2013 Ford Flex Limited Eco-Boost- Not Your Typical Family Hauler
November 2, 2012
By: Anthony Murdoch
To call this vehicle a minivan is your first mistake. This is not a minivan at all, although it is the closest thing Ford sells to a minivan for the North American market place, ever since the Windstar/Freestar went the way of the Pinto.
With butch and cube like styling, the Flex is a vehicle for those who want more seats, yet want a car that has some style to it at the same time. For the 2013 model year, Ford revamped the Flex with some front and interior styling tweaks. It also gave it more power, from both the base 3.5-litre V-6, which now makes 287 horsepower, up from 262, to the 3.5-litre twin-turbo charged V-6 EcoBoost engine, which has 10 more hp, topping out at an amazing 365 horsepower!
My tester, a Limited, came loaded to the gills, complete with the hot-rod twin-turbo V-6 EcoBoost motor. Mated to a very smooth, yet firm, 6-speed automatic complete with steering wheel mounted paddle shifts, the rather heavy Flex can dust just about any other car or van out there to 100 km/h. I timed it to be under 6 seconds, which is mighty fast for a family car. Putting the power down through an all-wheel drive system, the Flex pulls from a stop smartly, and passing is a breeze. Be careful though, as once the turbos kick in you had better be holding the steering wheel, as it really pulls hard, which is a good thing!
Coming it at a whopping $58,349 as tested price, which includes delivery, the loaded Flex is not cheap at all. The base version starts at just under $30,000 by the way. However, it is packed with a lot of gizmos and gadgets, such as adaptive cruise-control, a collision warning system, 2nd row inflatable seat belts, cooled second row seat console, Ford's My Touch, and the list goes on and on and on! Too many features to mention. Take my word for it, other than a heated steering wheel, it has it all. One quibble I had is with the optional second row inflatable seat belts. The buckles are very bulky and hard to insert into their holders. I also wonder about if they really are worth it as an option. Time will tell.
The Flex has room for 7, however as my tester had a second row fridge, there were only 6 seats in there. Trunk space is limited when all seats are being utilized, however with the back seats folded away (they are power operated) space is actually quite good. I found that the interior is well built, however unlike Lincoln's, Ford's still use some cheap looking plastic in some places. The main upper dash at least was soft plastic, and the overall fit and finish both inside and out was at a very good level.
Out on the road, the Flex reminded me a lot of older style American cars soft rides, and how they eat up highway miles. Although the suspension is quite firm, I felt that it had enough compliance to give an overall sense of calm to the cabin, which was also very quiet from wind noise.
Although I found the steering to be direct, the electrically boosted rack had very little feel to it. I am not a fan of electric power steering. What is gained in fuel savings is trivial, and I feel that this trend in steering has more to do with cost control and the ability to include self parking and lane departure systems, more than anything else. Long live the hydraulic steering rack!!!! Porsche, are you listening?
Fuel economy was a very sour point for me. Having driven both the Lincoln MKS and MKT with the same engine, for some reason in the Flex it just guzzled fuel. In my mixed driving, which did honestly not include that much hard acceleration, I managed a dismal 14 litres per 100 kilometres! Granted, it was cold here in Calgary during my test week, so that could have played a factor in the poor fuel economy.
Overall, one could argue that the Flex has no purpose, and is nothing more than an expensive box. I think however, that it does have a purpose, which is to be the fastest family hauler out there, that is if you get the Limited with the EcoBoost engine.
By: Anthony Murdoch
To call this vehicle a minivan is your first mistake. This is not a minivan at all, although it is the closest thing Ford sells to a minivan for the North American market place, ever since the Windstar/Freestar went the way of the Pinto.
With butch and cube like styling, the Flex is a vehicle for those who want more seats, yet want a car that has some style to it at the same time. For the 2013 model year, Ford revamped the Flex with some front and interior styling tweaks. It also gave it more power, from both the base 3.5-litre V-6, which now makes 287 horsepower, up from 262, to the 3.5-litre twin-turbo charged V-6 EcoBoost engine, which has 10 more hp, topping out at an amazing 365 horsepower!
My tester, a Limited, came loaded to the gills, complete with the hot-rod twin-turbo V-6 EcoBoost motor. Mated to a very smooth, yet firm, 6-speed automatic complete with steering wheel mounted paddle shifts, the rather heavy Flex can dust just about any other car or van out there to 100 km/h. I timed it to be under 6 seconds, which is mighty fast for a family car. Putting the power down through an all-wheel drive system, the Flex pulls from a stop smartly, and passing is a breeze. Be careful though, as once the turbos kick in you had better be holding the steering wheel, as it really pulls hard, which is a good thing!
Coming it at a whopping $58,349 as tested price, which includes delivery, the loaded Flex is not cheap at all. The base version starts at just under $30,000 by the way. However, it is packed with a lot of gizmos and gadgets, such as adaptive cruise-control, a collision warning system, 2nd row inflatable seat belts, cooled second row seat console, Ford's My Touch, and the list goes on and on and on! Too many features to mention. Take my word for it, other than a heated steering wheel, it has it all. One quibble I had is with the optional second row inflatable seat belts. The buckles are very bulky and hard to insert into their holders. I also wonder about if they really are worth it as an option. Time will tell.
The Flex has room for 7, however as my tester had a second row fridge, there were only 6 seats in there. Trunk space is limited when all seats are being utilized, however with the back seats folded away (they are power operated) space is actually quite good. I found that the interior is well built, however unlike Lincoln's, Ford's still use some cheap looking plastic in some places. The main upper dash at least was soft plastic, and the overall fit and finish both inside and out was at a very good level.
Out on the road, the Flex reminded me a lot of older style American cars soft rides, and how they eat up highway miles. Although the suspension is quite firm, I felt that it had enough compliance to give an overall sense of calm to the cabin, which was also very quiet from wind noise.
Although I found the steering to be direct, the electrically boosted rack had very little feel to it. I am not a fan of electric power steering. What is gained in fuel savings is trivial, and I feel that this trend in steering has more to do with cost control and the ability to include self parking and lane departure systems, more than anything else. Long live the hydraulic steering rack!!!! Porsche, are you listening?
Fuel economy was a very sour point for me. Having driven both the Lincoln MKS and MKT with the same engine, for some reason in the Flex it just guzzled fuel. In my mixed driving, which did honestly not include that much hard acceleration, I managed a dismal 14 litres per 100 kilometres! Granted, it was cold here in Calgary during my test week, so that could have played a factor in the poor fuel economy.
Overall, one could argue that the Flex has no purpose, and is nothing more than an expensive box. I think however, that it does have a purpose, which is to be the fastest family hauler out there, that is if you get the Limited with the EcoBoost engine.
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