First ever non-GM product - a 2009......

[montrealvue]

Great choice, glad you got a Ford. I love that color! A better choice than a Lambda and you'll still have a resale value in a few years!

[wescoent]

Congratulations, and a big agreement from me on the color combination. The turbo engine will be arriving next model year, and equipped with some nice 20" rims, black leather buckets, dark blue exterior with silver top, and a nice expressive aftermarket exhaust, we're starting to delve into "Coolest Human Transporter of All Time".

[LeSabre]

Originally Posted by autofan

Thanks for all of the comments. I will readily agree that the look of the Flex is not for everyone. It certainly isn't a thing of beauty in the conventional sense but has a unique classiness to it. I'm glad Ford is smart enough to realize they will gain traction in the market by offering great values. GM, though understandably desperate for $$, is pricing its vehicles far too high. My GM loyalty would have had us driving an Outlook, Traverse or Acadia had the pricing been better. I see the same scenario with GM's midsize cars vs. the new Fusion and Milan. The domestics don't have the cache and perception to demand higher prices. They must win on being better values than their Asian and European competitors. That is, if they survive at all.

Aside from the Lambda models you've mentioned, was the Enclave ever a consideration?? As it is easily, by most people's opinion(mine included) that it's the best looking of all the Lambda models.

[eurohazard]

Originally Posted by LeSabre

Aside from the Lambda models you've mentioned, was the Enclave ever a consideration?? As it is easily, by most people's opinion(mine included) that it's the best looking of all the Lambda models.

From some angles it looks wrong. Up close it seems gaudy. But you know...... I saw a gold Enclave from a distance today, and it actually looked really nice. It had a good stance, nice style, and it looked every bit as upscale as an Acura, Lexus, BMW, or MB SUV.

[Uzzy]

Originally Posted by eurohazard

From some angles it looks wrong. Up close it seems gaudy. But you know...... I saw a gold Enclave from a distance today, and it actually looked really nice. It had a good stance, nice style, and it looked every bit as upscale as an Acura, Lexus, BMW, or MB SUV.

Oh come on, I love the Enclave! My only gripe is some of them have a bit too much of the black plastic down low on the front and back. And it is every bit as upscale as those other SUVs, don't let looks fool you One thing Buicks needs right away is a smaller version of it!

[LeSabre]

Originally Posted by Uzzy

Oh come on, I love the Enclave! My only gripe is some of them have a bit too much of the black plastic down low on the front and back. And it is every bit as upscale as those other SUVs, don't let looks fool you One thing Buicks needs right away is a smaller version of it!

Yep, same styling only smaller.

IMO, all of Buick's at least here in NA should have the styling of the Enclave, esp. w/the cars, but GM is relying on Buick-China's designs too much for US consumption. I do not like the styling/looks of the coming 2nd Gen. LaCrosse, It looks like ****! The Chinese Riviera concept was not a good design for (a) Buick either. It was overly aggressive for Buick. It may have looked better as a Pontiac w/various changes made.

[Extreme4x4]

Originally Posted by LeSabre

Aside from the Lambda models you've mentioned, was the Enclave ever a consideration?? As it is easily, by most people's opinion(mine included) that it's the best looking of all the Lambda models.

I believe the Enclave was more expensive than what he wanted to spend. Also, it would suffer from the same problems of all GM vehicles.............. financing that is not competitive to what you can get from Ford Motor Credit.

Ford Motor Credit still has very attractive leases available.

Plus, he did mention something about his wife finding the Lambdas to be big, bulky, and too SUV like. That is something that the Flex certainly isn't.

[Uzzy]

Originally Posted by Extreme4x4

I believe the Enclave was more expensive than what he wanted to spend. Also, it would suffer from the same problems of all GM vehicles.............. financing that is not competitive to what you can get from Ford Motor Credit.

Ford Motor Credit still has very attractive leases available.

Plus, he did mention something about his wife finding the Lambdas to be big, bulky, and too SUV like. That is something that the Flex certainly isn't.

The Traverse would be more inline with the Flex. They are in direct competition. They are very close in in dimensions, but I think the Traverse beats the Flex in interior cargo volume. Motor Trend did a head to head comparison when the Flex came out. I'll see if I can find it again. The Traverse and Buick are also sort of related in the shape department when compared to the Outlook and Acadia.

[autofan]

Originally Posted by Extreme4x4

I believe the Enclave was more expensive than what he wanted to spend. Also, it would suffer from the same problems of all GM vehicles.............. financing that is not competitive to what you can get from Ford Motor Credit.

Ford Motor Credit still has very attractive leases available.

Plus, he did mention something about his wife finding the Lambdas to be big, bulky, and too SUV like. That is something that the Flex certainly isn't.

A base Enclave now goes for $35,805. That's with cloth interior and no heated seats. A Flex SEL, standard with both leather and heated seats goes for $32,070. Yes the Enclave, like all Lamdbas, offers more space overall but the Ford beats them all on value. For what we're paying on the Flex we could only have gotten a base Outlook or Traverse 1LT even with a GM discount. I love the Enclave in and out but it's priced out of our league!

[ptviperz]

Congrats on the great looking Flex. I really like the designs that Ford is putting out these days. They definitely have their 'A' game on.

[cdp326]

Congratulations.

The only things that bother me about the Flex are the steering wheel position (too far away - telescoping would be nice), the SE's cloth upholstery, and the price premium over the Taurus X. Either way it's still a great car, and they did carry over the Freestyle/Taurus X's best qualities (functionality and comfort).

[napolron]

Originally Posted by Quickening

Congrats!

Though I can't stand Ford's love for squares.

I feel the same way about Cadillacs origami styling, I think its dreadful, but to each their own.

I love the color on that flex, it looks really cool with that white top, I was always a fan of two tone it gives a vehicle character shame you dont see it much nowadays. Congrats autofan on the purchase and I hope it gives you many trouble free miles.

[autofan]

Originally Posted by cdp326

The only things that bother me about the Flex are the steering wheel position (too far away - telescoping would be nice), the SE's cloth upholstery, and the price premium over the Taurus X. Either way it's still a great car, and they did carry over the Freestyle/Taurus X's best qualities (functionality and comfort).

I agree about the telescoping wheel. It would be nice to have that since the wheel feels a little too far away for me. The seats have an amazing amount of travel up/down/fore/aft so it's not too troublesome to find an acceptable position. The SE model definitely feels like a big step down from the SEL. The cloth is awful (very 1970s) and it loses some of the nice interior and exterior trim of other models. It's the value leader though so I can understand it to a point. Comparably equipped a Taurus X or Edge is about the same price as our Flex SEL and lease rates are far better on the Flex, eliminating the other two from our consideration. The Edge is overpriced for sure unless you get a base model.

[CheetahDC]

I saw a Ford Flex up close a few days ago. What surprised me is how low to the ground this is, and how compact it looks despite its size. I thought this would be some quasi-SUV thing. I was pleasantly surprised.

[AndrewGS]

I know it's been a while, but congrats! They had a triple black Limited at the auto show that I really liked.



How has it been so far?