2016 Ford Edge SEL Wagon, er, Crossover

An acquaintance of mine recently needed a new car. He was driving along on the freeway in his second-gen Volvo S40 and hit a muffler. There was significant damage to the transmission and his insurance company totaled it. Ironically, the rental car company gave him a Ford Focus to drive, which shared the P1-C1 platform with his S40. But he needed a new car, pronto.

This was one of those cases where the shopper wasn't going to tolerate a lot of, um, shopping. So when he asked for my help, I knew it wasn't time for several options; the less, the better. I gave him half a dozen options that I thought fit his needs, specs and $25K-$35K budget. I also talked him out of a Jeep Cherokee or Jeep Grand Cherokee, of which he wasn't sure which was which(!). Of those, he narrowed his focus on the Honda CR-V and Ford Edge, randomly ignoring the rest, including the Equinox/Terrain (etc.), RAV4, Santa Fe Sport and CX-5.

He really liked the Honda, but the Edge was perceptibly more car. The one he bought was at the very top of his budget and he didn't really negotiate a cheaper price. But that's okay because he got a very nice station wagon, er, crossover. This is the very same person who had previously declared to me that station wagons were kryptonite to the opposite sex, which is one of the more ridiculous things I've ever heard.

But he got a station wagon. He wanted more room and what's more utilitarian than a wagon, minivans aside? Nothing! The Edge rides on the same CD4 platform as the superb Fusion, underappreciated Taurus, "anything but a minivan!" Flex, most Lincolns and the hasn't-been-a-SUV-since-2006 Explorer.

Lexus called and they want their crossover back.

This is a very nice vehicle, if not particularly exciting to drive. The variant he got is the AWD mid-line option, featuring a soon to be phased out 3.5 V6. That engine will most likely go away soon, leaving just the superb twin-turbo V6 and mildly stupid but okay for the proletariat, turbo 2.0 4-banger. Edmunds and KBB don't even list the 3.5 as an option; I had to actually go to Ford's site to look at the specs. The interior is not particularly spacious, but the advantage is that the Edge is 10 inches shorter than the Explorer. He doesn't need a third row seat, so that's a good thing. The bumper height/lift-over is a ridiculous 28 inches, which explains precisely why we didn't even consider one in our recent shopping spree. The steering wheel is amazingly tiny, probably to ease entry. He thought the paddle shifters controlled the cruise control; he's learning!

That touchscreen actually works just fine, despite car "expert" reports.

There are literally hundreds of dealer-installed options for the Edge. Here are two of my favorites; an armrest safe and a tent that illicits the ghost of the Pontiac Aztek.

Driving this vehicle makes it crystal clear exactly what it is, a jacked-up Fusion station wagon. Nothing more and nothing less. That's a good thing. Mazel tov!