Wife needs a new car/suv, give me some ideas.

[ttypewhite]

I ate turd pie and got a Grand Caravan for the wife when we were in the toddler, stroller stage. Not cool at all, but tremendously safe. I even changed my tone after a couple of years of owning it. It is a great vehicle and served it's purpose. Now the kids are older and there are no more strollers or car seats so I was hoping the wife wanted to get back into a sedan.............Wrong!!!
So I did the unthinkable and sold the van and brought home a Chrysler Pacifica without telling her squat. Keep in mind we almost never agree on these sort of things. It was a home run. It has some sport to it, and has all the toys the Caravan didn't, ie: heated seats, nav, sunroof, DVD etc. It also has AWD to give that safety element in the winter months. It was the best purchase I have made with a vehicle outside of my Buick. Ok, I am off my soap box......

 

[TurboDave]

So I went to the local Ford dealer and picked up some brouchures, so the wifey would have something to hold in her hand, and colors to look at...

She still likes the inside, but not outside of the Flex. Says she just doesn't like it. And she still won't eat the price difference for hanging a Lincoln body on the same vehicle... Luckily I picked up the one for the Explorer too. That looks niiiice!!!

Take a look.... http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...D1F9A9B16047FD86E67A2E24F129A217BFF49&first=0

So I was reading the powertrain options, Flex 3.5 Duratech/ 3.5 EcoBoost...MKT 3.7 Duratech/3.5 EcoBoost

Explorer uses a Ti-VCT 3.5L / But the EcoBoost that comes in the Explorer is a stinkin 2.0L 4Cyl.!!! WTF?
Can't get the towing package with a 4cyl, or 4wd...

Why on earth can't we get the good motor, or even the colors we want on the Explorer? Same thing when we got the Freestyle. She took black cuz the other color choices Sucked!!!

So since we don't Need need a newer vehicle you won't believe what she said,,, I'd be able to finish her TA in style if there's no car payment! Oh man! Visions of a crossbraced uni-sub connector, not having to buy the econo version TH-200 4R, 18's, and a sound system you can't turn past 3 are dancing in my head~!!! And I thought Christmas was over....

And of course, by the time I could finish, there'd even be enough no-car-payment money to put my butt back in a fairly nice GN that I could make the GNX clone I've always wanted from!

Riiiight... It's never this simple...
But I can hope, for now...

Is it the general shape of the Flex she doesn't like, or just some visual facets? Because, if you can hold off for a little longer, the 2013 Flex (while keeping the same body style) is getting some subtle grill/headlight changes that, IMHO, Really make it look SO MUCH sharper. I love the new 2013 look!!

And as far as the MKT being just a Lincoln body dropped on a Flex, well there's a lot of very significant differences between the two!! I've driven and researched both. I love the Flex, but the MKT is light years different. Sure it's 10,000 more on average. But..... Like I said, it's worth every penny. The ONLY disadvantage that I can think that the MKT has is a slightly reduced 3rd row head room.

I haven't driven the new 2.0 Ecoboost yet, but don't disregard quite so fast. Ford is putting their all behind that engine. It'll be an optional power plant in almost the entire auto and crossover line by 2013. I think the Explorer is a bit big for such a powertrain, but hey, you never know.

 

[TurboDave]

For some reason, the link isn't showing up in my previous post.


2013 Ford Flex - Bing Images

 

[turboclam]

I really like the looks of the new MKTs. I'd like to drive the eco-boost if I can find one around me. Anyone know if they come in AWD?

 

[BEATAV8]

We're planning on a new Flex here in about a year. Definitely going to have the AWD Ecoboost powertrain. Black with the silver trim looks really sharp, and the 2013 looks even better.

There are some quick Flex's on youtube.

It's going to have a high $40's sticker though... ouch!

Wish GM would make a cool AWD turbo SUV.... oh wait that was 20yrs ago. Too bad they're not smart enough to do it again. Guess I'll buy a new FORD!

