Topic: Used Vehicle Review: Ford Flex, 2009-2018

[AutoTrader.ca]

Powertrain warranty candidate.
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[dirtyjeffer]

good lord, that's a long list of issues...one of my coworkers had one of these...he replaced it about 18 months ago with a chevy pickup...i'm not sure of the history of his, but i do remember when he was going to get a truck, he said it was time to replace the Flex as it's showing its age and getting pricey to maintain...at the time, it was only about 6 years old...i'm not expecting it to be flawless, but i thought a 6 year old vehicle should be reasonably good still.

[revalations]

Yep, a friend had a Ecoboost model for his wife. Engine was replaced under warranty at 72,000k, just grenaded for some reason. Was a absolutte hoot to drive though, they  really move with that engine!

[tortoise]

I love the looks of the Flex and strongly considered them when getting the Highlander. 

Ultimately they were ruled out due to concerns over their long term durability.

[ChaosphereIX]

best friend had one, loved it but it kept breaking

suspension bits were made of paper, and transmission was on its way out at 150k

[Weels]

There's a guy in town that has a Flex done up in Deadpool guise. Red tinted windows, "DEADPOOL" across top of windshield. A big fan of the movie I guess.
The guy drives the ever loving $hit out of it (fart canned exhaust too, naturally..) It is fast no doubt, but a catastrophic failure is not a matter of if but when.

[PJungnitsch]

From what I understand the Edge has the same ptu problems. Our neighbor had his replaced for $1200 or so

[dkaz]

good lord, that's a long list of issues...one of my coworkers had one of these...he replaced it about 18 months ago with a chevy pickup...i'm not sure of the history of his, but i do remember when he was going to get a truck, he said it was time to replace the Flex as it's showing its age and getting pricey to maintain...at the time, it was only about 6 years old...i'm not expecting it to be flawless, but i thought a 6 year old vehicle should be reasonably good still.

At 6 years old you'd expect the brakes to have been replaced at least once. Anything above that and routine maintenance is not good in my opinion.

[EV-Light]

I don’t know...this is a 10y old or so vehicle now, I’d expect parts to start to go at around 6-8y old....the review should have been more specific as to what years are affected by what. Most of the problems listed will affect older units.....the PTU on the other hand is a real issue, most Ford dealers will replace it as a discounted rate though, so $1000 repair become $500.


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[valuator]

good lord, that's a long list of issues...one of my coworkers had one of these...he replaced it about 18 months ago with a chevy pickup...i'm not sure of the history of his, but i do remember when he was going to get a truck, he said it was time to replace the Flex as it's showing its age and getting pricey to maintain...at the time, it was only about 6 years old...i'm not expecting it to be flawless, but i thought a 6 year old vehicle should be reasonably good still.

At 6 years old you'd expect the brakes to have been replaced at least once. Anything above that and routine maintenance is not good in my opinion.

I agree....I'd be terribly disappointed with anything major going wrong at 6 years or less or say 120,000km.  Hell, many people finance vehicles over 7-8 years these days.  I'd hate to be making car payments AND paying out of pocket for major repairs!

[dkaz]

good lord, that's a long list of issues...one of my coworkers had one of these...he replaced it about 18 months ago with a chevy pickup...i'm not sure of the history of his, but i do remember when he was going to get a truck, he said it was time to replace the Flex as it's showing its age and getting pricey to maintain...at the time, it was only about 6 years old...i'm not expecting it to be flawless, but i thought a 6 year old vehicle should be reasonably good still.

At 6 years old you'd expect the brakes to have been replaced at least once. Anything above that and routine maintenance is not good in my opinion.

I agree....I'd be terribly disappointed with anything major going wrong at 6 years or less or say 120,000km.  Hell, many people finance vehicles over 7-8 years these days.  I'd hate to be making car payments AND paying out of pocket for major repairs!

My Mazda for example. I bought a 6 year bumper to bumper extended warranty for $1425 and thank goodness I did is all I have to say. I estimate about $3000 in repairs between the 80,000km mark to 135,000km mark when the warranty expired. Both front wheel bearings, driver seat assembly, clutch master, and a power steering hose. Also had to replace accessories belts at the 130,000km mark out of pocket, only $125 though. Oh yea and some of my under body trays were lost to snow, replaced all those myself at a cost of $380.

