2006 Mercury Mountaineer Review
The Mercury Mountaineer has been updated for 2006 and much of what's new is promising. The revised and redesigned frame and suspension of the 2006 models bode well for improved ride and handling. A new, more powerful V8 and an even newer, six-speed automatic boldly suggest quicker response and smoother cruising. A heavily reworked interior ought to mean advanced user-friendliness.
One element that hasn't changed much is the exterior styling. This could be good, too, as it ensures retained value in new Mountaineers as well as those already on the road. Though attractive, the styling is not terribly exciting, however, tending more toward country-club sleek than off-road robust. And after four years, what once looked fresh and new doesn't any more. Minor tweaks here and there let cognoscenti distinguish last year's from this year's but the differences will slip right by most folks on Main Street, U.S.A.
The Mercury Mountaineer is, of course, a higher-end, paternal twin of the Ford Explorer. This is both good and bad. Overall, the Explorer is a superb product, but some of what isn't executed so well in the Ford version is shared with the pricier Mercury.
The interior door handles, for example, are so awkwardly configured that they immediately come up in conversations about these vehicles, and Mercury has already announced plans to redesign them. It's not all bad news for the 2006 Mountaineer cabin, however. In fact, there is much to love here. The dash is trimmer, more elegant, and it communicates essential information cleanly. Multi-adjustable front seats make for comfortable commutes. Passengers consigned to the third-row seats enjoy more legroom than their counterparts in other, seven-passenger SUVs in the class.
As for the mechanicals, everything works fine. The V6 returns essentially unchanged, although earning an extra mile per gallon in city and highway driving in the all-wheel-drive configuration according to government (EPA) estimates. The new V8 loses a mile or two per gallon in the rear-wheel-drive Mountaineer, but gains a couple miles per gallon in the all-wheel-drive package. This suggests the AWD versions are even more compelling than last year's.
The 2006 Mercury Mountaineer comes in one body configuration, a four-door, mid-size sport utility, but with three interior layouts, a five-passenger, a six-passenger or a seven-passenger. Two powertrains are available: a 210-horsepower V6 and five-speed automatic transmission carried forward from 2005 and a 292-hp V8 new for 2006 with six-speed automatic also new for 2006. Buyers have a choice between rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive ($2200). Three trim levels are available, Convenience, Luxury, and Premier.
The Convenience trim level ($29,150) comes with the V6 and is available only as a five-passenger. Standard features include air conditioning; leather-trimmed, Sport bucket seats with a 10-way, power driver seat (premium cloth with a six-way, power driver's seat is a no-cost option); leather-wrapped, tilt steering wheel; AM/FM/CD/MP3 stereo; cruise control; power windows, outside mirrors and keyless remote central locking; Class II towing package; P245/65R17, all-terrain, BSW tires on machined aluminum wheels; auto on/off headlights; and rear cargo management system. Options include the third-row, 50/50 split bench seat ($845); auxiliary climate control for the second-row seats ($650); adjustable pedals ($120); power moonroof ($850); roof rail crossbars ($60); fixed, color-keyed running boards ($465); Class III towing package ($150); Sirius Satellite Radio ($195); a higher-numerical 3.73:1 rear-axle ratio ($50); and special, cashmere, tri-coat body paint ($275).
In every measure, be it by the tape or visually, the distinctions between the 2006 Mountaineer and 2005 Mountaineer are modest. So if you buy a 2006, don't count on your neighbors rushing over to check out the newest on the block.
For 2006, the trademark waterfall grille returns, only sans the thin border, with free-standing, vertical bars and a robust Mercury emblem front and center. Headlights are unchanged, an offbeat mix of curving lines and sharp angles. The front bumper holds rectangular fog lamps, a sectioned lower air intake and, new for 2006, a satin-finish, aluminum cross bar running the width of the grille. Fenders wear the same, edgy, machined-metal look.
Side view changes only in dimensions, with the wheelbase (the distance between the front and rear wheels) shrinking by 0.1 inch from the '05, and overall length (measured bumper to bumper) growing more than two inches. Cladding covers the lower door panels. A wide C-pillar separates the rear side doors from the rear quarter windows. Mercury redesigned the side mirrors for better aerodynamics. The optional powered running board tucks away beneath the rocker panel, extending only when the doors are open. The tires don't change in diameter but the sidewalls are shorter and the diameter of the wheels is larger: The standard 17-inch and optional 18-inch wheels replace the '05's 16-inch and 17-inch wheels respectively.
While the 2006 Mountaineer's exterior may be deja vu, the interior is anything but, right down to the deletion of the embroidered Mercury crest in the top-most element of the leather-trimmed seatbacks. And although some of the changes are for the better, a couple are so counter-intuitive that the carmaker has already announced plans to redo them.
Instruments have been pared down to the essentials (gone are oil pressure and voltage readouts, leaving speedometer, tachometer, fuel and coolant) and re-organized within a recessed pod surrounded by a satin-finish, metallic ring. It's a less-busy arrangement, but given the Mountaineer's workhorse capabilities, as evidenced by the V8 AWD's three-ton tow rating, we miss the omitted gauges. The dash is cleaner, though, with attractive, low-key, metallic accents.
The stereo and climate controls in the center stack have been updated to accommodate the screen for the optional navigation system, yielding larger, more finger-friendly buttons. The results here are mixed. The stereo and navigation system operate on separate power supplies, so you can have a map displayed without having the stereo on. That's not true of all navigation systems, including those from Mercedes. But sadly, the stereo's tuning function remains buried beneath a sequential rocker switch, forcing you to wait while it scrolls up or down through the frequency band to find any station other than one of the presets. The navigation system screen could be larger, but the information it provided was adequate and accuracy was above average.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home