Along with the similar Ford Escape/Escape Hybrid, Mercury’s Mariner duo has been updated extensively for the 2008 model year. Sheetmetal changes are teamed with powertrain changes under the Hybrid model’s skin to make it sleeker and more efficient than the first generation vehicle that’s being retired.
Mercury Mariner Hybrid
Changes you can see include the new sheetmetal up front. The new hood has what designers call a bigger “forehead,” referring to the surface at the hood’s leading edge. The hood’s new profile is more squared-off and elegant. Mercury stylists also redesigned the headlamps to have a more technically sophisticated look, and crafted a fascia to hold the new look together.
To keep things balanced, the rear fascia and taillamps were revised as well. Other less noticeable changes were made that cleaned up the Mariner’s look by banishing lower bodyside cladding and incrementally reduced its aerodynamic drag by cleaning up trim.Changes you can’t see are truly transparent. One is the thicker windshield with an added noise-absorbing laminate. The second are the thicker side windows, also upgraded for noise abatement. Refinement is what Mercury is chasing with changes like these. To reduce sound levels even further, the doors have more sound insulation, the carpeting is thicker, and the headliner has an added acoustic barrier.Refinement is also why designers updated the Mariner’s interior with new seats, door panels, and a completely new center stack. The new design puts the main display up near eye level, helping drivers keep their eyes higher and closer to the road. Digital readouts for the audio and climate control systems display up top.Lighting for the entire gauge set is now blue – it’s slick looking and a true boon for those with color blindness (approximately one out of 100 males) that makes reading red LEDs all but impossible. The center console is also new, and yawns widely enough to swallow a laptop. Interior bits finished in satin pewter and chrome complete the interior’s update. The new interior looks good and certainly freshens things up.The Mariner’s conventional powertrains (a 2.3-liter four-cylinder and a 3.0-liter V-6) were left unchanged, but the hybrid received attention. Significant refinements were made to the controller that coordinates the complex interplay of this full hybrid’s four-cylinder Atkinson cycle engine, 70-kilowatt electric motor, and continuously variable transmission.The results include better integration and smoother transitions between power sources themselves, and between the powertrain with the regenerative braking system. Further improving efficiency, the rack-and-pinion steering system is now powered electrically, instead of using a conventional hydraulic pump. Mercury promises up to 34 mpg in the city, an improvement of 14 percent over the last version.The Hybrid can be ordered with front- or all-wheel drive. Side and curtain airbags are standard, along with anti-lock brakes, automatic climate control, an AM/FM/CD player, and a reverse-sensing system. Options include all-wheel drive, a six-disc changer, a moonroof, Sirius satellite radio, leather seats, and a navigation system.
www.thecarconnection.com