Honed: The 2015 Ford Edge

The 2015 Ford Edge.

It was Saturday. I was sick. Strep throat, the nurse practitioner had said on Tuesday (though a couple of weeks later we'd learn there was also an underlying bronchial virus).  Feeling somewhat on the mend, looking forward to a weekend of rest in the heaven that is Folsom, California.

Then I looked out the window. Smoke thick as London fog and falling from it, in our driveway, ash from the Butte Fire in nearby Amador County. Inhaling it would be a very bad idea. Navigator had things to do, so I did one of my least favorite things since we've been together...took a road-trip alone.

2015 Ford Edge.

Destination: San Francisco. 30 degrees cooler, smoke-free, ocean air.  Unable to spend the night, this was going to be an over and back trip...250 miles.  Pretty much a breeze (apart from increasingly unpredictable Northern California traffic) when I'm well, but this could have been a stretch.

Yet the 2015 Ford Edge kept me comfortable...something I hadn't been in days.  An 8-hour day (four of it at the wheel) and I wasn't exhausted when I got home.

Our tester was the Titanium AWD model.  Base price $37,595 spectacularly well-equipped (click here for the rundown) and powered by the 2.0-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder.  As we wrote in our review of the 2015 Mustang convertible (powered by a 2.3-liter EcoBoost), Ford's turbo fours are great engines. Six-cylinder power (the 2.0 is rated at 245 horsepower) with four-cylinder economy (EPA estimate 20 city/28 highway...I pulled an even 27 on the SF trip and 26 for the week as a whole, with Sacramento urban freeways and city streets mixed in).

2015 Ford Edge interior.

The newly aggressive exterior styling works.  So does the re-done interior, the best ever in an Edge.  And we had zero problems with the Sync/MyFordTouch audio system.

Apart from $395 for the gorgeous Bronze Fire Tinted clear coat paint, there was only one option...Equipment Group 302A, which brings voice-activated navigation, blind-spot monitoring, remote start, an auto-dim exterior mirror, heated steering wheel, heated rear seats and heated and cooled front seats as well as lane departure warning, enhanced park assist, panoramic vista roof, a 180 degree front camera, rain-sensing wipers, and second-row inflatable safety belts for $5,645. With destination and delivery charges of $895, the total was $44,530.

But wait! There are discounts! Ford took $445 off the sticker for equipment group discounts and there was also a $500 AWD discount, bringing the actual bottom line to $43,585.  Cheap? No.  Good value for money paid?  Yes.  In the world of five-passenger SUVs, the Edge is a strong contender.