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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  MMH - 2007 Mercury Mariner Hybrid
  By HYbrid - May 22 - 8:10 pm

  Mariner is much nicer inside than Escape hybrid. Love the chrome accents, and two tone leather seats. The hybrid nav system is a very nice piece of technology.

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  My 2nd Lemon - 2000 Mercury Cougar
  By Raff - May 21 - 10:00 am

  I am the un-proud owner of a 2000 Cougar, after Ford replaced my 1999 Cougar that was plagued with issues. The 2000 is no better! New transmission in under 18K miles, sloppy front end, multiple front tire rebalancing, bad oil seal on the pan, coolant leaks, radio problems, bad left/front half axel, new brakes in under 20K miles, bad steering knuckle, and the list goes on!!! Holman service is a disaster to boot. They replaced the trans and while driving home from the shop, the front left tire fell off! Almost got killed on that one. Never again would I buy ANY Ford product!!

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  awsome - 2003 Mercury Sable
  By 3arredondos - May 21 - 10:00 am

  great family vehicle tons of room for 2 carseats and adult, safety features are a plus extra large trunk that comes in handy

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  Sleeper hit! - 1996 Mercury Cougar
  By silveeto - May 21 - 3:40 am

  I fell into owning this car accidentally. My aunt was moving and had no room for it anymore, so I traded her a set of couches and a couple hundred bucks for it. I figured Id just flip it and make a few extra bucks. NOPE. What I thought was an old mans car actually turned out to be a fun sporty powerhouse of a car that I just cant part with now.

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  170k miles, and still strong! - 2000 Mercury Sable
  By feyden - May 20 - 11:02 am

  Okay, so admittedly, this car is kind of old... Its a 2000, give it a break! But honestly, the thought that Mercury will no longer be making cars makes me sick. The previous owners didnt really take care of it... dirty interior, lack of oil changes, leaky fluids, etc... but WOW did it clean up nice. A box of ArmorAll, some new floor mats, a steering wheel cover, some self-fixing coolant fluid, and an oil change later, and WOW! This car runs like a dream, steering is very responsive (yet acts as a luxury steering system, so you lose a bit of turn radius), acceleration is above average, fuel economy is great (ALWAYS put 93 octane in this car, it will get the best mileage with it).

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  A solid choice - 2008 Mercury Milan
  By Patrick - May 20 - 7:30 am

  Car is quiet at speed on the parkway. Handles nicely and never loses its composure. Rides smoothly. Disappointing 21 mpg so far with a lot of highway driving. Hope it improves to around 25 mpg combined. Sacrificed performance getting the 4cyl as the car must be revved high to pass and accelerate from a stop. Interior could be more modern but I am glad they didnt copy the Japanese and the guage cluster is a pleasant change from the super huge bright displays seen on the competition. Dash,armrest, and door sills are thickly padded. Do not buy without reverse sensing system as rear window is very high. Doors and trunk sound solid not tinny.

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  Not bad, but needs improvements - 2007 Mercury Mountaineer
  By Hinrich - May 19 - 4:30 am

  We had our Mountaineer for 10 months and 15,000 miles and the experience has been mixed so far. Its our 5th Mountaineer and we love the overall package (exterior size vs. interior space), the powerful V8 engine and the features (Navigation system, great audio system). But we had issues and some couldnt be fixed yet. The 6-speed transmission shifts hards after accelerating from a standstill and was checked twice. Fit and finish is bad, body panels and doors needed adjustment. Fuel mileage is poor at best, we average 13.5 mpg in mixed driving. Handling is worse than with our 2004 Mountainer (18" Michelin tires, dont work well in snow either). Overall no big improvement to the 2004 model.

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  only one with Cooled seats !!!! - 2006 Mercury Monterey
  By FL_Family - May 17 - 3:56 pm

  if you live in the south like Florida here... you will understand that the cooled perforated leather seats are the only option you need to look for in a van... and this is the only van made that has them... you will appreciate all the great others, like power doors, ultra-quiet highway ride, compass, dimming rear-view, memory seats, pedals, mirrors, etc etc... program yours or your spouses own code in the keyless door entry and it will adjust your seats to you or her when you enter you code to unlock the door... another push and all the power doors open up... its just simply awesome, and the workers at the plant in canada are the most detail minded folks, they did it all with qualiy!!!

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  Mixed feelings - 2000 Mercury Sable
  By B.C - May 17 - 10:00 am

  I love the style, power and comfort of my Sable. It is fun to drive. What I have not enjoyed was the multiple trips to the dealer to fix problems. Most were minor electrical problems but 1 took 5 trips to the dealer to resolve the problem. The transmission needed to be replace with only 45,000 miles. The verdict is still out if I would buy another one. They would need to convince me that there quality control had improved.

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  My Mercury - 2003 Mercury Grand Marquis
  By Roy Creekmur - May 17 - 10:00 am

  I like it because its a real "American Style" car. It has rear wheel drive and a basic suspension design thats been developed and proven for 70 years. Its what I wanted, and built, like, I like a car built (body on frame).