Comments on: Ford offering up to $3,000 in incentives on Flex

By: bigp

bigp — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 02:22:30 +0000

well the 3k helps sell them

By: tyler_is_aero_tt

tyler_is_aero_tt — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 06:59:01 +0000

Oh, and please just give up and bring your European models here!!!!!

By: larsim

larsim — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:00:26 +0000

Dear Ford,

The only freaking way that I will ever drive this vehicle, is if instead of me paying you, you pay me. And neither me or my ego are cheap. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be caught dead driving this vehicle.

If interested in my offer please reply here.

Sincerely,
Larsim

By: MercMark

MercMark — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 21:57:39 +0000

Still can’t afford one.

By: tyler_is_aero_tt

tyler_is_aero_tt — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 21:52:14 +0000

Seriously why did they think it would be their savior? You would think with a falling economy and high gas prices it would be an overpriced boxy SUV/crossover. But I saw one in public an honestly I liked it but probably not the average family looking for a people hauler.

By: yarddog82abn

yarddog82abn — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 18:43:42 +0000

You know I saw one up close this past weekend at the O.C. auto show, is looks real good, the inside look better then my brother in law’s R Class Benz, (the limited up cores) the price is a bit to high, but from the buzz just about every one els liked them, but like people where saying it’s just not the best time for this car…

By: tzu13

tzu13 — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 18:18:42 +0000

4) Fire your North American design team and let Ford Europe handle it all. Styling a vehicle does not mean making it a box with wheels.

By: golf4me

golf4me — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 18:12:19 +0000

Note to Ford:

1) Lower the price on this thing. It’s Lincoln-priced.
2) Change the grille. Please.
3) Improve your warranties

By: sharpie

sharpie — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:55:34 +0000

Hybrid is a nice idea, but with the price already high, it won’t do the Flex any good. What the Flex need is a slimmed down version with a reasonably fuel efficient 4-cyl, FWD and lower starting MSRP. Think Scion xB, then you have something. I know the Flex is bigger than the xB, but it would benefit from a 2.4L-2.5L 4 bangers. Just steal them from Mazda. That’ll work.

By: A4

A4 — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:35:26 +0000

theres nothing wrong with this car, its priced a little high for a Ford but its pretty spot on in the market… there just is no market right now. People arent buying new vehicles and that isnt helping their case.

By: beatusmongous

beatusmongous — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:24:57 +0000

I like the Flex, but the price is just way too high. I’ve seen two on the road, and they looked good.

Tom, if you think the Flex is big, it’s smaller than my Nissan Quest, in EVERY dimension, too. Actually, my Quest is lighter than the Flex, but my quest is longer, taller and wider than the Flex. Oh, it was also much cheaper…

By: howsmydriving

howsmydriving — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:19:56 +0000

Death to Flex. Death to anything with Volvo DNA.

By: johnnycanuck

johnnycanuck — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:50:59 +0000

The first Edsel of the new millennium. Congrats Ford.

By: TomF

TomF — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:47:50 +0000

In person, it looks as big as a school bus. Much bigger (and less relevant to my household) than I thought. From the early concept art I figured it’d turn out as a slightly bigger Element, and I was interested. But having seen it, no way.

We’ve been over this before, but it didn’t help that the Flex was stealth-launched with barely any marketing that I could see until the last few weeks. I’ve yet to see one on the road. I only saw one in the flesh (?) for the first time at a dealership last week.

Maybe Ford couldn’t see the economic crisis coming, but it sure as hell saw fuel prices spiking, so this flop isn’t totally an act of God. It’s mainly dumb product planning by people who don’t read the papers.

I can’t fault the edgy styling. At least they tried SOMETHING, which is more than you can say about the Fusion, Taurus, Explorer, etc.

By: autonut

autonut — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:45:53 +0000

Diesel electric would cost enormous amount. At this point it would be cheaper to shut off the line. They are running negative numbers on this one: vehicle is less then year old and requires 3 large in incentives.

By: tastyorange

tastyorange — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:37:31 +0000

Very sharp car… but maybe if they did something really radical and made it a diesel-electric hybrid and it got over 30 mpg… it might sell a little better! It’s a heavy car! Over 4600 lbs with AWD. I guess most people figure if they are going to buy such a porker, get an SUV or minivan.

Maybe they should have made it more mid-size and lighter. People who are attracted to such styling I think tend to also like smaller vehicles… I don’t know…

By: Lariat Luxury Locomotive Liner No.3

Lariat Luxury Locomotive Liner No.3 — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:30:39 +0000

I actually like the Flex, but its launch timing and real-world applications are now out of sync with the rest of the world. Now, it’s a Ford fumble at best.

By: 6ix

6ix — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:11:01 +0000

Maybe, just maybe, they shouldn’t have given it such retro styling. They should have just let the european side of Ford design it. Then, it probably would have been a success.