I just took a test drive in the 2010 mercury milan hybrid the sister to the Ford Fusion. It was totally loaded and MSRP was 33,500. It was more than 33500 but less than 34000. I can't remember the exact price. It had every thing you could think of from backup camera to sync for the radio, phone navigation and even weather and current travel reports. The travel reports were from Sirius radio and the subscription is only good for 6 months then you have to pay after that. The ride. I find it hard to say but ht eride was very good. I could not feel the change from electric to gas or from gas to electric except when I jumped on it to make sure I knew when the change would happen. The ride was smooth. The mileage for an 8 mile test drive was 41.1 with the air conditioning and radio on. There were two of us in the car. The dash has all kinds of gimmmicky things like leaves that grow on a vine. The more efficient you drive the more leaves appear. The dashboard display was nice and easy to read. The car had excellent acceleration. I must admit that I think the Prius also has excellent acceleration also. I beleive the ride was just as good if not maybe a little better than the 09 Prius. The Sync system for the radio bluetooth and all that other stuff was really nice and better than what I found on the 09 Prius. My wife has an opinion and the most important opinion in our house. The Prius is cuter. Therefor the Queen has voted. I still am going to wait for the 2010 Prius to make a decision. The mileage of only 41 mpg, a ton better than my current car, seems rather disappointing compared to the 2010 Prius. I have taken a 2009 Prius onthe same test drive and only got 46 mpg. Drove both cars in a similar manner. The Mercury Milan Hybrid drives a thousand times better thanthe 2010 Insight. I was so unimpressed with the Honda Hybrid that I did not even comment on it. The storage/cargo space onthe Milan is what you would expect for a sedan. I could not fit my road bike in the car witht he back seats folded down. This is also a consideration.
Nice write-up, Pat. Thanks for providing your insight and opinion. Do you know how, exactly, the Milan differs from the Fusion? Interior appointments, suspension, anything?
My experience with Ford Products is that the Mercury has a nicer interior and more options than the Ford. We have driven ford products since 1980. The only difference we notice between Mercury and Ford was interior options and a fully loaded Ford compared to the fully loaded Mercury was that the Ford was usually a little more expensive. When we could not afford power windows and locks we bought fords now that we can afford more options we buy Mercury's. We always test drove both as Mercury always has a sister car to the Ford and never noticed a difference in ride. Mercury is a little quiter also. However I think we are leaning toward the 2010 Prius this time.
The storage/cargo space onthe Milan is what you would expect for a sedan. I could not fit my road bike in the car witht he back seats folded down. This is also a consideration.[/quote] I saw a Milan/hybrid here too but when I asked the salesperson, he told me the back seats were fixed because that's where the batteries were, therefore the back seats "did not" fold down. This was important to me, so I told him I wouldn't be interested will wait for the 2010 Prius. Does anyone know if the seats fold down on different trim levels? I know they do on the Camry hybrid but the batteries are there too and the pass-through is very small, almost not worth it. Thanks, Rick
The Fusion/Milan hybrids are more direct competitors to the Camry hybrid. The Prius being a hatchback and frankly smaller and a little more basic is directed toward a different demographic. The 41 mpg on the MMH is very good and meets or exceeds the TCH results. Toyota needs to step up the next TCH to retake the lead from Ford/Merc.
41mpg is pretty good as it's very comparable to the Camry Hybrid. Also, shouldn't this be in the Other Cars forum?
