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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  My first American car - 2008 Mercury Milan
  By Tony - June 13 - 9:40 am

  I owned this car for about one month and I fell in love with it. I drove Honda, Nissan, Mazda before and no one can compare with this Milan. So far I drove about 1,000 miles and MPS is about 26.5. I love digital keypad power door locks and you will never worry about locking you key inside the car.

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  Mountie Rules!! - 2005 Mercury Mountaineer
  By levismith - June 13 - 5:56 am

  I absolutely love my Mountaineer. Beautiful, solid, great build quality. My V6 is very smooth and gets 23mpg on the highway. For the price, it is absolutely unbeatable!

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  cold feet - 2005 Mercury Mountaineer
  By C - June 10 - 3:16 pm

  the only bad feature that I have found is that the air conditioning vents on the front floor do not turn off even though the controls indicate that they do. I asked the dealer about this and they told me that they contacted Ford and that this is normal. That there is no way to turn off the air comming out of the bottom vents. This is a problem for women that are wearing shorts with sandles on. It is to cold on their feet.

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  I have two Cougars! - 1999 Mercury Cougar
  By My2cougars - June 10 - 12:10 pm

  I love to drive these cars! They can be expensive to fix and a little hard to see out of. The back seat is not a bench, so if you need room in the back, this car is not for you. You can only fit two people in the back, and it doesnt get much leg room. Both of my cup holders are broken, so I have to use the one in the back. There is a lot of trunk space, and the car has pretty good pick up too. But it makes wide turns, forget trying to make a sharp turn, it wont happen. I like the factory rims mine have on them, and I have driven them both to 150,000 miles now. They are an expensive car to fix though, the parts can be kinda hard to find and a little pricey.

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  Nice vehicle for the money - 2002 Mercury Mountaineer
  By Brooks Gardner - June 8 - 8:50 pm

  My wife and I love our 2002 Mountaineer. We also have a 1998 that is still in excellent condition. V8 in both with most extras on both. The 2002 has everything you would ever want. 2002 has great power and very smooth and quite ride. I only get to drive it when my wife is off work that day.

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  Buy a foreign car - 2000 Mercury Sable
  By met - June 6 - 10:40 am

  Purchased my Sable with about 75,000 miles in 04. Check engine light came on the first week I owned it. Had to replace the oxygen sensors. During the first year, the back spring broke and punctured the rear tire while I was driving. (They had a recall to put a guard on the tire because the front springs were having this problem, but no reimbursement for the back.) In the past few months, Ive replaced the alternator, entire engine and now the transmission is leaking fluid. My dad had to replace the engine in his Mercury Grand Marquis around the 140,000 mark as well. The back suspension has always been creaking - sounds like the back end is going to fall off when you have people in it.

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  my car - 2000 Mercury Cougar
  By Cougarchick - June 4 - 10:00 am

  i love my cougar. its never let me down. handles well in the snowy minnesota winters.

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  Nice Car - 2001 Mercury Sable
  By REK - June 4 - 10:00 am

  I use my car for field service work, so I am in it all day. It is comfortable, gets as good mileage as my old Contour 4 cyl, and feels solid and is squeek free at 20k miles. I have had no problems with mine at all. A friend who has a 2000 Sable had the vibration problem some have mentioned, but he said the problem disappeared when he got new tires.

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  Love this suv - 2005 Mercury Mariner
  By I like my Mariner 05 - June 3 - 1:53 pm

  I like the style of the body and the interior. I have gotten about 26 mpg on freeway and about 14mpg city. I like the cd player and the close controls for everything. The acceleration for a six cylinder is impressive. There is some road noise at higher speeds and the computer for mileage is not real accurate but overall does pretty good with mpg.

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  Horrible mistake - 1999 Mercury Cougar
  By Mistake!! - June 3 - 4:20 am

  I bought this car with close to 100,000 miles on it, i took it to a mechanic and he said everything was fine, a few months later everything started breaking down, i had to replace all of the struts and already rebuilt the transmission twice because the gears would not switch, this car is horrible i wouldnt suggest to get it, it has so many problems that i just junked it.