Surprisingly few changes, really. They swapped the wheel and gear selector. They added the extra MFT screens, plus the center stack is a tad different (featuring the controversial Sony panel in this case). But overall it looks the same.

 

paddle shifters > +/- button the shifter

overall i think it looks better. kinda lincoln like. im not really digging the new gauge layout thats more than likely going mainstream on most Ford's besides a few.

 

Looks good!

 

Any truth in rumors that Ford is planing to kill Flex due to slow sales?

 

Nope or leastwise not yet. Sales volume is poor but transaction prices are said to be really high, EcoBoost and high-level trims bringing in a nice profit margin. Explorer is taking care of volume for the D3 platform nearly on its own, if it keeps selling around 13K a month anyway. If sales are still really poor post-refresh Ford might attempt to take Flex further up-market, or they might look to create a high-level Explorer to take over for it down the road.

 

I can not explain how much I hate the +/- button on shifters. I would gladly pay a little extra to have a M shift gate or paddle shifters.

 

The M shift-gate I think might come back if the rocker switch complaints keep up (keep them up!) but I think paddles have peaked. In sports/super cars they still make a lot of sense, but in a crossover/tall wagon they're a silly expense; one that brings plenty of potential pitfalls.

 

Why would they go from paddles to a +/- button? We have an EcoBoost Flex and the only way I drive it is in "M" (I refused to drive the Expedition since it was an auto, but that was personal preference). Paddles just make it more fun. If our Flex had the button on the shifter, I would probably have less fun driving it, and might drive it less often. (Still, that twin turbo acceleration is pretty fun... )