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2015 Ford Edge holds line on pricing, starts at $28,100*

The Ford Edge gets an updated platform, bolder styling and a standard 2.0-liter turbocharged EcoBoost engine pumping out 245 horsepower and 270 pound-feet of torque for the 2015 model year. You might expect that all those new features would result in a big price bump, but you'd be wrong. Ford is keeping costs identical to the 2014 model with a starting MSRP of $28,100 (*plus an $895 destination charge), according to Edmunds. Ford spokesperson William Mattiace confirmed the numbers to Autoblog.
That's a pretty good deal, but the real ticket here might be the model's Sport trim. Buyers get a 2.7-liter, twin-turbocharged V6 EcoBoost engine with over 300 horsepower and standard adaptive steering for $28,600 plus destination. That's just $500 more than the base model.
Pricing for the Titanium trim has not yet been announced, but it'll be a short wait to find out. Mattiace tells Autoblog that full pricing and the configuration for the model will launch on November 5. He has also confirmed that the 2015 Edge will begin hitting dealers in the first quarter of 2015.

Ford to revisit CVTs?

Today, Ford wishes its first experience with non-hybrid continuously variable transmissions was far behind it. The Blue Oval was awash in complaints and a couple of class-action lawsuits over the CVTs used in its 2005-2007 Ford Freestyle, Five Hundred and Mercury Montego models, which were a manufactured in Batavia, Ohio as part of a joint venture with ZF. The company gave up on the CVT after just two years, but with fuel economy standards pressing automakers to conjure new tricks, Ford's global product development head, Raj Nair, is now saying the transmissions might make a return, "particularly in the low torque applications," says Automotive News. An obvious candidate for CVT consideration is the 1.0-liter Fiesta that can presently only be had with a five-speed manual. Beyond that, the company's 1.6-liter and 2.0-liter four-cylinder engines might fit the bill. Ford hasn't given any indication as to what vehicles it might use to reintroduce the CVT to the US market, or hints about timeline or who would develop it, however. Some CVT trivia: The 1990 Subaru Justy II was the first US passenger car offered with a continuously variable transmission - Subaru called it the ECVT. It handled gearing duties for a 1.2-liter, inline three-cylinder engine that got all of 70 horsepower. A contemporary blurb about the car begins with "Goodness, gracious, great gobs of gimmickry," and goes on to say that "We can't imagine where you would take this car for repairs, but we are certain that the one mechanic in the world who can fix it lives in a very expensive house." The transmission didn't win any fans, but the ECVT and the car have been largely forgotten, while Subaru played the long game and now you'll find its vastly improved Lineartronic CVT on six of the eight models it sells.

The history and future of the Ford Bronco

Some have suggested that the Bronco's demise was hastened by the fallout from the O.J. trial.
Twenty years ago today, ex-NFL linebacker Al "A.C." Cowlings drove his friend and onetime running back Orenthal James "O.J." Simpson on a parade lap of the Los Angeles highway system and onto an ignoble page of the history books. If you're in your late 20s or older, or a fastidious young student of 1990s American history, you're absolutely aware that Al and O.J.'s steed for the 'chase' was a white Ford Bronco. The white Ford Bronco, even.