2009 Ford Flex: Interior by the Gap

And I would keep the Passat Wagon. My lovely & enchanting Mrs. loves her 08 lux wagon:-) Power everything, comfort seats, front & rear parking sensors, 6 speed auto w/ paddle shifters, wonderful gas mileage, great alloys, great visibility, etc.

Scott, what does the gap look like without your finger or cell phone pushing it open?

Looking at the way the material drops down, it seems this gap is intentionally engineered into the sunroof.

You can't go wrong with the CX-9. I have one and it is a great vehicle. I have had nothing wrong with it and it drives great.

I would never not buy a car for such a trivial reason.

Wow... c'mon now that's just a lame excuse. It's not like there is any light streaming in or anything. So Ford puts a nice high quality interior into the Flex and this is what were nitpicking?

Sounds like someone is trying to capitalize on the controversy created over the last Flex post.

The gap seems to be pretty normal.. and I hope you get a GT CX-9 because the Touring and Sport gets you mouse fur headliner, the GT has a woven material that still feels a bit cheap, but it's better.

Pretty normal for a Ford I might add however. Not a build issue.. unless the one I was in is affected too.

some of these posts are just nutty.

Sorry guys, I am with Scott with this one.

I would expect a family hauler to be tightly put together & appear so. It might work on design board for there to be a gap functionally, but I would hate to be in a vehicle which looks as if some pieces are either missing or is not put together well. Big panel gaps & missing trim pieces are okay in an Avis rental but not in a personal car.

Yes, Flex is a GOOD vehicle. But this kind of panel gap is big no-no in my book as well. A little refinement is required here.

And utmost attention to refinement is the reason why Audi's interiors rock.

Scott, come on. If this is what would keep you from buying a Flex, then did you EVER SERIOUSLY consider one at all? How does this one detail disqualify every other good thing about the Flex? And are you certain that no other vehicle has a similar condition?
It is lame-ass comments like this that feed the opinion that the IL staff is so biased against any domestics that you will look for any excuse to bash them.

"And utmost attention to refinement is the reason why Audi's interiors rock."

Yeah too bad their steering sucks (see latest S5 posts). But wait, it is an Audi and German, so that is one of the "quirks" that define their "personality". But a gap on a sunroof liner; that disqualifies a total vehicle.

@rlg86,

I never said anything about the reliability of the Germans in the LT fleet. If you go back & read some of my comments, you'd notice that I mock the Germans about their lack of reliability.

Audi's interiors ARE done well. Their reliability (along with VW, BMW & MB) is at the bottom of pit.

Flex is a good vehicle. I've been in one & I really liked it. I recently suggested it to a friend who was considering a Touareg.

Is it even wrong to suggest that a little refinement? Are we so obsessed with Ford that even a well intentioned suggestion is scorned on?

Is Flex the epitome of automotive engineering??

The steering issue, was because of a balancing issue, so why even bring it up?

I don't think this would bother me.

PS I don't think Scott said he wouldn't buy the vehicle because of this. He just said he didn't like it....and then as usual people jumped to conclusions.

@dougtheeng

This is the internet. Everyone owns a 'Jump to Conclusion' mat, didntya know??

The comments are way less fun now with all the white knights defending our poor hapless domestic auto industry. I miss the days of intelligent discussion over calling bias anytime someone doesn't like something.

This is a blog that takes long term cars and nit picks over them for 20,000 miles. People may as well stop reading if they can't take criticism of their favorite brand.

Can we get the Mechanic to lay the smack down on some of these folks?

"Maybe I'll get the wife a Mazda CX-9."

Over a sunroof gap.

Right.

File under: Something I would likely never notice.

I realize it's your job to pick nits (mission accomplished!), but concluding with maybe I'll get a [soemthing else] instead over such minutia seems unjust.

After all, it seems your premium cars are laden with functional problems, as opposed to minor "less premium" details like this.

Okay, I'm a pretty nitpicky person, but this defines trivial. The non-telescopic steering wheel could be a deal breaker, but how in the world does the sunroof gap make a darn bit of difference? As long as it doesn't rattle or leak, who gives a hoot?

Then get one without the vista roof option and save your self $2000.00. Its great to nit pick vehicles and all but unless it is a serious defect, really bad quality, or something that affects drive a bility then I don't want to here about it.

"I miss the days of intelligent discussion over calling bias anytime someone doesn't like something."

LOL! When was this era of "intelligent discussion"? I think what you mean to say was there was a time when the regular readers were more homogenous and more apt to cosign any bashing of anything domestic. IN case you missed it, people stick up for Nissans and whatever other import brands are criticized. Of course that doesn't happen too often because there are rarely complaints about BMWs, Audis and Hondas. They do seem to criticize the Z quite a bit though.

