Ford Flex: Gas Mileage and Packing

Leg 1 of our vacation trip is over, and here's the damage:

• 812 miles of driving
• 13 hours (split over two days) in the car with the wife and three kids
• An average of 21.6 mpg
• Roughly 39 gallons of gas consumed
• Average cost: $3.96 a gallon
• Total fuel cost: $153.87
• Highest gas price seen on this leg: $4.22 a gallon in Honeoye, N.Y. (south of Rochester)
• Lowest gas price: $3.61 a gallon in Perrysburg, Ohio

Those fuel figures aren't too bad for an SUV of this size. It looks like it's a fairly heavy car, and all those bells and whistles probably drag down the mpg. Those figures (I got about 16 mpg in heavy city traffic on the afternoon before the trip and hit 21.6 on the open highway) are very comparable to what I get in my family's minivan, a 2004 Kia Sedona.

Editor's Note: The test vehicle is an all-wheel drive SEL model rated at 16/22 mpg city/highway. Considering the Suburban Dad was traveling with driver, four passengers and considerable luggage, while using air conditioning, 21.6 mpg is a very good result. The Dodge Journey with AWD is also rated at 16/22 mpg while the Mazda CX-9 AWD is rated at 15/21 mpg. For the record an AWD Flex weighs 4640 lbs. vs. the CX-9 AWD's 4528 lbs.

As for packing the Flex, the split third row allows you to create a flat surface by flipping over one or both halves of the bench. We needed one of the third-row seats for one of our children, so we loaded suitcases and other bags next to it.

There was also enough space behind the upright third-row seat for two suitcases and some smaller bags. Even as big as the Flex is, it was still a snug fit, and I think my kids regretted filling up their personal bags with as much stuff as they did. The two kids sitting in the second row (they rotated at different stops) were always pretty comfortable; the kid stuck in the way back usually had plenty to say about his or her situation, and none of it good.

Our next car is the Dodge Journey, which is like the Flex in that it's an all-new three-row model, but it's also considerably smaller in size, so packing it for our trip down to Gettysburg, Pa., should be a challenge. Check back and see how it goes. Plus, if you've got suggestions on how to double up on space in packing suitcases, we're all ears.

The Suburban Dad's Vacation blogging

Comments

[Cj]

How roomy was the third row? Was it really tight like in most midsize CUVs or was as spacious as a minivans third row? The Flex is as long as most minivans at 200+in so it would be very surprising if it was too small.

[Dave T.]

IMHO i think the third row is better than most 3 row crossovers but not as roomy as a minivan, no. The flex is 201 inches long yes. Compared to a Honda Odyssey it has less interior room and cargo room. BUT it has available AWD and, well, it doesn't look like a minivan.

[Cj]

I know when I first sat in the Taurus X, I was surprised by how much legroom was in the 3rd row. It felt like more than my Pilot's third row and the seats were much more comfortable.

[Suburban Dad]

Cj, it was more like a minivan than it was like the third row of an SUV. The complaints from the kids came more from the headrests (they didn't like how they felt against their head) and from the luggage packed alongside them on the lowered third-row seat. The stadium seating for the third row was a big hit, but the closed-in feeling didn't help. They might also have enjoyed it more if they'd remembered their pillows.

[Cj]

Good to here that the Flex is roomy. Even though GM's crossovers are also 200+in long I thought their 3rd row accommodations were a little pathetic. They were nearly the same as the Pilot which was a foot shorter. The Flex should do well with families, and that's pretty good real-world fuel economy for a vehicle as big as the Flex. The Acadia gets no where near it's EPA economy in the real world. Most people got around 16-18 mpg hwy and one person got 12 mpg in the city for their Acadia.

[Capeplates]

Looking at the stats makes this UK citizen envious. Translated into UK prices the average cost of fuel would be $10.46 a gallon and the overall cost would increase to $406 - you dont know how lucky you are!

[J]

Makes me wondered why didn't Toyota bring the Alphard here if the Flex does sell.

[DodgeFan]

Well the pound is so strong against the dollar so you really get penalized in the UK. Your gas should actually be cheaper since most oil is still priced in dollars a barrel. I wondered how much tax though they add to each liter of gas though.