[saitvsk23]

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome back to another friendly neighborhood tale of how I found the one - the only car which instantly connected with me. And just blew me away.

I can now say that I am a qualified automotive engineer, and love to share the small tidbits of knowledge I have gained along the way with my fellow peers. But when I want to share my experience with others, I always do it in a fashion that it is not too much engineering-involved, but at the same time telling you how it works. Try reading this thread as if you were hearing about this from a very close friend of yours, maybe whom you've known for years and you've studied together. And have done all the silly fun things you can do together.

Now, let's start the show!

Chapter 1 : Why did I want a car?

I love motorcycles. I own a couple of them, love them both extensively and know how they work inside out. The pros of being an automotive engineer is that you tend to understand how machines work and quickly learn how to use them in the most optimal way. I learnt how to shift a motorcycle's gear by ear, not by what the tach says. And I basically learnt the theory of driving a car by observing cab drivers and their footwork in peak traffic, when I had to use Ubers a lot back home in India. Fast forward to 2018, I learnt how to drive my family's car just in a couple of days, a very humble MS WagonR VXi, which came equipped with the K10B engine adn a 5-speed manual gearbox. My car's unit was notorious for just gulping down petrol, which somewhat resembled a heartbroken alcoholic's habit. It always gave a constant mileage figure of 13kmpl in the city and 18kmpl on the highways. Me and my friends had an amazing time driving around in it, I always became the designated driver and my car was the default option when we had to travel around in the city with more than 4 people together. The car usually had an audience of 5, including myself in the driver seat. The audio system was absolutely nothing home to write about, it just did its job. I love how barebones and to the point the car felt, absolutely no bloat, just talks directly to you and does the job well.

Here's the last time I had a good pic with it:

And then, the month of August came in 2023, and the time for me to leave home had come. I had to leave to the United States of America (yes, I love putting the full form out as much as I love referring to India as the Republic of India) to pursue my masters in Automotive and Mobility Systems Engineering. I had to bid farewell to my dearest Pheonix (my CBR 250R, which is sorely missed), my family's car, my parents and my friends and board the flight to a very important dream of mine. 20 odd something hours later, I reached the DTW Airport, Michigan to head to the apartment unit me and my roommates were supposed to stay at.

I was lucky I got to witness Michigan's fall at its full glory the moment I had started staying. College had started, coursework felt slightly challenging and exciting at the same time, threw all the toxic things in my life out of the window, had scored really good results and was really happy of the way my life was going on.

In a flash, 2 semesters of the masters course had ended. For any international student who's been in the USA, this often means that the time to start applying for internships has come. And so did me and my friends started applying for all the available intern roles that we had come across various sites such as LinkedIn, Indeed, etc. After lots of weeks waking up to rejection emails, by God's grace and my luck, I was able to land an internship in the very sector my coursework was specialized in. I was ecstatic that I got the position I dreamt of, and this would add a great value to my entire portfolio. My parents, my friends and everyone dear were very happy with this incident of mine. Let's just say that I assist engineers in testing engines before production. Finally I get to be one of those engineers who work on the backgrounds you see in all those R&D videos during launch events of vehicles.

Now the million dollar question. How was I supposed to commute 30 something miles to and fro from my house to the workplace? The very first idea was having a rental. But after enough asking around, rentals approximately costed 1000$ per month. And either ways the plan was to buy a car with the money I had earned in this internship during the second month there. Going by logic, either by rental or an own car, you're just commuting from point A to B at the end of the day. Spending another 1000$ for the sake of convenience for the first month felt odd to me. So that plan was chucked in the trashcan.

Second idea was to use Uber. One way ended up costing approx 50$. I am, no way in good sanity, was going to spend 100$ a day just to come and go.

Third idea was to buy the car outright with the money I have and manage the rest along the way. This made sense to me the most, and worked outright with the situation I was in.

The next chapter deals with how I found the one.

[saitvsk23]

Chapter 2 : Instant Crush

And so, me and my friends started scouting for a suitable car. Let's make one fact clear : I am a bulky person. I do love sedans but god, it's a wrestle for me to get in and out of one! My roommate had bought a used 2012 Ford Focus SE for his usage, and he's pretty happy with it. For his car, we had a budget cap and just visited various car dealers who had cars in our desired price range. We had come across this used Focus and test drove it. He was pretty happy with the way he drove it. And I practiced to drive around in it. The steering wheel felt great, it had those contoured space for your thumbs to rest when you hold it in the 10-2 position. The steering feedback felt pinpoint, the 2L inline-4 motor seemed very responsive to throttle input, giving a very hearty mileage of 30mpg. It became our primary mode of transport and grocery hauler in our happy bachelor pad.

