Funny, every time I’ve seen this thing (especially in profile) I’ve thought it looks like a MAXI Cooper! It’s the blocky shape and the white roof, no doubt, that give me that impression.

As for the Flex, it’s hideously ugly, badly named and very derivative of the Scion xB. It’s the type of vehicle I’d expect to see at a circus pulling into the main ring with fifty clowns existing from all the openings.

It’s probably the style that will make this a decent seller for Ford however.

Third row seats in wagons have always been a little-tikes only proposition, which is again not a problem to me.

The one change I can already say I wish they’d made is this: make the doors regular-size (just like they are), but put them on sliders, like the awkward passenger-side door on the Peugeot 1007. Just seems like a better arrangement to me. At least it would give it a difference from the 1.3 million other crossover nameplates on the market.

For the record, I’m thoroughly impressed by the 2008 Taurus as far as a highway car goes. Yes, it’s a bit awkward looking, but it’s got a good amount of features, a good price, great power, a spectacular ride, huge interior/cargo space, and excellent visibility.

Looks as if the Flex shares all of those with the Taurus except the price (the Flex is monstrously expensive).

it feels fully thought through, as opposed to previous cars in which someone started a good effort and then went out to lunch

This is probably the reason why it has taken so long for it to come out. My guess is Al put the breaks on introducing another half finished car and made them go back and address the issues before the Flex hit the market. If that’s the case it means they really are starting to fix their internal mess at least a little. But they should have made sure they had the ecoboost ready for the lauch of this thing, it would have been an added selling feature to set it apart for the rest of what they sell and warrant the price tag its going to come with.

This thing is basically just a bigger, fatter, heavier Taurus X. I hope the 3.5 liter engine will be enough to haul it around. A good case can be made for using the larger displacement 3.7 liter version that is used in the Mazda CX-9.

What about the Edge, Explorer and Escape?

Aviator? Mountaineer? CX-7? CX-9?

I have absolutely nothing to back this up, but I strongly suspect the Taurus X will be discontinued a year or two after the Flex is introduced. That would take the X to about the MCE “deadline” and negate the need for a hasty refresh followed by the axe.

I would be pleased to have my theories debunked in this space.