During my test drive of the Ford Edge, I found many things that I really liked. The power and performance of the Sport model is eye-raising, it’s comfortable, it returns decent enough fuel mileage, and I’m pretty sure I mentioned how much I liked having cooled air chilling my backside as I drove around central Arizona. There’s lots to love there, for sure, but with a price range that hovers about $45,000, I couldn’t justify owning one. And the majority of it is due to the nearly absurd amounts of technology that is packed into that crossover.
Here’s where this is coming from: after reading my review, my wife started hunting around the Ford website, building up her ideal Edge. Sport model, bells and whistles, and all….ok, not all, the special 21″ wheels and the magical Pirellis were nowhere to be seen on the builder, but that could be rectified if we actually were to pull the trigger on getting one. Total cost, with delivery charges? Close to $48,000. Naturally, she balked, and I don’t blame her one bit. She asked me why it was so much for a mid-size crossover, and I took a deep breath and started reading off the long list of what the Ford was packed with.
I broke the list into two categories: useful tech and over-the-top. “Useful” has a loose meaning here, but roughly it’s desirable and would be hard to pass up, and includes Ford’s kick-to-open tailgate, the heated and cooled seats, the improved airbags, the active aerodynamics, and the USB/power ports were at the top of that list. Knowing my wife, so was the good sound system, which is Ford’s SYNC setup. Voice activated navigation would be a toss-up between us, but at least it has merits. So far, so good, right?
Now, let’s talk about parking the Edge. There’s two ways to do it: on your own, or you entrust the Edge’s sensors and electric steering to do it for you. Does the automated system work? Yes, it does, and it does well. Is it necessary? No, but the Edge proved to be a minor pain in the ass to park without it. The hood line doesn’t give you a good sense of where the corners of the car are, so you are always trying to guess where the vehicle is positioned at any given point in time in parking. Backing up wasn’t much better…the camera and guidance system, which are fantastic in automated mode, becomes a guessing game in do-it-yourself mode. After two attempts, I caved and backed it in “doorslammer” style: driver’s door open and me hanging out. That’s suitable if I was driving a Countach, not acceptable in a family wagon. I’ve parked a 1975 Chrysler Newport with more confidence than I was able to manage with the Ford. But the part that annoys the both of us about the Edge the most: you can’t pick and choose. According to Ford’s website, there’s two option packages: one is basic but doesn’t have such niceties such as the power lift gate and the nav system, the other is EVERYTHING, whether you like it or not. There is no happy medium. There isn’t even a way to get the HID headlights on the basic package…you have to choose the overkill option! I don’t need or want half of the equipment that Ford packs into the Sport’s heavy option package, but there’s no way to option out of it without losing out on some of the good stuff. And you can spin this to any of the manufacturers…you can’t opt-out of OnStar with GM vehicles, and FCA is big on the options packages, as well as most of the other brands.
Don’t get me wrong…the Edge is a nice crossover to drive and the Sport model offers up excellent performance and good fuel economy, and if you can afford the price, by all means, go look at one, I think that it’s a great option for buyers and will be a hit for Ford. But jamming twenty tons of unwanted technological “luxuries” into the deal isn’t helping my wife’s vehicle replacement decision any. She started looking for Jeep Grand Wagoneers on eBay instead…
It’s all one more milestone on our trek to the world depicted in WALL-E; a futuristic look at life with technology replacing nearly every physical/mental motion humans have ever done. I drive a straight axle Willys gasser pretty much daily as a one man rebellion to it all, but its pretty evident that the next generation wants ALL that gadgets and the web can do for us. I hate being such a dinosaur at age 49, but I am fundamentally a minimalist, and I just want basic functional stuff that I can understand and keep alive. My trip yesterday to a junkyard revealed row after row of seemingly intact cars, put out of service because of what? maybe a overly complex transmission problem or some other too expensive to justify failed repair? HELP!