Here's him with the car:

This last month, I received my internship offer and we started to look for cars for me to drive till the workplace. I had a few conditions. First off, it had to be an SUV. Sedans are agreaably more aerodynamic in design and offer better fuel economy due to this very fact. And they handle well too. But as stated earlier, it should be easy for me to get in and out from it. And also because I was used to the WagonR's tallboy visibility and it felt just right to me. SUV's comparatively would offer more kneeroom in the driver's footwell and comparatively more upright seating position, better front-end visibility and more roominess. Mileage was not a primary concern. And another important fact was that the car should have a decent audio system. I love driving with music. I just hate driving in absolute silence. Feels like I'm on the way to someone's funeral with all that silence around me. And it had to be a Ford. Years of growing up with the Ikon, Fusion, Fiesta 1.6L, Endeavor, drooling on the big and burly F-150 and finally the much spirited EcoSport, I was dead set that I should own a Ford on my own accord (pun intended). Japanese makes were way out of my budget. Being an automotive engineer, you are cultured to stay away from used German cars, unless its up for sale from someone you know and know the car well enough. I didn't have gems strong enough to gamble on a used German car.

With these criteria set in mind, I started my hunt for the perfect car. One of the most popular SUV's that's seen quite often on Detroit's roads is the 2nd gen Ford Escape, whose platform is shared by the more upmarket sibling, the Mercury Mariner and its Oriental cousin, the Mazda Tribute. The base platform was developed jointly by Ford and Mazda, with the engine having inputs from Porsche, who are known to make pretty reliable modern tech engines for other companies. It had the big boxy looks I desired, a tempting 3L V6 engine, and Ford's basic SYNC system.

I started scouring the Facebook Marketplace for these models. XLT was the most preferred trim, and that was fine by me. The XLT missed out on leatherette seats and sunroof as compared to the Limited variant. Few models had 4WD, few didn't. But what most of the cars had was rust. A car's greatest enemy. That too at the same spots. Inside the rear wheel fenders, and right on the bottom of the tailgate (trunk hatch door). They looked like absolute eyesores, and few examples managed to disgust me and send a shiver down my spine. Many had high mileage, which was okay to me because in my desired price range, that's all you could get. Anywhere from 120,000 to 150,000 miles was deemed acceptable by me and my friends.

After a lot of scouting, I came across this absolutely clean looking 2010 Ford Escape XLT. I was happy enough and went to the dealership to look at it. I inquired about it and was happy with the price, but skeptical. Because the price was absolutely low, compared to the market standards. So we took all the pics of the car, its VIN and came home. We got a CARFAX report generated on the car, which helped us by a truckload. The CARFAX report indicated that the car had its odometer tempered with at some point of time in its life. Inconsistent mileage readings contributed to this fact, and we steered clear of this example after going through all the fiasco that happened with my CBR. And so we resumed our search.

Here's a few pics of that car that I would like to put out here:

After this car, we started looking at other cars too, and came across a clean example of a 2013 Ford Fusion. It was coloured white, but had a couple of mismatched panels where the white of repainted panels was not matched properly with the original factory painted body panels. It had crooked steering wheel, and did not inspire confidence in me. It was seated low, and felt weird to me. Even the dealership's worker stopped showing interest in my questions the moment I told him that I instantly won't be taking this car and needed some time to gather the money for it. Disappointed with this outcome, I just walked over to the next dealer lot, which was the same as the one with the faulty Ford Escape. I walked over there and showed the seller guy the CARFAX report, and he was quite pissed with the auction house he had bought the car from. He said that he would promptly send it back to them. So I had asked him, if he had any fresh stock with him since the time I last visited him. I was just walking around and found a glistening white Ford Edge, parked in the corner of the lot. I walked to it, took a peek inside from the window and god, it looked luxurious inside! I asked the seller about this and had told me that it was just a day old at his lot, and was just gearing up to post its ad online on FB Marketplace. So I asked him if I could take a test drive and he said yes, and handed the key over to me. I asked him if he would be coming along with me and he said, "you're all good brother. Take it! Drive it and bring it back to me." So I asked him if I could take it home for 20 min to show it to my friends and he said yes.

