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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  Great car for the money - 2003 Mercury Grand Marquis
  By J. Brenneis - May 12 - 2:00 am

  Fine road car- easy to drive on long trips. Lots of room and protection for the driver and front seat passenger.

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  great car- exceed expectations - 2001 Mercury Sable
  By ajstock - May 7 - 2:00 am

  Owned LS Premium for 20 months. Cannt get wife out of drivers seat. As attractive as competing Japanese models, good pep & handling, VERY ROOMY for mid size (better than Japanese choices); we are frequently complimented on the car by friends.

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  First car - 2002 Mercury Mountaineer
  By tylermex - May 6 - 8:24 pm

  This was my first car that i have shared with my brother. it was very easy to drive and pretty fast. it takes a second to kick into gear but its fast and handles good. my only main complaints are these: it is very shaky on the highway, the altinator dies pretty quickly (with car aftermarket audio), and my engine has made squeeky and clicking sounds everynow and then which were minor fixes. i am happy to leave this car for a new one only because of the 10mpg city and 17 highway, its rediculous

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  A Dream Car in my Garage - 2002 Mercury Cougar
  By Stephen - May 2 - 10:00 am

  An eye catcher in 35th Anniversary Edition Skin with options and standard features to back it up. A beautiful car with an even more beautiful interior and a sound system that sounds like its worth $1000.00, rides like a sports car and feel like a sports car in handeling. The only downside to the car is that by all means it looks fast, but in this case looks are deceving. This car is unfortunitly underpowered. That aside it has been everything and more than what I expected for a Mercury for the price of $22K. A good solid investment if you had the money to tweek up the engine.

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  New Mariner - 2008 Mercury Mariner
  By terih2os - April 30 - 10:50 am

  I am impressed with the manueverability. Only downside I see currently is the noise from the auto fan cutting on. Perhaps I need to learn to control this better. Having difficulty discovering this easily if it is present.

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  Good Car - 2008 Mercury Mariner
  By owensry - April 22 - 12:43 am

  The Mariner runs well except the transmission pump went out and leaked all over my driveway, and it was slipping bad, the transmission was very rough when I drove it off the lot. Anyway, not very good. Overall it is a nice car.

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  Love the SUV, but poor interior quality - 2008 Mercury Mountaineer
  By Ron - April 19 - 7:26 am

  We love the room, the ride, the v8 power, the appearance, and we know from the past that we will love the AWD. The MPG is acceptable for an AWD mid-size SUV. We test drove the vehicle on a bright sunny day 98 F and heard no rattles or noises, but took delivery in the evening after sundown, temp 71F. On the way home the upper console started making an annoying noise when we hit seams in the road. We made 2 visits to fix the problem. Another Mountaineer that hadnt been prepped did the same thing, as did the 08 Explorer Rental. Service manager said that if more than 2 do the same, then Ford would say theyre built that way. Excuse me? Dealer put foam in that area. Problem solved for now?

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  My 98 Merc. Marquis - 1998 Mercury Grand Marquis
  By Paul Neuman - April 18 - 4:46 am

  This is an all white car very comfortable to drive and ride in. No collision history with the exception of a wrinkled left edge of the bumper which caught on the edge of the garage door while exiting. The bumper was replaced. The car has 101,000 miles on the odometer. It is on its second set of tires which are about ready to be replaced and probably will need new brakes within the next 5000 miles. Out side of these two items the car is in excellent condition. The interior is blue fabric. The car does not require additional oil between changes.

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  My 3rd Grand Marquis - 2000 Mercury Grand Marquis
  By Family of 5 in Illin - April 17 - 9:33 am

  This is the third Grand Marquis that I have owned. I buy them with about 50,000 miles for about 50% of their original sticker price and easily put on another 100,000 with very few repairs. They offer enough room for me, my spouse, and our three kids for medium length trips. (We use the van for longer jaunts.) It is very comfortable on highways as I travel for business or recreation, and the white car with a law enforcement profile doesnt hurt either.

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  Love the car - 1997 Mercury Grand Marquis
  By dshorter - April 17 - 2:00 am

  The marquis is reliable, comfortable and easy to handle. Enough power to get out of the way, yet good gas mileage.