Remember the Ford Flex? It was Ford’s sorta minivan, sorta crossover that actually made a very practical and unique family vehicle. The optional twin turbo V6 pushed out up to 365 horsepower, making it a rather potent family hauler. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as popular as today’s more traditional family vehicles, such as the Explorer, so Ford discontinued it in 2019. But now, the Ford Flex wants everyone to remember it. A YouTube channel called TorqueTube recently published a video of a Flex doing something incredible: beating a Ram 1500 TRX at the drag strip in the quarter mile.
Yes, a Ford Flex beat a 702 hp, Hellcat V8 powered TRX, which is capable of 0-60 in 4.5 seconds and completing the quarter mile in 12.9 seconds. Watch it for yourself below.
The Ram TRX is definitely off the line slower than the pre-facelift silver Flex, but we aren’t sure if that’s down to driver reaction or getting those huge off-road tires rolling. One thing that’s for sure, however, is that isn’t a standard Ford Flex.
The Winning Power To Weight Ratio
The Drive was able to talk to the owner, who said his rapid family hauler had been tuned by Livernois Motorsports. The upgrades include upgraded turbochargers, plumbing and a methanol injection system. Altogether it’s putting out a dyno tested 440 horsepower and 520 lbs-ft of torque through the all-wheel-drive system. With a typical drivetrain loss of 20 percent, this Flex produces somewhere near 550 horsepower to the crank. Plus, the Flex weighs around 1,500 pounds less than the massive Ram TRX, so the power to weight ratio is fairly similar.
The super Flex’s owner told The Drive it ran a 12.51 in that Ram TRX quarter mile run, and a 12.3 would have been possible with a better launch based in the trap speed. This is one of the most unlikely drag races we’ve seen, but also when the coolest. The Ram 1500 TRX is the ultimate pickup truck right now, but this Ford Flex might just be the ultimate sleeper.