@wobbly_ears

I know you were not commenting on reliability, since neither this issue with the Flex nor the steering issue I noted on the S5 have anything to do with reliability; both have to do with refinement.

But even so, your intentions not withstanding (and I'll assume they are honorable as are mine), this is a nitpick. Audi interiors are nice, if a bit cold for my tastes. But I am sure that if IL looked hard enough, they could find something just as nitpicky. One could do that on ANY car.

And of course the Flex is not the epitome of auto engineering. Given the huge variety of vehicles out there and how they are used, there isn't one. But the Flex seems to be a pretty good example of its class.

@cx7lover
See S5 thread. My bet is that the vibration will be back. Many other manufacturers can do a steering system that is not so sensitive to small imbalances. Goes to that refinement thing....

@Compliance
Yeah, it was so much better in the "good old days". when everybody bowed and scraped at the altar of BMW. How dare anyone contest that! ;-)

While many people would never even notice such a trivial matter, Scott's penchant for trivial minutia keep his keen intellect fixed. Slowly but surely the gap consumed his every waking thought. "How about we go for a drive today Scott?", his colleagues would say. But all Scott could think about was the gap and the blackness therein. His friends grew worried and rightfully so, for Scott soon went missing. All over Edmunds.com they looked, but he was nowhere to be found. Finally, they took the Flex out for one last ride, and there, they saw his mind's consumption had become real. For Scott had wedged himself in the gap and was stuck. "I need help", he cried... something everyone already knew.

Fin

LMAO!!!

Are you serious?

bcboom officially wins comment of the week. I won't allow any discussion on it. Automatic win. Period.

I agree with ahightower that non-telescopic steering is a much better deal-breaker than a single interior gap.

Does it rattle or let light in? If not, I see absolutely no reason to fault a gap like this.

bcboom- best comment ever! It read like a Edgar Allan Poe poem.

@bcboom

Beautiful prose, dude!!! Bravo!!

I can't believe these criticisms. Look closely. This isn't a flaw. It's designed in. Maybe it's because the sunroof needs to drop a little while it retracts.

Ok, maybe calling it "intelligent discussion" is a bit of overstatement. But seriously, I find it hard to take all the whining about bias.

If Scott is wrong tell him why, don't cry that BMW didn't get criticized. Domestic fanboys are always the ones bringing up European cars first. That says a lot to me about what bias is who's. I click on this post to talk about Fords, not BMWs.

*and I realize posts like mine in this thread are part of the problem. I try my best to stay out of it most of the time. I really do :P

"Of course that doesn't happen too often because there are rarely complaints about BMWs, Audis and Hondas." Please see almost any post about the new 7-series or A5.

I will agree that, since the tester said he has noticed the gap on several other Fords that is is probably there intentionally.

I'm still trying to understand why this is a problem. Did he loose his lucky rabbit's foot in there?

Maybe it's a new feature. Maybe it's Ford's new 360 degree blackberry cubby. Wow, how handy and thoughtful!

Maybe the fact that the blackberry didn't send the headliner collapsing should say something. And Volkswagens and BMW's still have the most flawless interiors, after your long term Jetta and M3 both proved that theory wrong.

""Maybe I'll get the wife a Mazda CX-9."

Over a sunroof gap.

Right."

There are plenty of other reasons to choose the CX9 over the Flex.

Is that gap equally bad when there isn't something stuck into it? It looks like you pried it open with your finger.

As for the BMW/Audi comparison, the Flex' interior is as nice a place to be as the Q7's or M5's, and I say that pretty confidently. Ford is really getting their act together as far as interior quality is concerned.

Whoops, I meant X5's.

Don't blame you...i would never buy a car with any kind of gaps that are too big or not supposed to be there either....i guess that means i'm never buying a car again.

I have the same gap in my '02 Accord. I guess that makes it OK.

Dear So-called "Auto Enthusiasts" of the World:

Panel gaps =/= lack of quality or refinement.

You're welcome.

BcBoom where have you been? That comment was hilarious. It almost sounds a bit Poe-ish.

So...

+ It's comfortable
+ Huge
+ Great touring car
+ Excellent Nav system
+ Good looking inside and out

but..

- Sunroof gap!!! OMFGNODEAL

Ford may well be well-advised to change their sliding sunroof cover design. It's clearly something other manufacturers do better, though it would be fair to question whether any aversion to the hyperbolic "crevasse" causes poor function or is merely a matter of taste.

Although this may be one feature that Ford could reasonably "do better", the Flex interior remains outstanding by any standard, and virtually second-to-none in comfort. The sunroof shade is one minor element of the overall, and while I too hope Ford "does it better" across their entire product line, it's ridiculous to imply this one characteristic somehow makes the Flex's interior not live up to its price point.