FORD EDGE VIGNALE 2.0 TDCI AWD POWERSHIFT by Tony Yates
There are a couple of reasons why you would buy a Ford EDGE. Firstly, the thought of doing 600mph in a hot hatch has had its day. Secondly, the EDGE is designed with you in mind – no fuss, no drama, just a decent vehicle that will be very loyal. Yes, occasionally it may annoy you, but in the end, you will forgive it – just because it makes you feel happy.
Of course, some of you will frown because it’ s a diesel – I say, if you want to spend the majority of your life waiting for the battery light to turn green on your electric car before you can go anywhere, then be my guest. Call me selfish, but I will continue to burn actual fuel until the day comes when we have none left. I will then go out and buy a bicycle or a camel.
Don’ t get me wrong, I’ m all for looking into the future, but we’ re still not there yet with hybrid technology and all that jazz. For instance, my friend has a Nissan Leaf, and it’ s a terrible car. Actually, every Nissan is bad, but his Leaf is especially terrible and quite a horrible thing to look at. Plus, the last thing I want to do after a busy week at work is to arrive home in my electric car – to then have to mess about plugging the damn thing into the nearest plug socket – only to find out minutes later that my local power station has run out of coal, meaning there is no electricity anyway. Let’ s get back to this months review of the Ford EDGE.
Power and Efficiency: The EDGE I had on test was equipped with 2.0 litre TDCi diesel engine that provides a maximum power output of 210 PS and a torque figure of 450Nm, and will pretty much pull anything you care to tie to the back of it. On the combined cycle I achieved 45mpg which is pretty outstanding when you consider its size. For all of you speed demons out there, the EDGE Vignale will reach a top speed of around131mph and reach 0-62mph in 9.4s which is OK. Saying that, I just wish it had a little bit more power, but I will forgive it due to the fact that it’ s rather good. The EDGE also gets a move on with minimal fuss and has plenty of low down grunt as mentioned earlier. Yes, It’ s not as refined as some, but then you can’ t have everything.
On the road: I was impressed by how the EDGE just glides across even the roughest of road surfaces, whilst also making even the largest of potholes simply disappear. In fact, It’ s so smooth, that you could run over a dustbin lid, and I bet you wouldn’ t notice. Also, dare I say it, it makes for the perfect vehicle to tow a caravan, but who the hell would want to do that? Well, there are a few people
who live around by me who own one of those awful things. Of course, I don’ t know them personally, but I know they exist – and they can often be seen caravan hopping with my neighbours across the road. Into the corners, the EDGE also feels controlled and steady with minimal body roll for such a large vehicle. Even when pushed to its limits, there were no nasty surprises and nothing unexpected happened which means Ford has done some serious work keeping everything in check. There was one niggle though, the EDGE was fitted with PowerShift, and it does suffer from a small amount of gearbox lag in normal mode.
If I was you, I would keep it in sports mode pretty much all the time. Apart from that small niggle, all is good. Don’ t forget, the Ford EDGE also has a great party piece in the form of AWD, meaning you can actually do a bit of off-road driving if that’ s your thing. Although, doing off-road would mean getting your snakeskin shoes all mucky.
Design and Technology Inside, The EDGE looks great and has a nicely trimmed cabin which is something I think gives it the EDGE. You can also see that Ford has worked really hard to get the inside of the EDGE just right. Plus, it’ s fitted with some of the best seats I have ever had the pleasure of sitting in. I could probably come up with an innuendo for that – but the last time I did that, the editor told me he got a letter from an angry feminist.
The EDGE will also easily accommodate a large family with ease. We go camping( in a tent) every year as a family, and I always struggle to fit everything in. Well not if I had a Ford EDGE. I bet I could fit in all our camping gear, twice over plus all of my wife’ s makeup.
The level of standard equipment on the EDGE Vignale version starts with 20” alloy wheels, unique Ford Vignale exterior styling, Ford sync 3 with voice control, acoustic side glass, adaptive lighting with LED headlights, unique LED fog lights, Active City Stop with pedestrian detection, front & rear parking sensors, premium leather seating, enhanced ambient lighting, tyre pressure monitoring system and a whole lot more that frankly just keeps on coming.
To sum up:
A great machine that will do it’ s best to please, every time you hit the start button – as long as you are not dragging a caravan of course.
Price from: £ 42,695
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