or mechanics out there are this: are there any issues to watch out for? Are there any particular models, years to avoid? Does the Ecoboost-4 need premium all the time? Does that 4 cylinder have a timing belt or a timing chain? What kind of longevity can I expect out of the Edge, particularly with the 3.5 V6 since that's where I'm leaning? This is a vehicle that we intend to keep for quite a while. Do they need a lot of maintenance, or is the Edge pretty trouble free? I've heard good things about them from the automotive media, and I know one guy at work that has an AWD, and he loves it in the snow. But I want to get other first-hand reports.
Like I said, we will most likely be keeping it for quite a while. I'm not worried about the towing capacity or any heavy hauling. I have a late-model '150 for those jobs. It's going to be the wife's daily driver, and our travel vehicle when we do get enough time off to actually take a weekend trip. It needs to be good in the snow, it needs to be comfortable, and reliable, and reasonably economical.
I look forward to hearing everyone's opinions and advice, thanks!

 

WE have a 2010 that I bought a couple years ago with 20,000 miles. Now it has 55,000. Never have to do nothing to it. I changed the engine oil at 5K miles, just did the transmission oil at 50K and new tires at 50K........... that's it.......... it is not AWD. It has the 3.5 V6 and gets about 23 mph on the highway if you keep it under 70 mph.
I also have a 2002 F150..... I look at the web page for the truck and there are a dozen new posts every day.......... I look at the EDGE web page and your luck to see a new post in a week... My opinion is there are very few problems with the EDGE.

 

Thank you much Steve! I appreciate the comments, and I'm glad to see that your Edge is treating you so well. Do you live in a region where driving in snow is a concern? If so, how does the front-drive Edge do in the snow? I need something that is going to get my wife around safely, regardless of the weather/road conditions. Unfortunately right now she does not have a job where she can very easily just take the day off if the roads are too bad.
It's up to her because it'll be her car, but another one I hear really good reports about is the Flex. I've driven a Flex, and they are nice cars! In my area anyway, Flex's can be kinda hard to find in the dealers.

 

Our EDGE is just front wheel drive not AWD. It does about average snow. Most front wheel drive cars PULL better in the snow than a rear wheel drive that has no weight in the back. We live in Illinois and get good amounts of snow some days.. I double there are 5-6 days per year when she does not drive the car due to weather.

 

I just purchased a 2013 EDGE Limited AWD from my local ford dealer. It cost me 25K out the door with the extended warranty up to 150k miles (it has 55K miles on it).

I used to drive a 97 Taurus. It is quite a different driving experience. The highways here do not drain well so there is a lot of possibility of hydroplaning. My old Taurus would fly around the road and the EDGE doesn't even feel like it is slipping at all. I have only driven it in icy conditions once and it is WAAAAAY easier to drive than my 94 F150 4x4 with studded tires and 4WD engaged.

I highly recommend it. Only thing I could see being problem for some people is that it rides a little bit stiffer than I would expect from an SUV - but it corners like a dream.

 

Thanks for the recommendation. I know around 2013 is when Ford started going with that center touch screen that controls all of the heat/ac, the stereo, the seat warmers (if equipped), etc. Was this very difficult to get used to, coming out of an older vehicle? To be honest, that's one thing I'm kind of hesitant about; because if that screen fails, the car becomes a giant paperweight! And it's going to be extremely expensive to repair. I wonder if anyone on here has had any problems with that touch screen freezing up or anything? Right now she has an 05 Montego with FWD, and I have a bone simple 06 F-150 4x2. The Montego is the one that will get traded. I figure my truck has probably another 3-5 good years left in it as the DD before it'll be ready for me to retire it to occasional use.

 

Tires have a lot to do with holding the road. My original tires at 45k were getting thin and not grabbing well. A new set of ALL WEATHER did wonders for wet and snow.

