Poor Mercury. During its last decade of existence, it was starved of fresh product and left to wither. Instead of a notchback Cougar version of the new-for-2005 Mustang, they got…the Monterey minivan. Gee, thanks. At the end of the line, the only thing really keeping Mercury going was healthy sales of the Grand Marquis. That left the Mountaineer SUV and Milan family sedan to round out the lineup. But the refreshed 2010 Milan was a looker, in your author’s opinion. Sad that it never really got a chance…
I never really cared for the fencer’s-mask nose of the 2010 Fusion, but I DID like the ’10 Milan’s fascia. That vertical-bar grille and vertical headlights just looked more elegant–and were an improvement over the 2006-09 Milan, which looked more like a Fusion with a Mercury grille tacked on.
Inside, however, it was virtually identical to the Ford version, but that wasn’t really a bad thing: The Fusion/Milan cabin was a very nice place to be, especially in the leather-bound editions. During my brief sales career, I drove plenty of ’11 Fusions, and even sold a few. They were nice cars–reliable and comfy.
I found this pearl-white example at a local dealership last October and was drawn to it, as these last-of-the-line Milans are seldom seen around here. It seems that most of Mercury’s last remaining customers plumped for the flossier Grand Marquis instead. I have seen maybe one other 2010 Milan since then, and if they’re this scarce now, in 25 years will there be any left to write a CC about?
I’ve always surprised how few of these there are considering how common these Fusions are. On my street there’s probably 10 Fusions, 0 Milans. I don’t know exactly what premium Mercury charged, but it’s worth it. No Gillete grille like the Fusion, and the Milans rear is 100x nicer than Fusions, not just for lack of Altezza lights like the Fusion, but the overall style is much nicer.
It was only the 09 and earlier Fusions that had those taillights.
A couple of months ago I saw a 2007 Milan with a manual transmission! Now those must be super rare cars.
This car doesn’t look too bad, but If I were to buy a 2000s mercury I’d buy a grand marquis. RWD, Big, comfy, V8 and bench seat – everything I want in my cars!
What a boring, uninspired car. I fail to see anything nice about it, except maybe the leather seats. I’m sure they’re comfortable.
Like just about every Mercury near the end, the Milan was for buyers who wanted something just a little more special than the Ford Fusion, but by no means wanted a luxury car. It offered a little more style and flair, than the more utilitarian Fusion.
I know. But if changing a few badges around & adding fake chrome in certain areas is “more style & flair”…then you gotta question the fools who bought them.
No added “fake chrome” on a Mercury. Mercs of this era, Grand Marquis excluded, eliminated all chrome in exchange for simulated brushed aluminum. Which is why I’m one of the fools who bought them as I found them more stylish, with more of an understated elegance while the Ford offerings were pretty bland with a slather of chrome.
I always liked the Milan. Even considered buying one back around the time I was getting my driver’s license. I actually prefer the exterior styling ’06-’09s with the more wedge-like front fascia. However I do like the improved 2010 interior better. The Voga trim package was cool with ivory leather.
I really like the 2010 Milan, I think it is the best looking of the first gen Filans. The 2010 Milan is one of the reasons that Merc should not have had it’s plug pulled. The previous generation Milan accounted for about 50% of the Mercury sales or about 25% of the average Lincoln Mercury dealer’s sales. The Mountaineer had been the king but like every other SUV $4 gal gas killed it’s sales.
The other reason was the fact that the design for the Merc counter part of the Focus was in the can, and I bet some of the tooling was already done or under way. Keeping the Merc brand alive would have kept Lincoln Mercury dealers a separate entity and prevented the problem of selling the Titanium Fords in the same showroom as the base Lincolns.
Personally I was going to by the wife a 2010 Milan Hybrid but I just couldn’t find one for sale. In 2 months of looking the only one I came across was a base model in white so we ended up with the Fusion instead, not that it was easy to find exactly the right one of those either.
Even rarer, what was the big sedan? The Sable?
Yes they briefly brought back the Sable name, replacing Montego. When they dropped it when the Taurus got it’s redesign I knew that Mercury was dead.
For some reason the styling of the 2008-09 Sable didn’t do it for me. I think it was the actual 500/Taurus body shell, as opposed to the Mercury styling touches. That car was just too awkwardly tall to look good as a sedan.
