Mercury Mariner

C. Locklear | Feb 3, 2012 |

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The Mariner

The Mercury Mariner

The Mercury Mariner was first produced in 2005 by the Ford company, which was the first car based Mercury sports utility vehicle. The mechanics of the Mercury Mariner are identical to the mechanics of the Ford Escape, but there are many differences in the look and design of the two sports utility vehicles. The Mercury Mariner provides a two-tone interior, European style turn signals, monotone cladding and the signature Mercury waterfall grill in the front. Production lasted for five years beginning in 2005 and ending in October of 2010, due to Ford eliminating their production of the Mercury line of vehicles.

The Mercury Mariner was a popular vehicle in the sports utility vehicle class due to its style and fuel economy. Being that the Mercury Mariner is a compact, crossover sports utility vehicle with an above average fuel economy and stylish design, Mercury sold over a hundred thousand vehicles in the five years it was being produced. Another model of the Mercury Mariner was also produced during the manufacturing time frame of the Mariner line, it was know as the Mercury Mariner Hybrid and provided two different fuel or power sources for the vehicle.

Mercury Mariner's Hybrid Model

The hybrid model of the popular Mercury Mariner provided drivers with the option of using three different methods of powering the vehicle. At anytime the driver is able to choose between using full electrical power, full gasoline power or a mixture of electric and gasoline power to run the vehicle. This allowed for a huge increase in the fuel economy of the Mercury Mariner and provide most performance of the vehicle at any speed or while bearing any load.

Additional features are added to the Hybrid model to enhance the performance of the hybrid system, such as regenerative braking. Regenerative braking is a feature available on any Hybrid model which uses the cars momentum to increase the amount of electrical power available for use. This is completed by the braking system to turn the electric motor into a generator while the vehicle is decelerating. The electric motor being turned into a generator allowing for conversion of the vehicle's momentum into electrical energy which was then stored in the vehicles batteries. This greatly reduces the amount of time one would have to spend charging the vehicles batteries to power the electrical part of the hybrid system. It is reported by some the Mercury Mariner Hybrid was the most fuel efficient sports utility vehicle available at thirty-four miles per gallon, forty-one miles per gallon on the highway. Improvements were made to both the Mercury Mariner and its Hybrid model in the years after the year of first production. These improvements are made to improve the style and features of the engine such as fuel economy.

Improvements Over The Years

Mercury began making improvements to the style of the Mariners produced in 2008, though Mercury retained the same, identical mechanics of the Ford Escape. Changes to the Mercury Mariner line of vehicles included new seats, new headlights, new tail lights, a new lift gate, a higher belt line, new doors and new wheels. In addition to that, the interior of the Mercury Mariner began being composed of higher quality materials and more refined features were available. The Mercury Mariner used the same engine as the Ford Escape, but was modified in 2008 to allow for a reduction of fuel consumption by ten percent. The Mercury Mariner and Ford Escape also became the first vehicles to feature Ford's pull-drift steering compensation feature. Ford had also begun adding driving related features to the vehicles Electric Power Steering system by applying software control. In the year of 2009, the Mercury Mariner was improved even more by replacing the standard four speed automatic transmission with a six speed automatic transmission. Also, a new power train was used in the vehicles mechanics and this improved the fuel economy by one mile per gallon and gave an eleven percent increase in horse power. This raised the horse power of the Mercury Mariner to 170 horse power and when applied to the three liter Duratec six cylinder engine it raised the horse power from the standard 200 horse power to 240 horse power. This engine became the basis for Ford's line of hybrid vehicles. In 2010, the Mercury Mariner came with high-definition radio as the standard radio and Mercury ceased to use the European style turn signals. The engines received one last change that allowed for two different types of fuel to be used through the Flex Fuel feature.