Thinking inside the box

Consumer Reports News: April 05, 2007 12:44 PM

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The Ford Flex is called a "crossover" SUV, but really it's an all-wheel drive minivan with swing-out rear doors. Minivan…SUV, whatever floats your boat. And the Flex is a bit of a boat. It's got six- or seven-passenger seating, with some cargo space behind the third row. It looks at first almost like a super-sized Scion xB, exploring the possibilities of a cube, or in this case a brick, but with stylish horizontal grooves along the barn-door sides that effectively trick the eye. The version unveiled at the New York Auto Show had six-person 2/2/2 seating. The middle-row seats had a big center console between the chairs that contained an honest-to-goodness small refrigerator. Skip the fridge, and you can get a split-bench center row that seats three, bringing passenger-carrying to seven, a la minivan.

The Flex has a long wheelbase, almost 118 inches, and power comes from Ford's quite good 3.5-liter V6, here endowed with 260 hp. The transmission is a smooth-shifting 6-speed automatic. Front-wheel drive is standard, and AWD is optional. Prices have not been announced, but we'd estimate mid to high $30s.

Much has been made, including by Ford's new CEO Alan Mulally, about how many SUVs Ford needs to serve essentially the same market. The Flex brings Ford's "crossover" tally to four, including the Escape, Edge, and Taurus X, formerly called the Freestyle. On top of those, Ford also has the Explorer and Expedition full-frame haulers. It would seem that the Escape and Edge are dueling for one market while the Taurus X and Flex are fighting each other for next-size-up. The Edge would seem to have the "edge" over the Escape, since it's more modern, and the Flex could ease out the Taurus X, if push came to shove.

--Gordon Hard