The Mazda's been nice I'm going all Toyota next time.

[Seafoam]

good lord, that's a long list of issues...one of my coworkers had one of these...he replaced it about 18 months ago with a chevy pickup...i'm not sure of the history of his, but i do remember when he was going to get a truck, he said it was time to replace the Flex as it's showing its age and getting pricey to maintain...at the time, it was only about 6 years old...i'm not expecting it to be flawless, but i thought a 6 year old vehicle should be reasonably good still.

At 6 years old you'd expect the brakes to have been replaced at least once. Anything above that and routine maintenance is not good in my opinion.

I agree....I'd be terribly disappointed with anything major going wrong at 6 years or less or say 120,000km.  Hell, many people finance vehicles over 7-8 years these days.  I'd hate to be making car payments AND paying out of pocket for major repairs!

My Mazda for example. I bought a 6 year bumper to bumper extended warranty for $1425 and thank goodness I did is all I have to say. I estimate about $3000 in repairs between the 80,000km mark to 135,000km mark when the warranty expired. Both front wheel bearings, driver seat assembly, clutch master, and a power steering hose. Also had to replace accessories belts at the 130,000km mark out of pocket, only $125 though. Oh yea and some of my under body trays were lost to snow, replaced all those myself at a cost of $380.

The Mazda's been nice I'm going all Toyota next time.

Yeah that's a lot of repairs. My 12 civic by comparison has been very cheap to maintain.Has about 110,000 km's on it now. So far only oil changes,one set of front brake pads, flushed the transmission fluid once, one set of tires. I have Krowned it many times since i am from the east coast. Not bad reliability wise for the year civic that the critics said was crap. Also over the life of the car I have averaged 7.1 litres per 100 km's.
Many years of driving left in this car.  When it is ten years old  we  will  probably get rid of it.  Speaking of toyota. Maybe I'll get a camry hybrid next time.Quite like the styling of it.

[johngenx]

210K on the Corolla, did the waterpump as Toyota has a TSB with an update pump with a metal impeller.  Was sure the alternator was making a bit of noise (hard to tell) so I swapped it out when I did the water pump.  Easy job to do both, changed the belt too.

That's it on the Corolla.  A water pump "just in case" and the alternator was probably the same.  Brakes, tires, fluids, nothing else.  Bulletproof cars.

[Seafoam]

210K on the Corolla, did the waterpump as Toyota has a TSB with an update pump with a metal impeller.  Was sure the alternator was making a bit of noise (hard to tell) so I swapped it out when I did the water pump.  Easy job to do both, changed the belt too.

That's it on the Corolla.  A water pump "just in case" and the alternator was probably the same.  Brakes, tires, fluids, nothing else.  Bulletproof cars.

I've owned  3 corollas. I would agree with you.
I have a friend with a 2009 corolla. She has had it from new,but has only put 82,000 km's on it. She thinks she should get rid of it because it is old and will breakdown. I keep telling her to keep it,it could go for many years  with minimal repairs.

[PJungnitsch]

My 2004 Vibe (Corolla drivetrain) I bought at 130,000 now has 210 and most years all I've done is change the oil.

[rrocket]

My 2004 Vibe (Corolla drivetrain) I bought at 130,000 now has 210 and most years all I've done is change the oil.

Very reliable cars.

[Firm]

I used to work with a guy who searched for ever to find a used Flex in exactly the specs he wanted (3.5EB, performance package or w/e, blacked out trim). He finally found one and bought it at what I thought was a considerable cost (maybe $35K) as it was only a couple years old and had like 50,000kms on it. Within a year it has been towed into the dealer 6 times! First it was some weird issue with the key/security system, then a fuel pump control module, PTU and lord knows what else. I felt pretty bad for him because he was so excited for the thing, and talked it up for so long....think he dumped it at 18 months in or so and lost a boat load of money between repairs and depreciation.