At first the Ford Flex made me laugh. It looks like the designers thought, “Hey, the Mini Clubman’s a pretty cool-looking car so we’re going to build our own version” — except it’s twice as big. Sort of like a Maxi Clubman.

It makes a lot of sense, and in many ways the Flex is the 21st-century answer to that all-American staple, the station wagon. When I was a kid the most popular car in America was the Ford Country Squire. It had the wood on the side and a rear-facing seat so the kids could sit in the back and be scared to death by cars and trucks that would barrel down on the back of the car at 60mph.

Then the station wagon became uncool. It was replaced by the MPV in the 1980s, before that became uncool too. So you couldn’t have a mini-van and you couldn’t have a station wagon, which is why Ford has said, “Hey, let’s get something that’s a little bit of both.” And that’s what the Ford Flex is.

It seats seven people and features some very clever engineering and very clever design. The way the seats fold down individually, it’s almost like one of those Transformers — you can make it into whatever you want it to be.

Electronically it is really cutting edge. It has a patented Sync communication system that connects to your phone and MP3 player wirelessly and allows you to operate either by voice, as well as a voice-activated navigation system, which means you can yell at it and ask where’s a good place to eat and it’ll answer you. It has a refrigerator in it so you can keep your beverages cool — Americans always feel the need to take everything they own with them when they go out. I don’t know why that is. Maybe because we spend so long stuck in traffic now.

I’ll give you a perfect example. I remember talking to a teenage girl about what kind of car she was going to buy and she wanted one with the iPod connection and a DVD player because “there’s nothing to do when you’re driving — you gotta have something to do”. Is watching the road not interesting enough? It made me laugh because I revel in the fact that I enjoy the skill, the art of driving, whereas this teenage girl just thinks, “Ugh . . . there’s nothing to do. It’s so boring — you just sit in there.”

The Flex is a good car in which to spend a lot of time. I like the way you can decide to fold down any of the seats, including the front passenger seat, to create any configuration you want. You can put sheets of plywood in it and everything — I mean it’s basically like the Country Squire. This will be an excellent car for soccer moms.

Unusually for such a big car, it’s a nice-looking shape. We drove the Flex to a hamburger place to gauge people’s reactions: kids thought it was cool and parents thought it was practical, which is the perfect combination for Ford. It’s a really nice-driving car too. It handles well and doesn’t feel particularly big or boxy. Build quality seems excellent and the ergonomics are super.

All cars now come with a manual that looks like a Gutenberg Bible, and this is true of the Flex. You need these manuals as nothing works how you expect it to any more. In the old days if you wanted to adjust the clock you’d pull out the stem and twiddle the hands. Now to set the handbrake you have to press button No 1 while holding down the left blinker . . . but once you learn how all the gizmos work, it’s a lot of fun and you find yourself wondering how you could ever have lived without satellite radio.

Another example is the fact there’s no gas cap on the car. You open the hinged panel on the side of the car and rather than having to unscrew a petrol cap you can put the pump nozzle straight in and, when you have finished, pull it out again and the tank seals itself. Ford says that because the seal is open for less time, less fuel vapour escapes, but it also helps to overcome a problem we have been having here, especially for drivers who are not car people.

They have their new car and they put gas in it and then the “check engine” light comes on. Have you or anyone you know ever checked your engine? No. You go to the dealer and then he opens the fuel door and tightens the gas cap and you look like an idiot because the loose cap is all that’s triggering the light. So this way you eliminate that problem source right there.

Talking of fuel, the Flex actually gets reasonable mileage. On the open road it gets 24mpg (around 30 of your imperial gallons), which is quite good for a large American car, considering you’re carrying four or five people. You have to remember that in America everything is larger and thirstier than in Europe: nothing makes me laugh more than to see friends from England come, and they’re, “Oh, I’m thirsty — get me a large drink”, and they get this 44oz cup (a bath back home). You can see their faces and they’re stunned. This is like a week’s worth of beverage to them. If you say to an Englishman, “Well, here’s our version of a small car”, they’re amazed by the size of it. It’s like the size of their country.

It is the same with fuel economy, so while 24mpg may not sound a lot (and in the combined cycle the figure is even worse, at just over 20mpg), it is a step in the right direction. Ford needs this vehicle — and the more fuel-efficient European models it is bringing to the US — to work. And we all need to do what the Brits and other Europeans have done for years: live on less.

When I was a kid there was nothing like a Sunday afternoon sitting around the house before going for a Sunday drive. You got in the car, and you drove 30 or 40 miles to the country to get ice cream or pick up corn by the roadside — or you just drove around.

On the way home, we’d pull in to the gas station. They were so desperate to sell their petrol when I was a kid, they would give you free stuff to fill up. Like, “Ooh, you got steak knives. You got free green stamps, yeah!” It was like the gas-station people saying, “Please take our gas . . . please — 30c a gallon!” It’s odd: back then no one ever thought of the idea that giving you knives was giving you a tool to rob them with.

Going anywhere without a reason seems too much of a luxury nowadays. But if the Sunday afternoon drive is dying, at least the station wagon is alive once again. What’s more, you don’t even need to drive anywhere to appreciate it now. Just sitting in it is entertaining enough.

Jeremy Clarkson is away

The Lenometer

ENGINE 3500cc, V6
POWER 262bhp @ 6250rpm
TORQUE 248 lb ft @ 4500rpm
TRANSMISSION Six-speed automatic
FUEL 20mpg (combined)
CO2 not supplied
ACCELERATION 0-60mph: 9sec
TOP SPEED 110mph
PRICE $34,750 (£24,000)
ROAD TAX BAND n/a
RELEASE DATE June (in the US)
Leno's verdict
Your ride is here, squire