2009 Ford Flex: Taking a flyer

Journey to flea market in U.S. chocolate capital shows off capabilities of Ford's family hauler

Oct 18, 2008

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Special to the Star

In 1955, a chapter of the Antique Automobile Club of America based in Hershey, Pa., decided to hold a car show. Alongside the vehicles on display, seven people lined up next to the nearby sports stadium and sold a few parts.

The stadium's still there, as is the annual show, but now there are about 9,000 vintage auto vendor spots around it. And for the past 15 years, I've been going each October to spend the three days it takes to see each booth and check out the hundreds of antique cars – some so rare they're the only ones left – that come in for the Saturday show.

I take the Designated Passenger and our friend Jack, our luggage and the Radio Flyer wagon we use for hauling purchases. On the way back, we also have to pack what we buy. A compact car isn't going to cut it. And since Jack and the DP are Hot Wheels collectors, and insist on stopping at every Wal-Mart, Big K, Toys-R-Us and Target store along the way, we want something that's easy to enter and exit over the five-day, 2,300-km trip.

The vehicle I took this year was the Ford Flex SEL all-wheel-drive model, which proved pretty much ideal on all counts. It drives like a car, has three rows of seats and offers almost the roominess of a minivan without the soccer-mom stigma.

Its looks aren't universally popular – a friend calls it "a Mini on steroids" – but I like the slab-sided styling, and I think a polarizing design is better than a boring one. It also looks smaller than it is, and more importantly, drives like it; I may need the interior space, but I don't want to feel like I'm docking a cruise ship.

We loaded up the night before, folding the third-row seats flat (with all seats down, including the folding front passenger seat, the cargo length is a maximum 297 cm – just shy of 10 feet). At 4 a.m., I was in the driver's seat and heading down the 401 to the border crossing at Gananoque. The guys insist on the early start, although they generally fall asleep around Watertown, N.Y.

My thoroughly optioned tester had a second-row DVD player, and so in went a car-chase movie.

It also had a refrigerator hidden inside the second-row console. It holds seven drink cans, and unlike Dodge's Chill Zone, which only routes the air conditioning into the cubby, Flex's unit is a real refrigerator that'll go to 5C to chill cans, or to -5C, which will keep ice-cream treats frozen.

At an extra $650, it might be too much for just in-town use. But we were grateful for it on the 10-hour trip down, and especially after a day's walk in the swap meet in the unseasonably warm weather. The unit is insulated enough that the soda stayed refreshingly cool even after the fridge was off for seven hours.

Flex is new enough that we only saw one other during the trip, and ours got a considerable amount of attention whenever I stopped.

The Flex returned a respectable 12.3 L/100 km, given that it was fully loaded and I kept up with traffic that doesn't comprehend speed limits.

After many hours with it, I found a few things I really liked that I might have otherwise overlooked. First up is the Easy Fuel system, which uses a filler-mounted flapper valve instead of a gas cap. Just insert the nozzle, pump the gas, remove the nozzle and you're done.

I also wondered why Ford continues to use a keypad combination lock system alongside the keyless entry fob – until the guys were able to get into the van to load it up while I was still in the hotel room with the keys. It's a pretty cool keypad, too, with numbers that only light up once you touch the window frame.

What didn't I like? The seats got hard after five hours straight. The huge doors are great for loading, but you have to be careful opening them in tight parking spots. And the 3.5 L V6, while fine for in-town driving, lacks sharp acceleration on the highway. I discovered this while trying to get around rubberneckers at a freeway fender-bender, with one driver stopping dead in front of me and a truck coming up behind. People who don't understand fast cars ask why velocity matters. This is why.

The Flex came back loaded with several items for my taxi memorabilia collection, a pair of carburetors for Jack, several bags of Hot Wheels and, of course, chocolate from Hershey's.

Toronto Star