2012 Ford Edge Limited

Pros: LOVE the microsoft Sync. The technology in this car is to crossovers what the I-phone is to cell phones, a quantum leap. I could see this being a Japanese killer, someone clearly put some serious thought into the design of this vehicle.

Cons: I question long term reliability, and I also wonder about re-sale value ? Plus new they are not cheap. But overall very nearly nothing bad to say.

Summary: I swore off American car makers years ago, it pained me, but after a series of really poorly designed American cars and trucks I'd had enough and gave up. Went Toyota and never looked back.

That said we have an Edge Limited as a rental and I am really impressed. My wife and I have actually been fighting over who gets to drive it.

Performance is hot and tight with the 3.5 litre six, (I think 265 h.p.). I got on the freeway today, guy behind me in a newer 5 Series BMW jumped on it and shot around me, as he did I buried the pedal on the edge and I stayed with him.

This car wants to run, cruising at 65 you can tell it wants to go 80, and it will in the snap of a finger.

The handling is taut and responsive with big wheels, not sure but I think 18's ? That said the ride is very smooth, almost Benz like. Ours has AWD but it's not a 4x4, not built on a truck chassis so at freeway speed it's almost deceptive how fast you're going. I really have to watch the speedo so as not to speed, the ride is that smooth.

Sound system is AWESOME and it synched up easily with my I-phone and automatically began playing songs at glass rattling volumes, clearly, and without distortion.

One thing, and this seems to be becoming more common in crossovers, but there are blind spots, and the rear head rests don't help. I tried to pull them out and toss them in the back, they went up, but they wouldn't come out ? However, here again, someone was thinking, ours has the back up cam so when you put it in reverse the video console springs to life with a color picture featuring green, yellow, then red grid lines to tell you how close you are to backing into something. Once you get to red a little bell dings, and if the radio is on it automatically lowers the volume so you can hear the bell.

As you go through the car you notice lots of little attention to detail things that traditionally have been the purview of the Japanese, the design is very thoughtful.

My only hesitation is my deep distrust of American car manufacturers, they have never been able to match the quality of Honda and Toyota.

But discounting that I would consider owning one of these and that's saying a lot. Very impressed, didn't know Ford was making cars like this.