yes, yes and YES! I friggin HATE the technology served up with modern cars – so much of it is pointless useless over the top tech for tech sake. I have a 1973 Falcon coupe I’ve owned and wrenched on for years. I’ve done everything on that car – replaced all the running gear, painted it etc etc and I understand it – very handy if it goes wrong. My OTHER car is a 1998 (yes, I know, that’s not new! – bloody is to me…) Falcon V8 ex cop car. Don’t get me wrong, its powerful, it handles, stops, has A/C etc. but it also has a host of stupid technology I hate. First thing… kry fob type door locks…..so you have to press a button on the fob to get in. OK, I know, every car has that these days….first bloody car I’ve had with it…and it doesn’t work all the time…so I’m frequently standing 6 inches from the door pressing this button hoping, praying the door will open. the keyhole sometimes works when the fob wont but occasionally the lock wont come up all the way so it’ll just lock on you again …god help this car if the battery ever goes flat – if it just had ordinary door locks like the 73 it’d be quicker to get into, weigh less and work every time…next thing…at the moment I’m chasing a water leak in the bastard – just a heater hose… on the 73 coupe this’d be a 5 minute job. On THIS thing I cant even see where its leaking cos it has stupid metal pipes that run between the upper and lower manifold halves so you have to take the manifold apart before you can even begin to think about fixing it….and that’s getting nowhere near the `oh, the ECU’s decided to die’ or its decided to go into limp home or whatever else. THEN if you look at properly new cars its just more and more useless crap. Ever see a newish car at the lights as it `seamlessly’ turns itself off then starts again when you go to leave – yeh, what are they going to be like in 20 years time when they’re old and haven’t been particularly well looked after?
Don’t even consider one of these cars in 20 years, because they will stop making replacement parts for these two years from now
Somehow I talked myself into a “newerish” car, an ’05 Corolla as a daily driver while I worked all the kinks out of my ’83 pickup. It’s a good, solid car, it handles well, it’s very easy to work on, never had any issues, all the typical Corolla stuff.
Good God, I can’t hate it strongly enough!
All the nanny-state trinkets and tech just pisses me off every time I get into it, the side-curtain airbags can hide a logging truck in their blind spots, I have no sense of location or proportion when moving or parking, and I know that all that electronic crap is going to kerplode one of these days.
Every time I get into it, I look longingly at my truck parked nearby and just think: “I miss you, take me back!”.
In my mid-twenties, I already know that I’m a carbureted man in a fuel-injected world.
My wife and I have been talking about that same thing! You had a Yugo featured here a while back. Basic car. No frills (OK, OK, it could use another 100 HP or more) but SIMPLE, basic wheels. I went to get a second ignition key for my brothe’s Dodge pickup an ’04. They want over $700.00 for a stinking key! You can by a nice, real car out of the back of a Goodguys Gazette for the price of a used car, certainly for the price of a new car, and you’d really have something nice. I think my wife and I are done buying newer, overly complex cars.
It also goes to, “why do I have to have this stuff”, and the answer comes back to government over reach. Insurance companies lobby politicians (and agencies) to shove airbags, and thousand dollar ignition keys down our throats to protect them in the event of loss. I’m just sick and tired of it.
I talked with one Ford engineer years ago who told me that one point when the Taurus was selling in the quarter-million numbers per year, they had made it possible to option the Taurus in more possible configurations than the number of Tauruses they’d built, and this was apparently causing a few production headaches.
It also wouldn’t surprise me if a lot of the seemingly separate features were bundled into a couple sensor / CPU packages and harder to un-bundle than they look. For example, the kick-to-open tailgate and the backup guidance sensors may be a single module.
Most here are true-blue car guys so all the extra stuff is unnecessary for us – it really dilutes the very essence of cars and why we like them. I’m a minimalist as well, I have no use for extra technology of any kind. I don’t need a nav, backup camera, bluetooth etc. I’m driving a car, not an office.
The general populace wants this stuff though or the car companies wouldn’t be foisting it on us. At least marketing departments must think they do based on consumer trends and focus groups. It’s unfortunate that we have no choice as to how much of these things we want in our cars. Maybe if people in general stopped buying in to it, marketers might start to see things differently when their bottom line is affected.
