2009 Mercury Mariner AWD review from North America

None.

We bought this as a general work truck for the small business we own. We added it along with a Ford Escape that we bought new for the business 9 years ago. (Escapes and Mariners are equivalent vehicles)

We were not expecting anything nice out of the Mariner, and we didn't even bother to test drive it before we bought it. We just knew the Escape was getting old and was probably not reliable for some weekly 200 miles commutes that we have added recently. We just wanted another Escape.

Looking back on the last nine years of how we have treated the Escape, we have been real lazy and poor about doing the required maintenance. Once it got to the point it was running badly - stalling three times in one day - we took it back to the dealer and we got a strong lecture from the mechanic for abusing our car, but $1500 later, we got caught up and it was back to running good again. So the main reason we bought the Mariner was that we knew how bad we treated the Escape, and it kept going, so we just wanted the same thing again.

Now that we have been driving the Mariner, we have to say how surprised we are at what a nice car it is. Good ride, lots of power, very nice steering and easy to maneuver. Granted, the old Escape is worn out, but this one handles a lot better than the Escape ever did and it is actually fun to drive. The integrated cell phone feature works well and is handy - easy to setup, easy to hear, and people tell us our voices come through clearly. We would actually consider another Escape or Mariner for a family car.