This post will be a little bit different—I will be writing about how I was savouring the open roads of the Autobahn in this Ford Edge review.
I went to Germany with the goal of getting the best car to drive on the Autobahn. I was expecting to get a fancy, powerful Mercedes or BMW. I got a Ford! I felt kind of confused initially—”I’m in Germany, why are you giving me a Ford?” 🤔 The associate at Hertz assured me that the Ford Edge was one of their best cars, so I took the keys and hit the open road with an open mind!
German imports vs. American muscle
The argument of which car is better, American vs. German is not new. Even the Fast and the Furious series addressed this concern where Vin Diesel and Paul Walker square off in an argument over which kind of car is better.
Though these opinions are alive and well in Canada and the United States, these arguments are global!
In the past, I’ve definitely preferred cars from Germany companies, including Volkswagen, Audi, Mercedes, and Mini Cooper, but as you’ll see in my Ford Edge review, I can be swayed!
Exterior appearance
The Ford Edge on the outside looks like your run-of-the-mill American SUV, ready for the streets of suburbia.
At first glance, you can see that it will be roomy and hold its weight on the road, the latter being an important feature when driving in Germany in the winter.
Size matters on the outside
The exterior size of the vehicle was very helpful for driving on the treacherous winter roads. The weight was very useful to “hold down the Ford!” 😂
The wheels are big, the chassis is big. Everything is American-sized.
Safety features
The safety features included in this Ford Edge review include the following:
- Rear view camera
- Proximity sensors all around the body of the car with alerts
- Passing sensors
Rear-view camera
The rear view camera was helpful for parking such a large vehicle in tight spaces. In combination with the sensors with alerts, parking such a large vehicle was made simple by Ford.
Proximity sensors
The proximity sensors were great in theory but in practice the experience proved to be very beta. Ford’s technology is quite immature and annoying, and this technology was definitely built with the United States in mind and not Europe.
When driving through the city streets in Germany, the alerts would not cease to sound. I was in the yellow and even red for much of the time driving around the tight streets. The Ford Edge is quite large, and when you drive down a small street in Germany, you are very close to cars on both sides, so the proximity sensors were alerting me that I was very close. The same thing happened when I was entering and exiting parking lots. Get used to this sound if you live in a big city and want a Ford edge.
Another downfall to these proximity sensors is that they don’t handle winter weather very well. Driving through the forest in the winter caused my sensors to get blocked with ice, so the car was making a very loud noise, basically telling me I’m about to crash the whole time I was driving. I pulled over after about 1 minute or 2 of that non-sense to find the sensor and chip the ice off of it to unblock it.
Overall, I found the proximity sensors very annoying while driving, but helpful while parking. I probably should have looked into toggling them on and off for each of the scenarios.
Passing sensors
The passing sensors on the Ford Edge were somewhat helpful, but as someone who drives a car without them, I didn’t find them very useful. It is, however, informative.
Powerful engine
The Ford Edge has a powerful engine. It isn’t very quick to accelerate, but handles itself on the road going top speeds on the Autobahn. There was absolutely no issue keeping up with the German cars on the road, and the only thing holding you back is fear, not the engine.
Interior experience
Size matters on the inside
The inside of the Ford Edge is very roomy. Absolutely no complaints about the size here. This American-sized interior is sure to please large American families.
As someone who is very comfortable in smaller- to regular-sized cars like the Volkswagen Golf and Mini Cooper, the interior size of the cabin exceeded any size requirements I had.
Gear shift and ignition
This Ford Edge review features an automatic transmission with a push-to-start ignition—very fun! It works with proximity, so just jump in the car with your keys and push to start the ignition.
Push to start can be tricky for some people—I remember helping a lady start her daughter’s SUV for her. You have to hold down the break while pushing the button, holding for a brief moment until the car starts up.
One of the problems with push-to-start ignitions is that it can be very easy to forget your keys inside the car. Thankfully I didn’t do this, so I can’t comment on any measures Ford has in place to prevent this error from happening. If you do, drop me a comment!
The Ford Edge also features a predictable automatic window package and electronic mirror adjusting controls.
Navigation console
The Ford Edge I drove included a navigation package. The maps application is not Google Maps or Apple Maps, so the user experience is pretty rough around the edges.
I found the experience too little too late, especially in the city, like Frankfurt, Heidelberg, and Munich. The prompt would often tell me to turn too close to the road I was supposed to turn on. I would miss the turn, and re-routing would take some time. It was a somewhat frustrating experience.
The screen is nice and big, and definitely made for Germany. The voice reads the German street names aloud in English, which I thought was an excellent feature.
A great audio experience via Bluetooth audio
The audio experience in this Ford Edge review was great. I use Spotify on my travel mobile device, a Nexus 5X. I synched my Android to the Ford Edge over Bluetooth, which was a simple experience. The technology recognizes my device by name, and the audio player of the console can pick up on Spotify and integrates Spotify controls into the console and steering wheel controls. This feature was great—I really loved being able to skip songs with the steering wheel controls.
Spotify is pretty integrated into the console. You can’t do detailed things like browse or go through your playlists, but you can see the progress of the song, album artwork, and skip songs.
I thought the audio integration was great—I could see the song I was playing in the dashboard and the console, and skip songs as fast as I wanted with the steering wheel controls.
Speed limit intelligence
One of my favourite features of the vehicle that I’d like to mention in my Ford Edge review is the speed limit integration. The car knows the speed limit of the current road you are on, and supports multiple speed limit lanes. This is very useful on the Autobahn, for example, to know the speed of each of the lanes you are in. Features like this are definitely useful to tourists, especially to drill in the fact that the left lane is the passing lane and has a faster speed than the other lanes, a learning I could only hope that North American visitors take back home with them.
Winter driving
A Ford Edge review in Germany would not be complete without a whole section talking about winter driving in Germany.
The Ford Edge is a heavy car so there is little slipping around in low winds.
The vehicle, unfortunately, doesn’t appear to be very aerodynamic in high winds, when the wind is blowing on it from the sides. It really catches the wind, and you can feel like you’re being blown off the road. This was my experience on a blistery country road. I ended up going 40 km/hr to avoid blowing off the road in this situation.
Fuel efficiency
For its size, the Ford Edge is surprisingly fuel-efficient. Based on my driving patterns, I would get 780 kilometres out of a full tank of diesel fuel.
Summary
There are pros and cons to my Ford Edge review:
Pros
- Large, roomy interior literally fits everything and everyone
- Bluetooth connectivity to your phone with support for Spotify—you can control your music using the console and steering wheel buttons!
Cons
- Immature technological safety features that feel very beta
- Navigation console not as great to use
Overall, my Ford Edge review is very awesome. I really enjoyed driving a vehicle that was very different from what I’m used to driving. It exceeded my expectations.