R.I.P Ford Flex: The Last Great Big American Station Wagon Is Dead
The discontinued family hauler is heading to the campground in the sky.
Ford has announced that it is officially discontinuingthe utterly useful, funkily stylish, and slick-driving Flex. The 2019 model year will be the not-quite-an-SUV's last, so that Ford can make room in its schedule to pump out more actual crossovers and SUVs, which it says are more popular. Read between the lines there, and you can see that Ford is tacitly admitting that, since its introduction for 2008, the Flex was and is a station wagon, not an SUV. And that is exactly why we'll miss the discontinued Ford Flex more than many ofthe other vehicles dying for 2020.
Even Ford seems bummed that it's taking the Flex out of commission. In a curious press release labeled "Retrospective: Ford Flex Stood Out as Bold, Fun, and Fashionable in a Crowded Minivan/SUV Segment," Ford lays out a host of examples citing the Flex's inherent greatness. "With its formula of offering a family-size interior and amenities on a platform that drove more like a car than a full-size SUV, Flex's unique, innovative look—created by designers with backgrounds in fashion instead of cars and trucks—made a statement." Indeed, although for a group of designers so out of touch with the realities of the car industry circa the mid-2000s, they sure did whip together a striking homage to the huge American station wagons that hauled families for decades before ceding their uncool image to the minivan.
We won't argue with any praise for the Flex, whether it's from Ford or not, although we disagree with labeling the Flex a "minivan/SUV." What does Ford think it is talking about? The original Chrysler Pacifica? Or Mercedes-Benz's unfortunate R-class? The Flex may have been generally shaped like those oddballs, but it was appealingly boxy, with retro-futuristic sheetmetal. The format was nonetheless the perfect answer to the question of what sort of relatively fuel- and space-efficient vehicle American families needed during the gas-price spikes of the latter aughts. Buyers could even specify Ford's original twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6 engine, a 365-hp stonker that gave the Flex a neo-big-block-wagon vibe. While the Joneses in 2008 may have been hiding their Hummers, Tahoes, and Expeditions in shame from the prying eyes of the Toyota Priusati, a Flex buyer could proudly park their low-slung, roomy new Ford next to the foreclosure signs in their driveways without fear of being eco-terrorized.
Since those dark days, the Flex has lived in a virtual sales shadow. Some early consumer interest gave way to an indifference matched by Ford itself, which didn't really promote the Flex and only treated it to a light refresh for 2013. The U.S. economy rebounded, as did the American public's thirst for ever-larger crossovers and SUVs. Ford's own three-row Explorer, essentially a taller, heavier, no roomier SUV version of the Flex aged similarly ungracefully, saw similarly few updates over the same time period, and nevertheless outsold the Flex by several magnitudes. In fact, the old Explorer's sales kept growing throughout its long life span—topping out the year before Ford rolled out its latest Explorer on a fancy new rear-wheel-drive platform. That was because the Explorer fit the mold of Americans' vehicular desires. It looked like an SUV, therefore it sold. The Flex looked like, well, a wagon, and so it didn't. Never mind that it was just as useful as an Explorer. The Flex was too damn smart for its own good. With its discontinuation, the great American station wagon again heads to join the family vacation in the sky, slayed this time by the SUV, not the minivan.
Read MoreEvery Car, Truck, and SUV Discontinued for 2020
The Flex Was Just About Perfect from the Beginning
A lifelong car enthusiast, I stumbled into this line of work essentially by accident after discovering a job posting for an intern position at Car and Driver while at college. My start may have been a compelling alternative to working in a University of Michigan dining hall, but a decade and a half later, here I am reviewing cars; judging our Car, Truck, and Performance Vehicle of the Year contests; and shaping MotorTrend’s daily coverage of the automotive industry.
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