Our 2015 Ford Edge Titanium comes with most of the bling and flash available with exception to the larger 21-inch wheels you can get on the top-dog Sport model. Even here though, ours was optioned with some pretty healthy 20-inch rollers.
They fit well into their arches and give the Edge a nicely planted stance. Up front is a design that I think is evolutionary of the last generation Edge, if not somewhat derivative of others in the market like the Hyundai Santa Fe and even the Toyota Highlander.
Hiding it its wide chrome grille is an optional 180-degree camera which affords good view when pulling out of tight spots, and the HID headlights are nice too, but still an option here.
At the rear it still remains pretty unique with a wrap-around tail lamp bar featuring LED lighting. There’s dual exhaust outlets which are starting to disappear on some competitors, and the rear lift-gate is of the hands free power opening variety.
Inside the Edge, design continues with the soft evolution rather than revolution. It looks much like most Fords with a wing design for the center stack with the high-mounted infotainment screen. With full MyFord Touch integration, buttons a minimal.
It’s appealing enough to the eyes with improved materials this year of the soft touch variety. The steering wheel’s leather covering still looks and feels like plastic, a long time Ford trait. It does have plenty of controls on it for all things, as to the side stalks.
The intstrument cluster is the Ford parts bin center dial design with a TFT digital screen on either side that while common as can be, works very well allowing you to customize what you see from guages, to fuel economy, to entertainment.
Front seats are both heated and ventilated, 10 way power adjustable for both, and the driver gets memory settings. I found them comfortable and easily adjusted but shorter drivers in our office had issues finding a good spot in relation to pedals and steering wheel.
Ours had the panoramic glass roof which opens up the interior nicely with light. The pretty sizable front panel can tilt and slide open, but the rear panel is fixed. And if you don’t want all that light, you can pull the shade.
That seat can be folded down in a 60/40 split and in our Titanium tester can do so at the press of a button. This is pretty slick but they don’t fold entirely flat for a level cargo floor like some competitors offer. The good news is that under that cargo floor is a real spare tire.
When it comes to storage, Ford fit a lot of small if not innovative places inside for this and that. The center console has a cubby up front for things like a purse and ahead of the shifter is a nice phone spot with connection ports. The rear console also has a huge compartment within.
Even though I clearly found a lot to complain about with fit and finish, the design of this cabin is still pretty good in terms of aesthetics, comfort, storage and overall versatility, earning 4 out of 5 stars.
Technologies for the 2015 Ford Edge start with the MyFord Touch infotainment, audio, navigation and control interface system. It replaces many of the buttons and knobs we’d rather see for all of these things, including some for the HVAC.
Though it is hugely improved over previous generations, its hard to use, frustrating at times in fact in how slow it responds to your touch, and in the complexity of its menus. It’d replaced by the new SYNC 3 for 2016 models, which they claim is much better.
Overall, the technologies here are good in some ways and fall well short in others. Audio quality is good from the Sony hardware buried beneath but if you crank it up, the door panels and dash rattle so badly that you don’t want to listen to it. This brings our all-in technologies score to 3 of 5 stars.
Better news is under the hood. Our tester had the base-grade 2.0 liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine Ford calls EcoBoost. It offers up 245 horsepower and comes with a six-speed automatic transmission with sport mode and steering wheel mounted paddle shifters.
Fuel efficiency is the big play here, with it being rated by the EPA at 20 mpg city, 28 mpg highway, and 23 mpg combined. I only achieved 21 mpg combined in my week with it, but we did have the AC on much of the time.
For those wanting more power you can option up a smoother and more refined 3.5 liter V6 with 280 horsepower or the high-performance 2.7 liter twin-turbo V6 with the Edge Sport which thumps out an impressive 315 horsepower.
As tested however, I found the 2.0 liter EcoBoost engine offers up more than adequate power and competes well with offerings from Kia and Hyundai in this class. It’s reasonably refined and well mannered, earning it 4 of 5 stars.
The chassis, other than some refinements in the evolution from first to second generation, is pretty routine with what’s underneath. This means MacPherson struts up front and a link type independent suspension at the rear.
So I found anther area with the Edge that’s not only competitive but pleasing in how it performs and feels, that being its capable and refined chassis behavior. It still has some stiff competition out there, but earns 4 of 5 stars.
Unfortunately quality feel is a tough spot for me here. We already talked about the interior issues with fit, finishes, and rattles, but the same lack of craftsmanship extended to exterior as well. Several spots were easily picked out where trims don’t line up, body panel gaps vary widely, and even the contours of panels don’t match. It was really quite astonishing, earning this the lowest quality feel score we’ve ever issued, with 2 of 5 stars.
In total at $44,185 we find that while design and performance are impressive enough, the overall quality, fit, and finish are nowhere close to this price range. This brings a value score of 3 of 5 stars, making our total test drive review score 3 of 5 stars.