So, I got into the driver's seat and the first impression was : the car felt European. That's quite a unique thing for an American car to pull off! Everything felt just great and well executed, the interior, and airiness of the cabin, and the opened panoramic sunroof just added to this. I slot in the key, turn the car on and put it in reverse to slowly back out of the lot. The throttle response was sharp and I just had to slightly dab the pedal to make controlled movements. And once I backed out of the lot, I drove forward onto open roads. And despite its size, I was able to handle it as if I was driving the car for years on, even though I was just introduced to it just mere minutes ago! The controls felt intuitive, everything was well laid out and it was my first time experiencing a V6 engine in all its might. I excitedly drove the car home and showed it to my roommates and what they thought of it. As we had to drop off the car back at the dealer, I drove my roommate's Focus and he drove the Edge back to the lot to see how it handles. He was very impressed with the way the engine was pulling. My other roommate was busy testing the SYNC Audio system and was absolutely blown with it! It was an absolutely resounding YES from all of us and I bought her home the very next day! Finally, a Ford fully owned in my name. My mom seemed very very impressed with the sheer size and road presence of it, and my younger sister joked that the car just resembled me in every way possible, which I found to be mostly true!

SPECS : 3.5L Ti-VCT (FWD) Gasoline V6 Engine ; 6-speed SelectShift Automatic; Horsepower: 285 HP @ 6,500 rpm; Torque (lb.-ft.): 253 @ 4,000 rpm. Disc Brakes on all 4 sides, 18 inch alloy wheels, SecuriLock numeric lock system with remote locking.


Here's one of the first pics I ever took with the car:

The next chapter showcases all the good things that it came with!

[saitvsk23]

Chapter 3 : She's All That!

In my experience, every car has The Good, The Bad and The Ugly factor in it. My Edge has the following distribution : 98% good, 2% bad. It would be a hate crime to call this ugly. The design just flows! Kudos to the design team who came up with this facelift design!

All the 98% that's good is showcased below :

The very simple and intuitive instrument cluster. Has a DTE, digital tach gauge, fuel gauge and a coolant temperature gauge mode on the left (along with everything else about the car by going back to accessible menus), and all about creature comforts (entertainment, phone link, built-in navigation and climate control) on the right half of the unit with quick access to them via the D-pad on either side of the steering, each side meant for the respective halfs. Indian owners of the Endeavour are familiar with this system. Under the right D-pad, there are song skip buttons, volume control buttons and a call answer/SYNC Voice command button. The most used are the skip and volume buttons. Very tactile and easy to use!







The Edge SEL is equipped with a backup camera with distance sensors. I got used to this very quickly and the concept of fixed guidelines completely make sense in this western scenario as I have to park in slots along with other cars in line. The camera engages when the gear shifter is slotted into R mode.




His Highness has his spot reserved in the car. I didn't want my car to feel like a soulless rental, and wanted it to feel like a family car, something that would have some 'apnapan' to it.



The exterior lighting control knob is on the lower left side of the dashboard, positioned intuitively above driver's left knee (dead pedal side). It has buttons for the interior map lamps, knob for spot lights, low beam and buttons on the right side for setting the limits for cruise control. The steering has additional cruise control switches on the left side below the left side D-pad.



This is how the cabin looks from my point of view :



How I see the second row when I turn back (notice the airy cabin due to the panoramic sunroof) :



Ford's SYNC System developed in partnership with Microsoft, in all its glory showing its homescreen. The buttons below the touchscreen are one touch buttons without any tactile or haptic feedback. I am a huge fan of tactile buttons on cars and bikes, and this felt off to me. Nonetheless, I don't bother much with these controls, as I rarely use them. I set the fan speed and cooling temp usually using the right half of the instrument cluster, using the quick setting feature. It's even got dual zone climate control on it.



How the storage space under the driver's armrest looks like. It is deep and wide enough to store a full size roll of kitchen paper towels in it vertically and horizontally. Notice the A/V ports, 2x USB slots for media reading, 12V port, and also an SD Card slot for the on board navigation software, which I feel is long outdated. I use Google Maps for all my navigation needs.



Rear armrest opened out, along with retractable tactile-feeling cupholders :





The Edge has 32.2 cubic feet of cargo space behind the second row of seats and 68.9 cubic feet of cargo space with the back row folded. It even has powered tailgate, one at the driver's control and one in the back by the tailgate, along with the buttons to flip the rear 2nd row seats flat, and another 12V outlet.







In the front, the driver has a sunglass storage cubby, which can be flipped open with a gentle press, along with sunshade visors with vanity mirrors and illumination for them.





It's got an auto dimming ORVM for easy visibility in the night.



Now, the exterior.
Typical bulky crossover SUV styling. It just flows seamlessly with all the body lines. Front end looks bulbous and gives good road presence. Has projector headlamp units and dual functional chromed exhaust tips.