And isn’t the Montego/Sable the last new platform for Mercury? This Milan was just a refresh before the new Fusion released this year. Jack Baruth did a rental test of a Sable before buying his Town Car. I always got the impression that the Sable came in a close second to the Town Car.
I’ve driven a 500/Taurus and I will say that the interior is cavernous for a modern car (like Tahoe/Expedition big) and the trunk puts almost every modern sedan to shame (21 cubic feet.) Definitely on my shortlist of sedans to check out on the used market.
The Montego/Sable came before the Milan and had just a mild refresh before changing to the Sable name. So the Milan was the last new Merc.
I always thought that the 500/Sable with the big six window greenhouse should have been the Crown Vic/Grand Marquis replacement, offered in RWD and AWD versions instead of FWD and AWD, and in a long wheelbase version for taxi use.
Considering what happened to both British Leyland and Mercury, Montego name might be cursed.
I liked the pre-facelift version better. This looks too Japanese, kinda like one of the final Mitsubishi Diamantes…not a flattering comparison.
I thought the Milan looked better than the original Fusion, but that flipped with the facelifts and any remaining reason for the brand vanished.
I actually knew a guy who bought a loaded new one right out of college. Bragged about it all the time, too. I’ve yet to see another male driving one, much less anyone under 50.
Mercury? We had those after WW2 just a Ford with a bit more trim. The fact that over here Fords and Mercuries shared the big flathead engine there was no real place for Mecury even back then.
Don’t forget the biggest problem: women. Yes, you heard me right, women.
See, if you’ll remember back a few years, Ford decided to push Mercurys towards women. As evidence of this, virtually every Milan commercial featured women owners.
I agree this was a fine sedan; but you can’t expect it to be a successful volume car if you’re only marketing it to half the population…
But that half the population makes 80% of all buying decisions….
They didn’t feature women owners they featured Jill Wagner and I think they did a very good job of positioning those ads. Jill was easy on the eyes for the guys but they dressed her just right to make her a little sexy but not so much as to offend the women. As Len noted it is frequently the women that drive these kind of buying decisions as they are the one likely to be driving the family sedan or SUV.
I remember reading about Ford’s strategy in the car rags. They actually did consciously try to reposition Mercury to represent cars that women might be desirous of. Kind of like Special K cereal – for some reason, its almost exclusively marketed to women.
In the unique world of cars, it’s a rather questionable strategy that hasn’t ever really worked.
And to your guys points, I’d argue that most couples make the new car buying decision jointly.
Quite a turnaround from a generation ago.
Yep. Cool brochure find!
Wondering now what was the 67 Caliente and Capri?
The little man’s car? 🙂 They were Comet models. The 202 was on the bottom, then the Capri, then the Caliente on top. Until you mentioned it, I had forgotten all about the Comet Capri.
I listen to a lot of blues, and country/roots music (yeah, I’m not crazy about those labels) and I’m always surprised at how many Mercury-themed songs have been written. Of course, they probably aren’t referring to Milans. Or even Grand Marquis. In fact, probably nothing newer than about 1951 …
If I had money, I tell ya’ what I’d do. I’d go downtown and buy a Mercury or two…
I’m gonna buy me a Merc Milan and cruise it up and down the road…
Hmm it’s not quite the same….
We used to wail that tune in my Dart Swinger.
My cousin has one with a stick. Did not know that they offered it with one. It had every option except the sunroof, A poor mans BMW.
I guess I’m a sucker for marketing, as cars like this, much like my Alero, offer just enough of “something different” to bring a smile to my face.
Being from southeast Michigan originally, many of these call these Mercury MY-lans, because there is a town down there called Milan that is pronounced MY-lan.
Regardless of the names, these really were nice cars. One of these days I just might own one, or a similar vintage Fusion…
This generation of Fusion/MY-lan makes a truly excellent used buy. They have the best C/R rating of any domestic ever. In fact they are a Mazda 6 of Zoom-Zoom fame. Plenty of loaded leathermobiles sold to old ladies, too. There will be loads of low km, ten year old Fusion/MY-lan’s in about 2017 that will go for next to nothing. I have definitely been keeping an eye on these as used cars.
