2009 Ford Flex: D, L And Nothing Else

I agree...that first pic is great. And the fake wood looks better than the hideous fake wood in the
Enclave.

I agree. With a 4-speed auto, overdrive-off button might be enough. But with five or six forward gears, there are plenty of times when more control would be really nice.

I read somewhere that the face-lifted Fusion will have a manual gate for the auto-box. Hopefully Ford will spread that across the rest of the range.

The Taurus X's suffer the same fate. We have those as crew vehicles. Also, I'm not sure about your interior, but do the Edge and Flex have that plastic 'chrome' on the dash? That, by far, is the most infuriating detail. I get blinded almost constantly.

Given the target audience, I'm not sure it'd make any difference.

That is a very nice odometer area. i like how there is a piece of wood trim on it.

Lose the console shifter all together. Go back to the retro column mount supplemented by paddle shifters. There is no reason to take up space in the center console for the auto selector.

1. Not having the in-dash gear indicator for gears is definitely a result of cost cutting.

2. The woodtrim in the gauge cluster is nasty...

Not having an in-dash gear indicator isn't always indicative of cost cutting, lets not get that dramatic.

And seriously it is an A-U-T-O-M-A-T-I-C, how often do you shift into reverse, drive, park or neutral that makes this such a serious 'foible'? Was it really that hard to glance down at the indicator.

I'm also not so sure why the motoring press is gun hoe about manumatics. Unless it is a DSG unit, I see no point. Most are too slow to respond, the upshift/downshift setup is backwards, shift for you or won't allow you to start off in a gear higher than 1st. Yes, Ford is at fault for offering 'D' and 'L' but gimmicks like Tapshift and are just that, gimmicks!

I agree with gdmstrb. If you only have to shift into Park, Reverse, and Drive a dash indicator isn't very useful.

Also, I have an 04 Mazda 6S that I bought with the manumatic because I thought I would use it a lot. I use it maybe once every few months for fun to merge onto the highway. Although it isn't very exciting since you only need three gears to get to 65. I doubt I would miss it if I didn't have it. We have an Infiniti FX which also has a manumatic, but I never use that one because the shift setup is backwards.

I agree with Louiswei: That wood trim in the gauge cluster is nasty! Worse than the Enclave? You betcha!

@Fordracefan: We have an Infiniti product as well (07' G35S) and it has the manumatic and paddle shifters. We very seldom use it because it's slow to respond to input, and when it does shift it isn't very smooth (the downshift with rev-matching is spot on though). If anything an aggressive programing logarithm for the automatic, such as drive sport, is much more useful (we use it often).

Having said that it isn't just Infiniti products that have those shortcomings, as BMWs can be just as annoying. If you truly want a manual go out and buy one, or plead with carmakers to put them in your favorite automobiles, as far as the Flex is concerned it's a family hauler not a Mustang. I'd be willing to bet if someone were to poll those driving Lambda CUVs or the T&C (Caravan/Routan), all of which have a manumatic function, I'd be probably 10% use 'em.

The typical domestic vehicle operator("driver" is much too generous a term) does well to diferentiate between "P", "R", and "D". Ford knows it's target audience well; why confuse those dunderheads with capabilities that 99% of them will never understand- much less actually use?

I know maybe a half dozen people with cars that have a manumatic mode, and none of them use it. Some have no interest in choosing their own gears, while others feel it doesn't work very well. I think it's the classic case of a compromise that doesn't satisfy anyone.

We have an A4 Quattro with the Tiptronic transmission, and I use the manumatic mode all the time when I am driving in the mountains here in Colorado. It helps control speed when going downhill (saving the brakes), and lets me choose how much torque I need when going uphill. It also makes for a smoother ride because the automatic transmission is not hunting for gears.

On level terrain I agree the manumatic mode is not needed. I find I don't use it other than on hills.

Full disclosure: My commuter car is a stick shift.

I agree the average driver doesn't need the extra transmission positions but if you want to be number #1, is it wise to design for the lowest common denomiator?

The way most people drive there is no need for more then a 4 speed automatic or higher then a 4000 rpm redline.

It's extras that make a car special though. The little things that cost little but show thought was put in the design.

A gear indicator does not scream special to me, and I doubt it does to the average driver. Yes, sometimes it's the 'small things that count', but that wouldn't be one of them.

"I know maybe a half dozen people with cars that have a manumatic mode, and none of them use it. "

Agreed. I think this feature gets a lot of talk on enthusiast websites, and certainly in reviews (as most reviewers drive so many vehicles, that differences like this really stand out). I think for the rest of the world, these automatic gear shifters are largely ignored.

fullthrottle's logic is definitely correct; however, I can pretty much guarantee you that the non-enthusiast crowd (ie everyone else) just rides the brakes. Its sad, but true.

ha! reminds me of what Atari's POLE POSITION
video game would look like in a modern car.
Hi....and Lo.....

Automatic trannies with manual shift modes are a gimmick. The fastest track time ever recorded by a sedan was the new Cadillac CTS-V. It has a manumatic and the record time was set when the driver left the car in full auto mode and let the computer do the shifting. Fullthrottle was right, manual overrides are great for hilly terrain but in everyday or even performance driving you can't beat the computer if you have an automatic tranny.

Oh, and gear indicators on the dash are a must. Some people still check to make sure they are in the right gear. It's easy to slip pass D. And I actually agree with Ford. How many people really use the 321 selections on their car?

"How many people really use the 321 selections on their car?"

I use the feature on my wife's X5 as well as my 2002A. Maybe it's because the rest of my cars all have three pedals...

Let me get this straight. You're complaining because you don't know exactly what gear your _automatic transmission_ is in at any given time? Or are you complaining that it's too much trouble to look 90 degrees to your right to tell if you're in P, R, N, D, or L? Maybe it's just me, but I can tell what gear I'm in, without even looking at the shifter or any little idiot screen, simply by moving the shifter. Park. First detent, reverse. Second, neutral. Third, drive. Just that easy. How many different places do you need in order to see where your gearshift is?