On the whole,’ we’ have become an entitled, luxury-minded society were everyone wants the best of everything all the time. All the things we own can do it all and we’re willing to pay for it. I agree with the observation we are heading towards a Wall-E type of world. Scary to think about.
We don’t hold on to stuff like we used to either. So many consumer items have a short life span. In a way we’re forced to keep up or be left behind in the dark ages of last year. I suppose that’s always been the case with all consumer items but things change so fast these days – things that were at the forefront of technology 5 years ago are now obsolete.
Fortunately, my ’08 Mazdaspeed3 is mostly useless tech free. I have an aux. port for tunes, A/C, cruise control and power windows, that’s basically it. Very few problems with it. It’s a stick too which you don’t see too much at all anymore either. God forbid people should be burdened with shifting gears.
Interactive, electronic technology was the bane of my existence when I was a tech. Pairing cell phones to bluetooth devices for old ladies was not what I signed up for.
You have perfectly explained why I have a 2013 Ford F150 FX2 Sport all the goodies, quite , hot and cold seats, everything but the power extending outside steps (that I want too).
The answer is the opposite,my 1968 Mustang,FE stroked to 433 cuin,5speed,3″ exhaust,does have AC though. It’s loud,rides hard , corners like stink, old school fast. It’s near perfect!
See Two Cars.
Spend the stupid money on the car with everything when you want,need, to fall in with the droners.
It’s about tools for the job.
Along time ago I ordered a 5.0Lx,5spd and AC (I lived in AZ.) Thats it,even a $70 credit for Radio Delete. I came out of a 67 Mustang. The 85 was soft,quite,comfortable and just as fun to drive. The 85 would fall into toy car category now.
I got my first “smart phone” 5 years ago,now I’ll never be without one.
Same with all the crap on my Truck,it’s my new “base”.
I lost all interest in new cars when they did away with chrome bumpers.
I have said many times my 1998 Dodge Durango is just about perfect for me as far as technology content goes. It lacks nothing I really need and does what I need it to do very well.
My 99 Ram was perfect for me too. I could wrench on it all day long, The electronics were not overly complicated and it did not have anything I did not need or use. A compass, temperature, fuel milage display, 4WD, V8, beefy front and rear axles, and a realatively simple automatic transmission. Did I need power windows? No, but they were nice to have. Simple, untilitarian truck and I loved it. My Mustang is pretty simple for an 08 as well. I will NOT buy anything new ever again due to the reasons stated in the article. My 66 is more my speed but not practical for daily driving due to the safety and comfort for my kids. If gas was cheaper I’d consider it for myself tho.
Sounds like you have a Good Wife, and smart too.
Rejoice.
ps; $ 48k for a vehicle you can’t park or see out of ? F that.
Thank you 🙂 The parking is part of the problem, the price is the other. As much as I love the gadgets, I can’t justify the price. Now for a Mega Cab, yes…
I asked the Ford guys on some customer write in page a couple of years ago why we couldn’t just buy a stripper 15K truck. All I got was some flippant reply instead of some hard and well researched answers. And it’s not just the NASA electronics on these new vehicles, the majority of Detroit is just junkyarddogugly. The safety Nazis have scared North America into thinking we need 68 airbags/crash avoidance technology/back up cameras/curb feelers/refridgerators/TV screens instead of providing driving schools and a tiered licensing system so these idiotsticks that drive around and crash regardless of these Buck Rogers systems can actually learn how to drive properly. How many of us here learned to drive in some lousy 1960’s four door, inline six, three on the tree, no power steering, no power brakes cars yet we could parallel park them and get around and survive this long. Put your hands up for those of us who did. I’ll stick with my 96 F150/91 Mustang LX because they aren’t OBDII or buried under satellite wiring or computers. Screw Detroit, saddens me to say.
