Introduction

The Mercury Milan is a good choice among a superb selection of midsize sedans. Designed to compete with the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry, the Milan is based on the superb Mazda 6 platform. It is smaller than the Sable, and is Mercury's entry-level car. It shares much in common with the new Ford Fusion. This is one of the most stylish, contemporary Mercury sedans since the first one showed up in 1939, and it just looks right. While it's not as adventurous in design as the 1957 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser with its cantilevered roof and power rear window, it is good looking and modern. The Milan accommodates five adults, with more interior room by most measures than some very expensive cars. The interior is inviting and comfortable, the materials are very good, and the detailing is better than average. We like the contrast stitching in the seats, and the fold-down rear seats add an extra measure of space and utility. Most important, it's easy to operate and use. It's available with four-cylinder and V6 engines. Both engines are adequate but are not as powerful as engines offered by several competitors. The V6 gets an EPA-rated 26 mpg on the highway and comes with a six-speed automatic transmission, a rarity in this class that gives both better acceleration and better fuel economy than a five-speed automatic. Ride quality is smooth, even on the roughest of big-city streets, making the Milan a good choice for Detroit, New York and other places with imperfect infrastructures. The Milan is very stable at high speeds and the brakes are very good. Order the optional all-wheel drive and you get excellent handling and stability on slippery surfaces, such as rain, snow and ice, further enhancing safety. For 2008, the Milan gets new features and options. A tire-pressure monitor and keyless entry keypad are now standard, while rear obstacle detection becomes an option. Mercury's Sync communications and entertainment system and ambient lighting are offered for the first time, and the available navigation system adds voice activation.

Walkaround

The Mercury Milan looks as crisp and new as a $100 bill. It looks like it belongs to a completely different family of cars than the Ford Fusion, thanks to major changes to the roof, side glass, headlamps, grille and tail lights. The doors are the only shared body panels between the Milan, Fusion, Mazda 6, and Lincoln MKZ, all of which share its basic structure. The Milan has a traditional Mercury waterfall grille, as opposed to the Ford Fusion three-bar grille. It is surrounded by much more conventional-looking headlight units versus the Ford Fusion's trapezoidal headlights. In back, the high decklid is framed by a pair of bright LED tail lights. Large and nicely integrated, the tail lights look like they came from a Japanese or German car. The side view is pumped up several notches on the Premier version with its 14-spoke, 17-inch alloy wheels and relatively fat 225/50R17 tires.

Interior Features

On our silver Premier, the interior was black leather with contrasting white stitching on the seats and steering wheel. The switchgear and gauges were black with white letters, the gauges had chrome rings, and there were lots of satin-finish metal panels to set off the black and white theme. Very tasty. And if you don't like the satin and patterned aluminum trim, Mercury offers a Wales Mahogany interior trim option at no charge. The deeply bucketed front seats are especially cozy. Passenger sit in them more than on them. The rear seat folds down in 60/40 fashion, enabled by an easy-pull latch on each side to eliminate leaning over the decklid opening and fumbling for seatback latches. The trunk offers 15.8 cubic feet. With the rear seats folded down, you get another 46 cubic feet of cargo space behind the front seats, making it into a once-in-a-while station wagon. The front passenger seat also folds flat to further increase storage room and allow loading of long items, such as a ladder. The interior is roomy enough for a 6-foot, 4-inch passenger to sit behind a 6-foot, 4-inch driver, with real headroom. The rear door panels are scooped out for more elbow room. The rear armrest packs two cup holders, for a total of six. Storage cubbyholes are all over the place, two in the console, one quite large one at the top center of the dash with a latching lid, two more in each front door pocket hollowed out to take a Big Gulp cup, and one in the bottom center of the dashboard, all of which add up to convenience and ease. The quality of design and materials for a car in this price class is generally high, satisfying to touch, and pleasing to look at. The premium eight-speaker sound system played our favorite compilation CDs exactly as they sound at home on our high-end equipment, minus a bit of bass. The Sync communications and entertainment system has a USB interface to connect with iPods and other MP3 players. Steering wheel and voice commands are used to control it. You can even tell Sync to play a specific artist, album or track stored on your MP3 player. The system can recognize Bluetooth-enabled cell phones, access their phonebooks, and play calls and read text messages through the speakers. We had only minor complaints with the cabin. We thought there was too much glare off the main instrument cover, likewise with the radio face and the otherwise lovely analog clock.