Ford Edge review

If you believe space is the biggest luxury, you’ll be happy in here. The Edge is longer than a Land Rover Discovery Sport but comes with no seven-seat option, so there’s abundant room for both people and things. The seats are big and squashy and there are plenty of soft touch materials inside.

Then there’s the Edge’s shining feature: it’s brilliantly refined, and truly, marvellously quiet. Probably the quietest Ford we’ve ever driven, in fact. It’s not just the engine that’s hushed, with wind noise and general road roar also kept at bay.  It’s also down to something Ford calls ‘Active Noise Control’. Have a pair of noise-cancelling headphones? Imagine that kind of technology, but on a much grander scale. There are three microphones inside the Edge. They pick up unwanted noise from the engine and transmission and instruct the speakers to emit “opposing sound waves” to cancel those noises out. There’s also acoustic laminated glass and special aero. The result is quietness to the point of being a bit eerie. Allied to the comfy seats, well-appointed interior and smooth, controlled ride – even in cars equipped with (the slightly firmer) sports suspension – and you have a thing that’s thoroughly pleasant to bumble about in, if not drive with any real sense of urgency.

Sit in the driver’s seat, and if you’re slight there’s at least a foot between your shoulder and the window frame. And because of the way the bonnet tapers off, it’s tricky to place on the road. Visibility is broadly good, but you simply have no idea where the corners of the car actually are.