2002 Mercury Mountaineer AWD review from North America

Torque converter and transmission case shot at 27,000 miles.

We bought our 2002 Mountaineer used in 2007 with only 26,700 miles. The Mountaineer is comfortable and great to drive with wonderful features, but on the 4th day of owning it we started having problems with the transmission. If you came to a hard/fast stop in rush hour traffic and then hit the gas it wouldn't be in gear. It would just rev the engine and then finally get into a gear and lurch the truck forward. It would also clunk from 2 down to 1 and indecisively shift from time to time. It idled great though and drove like a dream at high speeds. Ended up the torque converter was shot and also damaged the transmission case. A transmission overhaul could be done for $3,400 with only a 12 month/12,000 warranty on replaced parts or a completely new transmission could be done for $3,900 with a 3 year/36,000 warranty. Kind of sad since we haven't even had the truck 14 days now. The sales dealership should have caught this from what most outsiders are saying. After complaining, they are going to Ford for help since at 27,000 miles this shouldn't happen. No verdict yet, but we're going with the all new vs. the overhaul. No car company is perfect, but I will say that I always drove a manual (clutch) vehicle for this exact reason. Transmissions have too many parts and too many issues. I will definitely own a manual again in the future. Whether it is domestic or foreign though I can't say. My previous Honda Civic was a dream and fun, but the Mountaineer is very luxurious.