Ford Edge & Consumer Reports

[Blue Oval Guide]

The orange Ford Edge in the garage of Consumer Reports' test center has drawn the ire of director David Champion.

 

Showing off the center in advance of the magazine's annual auto recommendations, which once again favors Japanese vehicles, Champion grabs the latch on the Edge's tailgate and gives it an exaggerated tug. The tailgate budges but doesn't open. MORE.

[mkaresh]

My main problem with Consumer Reports' road test ratings is that they never provide the formula used to calculate scores. I asked one of their road test engineers why. His only response: "it's policy."

 

Without knowing this formula, their ratings aren't all that useful, as it's not possible to tell how closely their priorities match your own.

 

My full take on best pick lists:

 

http://www.truedelta.com/pieces/comparison_tests.php

[1999 White C5 Coupe]

Wasn't the production of the Edge delayed due to quality problems?

 

I am not a CR fan, but I'd be furious if I bought a new vehicle and the rear hatch would not open. Yes, it is probably "just an adjustment" or "one bad part", but a door latch not working? This is basic stuff.

 

I saw the new Edge at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January 2006. I fell in love with the vehicle's styling. With reports of quality concerns with it, I would be very hesitant to buy one.

 

I hope the vehicle is a huge success for Ford, but articles such as this will hurt Edge sales.

[akirby]

Wasn't the production of the Edge delayed due to quality problems?

 

I am not a CR fan, but I'd be furious if I bought a new vehicle and the rear hatch would not open. Yes, it is probably "just an adjustment" or "one bad part", but a door latch not working? This is basic stuff.

 

I saw the new Edge at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January 2006. I fell in love with the vehicle's styling. With reports of quality concerns with it, I would be very hesitant to buy one.

 

I hope the vehicle is a huge success for Ford, but articles such as this will hurt Edge sales.

 

The CR Edge didn't fail - the point was it took more effort to open the rear liftgate than the CR guy expected. And the Edge wasn't delayed by any particular quality problem - it was simply the higher standards put on the new assembly line and suppliers whereby they had to have 5 straight days with no problems. One problem on one vehicle and the counter starts over.

[Kev-Mo]

Wasn't the production of the Edge delayed due to quality problems?

 

I am not a CR fan, but I'd be furious if I bought a new vehicle and the rear hatch would not open. Yes, it is probably "just an adjustment" or "one bad part", but a door latch not working? This is basic stuff.

 

I saw the new Edge at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January 2006. I fell in love with the vehicle's styling. With reports of quality concerns with it, I would be very hesitant to buy one.

 

I hope the vehicle is a huge success for Ford, but articles such as this will hurt Edge sales.

 

 

Wow! What an overreaction! The article states that the rear hatch is not leveraged to the liking of this particular tester - competely subjective! Nowhere does it say that it does not open due to a defect.

In other words, It takes more effort to open than the CR tester prefers. Simply a non-issue to anyone but CR who treats American brand vehicles different than Japanese brands.

[Guest Aggie79]

The tail gate is not a deal breaker, it's not the hardest or the easiest, but they should have made the auto tail gate option available on the Edge and not just the MKX.

[akirby]

I would consider poor braking and extreme glare off the dashboard particular quality problems.

 

That wasn't the cause of the delay.

[sranger]

That wasn't the cause of the delay.

 

 

No, the delay was due to suspension components that could fail. The Brake problems and glare were NOT fixed...

[kevinb120]

Good thing they have an engineer with such abilities to work at Land Rover making some of the least reliable vehicles to ever roll on the face of the earth. Because he couldn't make it in the auto industry he works at CR now? Maybe this moron would discover pulling on the trim piece for the license plate recess is never going to open the tailgate. $10 says over the next 5 years, this will never, ever, be seen at our dealership ever happening on an Edge. I'll have to check it tomorrow, but I don't believe there is even a handle. I've done enough walk-around demonstrations on it already that I don't even remember there being any notable effort whatsoever to open it.

 

I still have yet to ever meet anyone over the years that actually mailed in an automotive survey to CR. How much do you want to bet the vast majority of those surveys(to which they never disclose the total numbers) for Toy/Honda are sent in by employees.

[kevinb120]

No, the delay was due to suspension components that could fail. The Brake problems and glare were NOT fixed...

 

 

Wow, we almost pulled a Toyota then?

