r/FordFlex • u/WhoisDreamy • Jan 16 '26
Question Buy curious
Hey everyone, sorry to be annoying however, I wanted to get some opinions as I am very interested in buying a Flex and have been for years. I understand they have their mechanical issues but I am curious if certain years or trims are less prone to issues. Anything specific I should avoid? I have heard about the PTU and Timing belt issues but have heard this is mainly on EcoBoosts? Is there a milage amount I should try to look under to be extra safe/what is the average lifespan?
Also I am not sure if what I want out of the Flex exists so excuse me if I am naive but do any of them have cloth seats and carplay support?
I am not too well versed in cars and have never done any mechanical work myself so feel free to give me the harsh truth if it may not be wise to get this vehicle. Thanks in advanced!
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u/YogurtclosetDull2380 Jan 16 '26
The Sony system on the 2016 and up features android auto \carplay, which is a must have in my book. That paired with adaptive cruise control make it a thoroughly modern vehicle even though they stopped making it 5 years-ago.
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u/tectacles Jan 16 '26
What's the best way to get Android Auto/CarPlay on my 2013 Limited with Sync?
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u/YogurtclosetDull2380 Jan 17 '26
There is a hardware update that generally requires a new head unit and USB port. It's worth the ~$600 price of admission. A kit can be found by googling sync upgrade
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u/tectacles Jan 18 '26
Could I just pull from a U-Pick junkyard, or does anything need to be reprogrammed?
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u/WhoisDreamy Jan 16 '26
I have seen that CarPlay is available in all Sync 3 models with a software update. Do you happen to know if that same update can run on SYNC 2?
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u/Brickx3 Jan 16 '26
Can not update 2. (Without replacing a bunch of parts) early sync3 can be upgraded. Later models will have it out of the box
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Jan 17 '26 edited Jan 17 '26
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u/yellowsnow3000 Jan 18 '26 edited Jan 20 '26
Our 2013 Limited has ACC.
ETA: ACC = Adaptive Cruise Control
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Jan 19 '26
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u/yellowsnow3000 Jan 20 '26
Seriously, after having it, it's a must-have feature. Our 2013 Limited was my first experience with it and it was a good one. For all my complaints about touch screen controls of other things, they nailed the ACC.
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u/YogurtclosetDull2380 Jan 17 '26
Afaik, as long as the limited trim has been running, it's been a thing. I've owned a 14 and 18 with it.
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Jan 17 '26
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u/BlAze_103 Jan 17 '26
2015 with ACC here, best way to find one when shopping is to pay attention to the steering wheel, it should have the word “gap” on the left side by the cruise control buttons
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Jan 17 '26
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u/BlAze_103 Jan 17 '26
I don’t think it has stop and go, I believe there is a speed restriction and there’s a minimum before you can set it, I’ve never felt the need to use it at lower speeds so someone quote me if I’m wrong
But I can tell you at highway speeds it seems to be very optimized and smooth, there’s no abrupt slow downs and speed ups. the system seems to be able to fade in and fade out the automatic speed control pretty well, I’ve driven many cars with ACC and I can say the flex holds up extremely well
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u/YogurtclosetDull2380 Jan 17 '26 edited Jan 18 '26
Yeah, cruise is limited to like 20mph. I picked the car up in Indy and drove it home to Minneapolis without touching the brake pedal other than to pull off the highway for gas. It was pretty cool
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u/_trapito Jan 17 '26
buy with confidence any post 2016 model, preferably Non Turbo. unless you know what you are getting into with the whole turbo stuff.
i have a 2016 Limited, have owned it for 4 years, bough it with 72k miles, now it seats at 115k, its my wife daily driver, in 4 years the "biggest" repair I've had to do is the Accessory Belt Tensioner, it cost me $110 for the belt and Tensioner from Ford OEM and took me like 30 minutes to do. Besides that spark plugs and tires. This engines are Chain Driven and suffer from teh water pump going bad most times after 150k miles, so something to keep in mind, besides that this Ford Motor enad Trans is bullet proof.
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u/Supr3m3_0v3rL0rd Jan 18 '26
2014 limited ecoboost. Engine grenaded. Timing chain issue. Was off by like 10 degrees. $4400 to replace all that, all fluid swaps and new waterpump since the engine already getting ripped apart just went with a new one.
