Is it the Perfect Time for the Ford Flex?
A story on CNN.com today brought up the age-old conundrum for some shoppers: Despite really needing a minivan because it has more space than an SUV with better fuel-efficiency, they fall back on the “I don’t want to drive a minivan” excuse for paying higher prices at the pump. They just can’t give up the utility of the old body-on-frame SUVs for hauling family and cargo, and we guess it’s just that uncool to drive a minivan.
Maybe that means Ford is in the right place at the right time with its all-new Flex crossover going on sale later this summer. Compared to the current truck-based Ford Explorer, the Flex makes a lot of sense. It will save owners roughly $600 a year in gas with fuel economy of 17/24 mpg city/highway, versus the 14/20 of a V-6 Explorer.
The Flex has almost identical cargo capacity to the Explorer as well. Ford has said the next Explorer will be a crossover like the Flex, but with such similar usable space, we’re wondering if there really will be a next Explorer.
Before you think we’re totally sold on the Flex, it is virtually identical in terms of mileage to GM’s trio of crossovers — the SUV-looking Saturn Outlook, GMC Acadia and Buick Enclave — but with slightly less cargo room. It’s interesting to note that only the Enclave has maintained sales momentum. The Outlook has performed pretty poorly since it launched. The Chevy Tahoe SUV — which saw sales decline 40% last month — still outsold the most popular of the trio, the GMC Acadia. That’s not good news for Ford.
And what of the minivans? How does the Flex stand up to the standard-bearer of that segment, the Honda Odyssey? It actually gets slightly better mileage than the base V-6 in the Odyssey, but Honda’s displacement on demand V-6 option just barely tops Ford’s number. The Odyssey has significantly more cargo room than the Flex, however. We’d think the all-wheel-drive offering in the Flex would be its biggest selling point to minivan drivers. The Toyota Sienna is the only minivan that offers AWD.
We’re left with a mixed bag. Anti-minivan SUV loyalists facing sky-high gas prices might see the Flex as the perfect fix for their situation. Starting at $28,295, the Flex comes in just below the GM crossovers and is a few grand more than the base Odyssey and Explorer. But in tough times, will families go with an all-new vehicle no matter the gas savings, or will they save their pennies until another alternative comes along?
