Editors' Favorites Number Four: 2009 Ford Flex

Nice. I'm starting to see more of them on the road.

Thinking about picking one of these up for The Wife's next vehicle.

Oh yeah, and +1 for what powell_jr said. More Miata, less ratchetjaw.

I impressed with the gas mileage the Flex gets. Not bad for a behemoth...

Love the flex. If I was at the point in my life where I needed to haul a family, this would be my first choice.

Woot!

As a new owner of one, I have to say that it's been great. Here are some random notes from my first few days:

1. There is a pretty big learning curve for Sync's commands, but I'm already wishing I had voice control on my work computer. "Play album ..." is just too easy.

2. It's big! By far the largest car I've ever owned. However, visibility is great with all those huge windows. I also really like having the rear-view camera and sensors. Backing in to a parking place is much easier than nosing in.

3. My five-year-old son has already proclaimed it "the best road trip car ever", noting that it has both a fridge and a sink. I'm still looking for the sink. :)

4. Even though the braking distance was tested by IL at 144 feet, the brakes feel strong and the pedal feel is perfectly firm.

5. The fake wood is a lot less offensive than I had expected it to be.

6. As previously posted, Dark Ink Blue Metallic is the best color, of any car, ever. :)

7. It seems twice as big inside as it does outside. Weird.

8. I find the power liftgate and the keypad on the driver door to both be a LOT more useful than expected.

That's all for now, will report back more later...

Flex is far from my cup of tea, but it is an excellent vehicle.

I am 2 for 2 so far on the editors picks

I called this one. It's not a car I would ever care to drive, but it seems to be a near-perfect solution to the problem it was intended to solve, so I have to give it big props for that. It's also one of those vehicles that really looks best in black.*

*Of course, every car ever made looks better in black, but some need it more than others. ;)

+2 for what powell_jr said: more blogs / writing on sports / sporting / GT cars

Called this one--just look at how many miles they put on it.

@felonious: At least your son didn't say it had a fridge and a toilet. That would have been fun ;)

Good point, carguy622! :) Some more items to report:

1. The instrument panel and gauges are very pleasing to the eye and very legible.

2. The nav screen plays nice with polarized sunglasses (whew!).

3. Add "adjustable pedals" to the list of things I under-appreciated before owning.

I'm two for two now. This one was an easy car. When someone's kids (can't remember who) complained about possibility of a road trip in the BMW 7 series rather than the Flex, you knew this one was destined for greatness. This is the perfect example of making a product for an otherwise boring segment offer tons of pleasant surprises.

Hey Feloinus congrats on finally getting your Flex!....keep telling us about it and forget the nattering nabobs of sports cars and their comments.

Thanks bodyblue, I will keep reporting in. :) Those guys don't bother me, I totally understand where they're coming from. In a few years when the Audi is paid off, I'm going to get a project Miata to tow to track events using the Flex. I'll have my cake and eat it too!

The 2002 M3, now the Flex. I bet numbers 3,2,1 will be the S5, the R8, and the 09 M3. Considering the company, Ford ought to be really really proud of what they have wrought.

Glad to see a people mover could inspire such praise. It's easy to find an impractical car to dream about but there are far too few useful cars that people really want to own.

On the impractical side I am still expecting to see the Ferrari 308 in second or third place.

The real question is what will be number one?

The M3 and Flex are already placed, the GT-R is way to unreliable and the Fit will cause too many people to freak out.

The Genesis is nice but not that special and that describes most of the rest of the cars on the list.

I'm stumped as to which should be the best.

@firstwagon

I'm still betting on the GT40 and even on the outside chance that the Focus will make a surprise appearance.