Tag Archives: station wagon

Fat Ford Flex

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In seeing some early prototypes of the Ford Flex I thought it looked goofy. But when it was put into production and out on the streets I thought it could be a cool alternative to SUVs. It’s not quite a station wagon, but not a giant monster truck. It’s stylish and boxy, has tons of cargo room without having a super-high center of gravity. Pretty cool.

ford flex in times square

The NY Times wrote a favorable review but after looking at the specs I was turned off. This oversized Scion xB weighs in at 4,400-4,600 lbs and is (under)powered by a 262hp, 3.5 liter V6.

The base model is front-wheel drive. Hasn’t Ford learned anything from the success of the Chrysler 300/ Dodge Charger? Build some cool RWD cars! Gas mileage for the 4WD version is 16city/22hwy. Embarrassing for a V6.

Oh, Flex, I had high hopes. But I should have figured Ford wouldn’t be able to build a wagon that wasn’t overweight and guzzled gas. It must be hard to break from the institutional addiction to SUVs. Good effort though.

Endangered Species: Wagons from Japan

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japanese wagonsIn reading a review of the new Mazda 6 today I found a disappointing fact; it won’t be offered as a wagon anymore. A couple of years ago Subaru also stopped offering a wagon option for their sporty sedan, the Legacy, but kept the rough-&-tumble Outback. Honda stopped making the Accord wagon in the US in 1997.

Too bad, because this leaves US consumers no good choices for carrying lots of cargo besides a minivan or an SUV. The “crossover” SUV market has grown enough to push wagons out of business. But every crossover I see has less horizontal cargo space than a mid-size car’s trunk. The vertical space is taller, so there’s more cargo blocking the rear view. This is why they need to equip these vehicles with electronic detection and back-up cameras.

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