Just had this conversation with co-workers yesterday. Do any of the Big 3 offer what we used to commonly call a “work truck” in a full size pick-up? I’m talking bench seat, rubber floor mat, manual trans, roll-up windows and steel wheels. I know the feds require certain safety devices, but I don’t really need a lighted, remote operated tailgate with an integral step and handrail, ya know what I mean?
All I can think, when confronted with that list of electronic “necessity”, is that that shit is going to break and cost a ton to fix.
Is it any wonder that the profit center at a dealership usually resides in the shop? Or parts?
If I spent a third of that $48k on fixing up a car built before ’74, I’d have something reliable and fun to drive. Something that attracts folks to come over and talk when I’m at the gas station or getting groceries. That Edge will never get a glance.
About 4 years ago, we needed to get the wife out of a 1995 Civic and into an Accord. Seeings how we loaded it up with leather seats, and 18″ wheels, we kept it pretty basic with the 190 hp, 4 cylinder and a 5 spd. manual transmission. The sales guy looked at me kind of odd when I declined the GPS system. I replied, “No thanks, I can still read a map.”
My ’03 Crown Vic will be the most space-age vehicle I will ever own. It’s the only car I’ve ever had with power windows. Recently I’ve been thinking about getting something with better gas mileage, like an early 80’s Japanese something-or-other with rear wheel drive. But even those are getting expensive.
Ford knows how to make money as well as they make trucks. I work for Ford and my wife is ready to replace her 08 Escape. She hates the new escape and wants to look at an Edge. She wants all the bells and whistles but she doesn’t want to pay 45,000 for transportation. I suggested she keep her Escape for winter driving and we would buy her a 71 Wagoneer, a 65 Mustang, an old Bronco or any other classic car she may want. She is now considering that option..
Yes! And wait until something breaks! No diagnosis or self-repair.
We own a Ford Fusion Hybrid, 2014 model. It’s loaded azz up with tech. I love every bit of it with a couple of exceptions. I can’t work on the thing at all and don’t care. Bought a long warranty so I can work on the race cars and not the daily drivers. I paid my dues keeping a daily running for years and I’m well over and done with that. When I can just jump in a car with 13 gallon gas tank, drive 180 miles to Fort Worth listing to everything from 50s rock to radio serials, spend the day doing “stuff” and return home with a 1/4 tank of fuel – I’m calling that Good. The things that piss me off about the car are 1) SYNC. It doesn’t, mostly because it’s Yet Another Crappy Microsoft product. Paid 750 for the Nav system – the Garmin I bought off Amazon for use in the truck for $179 runs rings around it. 2) climate control – I really would like to over ride things sometimes. The manual air in the 2004 Super Crew is easier to get along with IMHO. 3) Envelope – roll down the windows and the buffeting will blow your ear drums out. Apparently, wind tunnel testing doesn’t include leisure Spring driving with the windows down. Other that that, 180 HP 2.0 + electric goes like stink. 37 MPG average city and highway is AOK. Highway around here is 80+ with the AC on full blast. And heated leather seats. Love it, thanks Ford.
I wrench on cars all day, in Arizona. Personally, my current “car” is a bicycle, with an engine kit on it. Been riding it for over 3 weeks, and FINALLY burned the 1 gallon of break-in gas!
This being said, I drive ALL KINDS of cars at work, and the funnest are, either GM stuff, with an original-design top post battery, (not something someone put a top post in, but something that came from the factory with a top post) or a pre 67 anything. (Especially, anything Mopar!)
My favorite, hands-down, was a little old lady’s “robin’s egg blue” ’62 Plymouth Valiant, push-button transmission, station wagon, with the Slant Six. I don’t know, it MIGHT go over 60, but the body is straight, and it looks and runs exactly like it should. (And, I’ve had 5 different 225 engined cars in my day.)
The “new modern” stuff, just doesn’t do it for me, anymore. ANY Corvette, after ’72, forget it. (I MAY be tempted by those HellCats that Freiberger and Finnegan keep teasing us with, though!)
steve