If you have a large family and are looking for a vehicle that will fit the family and all your stuff, like the dog, hockey equipment, groceries etc, you have a choice of either buying a large SUV or a minivan. Minivan’s are not really cool and a large SUV might be just be a bit too big for big city parking lots. There’s an alternative, the Ford Flex.
The Ford Flex is not quite an SUV and it’s definitely not a minivan, it’s large and I found it much easier to park in tight spots than the Ford Explorer I had the week before, it’s not as wide so it’s easy to squeeze into a smaller parking spot. The Flex has tons of room for passengers and all their cargo, so it might just be best of both worlds.
The Ford Flex was introduced in 2009, it seems to be selling decently in Canada, since you can still buy it and it hasn’t changed too much since its introduction. I personally like the way the Flex looks, it kind of reminds me of those woody wagons from back in the day, it’s like a modern surf mobile. The Ford Flex is also the first vehicle I officially reviewed about 4 years ago here.
Price
In Canada, the 2017 Ford Flex is offered in three trims, with the base Flex SE starting at $29,899, the SEL starting at $36,899, and the Limited starting at $43,699. These are starting prices, once you start adding options, you can price the top of the line Flex to almost $60,000. So the Flex can get quite pricey if you go overboard with options, but on the other hand, prices haven’t changed much since I reviewed the 2013 Ford Flex.
Our review 2017 Ford Flex was the Limited trim, with a sticker price of $56,649 before destination & delivery charges of $1,690. Some of the larger options included were Equipment Group 303A ($6,800), Cargo Versatility Package ($600), Appearance Package ($900), Multipanel Vista Roof ($1,750), and Voice Activated Navigation system ($800).
Equipment Group 303A includes: Active Park Assist, Adaptive Cruise with Collision Warning, Heated Steering Wheel, 20” Polished Aluminum wheels, Power Tilt/Telescoping Steering Column, Power Folding 3rd row seats, and 10-way Power Heated/Cooled front seats.
Engine/Performance
The 2017 Ford Flex is offered with a choice of two engines, a naturally aspirated 3.5 liter V6 or a turbocharged 3.5 liter EcoBoost V6 with direct injection. The naturally aspirated engine produces 287 horsepower at 6,500 rpm and 254 pound-feet of torque at 4,000 rpm. The EcoBoost V6 produces 365 horsepower at 5,500 rpm and 350 pound-feet of torque. Both engines come with 6-speed automatic transmissions, the EcoBoost equipped cars also come with steering wheel mounted paddle shifters. Our review Flex was equipped with the 3.5 liter EcoBoost V6 and had AWD.
According to Ford, our review car should consume 15.7/11.2/13.7 L/100 km in city/highway/combined driving. I averaged 15.2 L/100 km in 85% city driving, I’d say I was pretty close to what Ford says.
Our review Ford Flex performed pretty well, the 365 HP is more than enough to motivate this large vehicle in the city and on the highway. The throttle response is pretty decent but when you put the transmission into “S”, it really livens it up, and dare I say, makes the drive pretty fun.
Handling is also pretty good on the Flex, it handles much better than larger SUVs, handling is more like a big car than a big SUV/CUV.
Interior
The interior is very comfortable with lots of room; it feels very open thanks to large windows and the “Multipanel” sun roof also helps. There is plenty of room in the second row of seats, in fact, I think there’s too much room for the second row, and unfortunately, you can’t slide the second row seats forward (like in the Explorer) to give extra bit of room to the third row seat passengers. The third row has a decent amount of room, but I think a sliding second row seat would be a welcome addition. The seating position on the 3rd row is a little weird; the seats seem to be too low to the ground. When you sit down, your knees are almost at chest level. The 3rd row seats can be flipped backwards, facing the outside of the vehicle. All you have to do it press the button in the trunk area and the seats flip and face backwards, making for a nice tailgate sitting area. However, there isn’t too much headroom for taller people when you’re utilizing the tailgate seats.
Although the interior is luxurious, there are some hard plastic parts on the door panels which I wasn’t too big of a fan of; a car that cost almost $60,000 should come with soft touch materials, even if it’s plastic.
The interior on the Flex has a very clean, minimalist look, I think it might be a little too minimalist. The center console features an 8” touchscreen display with touch sensitive buttons below it. The 2017 Flex still has the same touch sensitive “buttons” on the center stack to for the climate control, I wasn’t a big fan of them four years ago and I still think regular buttons, like the Explorer’s would’ve done a better job. The “buttons” are not too bad, but if I wanted to change the temperature or fan speed etc, I had to look down to see if I was hitting the right spot as opposed to knowing you’ve hit a button. But you can use the 8” touchscreen to change climate settings, again, you have to take your eyes off the road, or voice command to at least change the temperature.
Overall Impressions
The Ford Flex might not be for everyone, some people don’t like the styling but personally I’m a fan. It’s a large vehicle that’s pretty easy to drive and can carry a lot of people and all their stuff, it is a great alternative to a minivan.
It can get pricey if you go for all the options, but on the other hand, you can get the Flex at under $30,000 if you don’t care much about all the features and need a vehicle like this to haul the kids around. But if you do want to spend big money on the Flex, Ford gives you lots of options and all the tech features your heart desires.
For more information on the Ford Flex, please visit ford.ca.
