Mercury Monterey

Unlike other brand vehicles such as Toyota, Hyundai and other brands, Mercury Monterey is one of the silent brands that available in the market .Mercury Monterey is the complete full sized semi luxury vehicle which was introduced during the year 1950. Later it shares the same body style with the other models such as Mercury parkland, Mercury Montclair .During the year 2004; it was given the name as minivan. It was more or less equal to that of the re-badged ford free star vehicle with the extra modified features.

There are no such major changes to the 2007 model Mercury Monterey vehicle though its warranty coverage increases up to 5 years and kms of 60,000 miles.

Luxury themed vehicles have become quite popular for the customers who don’t think too much in spending little more money for the family transportation. Most of the people opt for these vehicles mainly due to their sliding door facility and the huge seating capacity. Most people are opting for the features such as navigation system, rear cameras and the power lift gates. In order to satisfy the needs of all the customers, the mercury brand introduced with the higher version vehicle known as Mercury Monterey during the years 2004.

The Mercury Monterey minivan has quite different styling and few other additional amenities that includes 4.2 liter fuel capacity and V6 engine. The ford freestar platform is little aged and this not only take away the handling capacities of the Mercury Monterey but it makes the interior of the vehicle to be less spacious. This model is provided with the optional two tone leather seats, in built heating and cooling elements. But when you deeply observe the surroundings, you can notice problems like low grade materials, inconsistent quality of the inner buildings. Some the luxury features are not available on this model .Some of those features are: navigation system, camera, Bluetooth connectivity and the sunroof.

The situation of driving is not that much better when it is on the road. The V6 engine provided feels strain on the highways and provides lowest gas mileage. The driving quality is not up to the expectation level but still comfortable .Some of the safety features associated with the bag is: air bags, favorable crash test .All these features  helps to get protected from the accidental collision.

Trim levels and body styles and the trim levels

This vehicle can accommodate maximum of 7 peoples and it comes one standard size and in one trim level. Some of the luxury standard features includes 16 inch chrome wheels, automatic headlights, power sliding doors, security and privacy glass, manual sir conditioning (separate controls for both front and the rear seats), in-dash changer , excellent acceleration , oil refinement  and good handling capacity, power  steering wheels  along with the audio controls , display  of the external temperature.

As an optional feature, it is provided  with the  both ordinary leather seats and the two  toned leather seats  and is provided along with both the heating and the cooling elements  for the driver and the passenger ,Other features that need to be considered are  automatic power lift gate  and the climatic control , rear DVD system . You can also get with the facility of the two passenger bench at the second row instead of the standard captain chair without any additional cost. This minivan offers with the facility of mobility preparation as the factory option .Once you select this package, you minivan will come along with the heavy duty springs.

Powertrains and the performance

The 2007 mercury Monterey comes along with the just one engine of 4.2 liter fuel capacity, V6 engine and horsepower of 201hp and a torque of 236 lb ft.  It provides a standard automatic transmission that’s directly powers to the front wheel. The consumption of fuel is estimated as follows 17 mpg in the city limit and 23 mpg in the highway limit, which is considered to be below the average level for a minivan.

Safety features

As far as the safety of the minivan is considered, it is provided with the four wheel anticlock disk brakes with electronic distribution of the brake force. This feature is quite standard for the Mercury Monterey minivans. It is mounted with the front seat airbags, full length curtain air bags for the side, powered pedals, parking sensors. The optional features that are provided are advanced trac stability control and self sealing of the tires.

Mercury Monterey has earned complete five stars in the NHTSA crash tests. In the impact tests of inside, it has received with the four stars as a protection of the front occupants and five stars provided at the rear occupants. In the crash testing of frontal offset that’s conducted by IIHS, in the mercury minivan has picked up with the good rating i.e. 4 out of five.

Interior design and the special features

In the 2007 mercury Monterey model, it is provided with the clean dash design and a good shaped steering wheel, two toned leather upholstery .Overall the all the parts are assembled attractively .But the quality of the materials used need to be improved .The most common problem with this minivan for the families is they have shortage of legroom in second row. No one sitting at the back seats can avoid kicking the front seats due to the shortage of the space. This minivan has the facility of folding the third seat row but it can be folded only as single seat. There is an option for removing the second row seats but it’s quite harder to perform than it can perform. The optimum cargo capacity of this vehicle is 134 cubic feet which is considerably lower for this type of minivan.

Conclusion

The performance of this minivan on the road is quite good. With the large V6 engine provided, it provided sufficient power to the minivan to roam around the town. But it gets easily tired during the highway travelling and the merging. This minivan produces very noisy and unrefinement as compared to that of others. The van suspension provides a comfortable drive.