 

[TurboDave]

I really like the looks of the new MKTs. I'd like to drive the eco-boost if I can find one around me. Anyone know if they come in AWD?

Yes, if you opt for the 3.5 ecoboost in either the MKT or Flex, they're ONLY offered with AWD.

 

[INEEDAGN]

I ate turd pie and got a Grand Caravan for the wife when we were in the toddler, stroller stage. Not cool at all, but tremendously safe. I even changed my tone after a couple of years of owning it. It is a great vehicle and served it's purpose. Now the kids are older and there are no more strollers or car seats so I was hoping the wife wanted to get back into a sedan.............Wrong!!!
So I did the unthinkable and sold the van and brought home a Chrysler Pacifica without telling her squat. Keep in mind we almost never agree on these sort of things. It was a home run. It has some sport to it, and has all the toys the Caravan didn't, ie: heated seats, nav, sunroof, DVD etc. It also has AWD to give that safety element in the winter months. It was the best purchase I have made with a vehicle outside of my Buick. Ok, I am off my soap box......

We LOVED our 07 pacifica! The ONLY bummer with us was that we had 2 car seats in the middle row, making the 3rd row inaccessible unless you moved car seats to the rear every time you took an extra passenger or 2. Ride, POWER, legroom in front and middle rows, and fuel economy were excellent. Make sure to get the 4.0 liter though, the 3.5 with the old 4 speed sucked more fuel and made less power. 08 was the last year for the pacifica. Minivans can be had with every option too, though i think chrysler discontinued the AWD. FWD is fine though if you keep good tires on the front.

 

[Rivical]

Is it the general shape of the Flex she doesn't like, or just some visual facets? Because, if you can hold off for a little longer, the 2013 Flex (while keeping the same body style) is getting some subtle grill/headlight changes that, IMHO, Really make it look SO MUCH sharper. I love the new 2013 look!!

And as far as the MKT being just a Lincoln body dropped on a Flex, well there's a lot of very significant differences between the two!! I've driven and researched both. I love the Flex, but the MKT is light years different. Sure it's 10,000 more on average. But..... Like I said, it's worth every penny. The ONLY disadvantage that I can think that the MKT has is a slightly reduced 3rd row head room.

I haven't driven the new 2.0 Ecoboost yet, but don't disregard quite so fast. Ford is putting their all behind that engine. It'll be an optional power plant in almost the entire auto and crossover line by 2013. I think the Explorer is a bit big for such a powertrain, but hey, you never know.

Yeah, she's just not into the shape of the Flex. It's a shame they got rid of the theater style seating that the Freestyle has. That would be nice in both the Flex and the MKT! And that resulting higher rear headroom/cargo height capacity has been handy a number of times during our ownership. No chance of getting a chick with a TA into a minivan, so that's out even if we weren't determined that we'd get another Ford... just looks like more of an eventual thing now. By the time we do need something new again Ford should have it right, for our desires to make a new purchase.

I'm thinking the same thing about the Explorer, a 4-cyl is too small. They even recognize that by not allowing 4wd or towing on it. They have a motor that could do it, they just won't put it where it belongs. Just doesn't look they've brought their A-game to their best looking product. MAN that's one beautiful looking SUV! But they don't even offer their best colors on it. I can see a limited edition color, but for the life of me I've never understood limiting customer color choices when there's a whole pallette available. 9 of the 31 and that's just the available truck colors, of which most available are black, white, and shades of grayishness. Some people like Color! Bright flashy color that doesn't necessarily reflect the demur nature of their needing a kid hauler. I can tell you that no matter what the charts say, Econolines are made in any stinkin color of the rainbow a customer wants, cuz a Corporate customer gets what they want. I guess my way of doing that will be to spend my money differently. I'm sure we'll enjoy building some new toys together and this time with the kids, just like we used to do before kids.

