If you're going to try to sell a two-year-old car with 72,000 miles on it, you better make sure it looks sharp. We took our 2009 Ford Flex Limited to the car wash and had them detail the interior for $100. Two guys crawled all over it for an hour, vacuumed it, shampooed the carpets, cleaned all the surfaces and got the finger prints off the glass. I wouldn't have thought it would make such a difference but it did. Before the detail there was a generally worn look to the interior with scuff marks around all the doors where people had kicked the plastic getting in and out of the car. Afterwards, all the surfaces gleamed with not-too-much ArmorAll-type protectant.
Sunday night it rained and when I got to work a red sunrise was lighting up the sky. I shot some new pictures to post on the AutoTrader ad. It was listed all weekend without bringing any calls, texts or emails. I guess everyone's mind is on a different type of shopping right now. At least the Flex is ready when the time comes. If someone looks at the interior, I think it will sell itself.
Philip Reed, Edmunds senior consumer advice editor @ 72,200 miles
alpine6speed says:
10:20 AM, 12/ 6/10
Amazing what a little cleaning can do. I can only imagine how much nicer the interior would be with a nice sterring wheel. That design is so ugly and old fashioned. What do they even make 4 spoke wheels anymore when 3 spoke are available? Make a 3 spoke wheel because it 100000 times nicer and not so fugly. Everything else on the interior is nice so it would really help out.
igeekone says:
10:31 AM, 12/ 6/10
Whoever buys this is going to get one heck of a bargain. It surely does not look to have anything near 72,000miles on the odo. Sorry I'm not in the stage to buy a new vehicle because I would snatch this up.
bodyblue says:
11:52 AM, 12/ 6/10
What another great Ford in the IL fleet. No other products have done better than the Fords in the past few years, at any price point. Some have come close but there has been nother better.
cubbybear1 says:
02:14 PM, 12/ 6/10
I have been very impressed with the Fords that are/were in the long term fleet as of late.
the_big_al says:
02:47 PM, 12/ 6/10
Ya - I also think it's a pretty good bargain, even with 72K on it. I'm wishing I was in the market for this... and that the funds were available for it...
I wanted a GM Lambda, but I haven't been near as impressed with those as I have with the Flex. It also helped that I was able to drive around in a Flex for a couple of weeks as well.
rod_stewart says:
04:33 PM, 12/ 6/10
@igeekone:
"Sorry I'm not in the stage to buy a new vehicle because I would snatch this up"
No you wouldn't. Why do people feel compelled to say nonsense like this on the internet when someone's selling a car? "Bro, if my wife hadn't just had sextuplets I'd totally buy that right now, good luck with the sale!" "Great ride man, if this were next year and I actually had a job, I'd buy that right now, sight unseen!"
Listen people: no. Just no. Stop saying you would buy it. You wouldn't.
felonious says:
04:36 PM, 12/ 6/10
I totally would if I didn't already own one. :P
Also, editors, please make at least two more posts on the Flex before it's gone for good. I want to see it hit 300. :)
good_2_go says:
06:33 PM, 12/ 6/10
The ad says "one owner", but it doesn't mention being driven by a dozen people who never actually owned it.
froggersjc says:
07:17 PM, 12/ 6/10
Could you ever trust buying a vehicle from people who's job it is to basically abuse cars? Just saying.
areitu says:
12:14 AM, 12/ 7/10
Like a few others here, if I were in the market for a people-mover, I'd pick this one up!
Hopefully the freshly detailed car gets a few calls. Keeping a clean car seems to make a big difference in selling price.
@froggersjc insideline has candidly documented every mile of this car's life. In my book, that goes very far
06scooby says:
06:46 AM, 12/ 7/10
Froggersjc: I would normally say no, but the fact that this car has held up this well with all the "abuse" is a seriously strong endorsement for its durability...