[kevinb120]

My main problem with Consumer Reports' road test ratings is that they never provide the formula used to calculate scores. I asked one of their road test engineers why. His only response: "it's policy."

 

Without knowing this formula, their ratings aren't all that useful, as it's not possible to tell how closely their priorities match your own.

 

I remember one time we were going through it stat for stat and one of the factoids were something like this; A totally loaded XLE V6 Camry(the only one with rear discs) stopped from 60 in 154 feet and was rated 'excellent' for brakes, and a base, base Taurus the same year was tested with it stopping in 155 feet and was rated 'poor'.

[J-150]

I remember one time we were going through it stat for stat and one of the factoids were something like this; A totally loaded XLE V6 Camry(the only one with rear discs) stopped from 60 in 154 feet and was rated 'excellent' for brakes, and a base, base Taurus the same year was tested with it stopping in 155 feet and was rated 'poor'.

 

 

they sill have to atone for all the years they gave high marks to the Tribute and Matrix while failing the Escape and Vibe.

 

To which they still haven't apologized.

[kevinb120]

It still amuses me that there is this farce of Toyotas or hondas being reliable. Where does this illusion come from? When I worked at Toyota, they had double the repair bays(mind you NO commercial vehicles, all retail) and had two shifts working full time, and an endless lot of vehicles awaiting repair. Our shop here is bugging me in used cars because they do not have enough business, on one shift, with half the bays(again, with over 1/3 of them dedicated to heavy trucks). They only sell 150% of what our dealership sells(less Toy dealers here), yet have at least 500% repair business we do.

 

And what deems a vehicle reliable? For 5 years I have looked over every trade in we get that is over 4 years/75k miles to determine if its worth repairing/wholesaling/ or ebaying. In the hundreds of camry's/accords we have had, I do not remember ONE with more then 90k miles that didn't need significant work to pass inspection, and in most cases needed way too much work to be worth it. Last month we traded 4 99-01 accords 80-120k miles and 3 02-04 Accords(one TL) 50-75k miles. Only ONE of the 99 accords was worth saving, the others each needed over 1500 worth of work(half shafts, struts, steering issues, valve train noise, accessory drives, ect). And I still had to put in a new steering rack, front wheel bearing, and brakes at that. Of the 3 newer ones, the TL was worth 'saving', but still cost two struts, tie rod ends, and two new front tires(on a car with 59k). What's reliable about that?

 

The interior was starting to look like shit already as well as they all do. Those great 'looking' photos of honda interiors do not show how thin and flimsy everything is and they do NOT look like that in 5 years, ever. I sold Acuras for a while too and our certified used Acuras never looked all that great. Scratches, chips, and unevenly faded plastic everywhere... Some of the new stuff Ford is using does not look as nice as dollar-store plastic painted silver like a Camry center console, but its thick and sturdy in comparison. Not to mention they do not use a lot of faux(i.e. spray painted) surfaces, and most of it is color moulded. German mainstream cars(under $45k) typically have all interior plastics spray dyed and they look like absolute dogshit after 7 years, hell most of the time after 3.

 

Camry's are exactly the same, by 100k there is always a steering or suspension issue, also common to have tie rod ends, CV joints, cooling problems, power interior options broken, brake and bearing issues, and sloppy transmissions. Doing ebay sales I actually will eyeball a 97 camry trade before an 03 cobra because my department sells that stuff. Problem is, with 90% of them needing in excess of $500 worth of work just to pass safety inspection they are a pain. One in 3 need more then the car is worth in repairs. Not to mention all the rattles and faded interior parts, bad paint, faded headlights, and bad dings from using the thinnest tin you can find for body panels. I catch customer's cheating on trade ins all the time, letting their civcs run for 3 hours before trading it in so it doesn't sound like garbage like it does when its cold. We have gotten 3 sludged Toyotas in this year so far, two Rav's and an older Sienna, the customer's could never get their stuff fixed.

 

The most consistently reliable cars I have seen are Taurus, 2nd gen Escorts, and 3.8 Mustang V6's. All of which I have seen many with 200K miles that still pass a safety inspection with flying colors. Don't let anyone tell you these bullshit stories that every Camry Accord Civic, Corolla will go 200k miles. Its VERY rare to find a nice one with just 90k miles on it. Just because one still starts up with $120k miles on it, typically its not something you want to sit in. This is the same when I worked at Toyota, Subaru, Acura, and Ford. The only thing that makes a Toyota or Honda better then a domestic, is that people in the media say they are.