A quick Craigslist search shows a 2008 SEL with V-6 and leather for $5800, with 127,000 km That’s a screaming deal for a car of this caliber.
http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/rds/cto/3770109971.html
That explains why mine came from Canada around here that would be going for twice that much. The only ones you find for under $10K are strippers with really high miles.
Mercury really missed out with this car. They could have produced a high output Dragway edition.
My father picked me up from kindergarten on a rainy spring afternoon in 1954. This was unprecedented so I truly felt that I was screwed. What had I done?
When we got outside the classroom, there it was, his brand new 1954 Mercury Custom 2 dr sedan. Baby blue with full hubcaps. Hallelulja! We were no longer in the poorhouse. I was so impressed!
Sure, the Merc was nothing more than a Ford with chrome tits and fantastic taillights, but it did have a distinctive sound which differentiated it from the Fords (I know, I was a sensitive little snot and could tell the difference). The ’54 was followed by a ’55, but that was the end of the Mercs. Next year brought on a ’56 Olds with more firsts-first family car with an automatic and the first car with a two-tone paint job. Woowie zoowie!
But that ’54 Merc remains something special in my mind.
I always that from about 2006 onward the Mariner was much better looking that the Escape on which it was based. Ford turned the last years of the 2nd Gen Escape into the an macho, over-chromed monstrosity out of a Judge Dredd movie.
However having slightly better interiors and different styling on a few cars is not enough to carry a brand. I can understand my Mercury got the Ax.
I think it would have been better for Ford to keep them on, if only to keep the Lincolns out of the Ford showrooms–as others here have mentioned. I wonder what a 2012 Sable or Focus-based Mini-Merc (Lynx II?) would have looked like. And I really would have liked to see a notchback Cougar based off of the 2005-up Mustang.
Woulda, coulda, shoulda…
Given that it’s just a Ford with a suit on, does it matter that it never had a chance? Mercury was on life support for decades with nothing to distinguish it, it’s not like anybody is going to collect this car like they might an original Cougar or a lead-sled Merc. Maybe someone will want the Crown Vic-based Marauder, and possibly someone might want the last-gen Cougar, but what else is there? They even missed their chance with the (de rigeur joke coming) de Sade edition of the Marquis.
I likw how its hiding between 2 Fusions….
Jill Wagner says I’ve got to put Mercury on my list!
I had no idea there was ever a pretty substantial update of the Milan done. I think I like the earlier version better, but I’d have to see it in person. One of my neighbors has a Milan in black and it’s a pretty nice looking car, except for the matching vinyl top it’s equipped with.
I liked the Fusion and MIlan a lot (as well as the Five Hundred/Sable), although some of the details on Ford-Mercury cars from this era I didn’t really care for. The clear taillights, the grille on the Fusion (and the Milan, but to a lesser degree) – but that’s all stuff I could get past. I’d hate to see what the grille on Mercury’s version of the catfish-mouth Fusion would’ve looked like, had it survived.
The Milan was a pointless offering. There was nothing special about it and you could get the Fusion for cheaper with all the same offerings. There was no reason to pay more for the Mercury when the Ford version fine.
As for the Sable, it suffered from the same issues the 1996-2005 Sable models suffered from, that they looked too much like the Ford Taurus. The 86-91 Sable had that lightbar grill and the sweeping C Pillar that made it look distinct from the 86-91 Taurus. The 92-95 Sable had the lightbar grill and a wedge shaped look to it making it not look so Taurusy. The 96-99 Sable looked too much like a Taurus of that era(except for the ugly front end and the ugly trunk lid.
The nice thing about the 08-09 Sable was it was a nice smooth riding car with more space in the trunk and rear passenger area then the Grand Marquis.
No with the same level of equipment the Milan was cheaper since the Zephyr/MKZ was in the same showroom. Now if you wanted a model with nothing then yes the Fusion S was cheaper.
The 08-09 Sable like it’s Montego Predecessor did have more rear leg room than the Grand Marquis but it’s trunk was a little smaller.
As Len says above, these are a good buy for a used family car. We drove a Milan before settling on a Fusion. The Merc was equipped with 17″ rims and hard tires. The ride didn’t jibe with the sorta-luxey interior. The Fusion has 16s, we gave up leather but gained a little pneumatic distance from our lousy local streets.
My only complaint is that the V6 sounds ugly and is a bit of a gas hog.
A pretty car. Bonus points for the manual or hybrid versions….