2007 Mercury Milan Premier AWD from North America - Comments

Nothing yet.

No Milan reviews yet? Is no one buying these things? Wow, things are even worse for FoMoCo than I thought...

Well, I got this Milan after my 1995 Buick Riviera bent me over for the 4th and last time, before it even had 95,000 miles on it, so I said enough is enough.

I decided to lease this Milan after seeing the 0 down, 0 first month's payment promotion from Mercury back in April. I'm also covered bumper to bumper for the duration of the lease, so I don't have to worry about anything.

When I was carless, I had to walk past a Milan AWD Premier every day on my way to the subway, and really liked the styling. I did a ton of research online between this, the Camry, the Accord, and a few others, but decided the Milan was the car for me.

It's very comfortable inside, lots of room. My model has everything except the nav system, which I really had no interest in.

There are only three things I have minor issues with:

1) Mercury should have taken the leap and gone with push-button ignition. As the keys are in the steering column now, they bang against my leg and it's a little annoying.

2) The brushed aluminum accents can sometimes reflect a heck of a lot of glare - why this never crossed anyone's mind when they were putting the interior together is beyond me.

3) The driver's seat bottom is power-adjustable in every direction, but the seatback isn't - you have to pull the release handle and then manually adjust it. Even then, it doesn't spring forward automatically, so you have to reach back and pull the whole seatback forward.

Also, the view out the rear window is a little compromised, but that's dictated by the styling, and the sort of 'raised-rear' that the car has.

Oh yeah, the Audiophile stereo has bass to spare, but seems to lack a bit of high-end treble.

The trunk is huge, the rear seats fold down, and the front passenger seat folds down. There is no shortage of space to cram stuff into this car.

The Milan zips around and hugs the corners really well. It's night and day compared with my Riviera, which was great in a straight line, but bobbed and swayed on every turn.

I'm still getting used to the torque band and the shift points though. As it revs up to 3K on the tach in 1st gear, it almost feels like a 4-cylinder. When it gets up through the top of 2nd and into 3rd, you really get thrust forward, almost like turbo lag. I'm not saying this is really a bad thing, just that it's quite different than my Rivi's 3.8L V6, which felt like a V8 in first and 2nd gear.

The exterior has some great lines without getting carried away. Love the wheels - fancy enough to not be plain, but not so extreme as to look like ridiculous rims. One time, I was filling up and a car of 4 or 5 college-type people pulled up behind, and one said 'sweet Milan dude!', and gave me the thumbs-up. I was pretty surprised, since I didn't get the Milan as some trophy car or anything. The view from behind is pretty sweet though.

My one major gripe right now is the fuel economy. It's rated as 19-city, 29-highway. I realize those are government estimates, but I'm averaging 16.2 MPG in the 600 miles I've driven so far. About 60% of those miles were city, and the rest were highway and mixed. Hopefully, this is just because the engine is not broken in. I'm sure going to hope so. Even my semi-boat of a Riviera was getting 21.5 MPG.

Still, I'm very happy with this Milan. It's much easier of course to write about the negatives than the positives. If I had to list every positive, this review would be longer than a Strom Thurmond filibuster. Well, maybe not THAT long, but pretty long.

Parting thought - If other people are going to post on this new Milan entry, please please please don't turn it into a foreign vs. American debate!!! I had to weed through miles of that stuff on the Camry, Fusion, and Accord pages while I was trying to research which car I should buy. Thanks.

Fuel economy estimates are being revised downwards for 2008. At www.fueleconomy.gov, there are revised estimates for previous model years as well. The 2007 AWD Milan is rated 17 city, 24 highway based on 2008 standards. There is a 4 or 5 mpg penalty for AWD on this car. But it definitely improves performance and handling.

I'm considering to purchase this vehicle.

Has anyone owned a reliable Mercury here?

And I hear that the Milan is basically a Ford Fusion with minor differences. Does anyone know what this difference is? Also, Ford does not have a reputation for producing reliable AWD vehicles. Subaru, Audi and Mercedes have a solid reputation for their AWD technology while American companies haven't yet caught up.

The Milan sure looks good (especially from the back) and I can't wait until it arrives in Canada to test drive it...

To 21:18.

The Ford all wheel drive system is a Haladex (sp?) system. This is the same that is used in a number of Volvo products and some other manufacturers. I would think that it would be about as reliable as most others. As for having a Mercury in Canada, I wouldn't hold my breath. :)

While the absolutely fantastic Milan won't challenge the Prius for mpg, the Prius is dorky, lame, and (most of all) drives like a soggy minivan. The Milan looks fantastic and has anti-Prius crisp, sharp handling. I LOVE the whole Fusion/Milan/MKZ corporate trio!- Enjoy your Milan!

LOVE the filibuster comment. You've obviously done your research on this car and have evaluated fairly and honestly, thank you for that. Our experiences with our Fusion have been similar, though we wish we had gone for the Milan: due to all the options we added to it, it ended up costing more than a similarly equipped Milan.

Well, to be honest, I don't think that any measure of "domestic vs. import" debate can be applied accurately to the Milan in particular (and the Fusion and MKZ, for that matter.) Your research probably told you that the Milan (and others) shares a lot with the Mazda 6 (of which I have two), including the basic design of the platform, the suspension and the drivetrain (I'm talking about the 4-cylinder here, which is the only powertrain option available here in Saudi Arabia.)

