During this week’s Five-Point Inspection we put the Ford Flex crossover to the test, stuffing all our family and friends into the three rows of seats, and driving it in the city, highway, and rural gravelly side-roads.
A visually striking vehicle, the base Flex SE starts at $30,885, while we drove the upgraded Limited model with AWD and the 365-hp EcoBoost Engine.
Make no mistake. The Flex is a big and heavy vehicle, but everything comes together to make the car feel much smaller than it is. The 365-hp twin-turbo V6 launches the Flex in a way that’s absolutely surreal for a car of its size.
Coming to a stop occurs in an equally fast fashion. Overall though, the Flex acts in a way that’s entirely unlike its appearance suggests. It’s faster, more manoeuvrable, and surprising in almost every single way. This beast should be called the “Mustang minivan”.
This Flex isn’t just performance oriented, it’s also surprisingly well equipped, with great technology everywhere you look. A car this big benefits greatly from aids like blind-spot assist and rear-view camera for moving the car around town.
When you get on the highway, the Flex manages quite well thanks to its adaptive cruise-control that accelerates and decelerates based on the car in front of you. Sadly, it won’t stop for you, but it does emit a loud beep reminding you to take control of the vehicle. If you don’t, there’s also an obnoxious collision alert system that ensures you’ll panic.
While it’s well known that MyFord Touch isn’t perfect, the time spent in the Flex was less frustrating than I anticipated. That said, the use of touch-sensitive buttons instead of actual buttons did prove to be annoying. Using these “buttons” or the touch-sensitive screen to adjust settings like the climate control was difficult and distracting. My biggest complaint, however, was the alarmingly long time it took to pair my phone via Bluetooth; hardly an issue exclusive to Ford.
Ford branding on its EcoBoost engines hints at a possibility that it might be fuel friendly, but don’t be fooled. The only thing this is more efficient than would be a V8 – and a thirsty one one at that.
The EPA rates the EcoBoost AWD Flex at 16/23 mpg city/highway, with a combined rating of 18 mpg. Our testing was pretty equal between city and highway driving and came to 17 mpg. While that’s close to the EPA estimates, it means the total range on a tank of gas is closer to 300 miles, meaning road trips will require frequent stops at the pump.
The EcoBoost equipped Ford Flex Limited AWD is packed to the brim with features. Our tester came with extras like active park assist, cooled seats, a two-tone roof, ambient lighting and even sunroofs for the third-row passengers. This brings the Flex to an MSRP of $49,335, close to the same price as a slightly more luxurious Lincoln MKT, which is the better choice for the luxury shopper – if you can stomach the car’s style.
A thoroughly enjoyable ride, there are solid reasons to want a 365-hp Flex, but few reasons to need it.
Are you interested in a Ford Flex? Then check out our new car buying section,where you can build the car the way you want it, and get a quote.
For the Ford page, click here. To skip directly to the Flex, click here.
To read Autoguide’s full Ford Flex review, click here.