[exploder48]

It still amuses me that there is this farce of Toyotas or hondas being reliable. Where does this illusion come from? When I worked at Toyota, they had double the repair bays(mind you NO commercial vehicles, all retail) and had two shifts working full time, and an endless lot of vehicles awaiting repair. Our shop here is bugging me in used cars because they do not have enough business, on one shift, with half the bays(again, with over 1/3 of them dedicated to heavy trucks). They only sell 150% of what our dealership sells(less Toy dealers here), yet have at least 500% repair business we do.

 

And what deems a vehicle reliable? For 5 years I have looked over every trade in we get that is over 4 years/75k miles to determine if its worth repairing/wholesaling/ or ebaying. In the hundreds of camry's/accords we have had, I do not remember ONE with more then 90k miles that didn't need significant work to pass inspection, and in most cases needed way too much work to be worth it. Last month we traded 4 99-01 accords 80-120k miles and 3 02-04 Accords(one TL) 50-75k miles. Only ONE of the 99 accords was worth saving, the others each needed over 1500 worth of work(half shafts, struts, steering issues, valve train noise, accessory drives, ect). And I still had to put in a new steering rack, front wheel bearing, and brakes at that. Of the 3 newer ones, the TL was worth 'saving', but still cost two struts, tie rod ends, and two new front tires(on a car with 59k). What's reliable about that?

 

The interior was starting to look like shit already as well as they all do. Those great 'looking' photos of honda interiors do not show how thin and flimsy everything is and they do NOT look like that in 5 years, ever. I sold Acuras for a while too and our certified used Acuras never looked all that great. Scratches, chips, and unevenly faded plastic everywhere... Some of the new stuff Ford is using does not look as nice as dollar-store plastic painted silver like a Camry center console, but its thick and sturdy in comparison. Not to mention they do not use a lot of faux(i.e. spray painted) surfaces, and most of it is color moulded. German mainstream cars(under $45k) typically have all interior plastics spray dyed and they look like absolute dogshit after 7 years, hell most of the time after 3.

 

Camry's are exactly the same, by 100k there is always a steering or suspension issue, also common to have tie rod ends, CV joints, cooling problems, power interior options broken, brake and bearing issues, and sloppy transmissions. Doing ebay sales I actually will eyeball a 97 camry trade before an 03 cobra because my department sells that stuff. Problem is, with 90% of them needing in excess of $500 worth of work just to pass safety inspection they are a pain. One in 3 need more then the car is worth in repairs. Not to mention all the rattles and faded interior parts, bad paint, faded headlights, and bad dings from using the thinnest tin you can find for body panels. I catch customer's cheating on trade ins all the time, letting their civcs run for 3 hours before trading it in so it doesn't sound like garbage like it does when its cold. We have gotten 3 sludged Toyotas in this year so far, two Rav's and an older Sienna, the customer's could never get their stuff fixed.

 

The most consistently reliable cars I have seen are Taurus, 2nd gen Escorts, and 3.8 Mustang V6's. All of which I have seen many with 200K miles that still pass a safety inspection with flying colors. Don't let anyone tell you these bullshit stories that every Camry Accord Civic, Corolla will go 200k miles. Its VERY rare to find a nice one with just 90k miles on it. Just because one still starts up with $120k miles on it, typically its not something you want to sit in. This is the same when I worked at Toyota, Subaru, Acura, and Ford. The only thing that makes a Toyota or Honda better then a domestic, is that people in the media say they are.

[exploder48]

Just picked up my new Edge SEL+ last week. Loaded it up with everything but Nav and the roof. I must tell you that I absolutely love it!!! I drover explorers for ten years and felt it was time for a change. although I do love the good ole Eddie Bauers I had. This Edge performs super. The engine is quick, it turns on a dime, and it's a nice smooth ride. I only hope that the real world word gets out there instead of the crap that Consumer Reports, Motor Trend and all the other Asian loving rags put out. I don't give a rats a** that Toyotas are built here, where the hell does the profit go? Overseas, my friends, not to the local economy. Ford has a great "in your face" campaign for the Fusion, let's see more of the same from Dearborn.