teach me the ways of the Ford Flex

I know, hardly exciting stuff. I am not looking for exciting here, I am looking for a good solid SUVish vehicle for my mom. Her Buick is starting a slow decay of the wiring system and I would like to get her into something newer and better.

She likes sitting up high like in her Rendevouz, so it needs to be something like that. She had great luck with ford products over the years and she and I both like the looks of the flex.

So what says the hive mind?

It does not need AWD as southern NJ only sees a couple of inches of snow a year.. and if she absolutely needs to get out, we can take my rover

Recently, my 80 yr old M-I-L wanted to get rid of her Chrysler Town and Country minivan and get into something not so larger. She had her sights set on a Ford Edge (smaller than Flex.) Upon driving the Edge, to her, it felt equally large. What she really liked and ended up buying was the new Ford Escape. She found the size to be just right. Very important in her decision was seat height for egress with artificial hip.

I am not sure of what age you are working with but my recommendation is to pay extra attention to egress if the age is higher.

Nearly tied was the Honda CRV. The tie breaker for her was that her recently deceased husband had never bought from Honda.

Why does your Mom need a shortbus?

granddaughter and dogs. And it seems a similar size to her buick

Buick is making a crossover with a smaller hoofprint.

yes, but neither of us wants to buy new. We prefer to let somebody else take the depreciation hit

Chevy's minivan offerings were the Venture (Uplander) in both long wheelbase and short.
Long:
Short:

The Rendevoix and Aztek are basically built off the short wheelbase van platform.

In similar fashion, over at Ford, the Flex is basically a long wheelbase version and the Edge is the shorter wheelbase version.

I think you will find the Flex to be considerably larger that the Rendivoix.

If staying GM, I think you will find the Equinox/Terrain to be a nice compliment to the current Buick she has.

I used to drive a flex everyday at work. I thought it was a fantastic vehicle. Although I love my turbo brick, the flex was exceedingly quick, but I don't know what your point of reference is.. I don't know if it had an optional engine or what but the thing felt very good when you stomped the gas, it was a very solid vehicle. The seats were very comfortable, you do not at all sit high off the ground and it had tons of room. The model I drove was before they started putting the stupid touch pad screens in the dashboard so if you buy one with that "feature," well, good luck to ya. Some people, like my wife for example, think its ugly but thankfully for me my wife doesn't really know what ugly is. But it is a large vehicle one that I don't think women would like that much because its harder to parallel park I would assume but then again my wife can't parallel park anything.

JohnRW1621 wrote: In similar fashion, over at Ford, the Flex is basically a long wheelbase version and the Edge is the shorter wheelbase version.

time to look at the edge. So far I have not heard anything bad about these vehicles other than the touchscreen. That would be a wasted option anyway, she barely uses the CD player in her buick as it is

That Flex does seems like a cool vehicle. Never heard anything bad about them. Definitely more character than a minivan.

Spouse has had 1 for about a year now. No problems or aggravations with it. She loves it. Neighbor has 1 also. He & his spouse seem to be very satisfied with theirs.

When we got SWMBO's we shopped Flex vs. Sienna. On paper, they're very similar. She preferred the Flex.

I've personally driven the car only 100 miles or so total. Performance with standard V6 is pretty good & handling braking seem at least adequate. I think it's a good vehicle for what it is.

I've thought for awhile that if I had to get a minivan, it'd be either an Odyssey or Flex. The Flex just looks really cool to me. Also wikipedia claims this:

"A direct-injected twin-turbocharged EcoBoost version is available for the 2010 model.[10] The EcoBoost produces 355 hp (265 kW) and 350 lb·ft (470 N·m) of torque. According to Ford, the turbochargers in the engine are designed to last 150,000 miles (240,000 km) or 10 years.[11] AWD is required with the EcoBoost engine option. Towing capacity is 4,500 lb (2,000 kg). The all-wheel drive system is capable of transferring up to 100% of torque to the front or rear axle as needed."

