Comments on: Ford names Fairlane-based crossover “Flex”

By: ironpony42

ironpony42 — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 01:44:29 +0000

The Stig called it on this one!

It’s a weak car with a weak name for a weak market from a weak manufacture. Hmmm… The Ford Weak.

Man, Ford need to keep it together. They failed to deliver me the turbo diesel Ford Bronco concept from a couple years back. That was a great design. Then they show us this POS with the Fairlane label on it. Fairlane is a CAR. They should have named that “Interceptor” concept Fairlane, or Galaxy. This perticular product deserves to have the crappy name “FLEX”. Crappy name for a crappy car. Way to go Ford.

By: The Stig

The Stig — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 20:29:32 +0000

Fuggedaboutit.

By: Get Real

Get Real — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 18:47:43 +0000

Fr. FoMoCo Fresident:

Flease Feep “F” Famed Fars Foming, Fhe Fublic Foves Fhem.

Fou Far Fo Fmart.

By: Robert

Robert — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 22:31:20 +0000

First, the name was not chosen because it had an “F.” Second, the Taurus X is going away after the Flex launches. Ford’s “crossover” line will consist of the 5 seater Edge, the vaguely minivan-ish Flex and a seven-seater Explorer that is a direct Highlander competitor by 2010 (from what has been stated in various forums and articles).

The name aside, this could be a very good vehicle for Ford. What you see with the concept is basically what you’re getting in the production vehicle. They’ve needed a competitive people mover (whatever you want to call it) and the architecture its built on has the components to create such a vehicle.

Ford’s recent launches have been extremely good. The recall on the 6.4SD is the only recall issued for any of their new products in a long time (maybe since the launch of their Explorer in 2005). There have been comments that Ford’s dealers are getting it too as they pay very close attention to every minor vibration that people report. I would expect this launch to be no different and Ford’s quality numbers to continue to climb.

No, this won’t be a sports vehicle. It won’t be the coolest thing since you did a burnout in your ‘78 Firebird in the school parking lot. What this vehicle will be is a well-built family mover – and probably a very good one at that.

By: Jon Luc

Jon Luc — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 03:38:20 +0000

Shark, actually, no, they’re not!

By: autonutt

autonutt — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 02:21:52 +0000

“Doesn’t make it sound like it has a whole lot of structural integrity.

Comment by FallGuy, posted on March22 at 6:33 pm”

LOL FallGuy rocks! After the Flex debuts, we should expect the Ford Cowlshake, Rattle and Jounce to follow quickly after.

By: autonutt

autonutt — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 01:51:27 +0000

Come on Mullally.. I thought we were giving up on the “F” names, especially with the truckish crossovers… shouldn’t it have an “E” name? Or better yet, bring back another recently departed Ford name.. Contour would make more sense on something this oddly shaped and strangely overdetailed than it did on the boring, slab-sided Mondeo. Or why not Escort? If this is truly a minivan replacement, that makes sense because many men that own minivans presumably have families and thus troll for hookers when they can get away!

By: Menace

Menace — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 23:31:04 +0000

Fugly

The best description I have for this ugly piece of sheet metal is a Pittsburge Pirate ball cap.

By: 0GSharK6

0GSharK6 — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 23:00:30 +0000

Tahoes are actually pretty reliable.

I think they should drop the Taurus X and throw this out there instead. This looks ten times better. The Taurus X has decent ergonomics but it just looks stupid IMHO to make 2786 different crossovers under the same brand. Maybe offer this as a step up under the Mercury name brand instead.

By: jackjimturkey

jackjimturkey — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 22:47:47 +0000

Foul
Fall-off

The vehicle is of probably above-honda quality, but it looks ugly, and I don’t understand the name. If you tell me it has 8,129,810,402,327,719,291,136,292,333,533,333,335 ways of arranging the seating, then the name “Flex” gets better, but still not good

By: CTS DRIVER

CTS DRIVER — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 22:43:31 +0000

i do like the larger rovers theyre great, but the freelander has Ford written all over it. other than the original bronco there is not a ford offroader thats worth a crap, and i dont want to hear about how great of an offroader the pick up truck is, thats not what im talkin about.

By: Vertical

Vertical — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 22:29:09 +0000

Has anyone who visits this site ever looked at who’s on Ford’s or GM’s board of directors? The ONLY people on either board with any automotive background are Bill Jr. and Wagoner. It’s no wonder they have so many problems. These people might be smart, but I don’t see a shred of evidence of anything automotive in their backgroungs. They’re accountants, drug pushers (drug companies), and other “business” people. Toyota doesn’t release that type of info, but I have no doubt their board is stacked with engineers.

By: europerspective

europerspective — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 19:55:58 +0000

Freelander has always been substandard but a lot of people are willing to put up with mediocrity to own a 4×4 with a Land Rover badge. What I can’t work out is why they would put up with it to own a phoney off-roader with a blue oval on it?

By: terk184

terk184 — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 17:34:44 +0000

How about “Doh!”