That said, I am mulling the idea of "upgrading" from my automatic 6 (the other one is manual - my fun car) and the Milan is near the top of my list. I tried it out for a couple of days and wrote a review for the paper I used to work for (The Saudi Gazette - google it) and loved the car. I performed, handled and braked very much like my 6 - no surprises there, but had some practical issues. The first two issues have to do with the transmission: the lack of a manual shift option and the problematic programing of the shift patterns. It tends to shift down two gears when you gently try to accelerate, while it seems completely disinterested in shifting down even one gear when you floor it, say, in an overtaking maneuver - behavior which I described as "schizophrenic," and that's almost exactly the opposite of the behavior of the transmission on my 6, even though they are one and the same.

One other issue had to do with the driver's side view mirror. The mirror itself isn't convex enough to cover a wider area to my left. I almost broadsided other cars twice because of this.

Other than that and the lack of an ashtray, the car was really fun, and had some of the best seats in the industry.

All that kept me from purchasing the Ford Fusion (or Mercury Milan, which is actually less expensive) was the lack of a sporty 2-door model. I bought a Mustang instead. I drove 3 Fusions (1 with a 4, one with a V-6 and one V-6 5-speed). These cars are definitely world class, and so far ahead of the imports (ALL imports) that there is simply no comparison.

As for reliability, they have the highest rating of any car Consumer Reports has ever reported on.

Incidentally, Audi and Mercedes models are on some "cars to avoid list" due too poor reliability ratings. I think Ford's 4-wheel drive system will prove to be far more reliable.

Original poster here... Nice to see that some people have commented on the review.

To follow up: I now have almost 4,000 miles on the car, and no negatives, no issues.

The same gripes apply about the keys banging into my leg and the manually adjustable seatback, when every other adjustment is power.

Strangely, I don't seem to notice the glare on the brushed aluminum anymore. Maybe because the sun hasn't shone here in Boston in about 6 friggin' months.

I am now averaging just over 17 mpg in mixed driving. Still not great to my original 16, but with AWD in mostly city conditions, I guess that's what you get.

In the time that's passed, I managed to discover the joys of MP3 CDs, so I can now drive around with about 15 hours of Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. Pretty sweet. So by the time I drive to Star Market and back, I can get almost halfway through Space Truckin'.

The AWD has fared well in winter driving, and I'm becoming more impressed with the acceleration and handling.

I really have nothing bad to say - I love the interior, love the exterior styling, and I don't see myself coming and going.

I too just purchased a 2008 milan V6 AWD. I currently have about 550 miles on it. If it's computer is accurate, I'm getting around 16 to 17 mpg in city driving and 25 to 29 mpg on the open highway. The computer is telling me that my average is about 20.2 mpg. Not bad for a new ride, but I'm hoping for some improvement as the engine breaks in. Overall, I'm extremely satisfied with this car - it's solid and feels well-planted on the road. My only complaint is, for my tastes, a little too much road noise penetrates the front of the cabin. This is a minor but easily remedied issue - a little extra noise control padding under the carpet should help.

I just recently purchased on 07 Milan Premier Series, and will be picking it up on Tuesday. I really like the look of the car and the interior is amazing, it's a two tone leather, looks really sharp. My only concern is the mileage, when I purchased it, it was said to get 23 city MPG and 31 highway MPG. Is nobody getting that kind of mileage? But other than that I'm happy with what I bought.

Original poster again. Just thought I'd check in. Not too many new comments. I just passed 6,000 miles. No issues, no rattles, no squeaks, no warning lights. Now averaging 19 MPG in mixed city and highway driving. I'm not super-cautious with accelerating, and most of my trips are just a couple miles, so I'm sure some people could easily get 20 MPG with the V6 AWD.

As happy as I am with the car, I'd have to think about leaping right into another FoMoCo vehicle, basically because of the transmission. I got a lot of use out of 2nd and 3rd gear in my old Riviera, especially on steep hills and winding country roads. Having only 'L' in the Milan is a major disappointment. When am I going to use that - when I'm fjording a river?

I'd still give the Milan an A though, but the competition is getting stiffer.

I have a 2006 Milan Premier I-4 auto and am getting about 29.2-30.3 MPG in mixed driving. I love the car and am very impressed with the mileage. And fear not original poster, you can now get a manual shift gate in the 2010 Milans that are equipped with the V6. Happy "Milan-ing" everyone!

I have had a new 2009 Milan AWD Premier for about 7000 miles. I love it! I was planning to get another Subaru, but the 2009 Legacy had a serious shortage of leg room. The Milan has all the comfy space we need and a bigger trunk.

I love the handling. The transmission chooses gears well enough that I'm surprisingly content with just D and L. (I haven't driven down long steep hills, though, so I'm still curious about that...) It averages 24 mpg in a mix of slightly more highway than city. Disappointing, but not sufficient reason to choose a different car. It does better on the highway, but only after it is completely warmed up.

My only real complaint is about the angle of the front head restraints. They are too far forward from the seat back, putting a kink in my neck. Does anyone else think this is odd? I had a local welder fix that.

Reliability ratings suggest this car should last a long time, and I enjoy it enough to keep it 10-15 years. I used to prefer foreign cars, but this Milan is better than most of my 23 previous cars, including the 1970 BMW. I like it more now than I did when I bought it.

Original posted here... Wow - I don't know if changing the headrest angle was a good idea. The increased angle was done for a reason: rear impact whiplash protection. It wasn't meant to be comfortable, it was meant to appease the insurance industry. Heaven forbid you get rear-ended and suffer a neck injury. It wouldn't look too good to have tampered with the headrests...