 

About 4 years ago, my in-laws bought a used 2007 Edge 2wd with around 80k miles on it. They've put less than 50k miles on it, & it's had pretty much all the scheduled maintenance. It has the 3.5 (non EcoBoost) V6.
Check engine light came on a couple weeks ago, car was running very poorly. Ford dealer says computer is going and taking the auto. trans. with it. Quoted a ballpark repair cost of $4,000 plus to fix it. They just paid it off last year....
I realize a 2007 2wd is not what you're looking at. And this is possibly a fluke, but my in-laws are not able to get it fixed. One of them just started a new job & the other works 2 jobs. They're borrowing my '96 F150 for the time being.

 

Personally Steve, I have never been very impressed with FWD in the snow. I've driven a few, and seen plenty of others to be of the opinion that FWD is not all it's cracked up to be. Unless someone runs really good, dedicated snow tires on it, which few people do, many front-drives in my experience just want to sit and spin their tires. My rear-wheel drive '150, with enough weight in the back and good snow tires or all-terrains, will go anywhere I point it. It does have the limited slip diff, which makes a difference, but it just goes anywhere I need it go without breaking traction very often.
Unless it finds a patch of ice somewhere, in which case I'm screwed!

 

Sorry to hear about their bad luck with it. That's the first I've heard of that happening to an Edge, but it can happen to anything, I guess. With everything becoming so electronic and dependent on the PCM, I'm kind of surprised it's not happening more often.
My father actually just had the same problem with his 2012 Dodge Caravan. First the transmission went bad. That was covered under warranty, then a month later the PCM fried with no warning at all. Warranty paid for it, but by that time he was fed up with Dodge, and traded it for a new Nissan Frontier pick-up. He wanted a truck anyway to tow the boat that he's getting ready to buy, and I guess the Nissan dealer made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

 

Nissan had a major issue with engine coolant getting into the automatic transmission fluid & causing transmissions to fail. At this point, I'm thinking Toyota is the only way to go, anymore, & of course, they're not perfect either.
I caution the O.P. to do a lot of research prior to making any deals....

 

It took some getting used to but I know my way around it now. To be honest I rarely use it - there are duplicate (sometimes triplicate) controls for controlling everything, either on the steering wheel or directly below the screen. Since it is warrantied up to 150K miles I am not worried about it.

The seat warmers are nice but really wouldn't be necessary if the material wasn't leather. A nice perk in the winter.

 

At this point, I'm thinking Toyota is the only way to go, anymore, & of course, they're not perfect either.
Just a personal opinion, and I know a lot of really knowledgeable people would disagree with me on this, but I've never been impressed with Toyota's. Their Achilles heel has always been body rust, especially in the Camry, Corolla, and the 4-Runner.


As for the electronics in the new Fords, it's all confusing to me. I don't think I'll buy one without the extended warranty. I usually don't get extended warranties either, but these new cars with all their fancy, intuitive, features... I think it's justified.

 

Toyotas are just like any other car no better and no worse--just overpriced!! I worked in the auto industry for many years and the biggest problem with any vehicle was the difficulty getting quality repair/maintenance services. shops have a habit of selling far more repair work than is really needed!!!
jim

 

How well I know... The apartment we currently live in, I simply don't have the luxury of doing any of my own work. So everything needs to go to the mechanic. The shop we used to go to, every time we went in there they would try to upsell us on something else. I told them on several occasions that I know our vehicles, and I know what they need at any given occasion. The final straw was when I asked them to check the balance on the tires when it was due for State inspection. They called me telling me all four tires were out of balance, and charged me to rebalance all four. But they didn't do any of them, all they did was rotate the tires so that the wobble went from the front of the truck to the back of the truck. Normally I like to be there to make sure all work is being done correctly, but that day, I had to schedule the service to be done while I was at work. I guess they figure it's easier to pull a fast one on ya when you're not sitting right there in the lobby watching them like a hawk. Needless to say, that's the last time we took our vehicles to that shop. Now we found a different shop where we get treated fairly and honestly.
In my opinion, all new cars are overpriced. That's why I haven't bought a brand new vehicle since 2006! I don't blame the automakers, though. I blame the Feds with all of their dang regulations and whatnot that tell the automakers that every new vehicle must have certain features and must get certain fuel economy.