Berkowitz Rides in Ford Flex
March 20th, 2008 3:35 PM
Share
We’re committed to finding, researching, and recommending the best products. We earn commissions from purchases you make using links in our articles. Learn more here
This is the first anniversary of the Ford Flex [not being on sale]. Ford debuted a concept that looked production-ready at last year's NY Auto Show. This year, it's pretty much ready to go, in finished pre-production form, and off to dealers this summer. Ford's PR folks, who join Toyota in warming up to TTAC, gave me a 20 minute ride in the Flex. Without driving it, what I can say hit me the most is how it feels fully thought through, as opposed to previous cars in which someone started a good effort and then went out to lunch (the Mustang's missing interior, e.g.). The seats are extremely comfortable, and the prepro car was silent inside – which is a feature I hope stays on the actual production models. It's very heavy on creature comforts and goes as far as having a compressor-driven refrigerator as an option, so odds are that it'll be heavy in general. Fit and finish is a huge improvement over most other Ford products, and there's even some character – the cloth version's seats were described as having a tweed pattern. Huh? Engine will be the 3.5 liter V6 from the Flex and Taurus, although one of the marketing guys admitted he wishes Ford's 2.7 liter diesel from Europe would be available. In the future though, the EcoBoost version will be available with a turbocharged V6. Sadly, the packaging isn't what we hoped for, because while the seats totally fold flat, this still ain't rivaling a minivan or the Expedition for space. For example, the third row is still only for children and Napoleonic adults (like me). Looks slick in person, so much so I don't have any idea why Ford's going to sell it alongside the extremely similar Taurus X. Click here for Pixamo gallery
Immensely bored law student. I've also got 3 dogs.
More by Justin Berkowitz
Comments
Join the conversation
umterp85 - Exactly! For every four of you who hate the looks of Flex there's two people who absolutely love it and can't wait to buy it. Where as before Ford was producing designs where the same six people looking at the Ford Five Hundred or Freestyle would collectively say, "Oh, it looks Okay" -- and no one bought anything.
I agree with umterp: Ford can't sell bland (like Toyota) and get away with it. Now about that power to weight ratio...shame this thing isn't built on a Mustang or Panther platform. :)