This car comes equipped with a SecuriLock Numeric Entry System. I was just given a plain jane key to the car. I can get one made with the lock and unlock button, but that's for later.



Here's a pic of the car parked at Belle Isle Park, Detroit, MI.



Here's a parting shot of me with my Edge, and my roommate with his Focus. The Blue Oval Boys, if you will!

The next final chapter shows a few hiccups I had along the way after I had purchased the car.

[saitvsk23]

Chapter 4 : Speed Bumps along the way

In the most general cases, no used car ever comes with zero issues. So did mine. But they ended up being minor inconveniences. They were just a part of the car being old and raking up so many miles over its lifetime.

Problem 1 : Steering and Suspension problems.

On the day when I first drove it home from the lot to show my friends, when I turned the steering wheel to extreme right, I felt a very rash feedback (felt like someone scratching an uneven part of a chalk on a school board). It almost felt like if I kept just a bit more force on the steering wheel, it would just break away. I asked the seller about it and he said the tie rods are just rusted, keep driving and it'll go away. I was internally thinking, maybe it just needs an alignment. Sometimes these cars often need them.

And so, I took the car to a somewhat renowed tyre alignment centre in Detroit. On display, they had 22 inch rims for big pickup trucks! So I asked them to perform an alignment on my car. They informed me that they would do a checkup and then proceed to aligning the wheels of the car. I said okay to the checkup and waited for an hour over there. They came back and told me that the tie rods that are already installed on the car are not for its make and model. And also that the front suspension units (both left and right) are probably going to go bad soon enough and placed a quite hefty (read almost 2000$) quote in my hand. I took that quote and went to my mechanic, and got these components replaced for around 800$ including labor. The inner and outer tie rods, and both the suspension strut towers and their coil springs were changed. Shows how effective my particular FNG was, and how these flashy stores try to rip you off. My FNG got it done within the end of the day and handed the car over to me. One problem was solved.

Problem 2 : Misfire on Cylinder 6

I was on my way to my new workplace after a couple of days I had started working there. When I was trying to accelerate, the car would hesitate for a few seconds to go forward. I'm just putting the pedal down, I see an increase in engine speed in the tach gauge, but the car wouldn't just go at the required speed. I just thought that it might be a fuelling issue and might clear out the more I drive. And then, there was one instance where I had to stop for a u-turn, make the turn and go to the last lane of the road to take a right. Usually you need to accelerate sharply to reach the lane. I just put the pedal down and the car lugged. The same kind of lugging you would come across when your dad's Splendor+ or Passion Plus would be running out of fuel, just before turning on the reserve mode. And the check engine light flashed. I seriously got scared thinking I messed up somewhere by just pushing it too hard. I then went to the workplace, sat down and just recollected all of it. That lugging happens when incomplete combustion happens in the engine. With this basic diagnosis, I started searching for online edge forums where people were having the same issue. Most of them had the problem, and reported that this was most likely because either the ignition coil or the spark plug went bad, they got it replaced and now their car runs flawlessly. Armed with this info, I went to my FNG telling about the issue and had asked me to wait while he diagnoses. He scanned the car using his OBD Scanner tool and came to the diagnosis that the Ignition Coil on Cylinder 6 had got burnt completely from the inside, and that was the reason of the misfire. He also advised me to get the spark plugs also changed as they were quite old. I asked them to replace the Ford Motorcraft (thats like MarutiGP, but for Ford) makes with NGK Iridium Plugs, as they offer much more efficient spark, which in turn leads to better complete combustion inside the engine cylinder, owing to somewhat slightly better fuel efficiency. And now, the check engine light has vanished and the car just flies on the roads! How it performs on the freeways, that's left for me to see this coming Monday.

Unfortunately I don't have pics of the spark plugs and the failed ignition coil.

So, that's all folks! Thank you for coming so far! I will keep updating this thread the more I'll be driving this car to much more picturesque places!

Until next time!

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[nikhilarni]

Originally Posted by saitvsk23

Chapter 2 : Instant Crush

I was just walking around and found a glistening white Ford Edge, parked in the corner of the lot. I walked to it, took a peek inside from the window and god, it looked luxurious inside!

It was an absolutely resounding YES from all of us and I bought her home the very next day! Finally, a Ford fully owned in my name.

Hi saivsk23,

Loved the writing style and the whole journey that culminated in a very "sharp" looking and handling Edge. I felt I was part of the whole journey sitting the back seat. Congratulations on the new set of wheels, and cheers to all the memories / drives/ road trips you'll do with her.

