Ford Flexes, but can it muscle the competition?

This last week I’ve been test driving the all-new 2009 Ford Flex. And so far I must say I am enjoying this car. It has lots of elbow room, plenty of muscle and can carry a fair amount of gear or people. But not all is well in Ford Land and this vehicle, as sharp looking as it may be, epitomizes a big part of the problem

For one thing, the Flex is only available with Ford’s 3.5-litre Duratec V6 engine. In city driving with the all-wheel-drive model, we’re talking a punishing 14 litres of fuel for every 100 km driven. The official rating for city mileage is 13.5 L/100 km on this model, but of course the published fuel economy is always overly optimistic.

With numbers like that, it’s hard to imagine too many people clamouring to own one with the escalating price of gas. For 2010, Ford does plan to introduce a new “Ecoboost” turbocharged 3.5-litre engine which will offer better performance and use less fuel, but I still think there ought to be a 4-cylinder or hybrid version offered for these times. Ford’s Escape Hybrid is an excellent us of gas-electric technology and I can’t understand why the company has been so slow to make greater use of hybrid engines.

The Flex also has another big albatross around it’s neck and that is the price. At $33,354 for the base FWD SEL and up to $40,474 for the Limited AWD version, the Flex is far above competing vehicles like the Dodge Journey, which seats the same number of people, starts around $20,000 and comes with a 4-cylinder engine choice.

The Journey may not be as Funky as the Flex, but as gas prices go higher, fuel economy is quickly becoming the number one concern for new car buyers