Hertz - Ride Report: Mercury Milan

I rented a 2006 Mercury Milan Premier recently with only a couple hundred miles on it. It was a great car with beautiful styling (looks a lot like a VW Jetta from the front) and wheels, very comfortable and attractively designed seats with trendy stitching, excellent radio for a facory unit (plays MP3s), switchgear with excellent feel, and heated seats (a little slow to warm up). It also had good road manners and felt sporty on the highway. It even had LED tail lamps, which one would not expect to see on a car in this class.

One major disappointment was the inline 4 engine, which was wimpy and growled loudly when merging into highway traffic but acceptable most of the rest of the time once up to speed. It returned about 20 MPG with mostly highway driving. My only other complaint was the turning radius, which seemed larger than I would have expected. Hopefully on a future rental I can score one with a V6.

I'd certainly encourage others to try a Milan as I think people will be pleasantly surprised!

Interesting that you bring up the Jetta -- as I feel the same way. In fact, the Milan is what the new Volkswagen Jetta should have looked like (instead of the Corolla-looking snoozemobile we got instead :mad: ).

In any case, sounds like the Mercury drives just as well as its cousin, the Fusion. ^ Part of me wishes though, that Ford would actively try to differentiate Mercury as a brand instead of just making rebadges, but that's a whole another discussion (for the marketing forums)...

Part of me wishes though, that Ford would actively try to differentiate Mercury as a brand instead of just making rebadges, but that's a whole another discussion (for the marketing forums)...

I think that Ford does a better job of it than GM. In fact, I had to laugh recently when GM announced it was going to put the "GM" square logo on all of its vehicles so people would know that the Pontiac, Chevy, Buick, etc. they were looking at was a GM product. I mean duh, half the reason GM cars are so ho-hum is that they're all so closely related.

This car definitely did not feel like a Ford. I'd say it was kind of designed to appeal to an educated, 20- or 30-something professional woman who would drive a BMW if she had the money to pay for it.

I think that Ford does a better job of it than GM. In fact, I had to laugh recently when GM announced it was going to put the "GM" square logo on all of its vehicles so people would know that the Pontiac, Chevy, Buick, etc. they were looking at was a GM product. I mean duh, half the reason GM cars are so ho-hum is that they're all so closely related.

This car definitely did not feel like a Ford. I'd say it was kind of designed to appeal to an educated, 20- or 30-something professional woman who would drive a BMW if she had the money to pay for it.

True, Ford has generally been better in this regard -- GM is starting to get the picture, as evidenced by the recent Tahoe/Escalade redesign. Unlike the rest of Ford's brands though, my main complaint with Mercury is that the differentiation just doesn't exist, except with a few sheetmetal changes -- in the case of the Milan for example, the mechanicals, interior and underpinnings are mostly the same. The Fusion itself drives much in the same way as you describe.

It's somewhat difficult for Ford though, because where should they position Mercury? Lincoln, Jaguar and Volvo already hold the premium spots in Ford's umbrella, and the Ford brand is bread-and-butter. And making Mercury a sporty alternative could create internal competition with Mazda...

what class is this car?

what class is this car?

Probably a YC.

Probably a YC.

Correct. I was charged for F but was upgraded to YC.

So I just returned a 2007 Milan, what a nice car.

Extremely comfortable, easy handling, great pick-up on both highway and city streets.

The only hiccup I had was with the gas gauge. Despite putting gas in the tank, the gauge never moved. The agent at my HLE was quite good about it, he said that is a problem lately for some of hte new Fords... He didn't ding me for gas (had receipts) and gave me a $5 credit off the rental for the hassle.

I hope I get this car again in the future!

So I just returned a 2007 Milan, what a nice car.

Extremely comfortable, easy handling, great pick-up on both highway and city streets.

The only hiccup I had was with the gas gauge. Despite putting gas in the tank, the gauge never moved. The agent at my HLE was quite good about it, he said that is a problem lately for some of hte new Fords... He didn't ding me for gas (had receipts) and gave me a $5 credit off the rental for the hassle.

I hope I get this car again in the future!

In regards to the gas gauge, the agent is correct. Ford is having lots of problems with gas gauges (Explorer's mostly). Ive driven the Milan, and its a pretty nice little car. My biggest gripe was the turning radius, or lack of one, but this seems to be a common issue on Ford products these days. If Ford could resolve a few problem areas, I would consider leasing one because it is a great value and looks pretty darn good.

It's one of those cars I really want to be good, so this is all interesting data. Is the anemic engine because rental fleets get lower-powered variants? Perhaps there's a beefier six available.

I agree the car is being pitched to women making $40 to $75k. Definitely a poor girl's Bimmer. Why don't LM think men would be interested in a compact upscale sedan?

I like the Fusion/Milan overall -- though I hope that the new 3.5L Duratec will be slated to be added soon enough to replace the aging 3.0L. The turning radius may be a symptom of the Mazda 6 underpinnings -- my friend's 6 and other Mazda 6 rentals I've had seem to have unusually long turning radiuses.

The Mercury is also the better-looking of the two, but IMO the brand needs some significant differentiation from their equivalent Ford models (especially blatant rebadges like the Mariner and Montego/Sable). Mercury Mondeo, for example, has a nice ring to it. ;)

... IMO the brand needs some significant differentiation from their equivalent Ford models (especially blatant rebadges like the Mariner and Montego/Sable)... That's been the key strategic problem at Lincoln-Mercury since about 1970. The big difference between Mercs and equivalent fords is usually the grade of carpeting.

It returned about 20 MPG with mostly highway driving.

That's pathetic. I had one for a week a while ago and thought it was excruciatingly slow, loud, and noticed the poor gas mileage.