2009 Mercury Mariner Hybrid 4WD

I agree with my colleagues that the Mariner's hybrid powertrain is surprisingly seamless; I was barely aware of transitions from gasoline engine to electric motor and vice-versa during a weekend of around-town and freeway driving. The Mariner interior is pretty darn nice now, and our particular test vehicle, white on the outside and cream/tan on the inside, was particularly well turned-out; elegant, even. As others have pointed out, there are still a few pieces of cheap plastic here and there, but overall the quality level is quite high. One friend of mine, a 51-year-old contractor, got into the vehicle at night, noticed the high-tech navigation/audio/SYNC display screen glowing in the instrument panel, and said, "What does this vehicle cost? Eighty or ninety grand, I suppose?" Well, not quite, John. I wish there were a more obvious display function showing instant and average fuel economy, as in the Toyota Prius. I have no idea what my fuel economy was over the weekend because I could never find a mileage display, although I imagine one can be accessed through the navigation screen. (I only thought to look when I was driving.) That nav screen, by the way, has a great user interface. Several passengers were impressed by the graphics and all the functions that are accessed through it. After a couple of tries, I managed to SYNC my cell phone with Bluetooth and was able to access my call history and my address book. The display splits your address book into six or eight subcategories, like ABC, DEF, GHI, etc., according to the last names of your contacts. But when I brought up my address book, it showed only some of the entries on my phone, not all of them. That was annoying. The call history function works well, though. The Mariner's headlights are not nearly bright enough, especially on high beam. I disagree with my colleague Sam Smith, who pines for a Mariner that's slightly smaller. The Mariner as it stands is just about right. I used it to move a couple of coffee tables at one point and then a four-foot collapsible desk at another. There may be room in the market for a smaller hybrid crossover than this, but some people are actually going to use this as a family vehicle, not just as a sole-person commuter, and they need every bit of room it has to offer. Joe DeMatio, Executive Editor