Ford Flex EcoBoost Review

Hi! I'm Kelsey Mays for Cars.com. The traditional SUV these days not as an attractive
choice that it used to be with family car shoppers, enter something like the three-row
Ford Flex. This is Ford’s effort to offer an alternative to those traditional SUVs as well as
minivans. The Flex was new for 2009. For 2010, it now offers an EcoBoost V6. This is a
twin turbo engine. Ford says it combines top 20 capabilities with V8-like driving
experience. So we’re going to take a look at this and see if it offers similar capabilities to
those V8 SUVs you might have considered. See if the Flex has enough muscle to make it
a good choice, get it? Flex, muscles, no one appreciates me around here.

Gas mileage EPA rated at 16 city, 22 highway. That may not sound so good but it’s
actually the same rating as EPA gives for the base flex with its non-turbo V6. All wheel
drive here standard, all thing is considered pretty good compared to those V8 SUVs.
Actually, I almost stop there with Crossovers, same rating as the Honda Pilot with all
wheel drive. Not quite as good as the Toyota Highlander, the Chevy Traverse.

Talking about C maximum, it’s not class leading the traverse to those 50 200 pounds. It
doesn’t really hold much of a candle to the big SUVs those that host 7000, 8000, 9000
pounds. Cargo space, again, not really a winning story here. If you fold all the seats
down, you're looking at about 83 cubic feet total that matches the pilot. It doesn’t really
match the Highlander or the Traverse, and those big SUVs, again, all have over a hundred
cubic feet of space.

Performance is definitely a strong point here, plenty of burly low ends sort of grunt. We
took this on a highway with five people in the car and all their entire luggage, got up and
passed others in the passing lane, just fine. I would actually say that you don’t have
upgrade to the larger V8 in SUVs like the Chevy Tyler, the Toyota Sequioa to get this
sort of performance. Quite impressive! Also, impressive ride quality even without this
car’s 20-inch wheels ride, comfort pretty good, so as the road windows. I'm impressed
how a fitter well contained there.

So at the end of the day, the Flex doesn’t tack sort of cargo capabilities or towing
capacity as some of those bigger V8 SUVs might. And so, if you're really looking to tow
a boat or load your rig full of gear, those might be better choices. But true to Ford’s claim
that you could boost engine does offer impressive acceleration and remarkably car like
refinement. So, if you're more of a driver than a hauler, Flex EcoBoost might be worth
checking out.