Glad you got the initial niggles sorted out and hope she gives you a trouble free ownership here onwards.

Ever since I first saw the Edge, in the Bond movie - Quantum of Solace, I fell in love with it, but never got a chance to drive or sit in it. I'll look forward to the next Rust Belt meetup, and probably get a chance to experience your car. It has that RR Evoque-esq styling which is really catchy.

[ringoism]

Originally Posted by saitvsk23

...when I turned the steering wheel to extreme right, I felt a very rash feedback (felt like someone scratching an uneven part of a chalk on a school board). It almost felt like if I kept just a bit more force on the steering wheel, it would just break away. I asked the seller about it and he said the tie rods are just rusted, keep driving and it'll go away. I was internally thinking, maybe it just needs an alignment. Sometimes these cars often need them.
The inner and outer tie rods, and both the suspension strut towers and their coil springs were changed. Shows how effective my particular FNG was...

It is not generally advisable to keep steering wheel pressed hard at extents. As far as I know this drives the internal hydraulic pressure high enough to force the relief (/bypass) valve to open. Not necessarily harmful, but does max out pressure and serves no real purpose. A screeching sound at extreme steering lock sounds like a very typical symptom of a slightly loose power steering pump belt slipping... though if indeed the wrong tie-rod ends were fitted, possibly some related interference could cause tangible feedback. I wasn't clear whether you were speaking of noise or feel or both. Quite hilarious that the seller suggested rusted tie-rod ends (which would be exceedingly rare and probably not cause such symptoms). At any rate, this would NEVER be something that indicates an alignment issue... just for your future reference. Alignment problems typically manifest in pulls to right or left and uneven tyre wear.

You are right that automobile service is near to a criminal racket at this point in the U.S. context, with exhorbitant and unnecessary costs being commonplace. The more complex (and hard for laypersons to understand much about) cars become, the more helpless / hapless are their owners.

Re: technical terms, it was your strut *assemblies* that were replaced, not the strut *towers*, which are the parts integral to the monocoque / unit body that the strut assemblies mount up into.

As as ex-automotive engineer myself, I think accuracy in terms is to be striven for.

The U.S. company I worked for actually remanufactured struts and power steering pumps and rack and pinion units (the "loaded" ones included tie-rod-ends), among a few dozen other product lines. After a stint overlooking all aspects of the electrical product lines, my eventual dream-job there was in Test Systems Design; At one point I designed and built a production-line testing machine for evaluating (often very noisy/ problematic) Ford rotary-vane ps pump units, in fact; Fatefully, the person who operated it daily was the matriarch of the Malayalee family who invited me to come with them to India for my first time in 1999!!! Fair to say that the pursuit of your dream job landed you in the U.S., whereas the exercise of mine landed me - quite unexpectedly - in India, and quite outside of the automotive field! God indeed works in mysterious ways.

I also worked in an alignment/tyre/general service independent shop for a couple summers during my college years. And from childhood have always had a more practical, hands-on bent...

Landing a dream job is a wonderful thing. I'm sure you'll learn and experience so much. With IC engines reaching their design pinnacle yet their very future existence in question, and with several viable alternatives coming up, it is probably one of the more interesting times in decades to be working in the automotive realm.

Thanks,
Eric

[saitvsk23]

Originally Posted by nikhilarni

Hi saivsk23,

Loved the writing style and the whole journey that culminated in a very "sharp" looking and handling Edge. I felt I was part of the whole journey sitting the back seat. Congratulations on the new set of wheels, and cheers to all the memories / drives/ road trips you'll do with her.

Glad you got the initial niggles sorted out and hope she gives you a trouble free ownership here onwards.

Ever since I first saw the Edge, in the Bond movie - Quantum of Solace, I fell in love with it, but never got a chance to drive or sit in it. I'll look forward to the next Rust Belt meetup, and probably get a chance to experience your car. It has that RR Evoque-esq styling which is really catchy.

Hello Nikhil,

Thank you for your kind words!
Now that we're talking about Bond movies, my personal favourites are Pierce Brosnan's movies, GoldenEye being my favourite of the list. My dad leans more to the Roger Moore's side. I feel that Pierce's got just the right amount of charisma and suave body language required to pull off the 007 moniker. Quantum of Solace is known for having very choppy cinematography for the action sequences, like a Jason Bourne movie. They had fast cuts all over the scenes. But the only thing that comes to my mind when we talk about this movie is his Sony Ericcson Mobile phone. Again, Daniel Craig had a great run. A great emotional ending with the No Time To Die movie.