I'm not sure if that is true, or what the take rate was on EcoBoost AWD ones, but damn, that's the one I'd get.

I wish they made them with a manual transmission and preferably 2WD. They look so damned good.

LainfordExpress wrote: I've thought for awhile that if I had to get a minivan, it'd be either an Odyssey or Flex. The Flex just looks really cool to me. Also wikipedia claims this: "A direct-injected twin-turbocharged EcoBoost version is available for the 2010 model.[10] The EcoBoost produces 355 hp (265 kW) and 350 lb·ft (470 N·m) of torque. According to Ford, the turbochargers in the engine are designed to last 150,000 miles (240,000 km) or 10 years.[11] AWD is required with the EcoBoost engine option. Towing capacity is 4,500 lb (2,000 kg). The all-wheel drive system is capable of transferring up to 100% of torque to the front or rear axle as needed." I'm not sure if that is true, or what the take rate was on EcoBoost AWD ones, but damn, that's the one I'd get.

My wife's cousin has an EcoBoost Flex. She says its a rocket (relatively speaking, of course).

LainfordExpress wrote: I've thought for awhile that if I had to get a minivan, it'd be either an Odyssey or Flex. The Flex just looks really cool to me. Also wikipedia claims this: "A direct-injected twin-turbocharged EcoBoost version is available for the 2010 model.[10] The EcoBoost produces 355 hp (265 kW) and 350 lb·ft (470 N·m) of torque. According to Ford, the turbochargers in the engine are designed to last 150,000 miles (240,000 km) or 10 years.[11] AWD is required with the EcoBoost engine option. Towing capacity is 4,500 lb (2,000 kg). The all-wheel drive system is capable of transferring up to 100% of torque to the front or rear axle as needed." I'm not sure if that is true, or what the take rate was on EcoBoost AWD ones, but damn, that's the one I'd get.

Yes, it's true. if you want one of those, I can answer any questions you have about the powertrain. They were pretty sweet cars to work on.

But I was going to claim more personal vs professional experience. We've had 3 Edges for 2 year leases in a row. As a vehicle, they are very, very nice. Which is why we kept repeating them. The goal was a car that could tow our Alfa, and this fit our bill better than a car and a truck.

Being that you are looking to get used, finding a very good one w/o a touch screen should be pretty easy. The Edge has been in production for a few more years than the Flex has.

Leave it to GRM to morph a thread from a "point A to point B transportation for my mom" into "hey I heard they made a 220 hp AWD manual that'd be sweet" thread!

I love it here!

Last summer at the drag strip there was a guy running his Ecoboost Flex with just a handheld tuner and pulling 14.1s. I would get one if I needed to haul a family around.

Although I love my turbo brick, the flex was exceedingly quick,

The ecoboost AWD flex, when launched properly, will run a low 14 1/4 mile bone stock. So it is entirely possible to wander into a ford flex and be shocked by how quick it is.

These are pretty high up the list for my wife's next vehicle. Hunting for one with the towing package so it can pull double duty and I can use it on the weekends to drag my Rabbit around.

Vigo wrote:

Although I love my turbo brick, the flex was exceedingly quick,

The ecoboost AWD flex, when launched properly, will run a low 14 1/4 mile bone stock. So it is entirely possible to wander into a ford flex and be shocked by how quick it is.

It will run 13s with minor mods: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icYDzNOij9o

In reply to slefain:

12's with a bit more.......

To the OP, its basically the new taurus wagon. They aren't bad vehicles at all....if you like a shoebox.

yamaha wrote: In reply to slefain: 12's with a bit more....... To the OP, its basically the new taurus wagon. They aren't bad vehicles at all....if you like a shoebox.

Crap. That's faster than my mustang.....

I've had my 2010 Ecoboost Flex for 3 years now. I still love it. It handles great and is quite a sleeper. But is is a big vehicle. My friend has a 2012 Ecoboost Escape and is very happy with it. It might be a great alternative to the Flex, if she wants a smaller vehicle.