Overview & Reviews

Mercury was a division of Ford Motor Company marketed as being somewhat more upscale than Ford. Throughout the latter part of its 71-year history, Mercury's vehicles were essentially Fords with unique styling details and special features meant to enhance their desirability relative to similar Ford products.

It all started in the 1930s, when Edsel Ford, Henry Ford's son, saw an opportunity to create an additional brand within the Ford hierarchy, one that would exist between the everyman Ford Deluxes and premium Lincoln Zephyrs. To achieve this, Edsel felt the vehicles of this new brand should offer distinctive styling along with innovative features and better capabilities. He named the new division "Mercury," after the Roman mythological god. The 1939 Mercury Eight was the division's first car. It distinguished itself from similar Ford products via a 95-horsepower engine that offered 10 more horses than the Ford V8.

The Eight proved to be a hit, with more than 155,000 sold by the early 1940s. Production stopped during World War II; after the war, the brand was realigned more closely with Lincoln. The company grew from strength to strength in the '50s, establishing itself as a maker of vehicles offering style, performance and cutting-edge technology. A dash of glamour was added to the automaker's image when James Dean appeared onscreen in a Mercury in the film Rebel Without a Cause.

The 1960s saw the introduction of Mercury's Comet and Meteor vehicles. The Comet featured diminutive dimensions and luxury accoutrements, while the Meteor was a midsize family car that followed the trend toward more reasonably sized cars. Racetrack wins boosted awareness of the Comet and helped the model make a big splash in terms of sales. By the end of the decade, the iconic Mercury Cougar, a variation of the Mustang, had been rolled out, its Eliminator version taking its place in the pantheon of legendary early muscle cars.

Hit hard by that decade's oil crisis, consumers during the 1970s were hungry for smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles. Mercury responded with a new, smaller Comet and the Bobcat, the former a fancier version of the Ford Maverick, the latter a fancier version of the Ford Pinto. The brand's sales grew during a decade that was filled with turbulence and uncertainty for many competing marques. Mercury further expanded its lineup in the '80s, this time including the small, Ford Escort-based Lynx. Mercury enjoyed success with the 1986 launch of the Sable, a fraternal twin to the Ford Taurus whose sleek, aerodynamic lines and futuristic "light bar" front end styling set it apart from the Ford.

Mercury's sales hit an all-time high during the 1990s that would never again be matched. Minivans and SUVs were a big reason for that as Mercury introduced its Villager minivan and Mountaineer SUV. Late that decade it introduced a new Cougar, which differed from its predecessors by being a front-drive sport compact that also holds the distinction of being the last Mercury that wasn't a rebadged Ford.

The years following the new millennium were challenging for the brand, as changing consumer tastes and a lack of differentiation between Mercury and Ford vehicles hurt sales. Pundits often proclaimed the end of Mercury was near, but Ford kept stating it would keep Mercury around despite offering no hope for any unique future vehicles from the brand. Finally in 2010, Ford pulled the plug on Mercury, putting an end to more than 70 years of car-making heritage.

User Reviews:

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  Our Sable LS Wagon - 2003 Mercury Sable
  By sultanik - July 19 - 10:00 am

  We like our wagon for convenience, style, and practicality. The features and options are very good and we like them all. For the money we feel we are getting a lot. The only complaint is that we feel the ride is too stiff and not as smooth as we would like on rough road.

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  Quality - 2006 Mercury Montego
  By MD - July 18 - 2:06 pm

  Comfortable to drive and ride in. Lots of room for luggage and passengers. A really good car for everyone seeking safety, economy, comfort and dependability. I have owned several town cars and this car is equal or better than the town car. The size is perfect for driving and parking in heavy traffic and mall parking lots. I can not understand why mercury has not promoted this car the way it deserves. I will recommend this car to anyone.

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  Reliabe - 2008 Mercury Sable
  By aarttek - July 18 - 5:03 am

  The car drives well, it is comfortable and handles easily. I use it to transport seniors from place to place and they have complemented on the Sables comfortable ride.

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  good value and reliability - 2005 Mercury Mariner
  By thomas - July 18 - 2:26 am

  I am a used car dealer with access to all types of suvs and I like the way the escape and tribute look and perform. I choose the mariner because of the upscale style and it had more options available. I bought a fully loaded premier with every option and drove it out for 25k. It had a msrp of 29k so I felt the value was there. The mileage has improved to about 21mpg average for the v-6. It feels very peppy and fun to drive. So far, nothing has broke or not performed as designed. Nice stereo, great style, pretty leather, great seat heaters even though here in Texas, the ac is more important! Now i am waiting to see if the resale value even gets close to my acura tl.

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  Easy Driver - 2008 Mercury Mariner Hybrid
  By Rick D - July 15 - 9:13 pm

  This car is easy to own and drive. Minimal pit stops required for both gas and service. Happy with our decision to buy this one. Comfortable, fun and ease of getting in and out. ust the right size.

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  Impressive for a Domestic - 2008 Mercury Milan
  By Andy - July 14 - 7:10 pm

  Having driven a Nissan for the past 4 years and have BMW and VW, I was very apprehensive to go domestic. I needed AWD for weather and this is the best value car with AWD in mid-size. Altima, camry do not offer AWD. Car is built very well, I have no rattles, interior design is classy and clean. Full mileage - difficult to say on 1000 miles driven but AVG. of 23 for mixed driving is not great (our 535i gets 26 avg) - but with a AWD drivetrain it is much better than SUVs Highway is over 30 mpg.

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  Mercury Milan...who knew it was so good? - 2007 Mercury Milan
  By Bill - July 11 - 7:13 pm

  This car was a real surprise to me. I thought I might lease an MKZ. I drove the MKZ and was impressed. Then I drove the Milan! What a difference! The Milan is a better car for the money. Its equipped with a audiophile system, moonroof, heated seats. All for under 26k. The price point beats Honda and Toyota all to heck!

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  Piece of Junk - 2000 Mercury Cougar
  By Horrible Vehicle - July 11 - 6:40 pm

  My wife purchased this car new for around 30,000 Canadian and it has been nothing but trouble, broken master cylinder causing brake failure while driving, intake manifold carboning up, broken brake calipers, premature brake wear (every 50,000 km), sun roof failure, fuel pump failure, poor suspension (shock failure 80,000 km), check engine light comes on constantly, maintenance light on since new and dealer cannot clear, the car is worth nothing now. Do not purchase this car!

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  Help on gas mileage - 2009 Mercury Grand Marquis
  By robert crawford - July 8 - 11:26 pm

  it handles well and the overall performance is great except for the gas mileage which is between 14-15 miles per gallon. I average driving about equal city and distant and have also tried high test gas to see if this would improve my mileage but to no avail. please give me so ideas to increase the gas mileage as i have a 1996 ford truck that does this well. thank you

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  Exceeded My Expectations - 2010 Mercury Milan
  By FlaMilkman - July 8 - 10:16 am

  I am extremely impressed with the 2010 Milan 6cycl. The exterior is sharp and the leather seats are as comfortable as sitting in your favorite sofa at home. Acceration is peppy and the brakes and steering are solid. I love the Synch feature - much easier to program and use than the one on my Mazda. My biggest complaint is regarding the size of the buttons on the center console for the radio and A/C - they are too small and too far for easy reach. I have gotten around 25mph on the highway (around 75mph on flat terrain) and around 20 in city driving. This may increase as the engine breaks in better (have around 1,000 miles so far).