By: Jon Luc

Jon Luc — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 17:17:06 +0000

Could be worse, could have been a Chevy Tahoe or a Range Rover.

By: CTS DRIVER

CTS DRIVER — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 16:58:38 +0000

my buddy just bought a freelander and it sucks the biggest ass ever, i hate the hell out of it. its dissapointing its so crappy, the seats are hard rubber, the dash has more plastic than all of gm`s line up put together, the removeable roof leaked the first day he bought it, it has no power the breaks hardly stop it. its like land rovers cruel joke. i told him to test drive an exterra. now here is the worst part of all; his wife lives in australia soon to be an american. he at first bought a liberty, sent his wife the photos and she MADE him take it back and go get the land rover instead. no matter how many studies i have shown him about how ****ty land rover is here in the states, it didnt matter the wife from 10,000 miles away has the same mindset about american cars sucking. I would have told her to shut her damn trap.

By: buenos

buenos — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 16:28:08 +0000

Oh.. how about Floozie – for the discerning driver of low moral character (deantj comes to mind)

or given size, weight and handling characteristics of most Ford products, the bovien inspired Flossie…

By: maximus

maximus — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 14:17:08 +0000

on second thought, the front looks like an LR3

By: dl_caldwell

dl_caldwell — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 13:53:31 +0000

We need to see the final design before passing judgement, period. The crossover concept is very simple. When asked to describe what they want in a SUV most people described a minivan with AWD without the styling stigma of a van and without the gas guzzling stigma of a SUV.

This complex task has put all the automakers hard at work trying to figure out exactly what this vehicle will look like. The results can be seen in the Outback, Pacifica, Freestyle, Edge, Pilot, Highlander and Acadia. Now “Flex” is added to the list. These are not enthusiasts cars, so they wont generate much hyperventilation here. However, this is a dynamic segment and of critical importance to all the automakers involved.

By: HoosierHero

HoosierHero — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 13:09:08 +0000

I like this concept. It beats the “Taurus X” crap. I also think they should have kept the Fairlane name. Oh well…

By: Renton

Renton — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 11:54:05 +0000

I need to see the interior before I pass final judgement.

At least its not the same old thing.

By: fan

fan — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 08:53:39 +0000

am i the only one who likes the fairlane concept? as much as the three-bar-frontgrille bores me, on this one it looks kinda good. and the name fairlane sounds ok, too.

ford should just have the guts to build it like this.

about the taurus x, edge and so on… no clue as to which markets ford is hoping to sell them – at a profit

By: Jon

Jon — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 06:38:32 +0000

Futile.

By: Blakkarr

Blakkarr — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 06:25:49 +0000

I just can’t touch this one. It’s too horrible…

Ford FUBAR’d
Ford Flabby-@$$
Ford Forgotwhatgoodcarsare
Ford …

Forget it I’ll go GM. They are at least making a real effort and making headway too.

By: Adrio

Adrio — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 06:10:31 +0000

I dont get this name at all. Flex? This car has a retro feel to it. Why name it something trying to sound modern? Thumbs down for the name. Good lookin truck tho.

By: A4

A4 — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 04:31:56 +0000

dont encourage him

By: Impulsive

Impulsive — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 03:50:19 +0000

“deantj”, you rule.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 02:59:08 +0000

It’s like this…

You’re one of the top auto manufacturers in the world and you’re almost to the end zone… then something happens and you FUMBLE 12 billion dollars (in one year!).

Ouch.

Ford Fumble.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 02:53:11 +0000

Fairlady. Whoops… Nissan’s got that one.

Ok then… How bout the Ford Flipper.

Fester?

Fumble. Yeah… that’s it… the New Ford Fumble!

By: global_lightning

global_lightning — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 01:40:13 +0000

Flop

FooBar

Funky

Frak

Feeble

Fleabag

Fuzzball

By: 0GSharK6

0GSharK6 — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 00:06:52 +0000

The fact that anyone even gets the idea that someone needs another option alongside Taurus X and Edge depresses me. Are people really that much of sheep that Ford needs to slap together THREE similar-sized “crossover” SUVs to choose from, and yet there’s this supposedly neat Euro-Focus that we won’t get?

I kind of think the whole “crossover” idea is just a marketing gimmick. Yeah, they’re using car chassis, but they still handle like a brick.

By: F451

F451 — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 23:37:06 +0000

Too bad, but it looks like Ford is not hitting the right notes. I did see an Edge, and it wasn’t too bad, but with Ford teetering, I would not buy one for fear Ford is on the way out. I wonder whether Saleen will try to get the rights to the Mustang name?

By: FallGuy

FallGuy — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 23:33:42 +0000

Doesn’t make it sound like it has a whole lot of structural integrity.

By: LamborghiniZ

LamborghiniZ — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 22:21:11 +0000

cool name…NOT

By: CTS DRIVER

CTS DRIVER — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 21:58:58 +0000

funky ford madina