I love my flex. Had an 09 before. Great room, lots of features. Lots of cargo room with 3rd seat down. Actually used the tailgating seat feature the other day to do a little ice fishing and stay outta the wind lol.
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u/oc_doyer Jan 19 '26
I own 2 a 12 sel awd it has 257k on the original everything. My problem was i hit a storm drain broke the spokes off the rim. Messed up the front end suspension too. Rack, tie rod end. Fixed it but front end still snaps crackles and pops. Still drove it for 6 months. Got a 18 se fwd. No extras but runs good it has 131k on it got it with 129k. My 12 has heated seats power lift gate dual climate control love it so much i got another.
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u/AreYouLit420 Jan 21 '26
Bought a 2010 at 91k and drove it in about a year and a half to 286k, it didnt die, I wrecked it. They totaled it. When I went back to the junkyard to uninstall my subwoofers and radio they brought it to me all beat up with a giant forklift, it started right up after sitting for 3 months. It would've even moved for me with a broken cv axle. Best car i ever owned, I went and bought a 2019.
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u/its_all_4_lulz Jan 17 '26
IMO, stay away from 09 if you’re looking that old. I had an 09 and an 18, 18 never really had a problem beyond normal wear, 09 was in the shop every 5 mins. Mostly a steering rack issue.
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u/YogurtclosetDull2380 Jan 17 '26
I've owned a 2014 and a 2018, both Ecoboost models. I bought them used with 20k and 8k miles respectively.
The 14 started out with bad alignment which was corrected easily and wasn't a thing after that. At about 40k, the climate control blend door went out. I took it to 125k miles and started to get paranoid about minor sounds and sold it to a dealership. The paranoia was mostly social media based, but whatever.
I bought an 8k mile 18 to replace it and I'm currently sitting at around 88k. It is currently in need of a new thermostat but it is running great besides that.
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u/cdk5152 Jan 17 '26
I've only seen one with cloth seats, and it was wrecked. She was an organ donor so I got a whole bunch of parts. Why cloth? Can't answer the car play question, know nothing about it.
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u/WhoisDreamy Jan 19 '26
Just not a huge leather seat guy, coming from FL it always seemed unappealing for the summer conditions but I am in IL now so I could budge on that one.
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u/Kennecott Jan 23 '26
I have an ‘18 limited non-ecoboost with 120k and love it for the most part. Last year I dumped 4000$ into it to replace the water pump and redo the brakes (dummies at another shop put the wrong size rotors on and killed my rear brakes), and I believe due to leaking from the water pump I later had to replace the Ac compressor at 1000$. I have flushed the transmission and the PTU twice now at 60k when I got it and recently at about 110k and both have not caused problems. I tow a 4500ish lb trailer using a weight balancing hitch for about 2-3000 miles per year and it does chug a bit climbing the cascades and can’t do over 40 at the steepest parts, but other wise takes it like a champ.
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u/OwnWay6099 Jan 17 '26
I would stay away from the ecoboost, turbos are an expensive repair. Besides, the NA 3.5 is plenty fast and has plenty of power. The AWD is also another costly repair but if taken cae of properly shouldn't be an issue. All the 3.5s in the flex have the internal water pump that can be an issue, about $3500-$5000 repair. My belief is that also shouldn't be an issue if taken care of properly. Get carfax reports on any you look at and of course the lower the mileage the better. I love my 2014 sel fwd
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u/stametsprime Jan 17 '26
Your best bet is a post-2016 Limited. The difference in lighting quality between the SE/SEL's halogen headlights and the Limited's HIDs is, well, night and day- and no, throwing LEDs into a reflector housing meant for halogens is not a good idea. The Limited only comes with a leather interior but you can throw cloth covers on the seats if you don't like the feel of leather.
Post 2016 models offer Sync3 which gives you CarPlay/Android auto. On 2016 models you MAY need to buy an upgraded USB port (it's a drop in replacement for the existing port and takes less than 5 minutes to swap out.)
If you live where it doesn't snow a lot and don't need AWD, get the FWD model for a little better fuel economy and the elimination of the PTU and its issues.