Our 2009 Ford Flex is spending tonight in my driveway wearing 9 days worth of road grime. As for us, we're only a little bit cleaner, but we're happy to be sleeping in our own beds.
Earlier on I'd passed along my dad's praise for the narrow door sills and how they ease ingress and egress. An alert reader pointed out that this would keep one's pants leg from getting dirty, too. At first I thought this comment had to do with the geometry of the design and how it made it less likely that one's pants leg would drag across the narrower sill when getting in. But there's more to it than that.
No matter what sort of choas is going on outside, the sill never gets the least bit dirty. Just look at that shine! This is because of the way the bottom of the door wraps around and cups the door sill. And there are seals down there, too.
I just put a load of jeans in the wash, and none of them had schmutz on the pant legs. For this reason, the Flex gets my vote as the #1 job interview car for anyone living and working in ice and snow country.
No doubt this byzantine arrangement is also a big reason why we experienced a rather low amount of road noise on a variety of surfaces.
Yesterday we'd achieved 26.7 mpg coming down out of the mountains, but the overall drop in altitude and the slow pace and delicate throttle inputs forced upon us by the weather made me wonder if this figure was a fluke. After all, the front-wheel drive Flex is EPA certified at 24 mpg on the highway.
On today's last leg, I steadfastly used the cruise control, alternating the set-point between 65 and 70 mph as the speed limit varied likewise. The route from Fresno starts out flat, but then it climbs sharply to over 4,000 feet and dithers up and down a bit before dropping back near sea level in the LA basin. And of course there were a couple of potty stops. All in all, this wasn't the driving profile I'd have chosen to determine maximum fuel economy. But at least it was realistic.
The result? 26.5 mpg. As usual, the on-board computer exaggerated like a novice fisherman and claimed a 27.8 mpg performance.
After I get a good night's sleep, I'll summarize my accumulated Ford Flex impressions on Monday. Or Tuesday. I need a break.
Dan Edmunds, Director of Vehicle Testing @ 15, 320 miles
vvk says:
06:49 PM, 01/ 3/09
My old SAAB had the same kind of wrap around lower door design. Always pristine door sills!
majin_ssj_eric says:
07:16 PM, 01/ 3/09
I'm sorry but I think I've seen just about enough blog posts about the Flex thank you.
cah11705 says:
07:41 PM, 01/ 3/09
did the enclave do that?
tmanz says:
08:48 PM, 01/ 3/09
rather than less posts about the flex, how about more posts about the other cars.
The other cars go on vacation and we usually get one writeup when they are back. Thanks for the ongoing Flex info. Even though it isn't anywhere on my future cars list I find these posts interesting.
Nothing personal against Ford or the Flex, it is just much bigger than I need.
The new Mazda3 was at the top of the list till it got that stupid grin on the front.
ddark13 says:
08:59 PM, 01/ 3/09
why click "continue reading" only to complain about the post's appearance?? these updates on the flex are what differentiates blogs from regular reviews
ryster says:
07:37 AM, 01/ 4/09
That's not "road grime"...that's a wicked coating of road salt. Make sure you go to a car wash that provides a thorough undercarriage wash. The body will come clean easily, but it is the undercarriage that takes the brunt of the corrosive road salt.
Up here in the Northeast we deal with this all Winter long. Just a few days ago, we had a 3 hour snow event that required the roads be treated. By the time I drove home from work, the snow was gone, the sun was out, and the roads were on the verge of being dry. However, my car was covered in road salt after I completed my 30 mile commute home.
Time to treat the car to an $8 heated, no-touch wash. The roads are going to be salt covered again for the Wednesday commute and I want to get this layer off the car before the next round ;)
brn says:
09:57 AM, 01/ 4/09
I've always been a fan of Ford and I like the Flex, but I also have to wonder about the flood of posts. I suppose that's what happens with a guy with the last name of Edmunds takes it on a road trip.
MS3lvr92 says:
10:29 AM, 01/ 4/09
Good, the Flex made it. Now give it a bath.
bradyholt says:
01:45 PM, 01/ 4/09
Is there a downside to this door setup?
prndlol says:
01:54 PM, 01/ 4/09
While the sill is quite clean, note how dirty the bottom curve of the door is. I predict the Flex will suffer from unprecedented door rust rot in areas where salt is used. I'll meet you back here in five years with photos of the first victims, those with high mileage.
altimadude00 says:
03:31 PM, 01/ 4/09
9 days of grime and you are complaining? I just washed my car for the first time in three months. It looks fine and sparkling.
carfreak8394 says:
06:40 PM, 01/ 4/09
I just washed my mom's car today, and it looks very good. But I had a question for you guys. When is the best time to get your car detailed? My mom says she wants to get her car detailed once every year, but I have no idea when a good time is to get it done. Thanks in advance.
MS3lvr92 says:
07:23 PM, 01/ 4/09
carfreak,
I like to do detailing every fall and every spring. That way you prepare it for the winter and then take all of the grime and crap from winter off of the car.
m_thrizzle says:
09:23 PM, 01/ 4/09
Bradyholt, the downside of this setup is that the doors extend lower and can possibly hit the curb if you parallel park somewhere with high curbs. Has the Edmunds crew noticed this yet?
Also, if you ever took it off-road, a bottom of this type of door could possibly get crunched from hitting a rock below and cause problems with opening, closing, or sealing.
dougtheeng says:
06:27 AM, 01/ 5/09
"I'm sorry but I think I've seen just about enough blog posts about the Flex thank you. "
More posts are better for everything, especially during the holiday season when a lot of the Edmunds staff are gone. Don't read it if you're not interested.
cartester16 says:
06:56 AM, 01/ 5/09
Not less posts on the Flex, but more on the other cars please! Supposedly there are 30 cars in your fleet, yet there are only a few comments per day. Someone should make it a rule that you must post some meaningful observation as a conditon for each day's use. I don't think that's too much for Edmunds to ask of people using a car for free...
cartester16 says:
06:57 AM, 01/ 5/09
Oh, and is that rust I see in that channel in the picture, or reddish dirt?
actualsize says:
07:14 AM, 01/ 5/09
Reddish dirt. In this part of Oregon, ODOT spreads a locally-available reddish volcanic pumice instead of salt. The stuff was everywhere.
misterfusion says:
08:52 AM, 01/ 5/09
Where are all these haters coming from? Um, hello?! Dan does a road trip every year at the same time, and reports extensively on his impressions. If you want to see fewer posts like this, then go to a blog about llama farming or something!
Overall, I have noticed that the frequency of posts in general has gone down over the past year or so, but I assume that that's due to staffing issues or what not. I've just gotten used to it over time. FEWER posts on any particular subject is certainly not the answer.