Drew Dowdell

Flex is probably it then if you can find an old enough one in the budget. It is, in essence, the only modern full size wagon left being based on the Taurus. I'm not going to suggest an old Saab 9-5 wagon, too hard to find and too much care and feeding to keep on the road. 9-3 wagon isn't awful and the last ones are GM products. Outside of that, you're looking at minivan.

Do you still need Taurus Estate level of hauling?

I was under the impression this would be a used car purchase

Features are not in themselves a luxury if the rest of the car doesn't match up. The Civic and Elantra offer heated rear seats, but no one would consider them to be a premium luxury brand or trim. Just putting a so-called premium badge on the trunk and adding a couple of features as standard does not alone make it premium worthy. And that's why, except for the Explorer, F-Series, and Expedition, just saying that Titanium/Platinum/Limited trim models are equal to the premium brands at other manufacturers is dubious at best.

In the Edge, Sport and Titanium appear to be basically equal in terms of equipment except for powertrain/suspension/steering. I'm not saying the cost isn't justified. It just that I can put the same creature comforts in both of them equally and the sport will cost more due to powertrain (as an extra charge powertrain should). To me, that puts the Sport above the Titanium since I can't get the high end power train in the Titanium. From a Buick perspective, it would be like saying that the Regal Turbo Premium Group 2 is above the GS. It just isn't. For the Fiesta... no it isn't obvious that the Titanium offers anything more than I listed... at least not on Ford.com's comparison tool. It boils down to nicer radio, nicer seats, bigger wheels and a rear view camera. If it was something obvious, it would jump out at me. If there is something I'm not seeing that makes it a huge leap over the SE, point it out to me.

You kinda need to give us a budget

And premium trimmed Ford cars, trucks and SUV's outsell Buick and GMC combined. Easily.Congrats to BMW. Well deserved. Titanium/Platinum as a trim does not necessarily a premium trim make. On the F150s and Explorer, yes. On the Fusion, Focus, Escape, and Edge etc, the distinction is far far less clear.Its translucent... No.. Opaque. Put a Titanium Fusion, hell put a Fusion made of titanium next to a normal Fusion, and I'd be hard pressed to tell yourself why U spent the extra coin. Buick? There is a level of cache attached to it. Ford Titanium? Not at all.I agree that the name Titanium has no cache at all but place a titanium fusion next to a base fusion and it's very obvious. I do feel like they are watering down the name "titanium". For instance, 2013 Escape titaniums pretty much came with everything including the largest wheels and engine. Get a titanium, get the big engine and wheels standard along with all sorts of other options. Jump ahead and the 19's and 2.0t are options on Titanium trimmed Escapes. I don't like that. It's not "base v. titanium" that I have an issue with. It's "titanium/platinum/limited v. the next step down" that I have an issue with. It's the fact that you can option an SE to pretty much be a Titanium that makes it not so premium to me. And it's not about what comes standard in that trim, it's about what you can't get unless you get that trim. On the Terrain Denali, the one I consider to be the least worthy of the Denali badge, you get unique grille, wood rim steering wheel, slightly improved perf leather seats, additional chrome, additional interior ambient lighting, and unique wheels... things you can't get on an SLT at any price. In the Fusion/Flex/Taurus/Focus/Edge, there is very little difference between a mid-level and the top level. It gets more confusing when Ford gets the trim levels out of order. At F-150, Platinum is below Limited and there is no Sport though there is a sport apperance package. On Explorer, Platinum is above both Limited and Sport. On Edge, Sport is above Titanium. On Taurus, Limited is the top non-SHO. On Focus, Titanium is kinda the middle trim with ST and RS above it. With GMC, there is no confusion. Denali is the king. The trim lines below that all keep in order as well... Base/SLE/SLT Two of the more ridiculous Titanium trims are the Fiesta Titanium and Transit Connect Titanium. Neither of which come anywhere close to being considered premium vehicles or trim level. In the Fiesta, Titanium gets you 16s, better seats and better stereo... but you're locked out of the 1.0T which is the engine I'd want. The TC Titanium gets you second row bucket seats, 17s, and leather. Neither of these are anywhere near the level of Buick or Denali.