A friend of mind asked me the other day, “What about the Ford Flex?”. Admittedly, I was unaware that Ford Flex was entering production. Okay, Ford deserves some credit for bringing the Flex to market. It’s almost cool. But as much as I want to like it, I can’t quite bring myself to heap praise on it. For one, I doubt Ford would have had the guts to bring this to market if there was no such thing as the new Mini or the Honda Element, because that’s what the Flex basically is: a Mini crossed with an Element. For another, the interior doesn’t quite carry the flavor of the exterior. Once inside it feels too much like any other car, while the exterior is quite differentiated from other cars. It almost looks more like a Land Rover than a Ford. And, I don’t know why U.S. automakers are so enthralled with putting detail lines all over the surfaces of vehicles. I’ll reserve further judgment until I see it in person.
Additionally, the new Lincoln MKS is quite nice. Too bad it’s an ‘09 and not an ‘08. It’s a shame Detroit hasn’t been producing vehicles this good consistently. Unfortunately, they are going to have to make a few generations of models this good, and make sure they drive and handle well, in order to have any chance at winning new customers in significant numbers. And they are going to have to stop making the inferior designs (like the Taurus X) that detract from the good ones they do make.
Okay, enough about cars for a while.
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