What do you do when a load of stuff needs hauling north and the Ram's already out? Dial 1-800PAK-THE-FLEX.
We have already praised our 2009 Ford Flex's usefulness in various kinds of over-the-road duty, and we've spun its odometer (yes, it's digital, but come on) past 36,000 miles in less than 15 months. What the Flex does great is accommodate a wide range of loads - people, luggage, cargo, Golden Retrievers, anything short of bulky furniture - and pound up the freeway in a relaxed, smooth and efficient manner. For this weekend, we averaged 21.3 mpg over 1312 miles, almost all of it at a steady 75 mph indicated and the load in back a light press fit between carpet and headliner. We had all the aft seats folded flat, but depending on the needs of the moment, of course, the Flex can be configured to suit. And the trip was a delight: comfy, entertaining (thank you, Sirius) and not at all the ordeal the miles/day might suggest.
Our gripes are pretty small, and some have been documented here before. Like Dan Edmunds, my arms are too short for my legs when seated at the Flex's helm, though I could find a compromise position that mostly let me forget about it. I don't love the steering feel, which strikes me as a bit more truck-like than necessary, and the slick, capless fuel filler sometimes dribbled a little overflow even when I didn't top off.
But the one thing that irked me every time I used it, which was a lot, was the cruise control. The system performs fine, but it is managed by four identical, adjacent buttons on the steering wheel, which cannot be distinguished by feel. After nightfall, especially, far too much attention must be diverted to finding the one you want. This tidy button array was obviously designed by someone who hasn't used a cruise control in the dark.
That's about it. If I had another load to take all that way tomorrow, I'd be happy to launch in the Flex.
Kevin Smith, Editorial Director @ 36,093 miles
jacarig says:
01:43 PM, 10/13/09
The buttons aren't illuminated at night?
hondacura4 says:
03:35 PM, 10/13/09
I love the Flex overall (especially the EcoBoost model) but something about its interior design and finish suggest an 80's Lincoln.
bodyblue says:
04:26 PM, 10/13/09
In other words, its a lot better than a Tribeca.
bodyblue says:
04:27 PM, 10/13/09
In other words, its totally superior to a Tribeca.
bodyblue says:
04:38 PM, 10/13/09
In other words the Flex is superior to the Tribeca.
jedienigma says:
07:39 PM, 10/13/09
Kevin are you tactile inept? The Resume and Set - buttons have a little nub on the outside of the button. The Set + and Off/On don’t. Also toward the hub side each set of two have a vertical nub to help find a group of two. So first find the 1st or 2nd group you need then use the outside nub to determine which button. Or is there a US or International cruise control brail scheme that I don't know about?
wrinklebump says:
07:50 PM, 10/13/09
Yeah Kevin come on get your nubs together. It's all about the nubs. Nubs are key.
super_ongoy says:
10:52 PM, 10/13/09
I haven't seen a cruise control controller I liked. I thought the automatic distance controlling thing on some of the new cars would be pretty neat. Never liked it and never needed it. Come to think of it, it was just a waste of money.
in the first pic, I noticed how ugly the tail lights were. Are they even LED? Love that chrome detail... not. Reminds me of American cars from the early 80s for some reason.
rsholland says:
06:55 AM, 10/14/09
Kevin, I'm 100% with you on the cruise control issue. My '09 WRX is the same way. Hard to tell what button you're hitting. My old '06 WRX had the cruise control on a steering wheel stalk. That was far and away the best CC set-up I've ever used. It was absolutely intuitive and oh so easy to use.
stephen987 says:
07:43 AM, 10/14/09
I had a Ranger that had a concave button for set/decel and a convex button for accel/resume. It worked great, though it would've been even better to have the buttons lighted too. Unfortunately Ford control design seems to have gone backward since then.
zsh says:
08:28 AM, 10/14/09
I agree about the cruise control. It's a bit of a pain. But with use (i.e. consistent) you get used to the feeling of the buttons and location.
Also, the nice thing I have found with our Flex is the back-up camera. You can fill the Flex to the brim with junk, nee, important items, and safely reverse.
felonious says:
09:57 AM, 10/14/09
FWIW, my 05 Audi has a very nice cruise control control set, though sadly it's not adaptive CC. Pull the stalk forward for "on", push it back for "off", press button on tip for "set", stalk up/down for faster/slower.
bodyblue says:
03:34 PM, 10/14/09
Felonious that is the same for MOPAR and Toyota also.....My girlfriends Prius has that system. Hard to use the first time in the dark but one gets used to it pretty quickly.
eddirkevins says:
05:05 PM, 10/14/09
Let's talk a little cruise control, shall we? I use it on long freeway drones to give my throttle foot a break, and change leg position. I will engage it when traffic is open, but as I approach a clutch of trucks, I want to take back control of the throttle. Smoothly. I don't want the sudden slowing (and the flash of brake lights) that touching the brake pedal produces. So I put my foot gently back on the throttle, turn the system off momentarily, then turn it back on so it'll be ready to set again next time. No one even notices I've done anything. Ease off the power as necessary, ease back up to cruise speed when possible, and re-engage cruise control. Easy.
As felonious and bodyblue and stephen987 and rsholland note, there are plenty of control schemes out there that are dead-easy to use without looking, and without even moving your hand from the rim very much. Why is this so hard?
To jedienigma, thank you for stating the obvious about the nubs, but allow me to state the even more obvious: they don't work. If the braille-track method produced the desired result quickly and positively enough, I wouldn't have had the problem and we wouldn't be having this discussion.
General Motors used a sloppy, cheap turn-signal stalk on about a jillion vehicles that had a slide switch on the front for cruise-control on-off and a button on the end for speed set. Simple, obvious, minimum motion, no looking, no confusion.
Switchgear designers should be required to try out their proposed setups on Interstate 5 in the middle of the night.
wrinklebump says:
07:37 PM, 10/14/09
I was about to say I liked the old GM cruise control system on the control stalk for the wipers. Buttons for that junk on the steering wheel always seemed totally useless.
jedienigma says:
07:40 PM, 10/14/09
@eddirkevins: You make good points. I have had problems with the nubs, but I can see it being a possible problems for others. Maybe for the button method, a universal brail of a raised R for Resume, raised + for Set +, raise - for Set -, a raised O for the On/Off toggle, and a raised C for Cancel (if there was one which there should be either a toggle Resume/Cancel or a separate button with a Set+/Set- toggle.) There are some good cruise stalk designs, and then there are bad ones like my '04 Elantra. Everyone has nearly the same design for turn signals, why not cruise controls.
@wrinklebump: I got a chuckle from that one, and found myself singing "Wookin' Pa Nub in all da wong paces. Wookin ' Pa Nub."
As for all the other wondering, yes the buttons are illuminated at night (I own a '10 Limited Flex too). I believe the point is not taking your eyes of the road to perform the function, which I am believer of more eye on the road time less IP time. That is Ford's selling point for Sync, so maybe the engineers can take a look at the cruise system from that perspective.
bodyblue says:
01:21 PM, 10/15/09
GM and Mopar started putting way too much stuff on the stalk (especially mopar) Ford started the wheel mounted cruise control in the late '60s on Lincolns. Not every control has to be within 2mm of your fingertips, I think. The original mainstream cruise was just a button on the stalk that said "cruise"....that was it. Push to set and touch the brake to turn it off....sometimes simple is better.