After over a month of test drives, debate over new vs. used, and more test drives than I care to admit we finally pulled the trigger on a 2009 Flex SEL yesterday.
This is a vehicle for the wife and will generally be used for her to drive back and forth to work and for kid hauling and vacations. We were looking for something that was not a minivan (goodbye in the near future to the 2001 in my sig). We drove a couple of SUV/Crossovers and just absolutely fell in love with the Flex's. The only real requirement my wife had was it had to have black leather and an acceptable exterior color. My requirements were much more manly. I had to know that it had oil changes and had not been abused.
The biggest challenge we faced was the lack of decent low mileage Flex's with black leather. I test drove one that had a trailer hitch that I could tell had been used hard. The trans didn't shift quite right and that scared me away from it even though it was a Ford Certified Pre Owned vehicle. Another Certified Pre Owned was out of alignment and had the dreaded exhaust smell. So imho the Certified Pre Owned program is a marketing ploy and nothing else.
The 2009 that we chose has 45,000 miles and runs the exact same as the new ones that we drove. I made sure and showed up at the stealership without notice and did not allow the sales rep to start the car, let it warm up and then drive it around to us. Everytime I called about a used car they always wanted to know when I was coming in so they could have the car warm. This one had not been started in a few days and it was below 32 degrees when I turned the key. She started right up and had little to no valve noise and the engine purred like kitten. Within 10 minutes of test driving I knew this was a great vehicle, drove straight, stopped straight, shifted perfectly, and no exhaust fumes (a real problem in some Flex's). 5 hours after we walked into the dealership we finally drove off the lot. I tend to negotiate a bit more than average folks.
So now I am itching to work on the car
. This is my first ever vehicle with a trans drain plug!!! Yay! And the plugs will not be hard at all to service when we finally get her up to 75k. Oil filter location looks a little tough, but do-able.
The wife loves the Flex, easily the most comfortable driving position of any car we drove for both me (6'2" 200lbs and her 5'6" 120lbs). She also loves the ride, nice and smooth, very smooth shifting, almost no engine or road noise. And the toys! Bluetooth phone connectivity for her iphone or a direct line in if she so chooses to play music. A 6 disc changer (who uses CDs anymore?) answer: me. I always load a few favorites just in case other technology fails. The leather in the Flex is very high quality and the black has not faded or worn at all in this one or any of the others that we looked at which was very encouraging. Heated seats are just plain nice, never thought that I would want them but this winter has made me realize that my backside enjoys getting toasted when it is 20 degrees outside. A flip down DVD player between the front and middle rows should be entertaining for the kids. This one also came with the panoramic sun roof, pretty cool but totally unnecessary.
I think I found a good one and hope to report back on it in 10 years when she is approaching 175k.
This is a vehicle for the wife and will generally be used for her to drive back and forth to work and for kid hauling and vacations. We were looking for something that was not a minivan (goodbye in the near future to the 2001 in my sig). We drove a couple of SUV/Crossovers and just absolutely fell in love with the Flex's. The only real requirement my wife had was it had to have black leather and an acceptable exterior color. My requirements were much more manly. I had to know that it had oil changes and had not been abused.
The biggest challenge we faced was the lack of decent low mileage Flex's with black leather. I test drove one that had a trailer hitch that I could tell had been used hard. The trans didn't shift quite right and that scared me away from it even though it was a Ford Certified Pre Owned vehicle. Another Certified Pre Owned was out of alignment and had the dreaded exhaust smell. So imho the Certified Pre Owned program is a marketing ploy and nothing else.
The 2009 that we chose has 45,000 miles and runs the exact same as the new ones that we drove. I made sure and showed up at the stealership without notice and did not allow the sales rep to start the car, let it warm up and then drive it around to us. Everytime I called about a used car they always wanted to know when I was coming in so they could have the car warm. This one had not been started in a few days and it was below 32 degrees when I turned the key. She started right up and had little to no valve noise and the engine purred like kitten. Within 10 minutes of test driving I knew this was a great vehicle, drove straight, stopped straight, shifted perfectly, and no exhaust fumes (a real problem in some Flex's). 5 hours after we walked into the dealership we finally drove off the lot. I tend to negotiate a bit more than average folks.
So now I am itching to work on the car
The wife loves the Flex, easily the most comfortable driving position of any car we drove for both me (6'2" 200lbs and her 5'6" 120lbs). She also loves the ride, nice and smooth, very smooth shifting, almost no engine or road noise. And the toys! Bluetooth phone connectivity for her iphone or a direct line in if she so chooses to play music. A 6 disc changer (who uses CDs anymore?) answer: me. I always load a few favorites just in case other technology fails. The leather in the Flex is very high quality and the black has not faded or worn at all in this one or any of the others that we looked at which was very encouraging. Heated seats are just plain nice, never thought that I would want them but this winter has made me realize that my backside enjoys getting toasted when it is 20 degrees outside. A flip down DVD player between the front and middle rows should be entertaining for the kids. This one also came with the panoramic sun roof, pretty cool but totally unnecessary.
I think I found a good one and hope to report back on it in 10 years when she is approaching 175k.
