My rental had the 2.0L. Definitely slower than the 3.5 Ecoboost in the Flex but more than adequate to move the Transit. It definitely drives more like a car than the Flex as well but the Flex certainly doesn't drive like a SUV to me either. I only played with the rear seats since I had car seats in the middle two. The fold-down mechanism was strange but I liked that they folded flat to the floor. I wish more thought was put into the Flex's folding seats.I haven't flat out measured, but it is close to fitting.
The 2.0L actually doesn't feel sluggish. It also drives like a car, and doesn't feel like a large vehicle.
Mine is a Titanium. Previous owner took a huge hit on it, because I saved a ton of money and I'm sure the dealer made some. Long wheel base is nice and doesn't feel huge. Headroom is more adequate than anything else. Seats don't actually come out, but they do fold flat into the floor. It's pretty slick.
I've only ever driven ours so I can't say if it's normal or not. The 3-4 shift is definitely different from the others though. I plan on changing the transmission, PTU, and rear differential fluid at 40k miles with Redline or Amsoil full synthetic. I've seen just north of 22 mi/gal on the highway at best, but that's at speeds closer to 75 mi/hr.The transmissions are all set to maximize fuel economy sadly. I've felt the sluggishness in the Edge, but it doesn't bother me at all. I didn't have any weird shifting with the Flex and It was quick to downshift when I floored it so I wouldn't get PITted on the highway. I put in 87 because I'm cheap and was still getting 20.5 on the highway at 80.
I've used 87, 89, 91, 92, and 93. There's definitely a difference between 87 and 93. Right now I'm using Wawa 92 since it's convenient and gas prices are low. My preference would be Shell, BP, or Sunoco 93 though. I actually think fuel economy is down a little bit with the higher octane stuff, which agrees with the science behind it. I like the auto door lock as well. Even more so now that my 3 year old knows what the shiny handle on the door does.The owners manual does state to use 91+ if you're doing a lot of hauling or dogging the engine a lot, but 99% of the time i'll put in 87. The last tank, i put in premium & didn't notice much of a difference, if at all. Fuel economy also stayed the same. This may or may not be due to the fact that the car has less than 2,000 miles on it. Either way, we're happy with the purchase. Rides nice, drives nice, decent amount of tech, looks nice......can't complain about it.....well except for the stupid auto door lock feature. As of now, the ford computers won't disable that feature because of how new the vehicle is. Hopefully in the near future, that feature will be allowed to be disabled.