K2 Drives: 2013 Ford Flex Limited AWD

Eco...Boooooooooooost!

Black is the new black.

That bumper height...good for packages and that's about it. Welcome to 2016.

 I was extremely excited to give this car a whirl, as I hadn't had a chance to drive one with the EcoBoost engine yet. The color scheme was, of course, just my thing and I thought, "Hey, this could be Shadowagon Plus."

And that 365 hp, 350 torques 3.5 V6 is marvelous; zero detectable turbo lag (it's has two, of course) and yet it wasn't loud. A nice woosh and you're pushed back into the seats with some real authority. Zero to sixty is in the very low six second range and the power to weight ratio was certainly more than livable. This thing is over 4800 pounds, after all. Which is shocking on paper but not felt in any way while driving. The turning circle, at 41.5 feet, was awful though. You're going to be doing some 8-point turns driving this wagon every day. Of course, this thing is nearly 17 feet long.

You'd think the mpg would suck, but it's a surprisingly decent and acceptable 16/23. Turbos equal premium unleaded and that's what you're gonna do at the pump. Suck it up.

This being the Limited AWD model, it was loaded. And by loaded I mean every bell, whistle, doodad, button, switch, feature and option was on this...heated and cooled leather power seats (heated in the back), four sunroofs (the front is retractable and all had sunshades), buttons to move the second row seats, buttons that controlled the power third row seats (which was surprisingly comfortable for an adult), the no-physical-button, touch-surface-only Sync by Microsoft system that looked like it was designed by a dominatrix, navigation, backup camera with sensors that sensed everything and on and on and on. There were literally buttons for the buttons. I actually found it fairly intuitive but my SO proclaimed, "This is stupid." You said it, sister.

The second row has limousine-like leg room at a huge 44.3 inches and there are even little portable footrests available from the factory. I didn't see them in this car, but they had to have come with it originally as this is the top of the line.

Too dark park. That's a Skinny Puppy reference. They're
a band. That's one of their album names. Look it up.

Yet another attempt at avoiding the minivan, Ford ended up recreating the classic station wagon. The interior space is simply marvelous and the outward vision is excellent from the driver's seat. Heck, any seat for that matter. And yet...as I drove it I felt out of place. Disoriented, in fact. The dimensions are odd. Could I get get used to it? You bet. And I would except the rear bumper height was unacceptably high for our dogs to jump into. The second row is not removable without breaking out the socket wrench set and when they're flat, the jump up and into them for the puppers was also equally unacceptable.

Cripes. I don't know what all of those steering wheel buttons are for. Missile guidance?

So this was not the new Shadowagon. The critical criteria of people and dog hauler was failed by 50% and the number has to be 100%. Onward to the next vehicle, scratch this one off the list.

Our comparative Autozone starter for this vehicle is $234. Ouch. Who says premium Euro cars are the only ones with high parts costs? Oh yeah, it was me. C'mon Ford...

That's correct; this vehicle will park itself. Because you're not smart enough to do it. You had $41K+ when
you bought it new, but you're incapable of turning your head and coordinating your hands and feet.