 

[WH1_T-Type]

I have a 2011 Ford Explorer with less then 4500 miles on it and yes I bought it new.

DO NOT BUY A FORD/LINCOLN WITH THE "MY-TOUCH" SYSTEM!!!!!!!!!!

This includes Explorer, Edge, MKT, ANYTHING with "My-touch"...it is the crappiest software you could ever believe. It has to do updates weekly or sooner JUST to not be buggy. It is so bad it has severly affected sales of the Edge. Ford does know about it and is planning an entire software overhaul sometime early this year...but until they do I CANNOT recommend Ford.

I've had the whole thing shut down and not work at all. This means you have no radio control, no climate control, no navigation, and a few other smaller things I can't recall that also run through it. We have it set to use Sirius and it SHOULD stay on that setting unless we change it, yet every few days we get in the car and the radio switches back to AM. The back-up camara will be slow to activate when its put in reverse, one day it just didn't work at all. The touch buttons will frequently not recognize your touch until you've attempted several times, and yes, that is with waiting for it to load. I've had to take it to the dealer twice to have it manually updated because the remote update just stopped working (it shouldn't have).

Also, the 2011 Explorer has a KNOWN wind noise issue for the upper right hand portion of the windshield..of course it took taking it back several times before we were told that. It is there now and we are in a rental...again.

I've had this Explorer for three months and it has been back three times for basically different aspects of the same crappy system. Mine has almost every single option so it was over 40k and to have these constant issues is extremly frustrating. Also, best in town milage we have seen so for is 16 flat. But that is with true ONLY city street driving and no faster then 45mph, so I do expect it will get better both with longer trips and with a few more miles (over 5k).

 

[Rivical]

Aint technology Grand!

Sounds like it's a vehicle specific thing though. So maybe knowing that, you could demand a few days with it before purchase? My dad has no troubles whatsoever. One of my buddies had a similar experience with his '11 F-150 tho. Same thing with multiple dealer trips for manual updates when it wouldn't respond. He hasn't had any issues with his since mid summer now though. Just got the txt confirming that I remembered that right. Good to hear that the tech is catching up to the product though!

I had some tech issues with my early production Focus SVT too. Took 4-trips over a few months to sort them out, but I've gotta tell you, in the ensuing 173K miles, I've never had a single issue and I figure it's only halfway through my expectation of running miles onto this thing! It's been so durable to my brutality that I can't just part with it. I've never had any other product take my DD beatings without ever failing me once! Doesn't eat a drop of oil, and the mileage hasn't gone down 1mpg since new, like they do when they get worn. Tomorrow I tear it down for it's second new suspension, and rear brakes.


So, while some hiccups might be annoying in the early ownership experience, if you intend to have something a long time it rewards you with minimal maintenance.
Now if you could just get choice of colors...

 

[WH1_T-Type]

Don't get me wrong, IF the update fixes all the tech issues I WILL rescind all statements about that...and IF they fix the wind noise this time, same for that. Imagine how annoying it is to hear that high pitched whistle on a car that has less then 5k miles...heck..I've never heard that on cars with less then 150k!!!!

Other then those things, all good. I just can't say nice things about them when it was so expensive and having these stupid issues.

 

[TurboDave]

I have a 2011 Ford Explorer with less then 4500 miles on it and yes I bought it new.

I've had this Explorer for three months and it has been back three times for basically different aspects of the same crappy system. Mine has almost every single option so it was over 40k and to have these constant issues is extremly frustrating. Also, best in town milage we have seen so for is 16 flat. But that is with true ONLY city street driving and no faster then 45mph, so I do expect it will get better both with longer trips and with a few more miles (over 5k).

Welcome to the world of buying in on a new re-design. It happens all across the industry! I, unfortunately learned the hard way also. My 08 Accord was a "new" generation also, and as such required multiple trips back to the stealership to correct issues that were common across the model line. It happens. Not just a Ford issue.